Feeling Good in the Neighborhood
It's hard to believe but there was a time when I had no idea what an Applebee's was. Portland was a late bloomer that way. I became hip to that fast casual restaurant scene through my teen penpal in Tucson, Seth Bogard, an unusually funny and prolific zine publisher known for Xeroxed missives about Macaulay Culkin, puberty and yes, Applebee's. I was inspired to seek out the nearest location–in Hillsboro as it turned out–and took a photo out front. I wasn't ready to venture inside of that world yet. Now I'm mature enough to handle it.
Completely un-chain-related, but this week I happened to catch Seth on Split Ends, the Style network show that's like Wife Swap for hairdressers. Culture clash, fish out of water, you know the score. It's strange to think of teens now being 29 because that makes me ahem, elderly. It think it's ok as long as I don't start a cougar blog.
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