ahhh... the joys of the new schedule. j & i went to a movie tonight at the mission theater. (otherwise i would've been playing a garrison keillor show!) for those of you who don't live in portland, the mission is one of the businesses owned by the mcmenamins. movies are sort of second runs, and it's only $3 admission. they serve food & beer, too. we saw clerks II. for those not easily offended, it's a GREAT movie. if you were fans of the first one, this one is even better - i was pleasantly surprised. if you are easily offended, please don't watch it.
i recently finished a book called "wild swans- three daughters of china" by jung chang. jung depicts the life of chinese during the 20th century, following the life stories of her grandmother, her mother, and herself. i knew very little about the history of china, and this was eye opening. it makes me very thankful for my life and my freedom. i highly recommend reading it, and not all at once. it has taken me since january (when i was sick in bed for a week) to read the whole book. it's pretty depressing, which is perhaps why it's taken me so long to finish. good to spread it out. i'm now reading "blinded by the right - the conscience of an ex-conservative" by david brock, which so far is fairly dull. i've also just begun a biography of eleanor roosevelt. i'm waiting for "mozart in the jungle" to arrive from amazon. it's been over a week! :(
we're not going to tear the tree down after all, and we certainly won't be out $3700. i've had another arborist look at the tree, who said the mushroom things were really created by insects (wasps) and didn't hurt the tree, and my first estimator looked at the tree again today and confirmed that it's healthy. so, little keebler elves, magic cookie creators, no need to worry about losing your home!