Tommy Del Greco

The Chinese garden has free admission for the new year!

The Domo Adventures website is now powered by WordPress!  I went from the classic XHTML/CSS make-up of the orginial site to a child WordPress theme built off the Thematic framework.  That may not mean much to you, but it feels pretty good since WordPress is pretty hot in the web dev community.  And it also makes the site MUCH easier to update.  Enjoy the new blog!

This is just one of the many professional development goals I’m working on. Outside of work, I spend my most of my time and energy between working on this kind of project and looking for social adventures.  Alright, Mad Men and Donkey Kong Country get their share of time too :P  Socially, this past month has been a mixed bag.  I came back from Kansas City with an energized New Year’s Resolution about going out and meeting people, and even though I’ve been here 4 months, I feel like my serious social charge has only just begun.  Despite a few Meetups, my first few Portland months were defined by friendly visits (Eric, family, and Aubry), adjusting, and the grand Aubry relationship experiment.  It got me through the tough transition here like a college student visiting home on the weekends (complete with long distance girlfriend!), but seeing all my friends in KC gave me the courage: time to buckle up and challenge my comfort zones.  But I went over all that with my last blog post.  What’s been happening?

Nerdy Domo meets some couch surfers

First, the good. With the year only 20 days old, I’ve had a couple of awesome Meetups doing brunch with the Portland New in Town group (friendly people, new parts of the city, great food??? Yes, please!), I hung out with some couch surfers while my friend (and VISTA companion) Andy was in town,  went on an OK date, and I’ve had some really good conversations with interesting people  who I just decided to overcome my shyness a little and go talk to.  This includes meeting an AmeriCorps alum at yoga class and a gender-bending, professional belly dancer with a passion for astrology while doing laundry of all things (I’m definitely in Portland).  Go ahead and add to this that I’ve found some cool social leads like kickball leagues, a great volunteering website, kung fu classes, and the couch surfers, and the progress starts to feel pretty good.

Domo meets an energetic fellow while doing laundry.

On to the bad, though.  While living alone forces me to be more socially assertive, it also hits a lot harder when plans don’t go through.  I can’t just hang around and talk to roommates if there aren’t social plans, so it becomes harder to break the isolation.  The once promising Badass Gourmet Society of Portland is going back on the shelf.  After some post-Aubry misunderstandings, the Santa Cruz unschoolers and I had a falling out… apparently?  Some of it came down to cultural differences.  It makes sense that they would be a little intimidated by me.  Besides being older, I graduated from college while they’re justifying their decision not to go, and I’ve got a good job while they’re struggling.  And as liberated and open-minded as we all want to be, I’m really not surprised that my ex-girlfriend’s girlfriend’s boyfriend who’s also dating my ex-girlfriend who we used to date at the same time would, you know, feel a little weird and jeolous about things.  As you can tell, it’s all just kind of funny to me. What a cool and fascinating sub-culture, though; I certainly enjoyed my brief ticket inside and would welcome their friendship anytime.

A couple of other quick low points: I got blown off for a date- a classic online dating pitfall- and a cool volunteer opportunity got called off at the last minute because of a glitch in their system (turns out they had too many volunteers).  For all the highs and lows, though, it’s an exciting time.  I shook the branches, and plenty fell out.  Let’s keep shaking!

Domo celebrates New Years last year with some champagne!

Well, 2010 is coming to a close, and naturally it’s time for one of my favorite pastimes (and worst habits): introspection.  What a year!  2009 was marked by graduating college, joining AmeriCorps, and a couple of truly groundbreaking romantic relationships.  That’s hard to beat, but 2010 was right up there with the epicness.  How to sum this up in a word? Portland.  I started in Kansas City.  Now I’m halfway across the country.  I started out making $5 an hour.  I finished with the coveted “real job” people of my socio-economic class are so obsessed with.  Yes, this was a mammoth year for me professionally.   Just as important, though, was the social story.

The year started with a break-up.  Micia and I called it quits after some New Year’s Eve plans fell through, leaving me watching Naruto and popping some champagne with my family late into the night.  This particular break-up wasn’t my idea, and it hit me pretty hard.  Feeling heart-broken and a little insecure,  I felt some solace in that I was experiencing the ups and downs of love.  In the end, though, this break-up proved to be for the best.  I hit the social scene determined to meet people like never before.

The Badass Gourmet Society: 4th Meeting

From winter into spring, I developed wonderful and meaningful friendships with Jennifer, Aubry, and Julia.  I had amazing “on the edge” trips up to Lawrence with Andy and Fabio that reminded me of just the kind of goofy fun I live for.  Then, I pulled together all kinds of connections from my past and showed them a new, more lively, more sociable me than in the old days: Thor, Coreen, Dan, and Laura just to name a few.  The culmination of all this was in the Badass Gourmet Society of Kansas City, a weekly cooking club where I brought these friends together from all branches, and had a hella good time.

This was pretty significant for me.  In the months leading up to my exodus to Portland in July, I lived out one my most satisfying social lives I can remember.  This, after college, in Kansas City; neither condition really known to be great for meeting people.  It also made the decision to move to Portland excruciatingly difficult.  But hell, what an adventure!

Domo and Kitty at Old Faithful on the way to Portland

The journey from Kansas City to Portland turned into a week-long, cross-country Odyssey.  Through an unexpected series of events I ended up traveling with my friend Aubry, and through any even more perplexing series of events, our friendship evolved into a really special romantic relationship.  Sure, in the end, things couldn’t work out, but that trip will always be among my most cherished memories.  And despite the inevitable pain of a break-up, Aubry remains a dear friend.

As for the last 5 months in Portland, how do I describe it?  I feel like I’m a freshman in college again- socially adjusting to an environment I’m in awe of.  Like how I had an easy time adjusting academically in college, I really like my new career out here and that it allows me to develop other skills.  But also like starting college, I started not knowing anyone.

With the Unschoolers: Team Shark'spolshin

At this point, I feel like I have a thin social network out here.  That basically means I have a huge boatload of acquaintances from all sorts of places- Meetups, work, the unschoolers, Yoga, OkCupid, and a couple others here and there.  Maybe a few of these acquaintances border on being good friends.  In particular, I was starting to get close with the unschoolers before Aubry and I fell through.  Hopefully, I can reconnect with them.  This was OK for adjusting to a new city, but I’m officially a Portlandian now.  It’s time to hit the social scene like I did at the beginning of the 2010.  Maybe we can get Micia to break up with me again?

So hey, what a year.  New friends, new adventures, new delicious meals, a new city, and a new career.  Domo and I just want to keep the pace going make sure 2011 is full of adventure too :D