Power to the Bike

Yesterday was kind of bad, but only because the day before was terrible. Today was better. I had to go to a couple of sites to apply for jobs today, so I hopped on my bike and caught the Max. The locations were kind of all over the place so I did a lot of cycling today. It lifted my mood significantly. There were crazy women screaming about how they weren't interested in the poor man passing them by or how "I don't care what he thinks. He's just a loud-mouth, fat ass mothafucka." Bikes zipped in and out of traffic, children were eating cookies the size of their head and smiling like they'd hit the jackpot (which I guess they had). Slowly, I found myself forgiving Portland for being so mean to me. I highly recommend to anyone who feels like their city has just shit on them to go for a bike ride. I'm not talking about hopping on your bike and hitting the trails. To really reconnect with your city, you have to take to the streets. Get downtown with your bike and just pedal around, taking in the scenery. Downtown is the best for any city, because almost all downtown areas are at least marginally bike-friendly/bike safe. Also, downtown is where the crazy people live and nothing lifts your mood like watching a crazy person screaming at themselves thinking someone is actually there. I know, it's terrible to say, but at least you can look at them and say "Well, I'm not there yet. There's still hope for me." Finally, downtown has that vibrancy of so many diverse people mingling in the same area for just as diverse reasons. Just observing the human interaction is intriguing! And you have to do it on your bike because the air is fresh and you can hear and see things better and, did you know that researchers have found that outdoor exercise is just as effective as anti-depressants for curing the incurable blues? I mean, it worked for me! So, I'm not mad at Portland. Oh and guess what? I have a job interview tomorrow. That's something. The power of positive thinking maybe?