The Unfortunate Annual Transient

This is my sojourn from Seattle back to the Midwestern motherland. Speckled enamel coffee cups, humidity, fireflies and confronting my addiction to change. Where will this one lead...

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

How often do you find yourself in a place...

With a black toilet? Well I did. Such a nonconformist object as this deserves a picture.

Black Toilet

Bathroom Shot

And so I sit down on the immaculate floor of my guest's luxurious hall bathroom and took some pictures. Then, I went to the bathroom, my original intent. There is something great about a little inspiration and whimsy. That bathroom was fabulous.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Finally, I've been waiting forever for this!

Norelco

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. You know what I'm talkin' about.
Credit to Keith and the Girl for this gem.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Plink, plink

Hailing

It was hailing, around 5 pm. The hail was pinenut-sized, like big glops of Dippin' Dots.

No one talks about the weather

I find this odd about my new home. No one talks about the weather. This is the first question my parents (who live in the Southern Midwest) ask me when they call. This is an interesting question to them, because their weather changes from day to day. One day, 70 degrees in early March. Then tornadoes. Then its 40 degrees and overcast. Exciting stuff, right? Conversation starters, no doubt. Here, its in the 45-55 range and varying degrees of partly cloudy almost every day. No reason to jump outside on the porch in your pajamas to test what to wear for the day. I still ask Jason every morning though, out of habit. There are days when I remember that I am living in an entirely different part of the country...there are days when I forget.

This weekend Jason and I test-drived the Puget Sound bus system, and went to Pioneer Square and Pike's Place Market. I thought Pike's Place was just a tourist trap before I came, but it's not. It's a foodie's fun place, with less of a touristy vibe and more of a..."Oooh, let me try that" feel. I'm a neighborhood kind of gal, and there is nothing like great, fresh local food to shrink a city to one, zig-zaggy mess of tabletops and streetside shops. We also happened upon a gathering in Pioneer Square protesting the illegality of gay marriage and other related civil rights issues. Jason talked earnestly with a communist guy for 20 minutes while I walked around taking pictures.

Pike Place 1

Pike Place 3

Pike Place 7

Couple

Posing teen group

Love and legal rights, and Starbucks

Me and the port cranes

Jason overlooking the Sound

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

What do you need when you are unemployed?

If you thought I was going to say "job", you are wrong, my friend! And money for my next student loan payment, 24-rack of Bud Select, and an oil change is right...but not right enough.

It's a gym membership! Of course, what else should employed people be doing besides working out during the day and staying up late drinking beer and watching youTube videos? Jason and I stopped into "Epicenter Fitness" today, got the grand tour, and plan to sign up tomorrow. Jason has medical reasons he needs to be working out...his sciatic nerve is giving him hell. Me? I'd like to be able to climb a flight of stairs without hyperventilating again.

But here was the selling point. This gym facility has a heated yoga room, warm pool, free classes, and individual TV screen and DVD players ON EVERY WORKOUT MACHINE. And, when I went to check out the women's locker room, two Japanese girls were hanging out topless in the hottub. If only they had heated naked yoga and free Gatorade slurpee machines, this place would be heaven.

But you know, when you are unemployed and facing a lot of rejection, it's good to get your workout on. Get the blood flowing, feel sexy, get some cool injuries. Maybe while I'm busting a gut in sweaty-yoga, I'll have an epiphany and figure out what's my calling in life.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Woo boy

Job expo. Now that was a litle slap of humility.

I walked around, looking nice in my brand-spanking new Goodwill interview clothes, and lip gloss and everything, and felt completely out of my element. I am over-qualified for the entry-level jobs, under-qualified or haphazardly-qualified for the others. Pfffst. Normally I feel like a good salesperson for myself, but today I was definitely off my mark. Probably convinced some people I was eligible for therapy, but that's about it.

I wish I could enjoy unemployment, but I've neer been that sort of person. I enjoy two weeks, then I get restless and disorganized, watch too much cable and Google too many useless topics. Soul-sucking. I need my structure. Worker bee.

Where's the gutso, Slog? Where's the brazeness? Where's the go-get-'em pal? Left a couple of years and wrong career turns back, I think. I'm not even sure I know what I want to do. I need to be dropped off with the woods with liter bottle of tequila and wait till a squirrel tells me what I need to do with my life.

Monday, March 06, 2006

The weight

I have a weight hanging over me. It's sitting on my hard drive, and its filled with references to UN agencies, and it should be done by now. But it's not, so every day it screeches at me. And its not tremendously hard work, and worse, it's the type of writing I am good at, but my mind won't wrap around it, so it hangs. And other things that are more deserving of my time get nothing.

Hmmm, one of those mornings when I feel like life gets lost in proscrastination.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

My new life...in blue

For all of you who have ever studied art, or maybe just paid attention to these sorts of things, you understand the notion of "cool" versus "warm colors": every color has a warmer and cooler side...blues and pinks leaning towards cool, reds and yellows leaning towards warm. Anyway, since moving to Seattle, I've realized that Seattle-land wilderness has a cool tone, one that feels very blue to me. True, most of the area is covered in black-green evergreens, but even they seem blue-gray. Or the colors of my brother's eyes, if anybody reading knows Ryan well enough to picture his eye color. And this blueness colors everything, from the mountain ranges to the freeways to local grocery stores. It's calming, and clean-feeling, and the daily dousing of rain doesn't hurt either. I never thought of it much until I left the southern Midwest, where outside feels like a warm yellowish green, making the sky seemed washed out and the trees vibrant but oversunned. It's not necessarily better here, but it's different, and I bet it makes people feel differently as well. Perhaps its the reason people are exceedingly polite in traffic. The blue undertones urging everyone, "Calm down, we know the traffic is hell. Continue listening to your Jack Johnson CD and chill out."

I don't know, I like it though. It's not quite mine yet, and the suburbs are crowded and polished, but the tap water tastes great and its not a bad town to take a drive around. This morning we were up at 5:30 for Jason's gig, and drove into Seattle at 7:30, and it was beautiful. Rainy and cool, and utterly quiet (they don't have billboards here, so quiet morning drives are possible). I think I like the Midwest better for the twilight...but Pugent Sound has the morning.

Finding cool rocks

Beach

And again

Marks takes advantage of our mirrored booth