Portland was...

AWESOME!! We (Joe-Liz-Dave-etc.) had a wonderful time on the opposite coast. The main reason for our trek out to Oregon was the previously-mentioned Stumptown Comics Fest. It was my (and Joe's) first time as exhibitors, and we would definitely return for next year's Fest. We had visited Portland a year and a half ago with intentions of investigating its live-ability, and these past two trips have been a blast. Portland is proving to be a future semi-permanent destination. The food, the people, the trees, the doughnuts...

On the topic of confections, we finally had a chance to purchase tasties from Voodoo Doughnuts. I had heard a lot of hype about this place and how good their doughnuts were, but I remained skeptical...up until my first bite of heaven, that is. Behold, the doughnut of my dreams:



That's right. A cake doughnut with vanilla frosting delicately powered with Tang drink mix and garnished with miniature marshmellows. OH. MAI. GAWD. They also make doughnuts with maple frosting and two strips of bacon on top, which would be reason enough to visit Portland a third time.

But back to Stumptown. I debuted a new mini dubbed "Coping with Death" where Death and I proceed to beat the living snot out of eachother Mortal Kombat-style. I won't say anymore. As per usual, I bought a TON of comics. Joe shows restraint in this department, whereas I make up for his restraint...and then some. Yesterday was the first day I had since we got back to really sink my eye-teeth into the pile of issues, minis and books. Needless to say, I'm pretty full right now. And...back to Stumptown (again). Here's me being a doofus:


Yes, I am making the "silent coyote" hand signs...Here's Joe, Liz and me combining our powers to become one mighty doofus:



Ah, collective power of silly. Most of this silliness can be blamed on lack of sleep and increase of caffeination. This is the formula every time I travel. There's just so much to do, and so little time to do it in (we were only there for three days, since I don't count the two days it takes to fly out). I use this simple remedy to get the most out of my trips, that is until I get a cold or fall asleep somewhere unfortunate (i.e. on the subway while going to work...). Yet, I still appear to be a fully armed and operational human battle station.

Some of our evening activities included: playing arcade games whilst drinking, eating reeeeaaaallly spicy thai food, singing karaoke, walking (a lot), eating reeeeaaaallly tasty bread pudding, and watching cartoons back at the hotel (thank you, Cartoon Network). Oh, and frequenting photo booths...Can you spot the Maris?



Once we got back from Portland, I worked my bumkins off. I didn't really get to recover from our travels until yesterday (I slept until 1:30, which is a rarity for the ol' Maris), hence the delay in blog postage. Speaking of which, I hope to be back on track and posting a lot more in the days to come. I promise (how many times have I typed that...hee hee). But seriously, I've been drawing up a storm, I just need to take the time to post the darn stuff.

OK. This is hands-down the longest post I've ever made, so sorry about my rambling. The last thing I wanted to add about my glorious three days in Portland, Oregon is that is was great meeting new friends, hanging with long time friends, and getting to know better the friends we only see at comics-y shin digs. If my eyelids weren't so heavy, I'd will myself to list some names and link, link, link away, but it'll have to wait for the next post... All righty, I'm becoming semi-incoherent at this point...time for bed!

-m