three: number of hours spent in town before i caved in and decided to get the tattoo i was originally scheduled to get on sunday.

forty-two: number of minutes spent in town before i first overheard someone say something pretentious.

one hundred and forty: number of dollars, tip included, i spent on said tattoo.

eleven: number of people who gave me polite-but-curious stares for being black in portland.

seventeen: number of real-life black people i saw in portland during my five-day, four-night stay.

five: number of minor-to-mid-level indie-rock celebrity sightings (adam forkner of white rainbow, brian foote of nudge [both part of atlas sound’s first touring band], adrian orange, john roderick, kathy from the thermals).

one: number of said musicians who high-fived me (early on saturday night, i geeked out pretty hard around adrian. later on, i was talking to a friend and he came up to me and high-fived me. chris from my label later on said, “he must really think you’re cool. he’s never given me a high-five”).

six: number of people who said hello to me on the street (for no reason!).

twenty-seven: number of times i watched the ESPN coverage of shaq’s kobe diss. as kanye west once rapped, “she ordered kobe beef like shaquille(sp?) o’neil.”

eleven: number of alcoholic drinks i had with people i had just met before passing out at 9:30pm on sunday.

five: number of vinyl records bought during my portland stay (nouns, american water, third, knock knock, and the 7″ single of plaster casts of everything).

twelve: number of people who asked me if i played music.

thirty-one: number of portland residents i met that play music.

two: number of days i had thai food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

sixteen: total number of hours of sleep i got during my five-day, four-night stay.

sixty-five: total number of hours i spent drinking or already drunk during my five-day, four-night stay.

seven: number of vintage stores i went to and couldn’t find anything.

one: number of vintage store employees i asked out on a date (no dice, she had a boyfriend).

six: number of robin pecknold flannels (see photo) found in four different portland vintage stores.

innumerable: number of people seen with backpacks and/or bicycles.