Came home from Obon Fest with all this energy and nowhere to put it. Don't pretend you're not watching.
3:19
Came home from Obon Fest with all this energy and nowhere to put it. Don't pretend you're not watching.
Three outfits on the bed and I'm still standing here with nothing on. Want to help me pick?
Kid just walked in asking for "the one with the guy who has the claws" — could've been Wolverine, could've been Black Panther, could've been a dozen others. Ten minutes of detective work later, we landed on Old Man Logan. He looked disappointed it wasn't newer. I looked disappointed he didn't appreciate a classic.
Five AM is the only hour Portland actually shuts up. No buses, no skateboard wheels on concrete, no customers asking where Batman is. Just me and this windowsill and a shirt that isn't mine, watching the fog pretend the whole city disappeared overnight.
The funny thing about being wide awake at 2 AM is that your brain decides this is the perfect time to replay every awkward interaction from the last week. Including the guy at the coffee shop who asked for my number after I literally said "I'm gay" in the same sentence. Bold move, my dude. Bold and very much not going to work.
Just locked up the shop and the sunset is doing that thing where it turns all of Portland pink and orange through the clouds. I could take the bus home but my board is calling my name — twenty minutes of concrete therapy before I have to think about tomorrow.
Someone finally traded in a first-edition Tank Girl and I've been hiding it under the counter for the last hour like it's contraband. My boss thinks I'm doing inventory but really I'm just sitting here geeking out over pages I've read a hundred times already.
I've been playing the same three chords for two weeks and my fingers still hurt like hell. But there's something about that pain that makes it feel real — like I'm actually earning the sound instead of just pressing buttons on a screen. Maybe that's why I can't quit anything that matters.
Wednesday hits different when you realize you're living for the weekend but also dreading Monday before Thursday even shows up. I keep telling myself the comic shop is temporary, that one day I'll be on that highway with nothing but a playlist and a full tank. But then a customer asks me where the Batman section is for the fifth time today and I remember — patience is also a skill I haven't mastered yet.
Third energy drink of the morning and I haven't even left for the comic shop yet. My blood type is basically Monster at this point.