Coffee Breath and Cascade Talent

Coffee Breath, what does that have to do with talent? Well, everything.


Coffee Breath in no way relates to a bitter, “I just drank coffee and I need some gum” smell of the mouth. Coffee Breath does mean 50% off coffee drinks in The Cabin, which is our on-campus, quick-stop coffee shop. More importantly however, Coffee Breath refers to a type of an open-mic night. Any type of talent that you want to share with the student body you can. This year we had people read some of their own poetry, act in skits, break-dance, and of course there were multiple musical performances.

I’m not gifted in any of these areas, especially break-dancing, so I just watch and drink my ½ priced coffee. Don’t think that if you are talented in some other way not listed that you are limited to just these. For instance, if you like to interpretive dance, go for it! Better yet, I’ll do it with you.

Seriously though, there are so many talented people everywhere you go. Some you may have already acknowledged their talent while others may have an amazing gift of which you were unaware. My favorites are those who have a gift that I hadn’t known of and may have never known about if they hadn’t shared with us during this night of ½ priced coffee.

The main reason why I enjoy these most is because these people are willing to be vulnerable in front of 100 people that may or may not like what they have to share. With that comment I would also like to add that some of them couldn't care less if they are accepted. They just want to share in their gift and if you like it, you like it, and if you don’t, you don’t. For those reasons they are what I look forward to most.

As for those whose talents I am already aware of; I love them as well. I especially love to hear things they have written on their own. I love music, but I am not the least bit musically talented. I will never understand music to the level and extent that those who do play an instrument understand it. I wish I could, but I’ve learned to accept that I can’t. I guess that’s why I love hearing original songs. It’s a mystery to me how they can create such a beautiful melody in their mind and then are capable of recreating that on a keyboard, guitar, or some other type of instrument. …I just don’t understand. However they do it, whatever this mysterious talent is that they have been blessed with, it’s beautiful.

Broomball

I’m awful at ice-skating. Well, I actually only tried once when I was in the 6th grade, but I was worse than horrible and I haven’t tried since. However, broomball is a different story. If you don’t know what broomball is, it’s similar to ice-skating, except there are no ice skates, you don’t have to wear hideous outfits, you wear a helmet, brooms and Nerf balls are involved, and you will fall on the ice multiple times. Now that I think about it, broomball is more similar to hockey than it is ice-skating. Okay, so imagine hockey without all of the pads, regular shoes in place of ice skates, 50 people at once on the ice, hopefully no fighting, and an excuse to look ridiculous in cool protective gear. When you get this pictured in your head you have yourself broomball.



Every fall semester the Cascade student body rents out the ice-skating rink at Lloyd Center, the 3-story mall, for one precious hour of intense broomball. Oh, I forgot to mention that during this one hour the mall has already been shut down and the rink is open only for Cascade students! I must say that this is the highlight of the year. Like I mentioned earlier, broomball is kind of like hockey, only not. For broomball you have the usual, 2 goals and 2 teams. As far as how many people on each team and on the ice goes, we don’t play by the rules. What I mean is, if you have a helmet and a broom come on out, otherwise it’s the sidelines for you buddy. I’m pretty sure you understand the concept of scoring and if you don’t it’s all the same for soccer, football, basketball, hockey, and anything that involves a goal.
I don’t really know what else to say or explain about our night of broomball. It is an insane amount of fun though. It’s competitive, but not. For those like me who have no coordination what so ever, broomball requires that you let your pride fall and accept that everyone is going to laugh at you. Yes, everyone falls, but those who lack coordination fall every time they try to take a step. One minute you may be perfectly balanced and the next your feet come out from under you and you are making out with the ice. I’ve found that the best thing to do is to just run on the ice and if you fall you fall.



I could tell you multiple stories of how hard people have busted and how funny they looked while falling, but I’m not going to. Here are some pictures that show just what broomball is all about.

MMM...Fall.

It's always good to have friends that love the outdoor life as much as you. My friend Tauna and I enjoyed the lovely Fall and ducks the other day. We both had a paper to write up, so we decided to go to Laurelhurst Park to work on it. Before we could actually start working, we walked around for a little while admiring all of the beautiful trees and the leaves that were beginning to change. They all looked so beautiful, each a masterpiece that words will never be able to describe.



On our walk around the park we came across a man who was feeding the ducks. I had my camera, and while I was taking pictures of them, the duck man threw some crackers at my feet so that the ducks would come to me. He then gave a few crackers to Tauna and I so that we could feed them. I can't tell you how cool it was. I think I am in love with ducks. There had to be like a hundred gazillion of them, well maybe just 30. I really wanted to pick one up, but I learned in Girl Scouts that you shouldn't do that.



After the duck's bellies were full, we kept on walking. We found this tree whose branches hung so gracefully above the water. The leaves on this tree were beyond amazing and it hasn't even met the peak of it's fall colors.

After tree watching for almost an hour, we decided that it would be a good idea to start working on our papers. I, however, have a focusing problem and if you put me in a beautiful park there is no way that I am going to be able to fully focus on writing a paper. I kept getting side tracked; instead of typing I'd catch myself staring at everything in the park. There was a Korean family with a new baby taking pictures in front of the pond, a family of 3 who were duck watching across from us, and occasionally a volleyball team from the high school nearby would pass us on their jog. Somehow though, I did manage to finish and Tauna and I packed up our bags and went on our last walk through the park.



In conclusion: park = amazing. Go there.

Life Is Better On Fall Break

Fall break was this past weekend and it couldn’t have come at any better time.
It’s too far to go to Texas and back for 4 days, so I didn’t. However, my friend Saryl and I did take a short day trip.


Astoria

Part of my “Things To Do List” includes exploring places that I have never been, so we did just that. Neither of us had been to Astoria, OR before, so we decided to go. If you are from Oregon you may think that Astoria is not that neat of a place to go, but I am from Texas and haven’t seen much. As Oregon weather would have it, it was overcast and it rained/misted off an on. I think we walked completely down the waterfront; the place with all the cute buildings. On the way back we decided to walk through town. We adventured all over. We met an interesting woman in an antique store who shared with us her story of how she first began collecting. We asked her where the best, cheapest place to eat was and then we went. I don’t really remember the name of the place, Anthony’s and Something. Apparently they had been in business since the 50’s, I think. They were supposed to have the most amazing clam chowder. I’m not big on the stuff, so I didn’t know what was considered good, but Saryl, she knows her stuff. She said it was great! I think the reason why I don’t remember much about the place is because it kind of freaked me out. Well, no, I don’t think freak is the word I am looking for. It smelled like an elderly woman’s home that stayed in her house all day and talked to her cats, smoked occasionally, had brown and mustard colored couches, and wore the same hand-knitted sweater everyday that she made during the Great Depression. It was the local’s favorite though, so we went. After this experience we decided that our bodies would not be complete without some coffee. We went back to a coffee shop that we had passed while walking. We talked for a bit to the guy who was working; he had been backpacking in Europe for the past month. Saryl and I stayed in the coffee shop and enjoyed each other’s conversation for over an hour and then decided it was getting late so we’d better head back.

To some it may seem like a rather boring trip, but it was absolutely amazing. You don’t always have to have these extravagant adventures to have a good time. It’s all about the little stuff and enjoying where you are and whom you are with. Conversation is also key. I loved getting away, even if it was just for a day.



Saryl and I in front of the bell...I call her Judy.




Fun Fact: The Goonies was filmed in Astoria!