Letter from the Editor.

Ding ding ding!

What was that? The alarm. Why was that? Because it's July. And? It's my birthday month.

My favorite thing about July is all my favorite retailers email me at the beginning of the month to wish me a happy birthday month with special offers. I can't wait to get my birthday gift from BareMinerals. What will it be this year???

Now onto the less birthday-oriented content. I went to ComedySportz World Championship and came back with a team win and a case of covid.

The wild thing was how close I was to submitting myself to a Washington Post story highlighting people who had never had covid. Now that dream will remain a dream.

While in Seattle at championships, I took workshops, watched multiple matches every night, and met folks from across the country and also Manchester. Saturday night I competed with a team of four from Portland against San Jose. I would tell you more about the performance, but describing improv is like telling someone about a dream you had.

Side note: A week ago I had a dream that I finally saw a moose and when I woke up, my coworker texted me a picture her parents took of a moose while on their vacation. One day I will see a moose!!

Want to know what else happened? My sister got married! Now I have a second brother! Their wedding was in the gardens in front of the Washington County Courthouse in Hillsboro and it happened to be during a Tuesday night street fair. It was the first wedding I'd been to with a car show!

We celebrated their wedding with a party on July 3 in their newly relandscaped and reoutdoorkitchened backyard! I played cornhole and nearly won.

Not only did my sister get married but I also made jam. Always one of my biggest weekends of the year is the weekend I choose to make jam. I don't make it because I enjoy jam but because I need jam. My body is comprised of 2% raspberry jam.

Have you all been watching Stranger Things? It's scary! I never even intended to watch the series when it came out years ago but me and all my college housemates watched it together. Now I live at home with my parents and I have banned them from watching it because it is too scary for them so I have to watch it by myself! I am four episodes into the new season. Such an interesting show. So scary.

Also scary was July 4th. I was at the park enjoying an afternoon in the sun when a bird (probably a crow) pooped on my water bottle lid. I looked to the skies and saw no bird. What a terrifying experience.

And it feels essential that I mention I am in the middle of two (2) mysteries. The first mystery is Only Murders in the Building. I think I know who did it but I do not know why!

The second mystery is one I've been contracted to solve at work. My coworkers have been putting up a daily poll on a whiteboard and somebody is casting multiple votes a day, messing up the results. All details can be found on my Twitter account.

In case you were wondering how covid went for me, it went just fine. I was sick, like fever sick, for a couple of days. I also found myself to be extra tired. I lived exclusively in my room in my basement and my parents dropped off trays of food outside my door three times a day. They are saints.

If you are going to get covid, I highly recommend living in the basement at my house.

Oh yeah, and I had to hide from my cats because cats can get covid too and Ashely the Cat is very snuggly and so I didn't let her know I was home for days.

We found out from Neighbor Scott that Jamaica the Cat killed a bunny. I wish she wouldn't. Bunnies are bigger than Jamaica the Cat too, so it's logistically confusing.

Neighbor Scott had the coolest treehouse built in his backyard for his kids. I am waiting on my invitation...


Treehouses, Tea houses, and Teeth blouses,

Rachel.