Portland can give a person a false sense of anonymity. There are vast portions of this city that I never get to. Driving over to my friend's house in North Portland for Christmas was like going to another city. Southwest Portland (except for the downtown portion of it that doesn't really count) is a complete unknown full of neighborhoods that I've heard of but never seen. And yet, no one who lives here can go long without running into an old neighbor, an ex-wife, a former bandmate. I'm thinking that, maybe, there are only about five-hundred people actually living in this city.

Personally, I'm having an increasing problem running into clients. This fall, a client who lives in the neigborhood walked by as I was outside pulling weeds with a cigarette dangling out of my mouth. A few days ago, at the grocery store, I ran into some clients I see regularly. They had their two year old son with them. I had a basket with hair dye and condoms in it. You see the problem? There are certain things I don't want to know about my health care professionals. The brand of lube they use, would definitely be one of those things.

My clientelle are often neighborhood folk and I love my neighborhood. I guess this is yet another opportunity to give free reign to my personality and let the cards fall where they may.