So...

I went to the Last Harvey Danger show ever. Actually, I went to the last three shows. I didn't think I cared that much, but then a radio station announced that the only show I didn't buy a ticket for had sold out. And that's how I went to three Harvey Danger shows in 24 hours. (Well, closer to 30, but you get it.)

I heard all the songs I wanted to hear, and I even got to request a song (along with tons of other people)--Oh You Pretty Things, originally by David Bowie.

They were all great shows, but I still can't believe I was in the right city at the right time for these shows. It usually doesn't work out that way. James broke up a few months before I'd gotten into them, and it wasn't like I'd go to Edinburgh for their last show.

I'm supremely happy right now. Just wanted to let everybody know.

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I still kind of miss Jim Henson.

I went to the Jim Henson exhibit at EMP today. It was great, of course, and included a small stage where you could control a muppet for a short song. There were also 4-5 walls covered in soft muppet fur, and I had to restrain myself from rubbing my face all over it. Sooo soft. Sooo covered in little kid snot. I was bummed that they cut off the exhibit at The Dark Crystal and Fraggle Rock, but there was a space constraint, so oh well. (No LABYRINTH!!!!! I know it's a little redundant, but still! Bah.)

Also, a small confession: Jim Henson was cute when he was younger. Pre-hippie beard. Look:

I guess it doesn't hurt that he resembles Jimmy Stewart, and both are similar to G. Hee hee.

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Reuben Update: Naked City Taphouse

We went to Naked City Taphouse in Greenwood to celebrate Re's birthday with his mom. I'm pretty sure the sandwich was good, but unfortunately it took a long time to order, and around 40 minutes to get our food. Also unfortunate (and hilarious), Gr woke up late and didn't eat anything before we left for lunch, and started his day with a pint of very strong beer.

The sandwich was what I'd expect of a homemade Reuben, where all the parts are identifiable--"grain-fed natural pastrami" and marbled rye. (I guess it doesn't count as a true Reuben, since it's not corned beef.) But nothing really stood out. It's kind of disappointing, because the menu was mostly sandwiches, and you'd think the sandwiches would all be awesome. I know, it's a primarily a bar, but the Elysian was better than that.

I also made the poor choice of pairing the sandwich with a chicken chowder. I couldn't help it, I was starving, and hoping I'd get the soup right away. It was good, but it resembled a chunky creamy chicken salsa. Meh. Salad next time, for sure.

I will say that the kitchen guy was busting his ass, and I appreciated his efforts. He was the only one in the back, occasionally serving food as well. And then the Tour de Beers rolled in--20-30 cyclists on a daytime pub crawl. (Somehow, 2 more bartenders magically appeared then. Really wish they had appeared earlier.)

Final thought: If I end up at Naked City again, I will probably try something else. And try one of their million beers.


Great
Three Girls Bakery - Pike Place Market (Current Favorite)
Giant sandwich, warm and consistent. [It's been awhile since I've had one, but in my mind, it's the best one.]

Good
Naked City (5/9/09)
Tasty, but nothing outstanding. Could've been an off day because it was so busy, but I was hoping for something special. Craig's Reuben $9.50

Elysian Brewing Company - Tangletown
There's a caramelized sweetness that I couldn't identify after one bite. I need to try my own. $10 (12/08)

Update (4/17/09): I'm downgrading the Elysian Reuben from great to good. I had it on a Friday night, and it just wasn't the same. I couldn't taste the intriguing sweetness I remembered, and the corned beef was full of indigestible bits of fat. Considering I love the fatty bits, that says a lot.

The Pike Pub and Brewery (1/31/09)
Soggy bottom bread (hee hee), nothing special but still delicious. Wish I had fries or a salad instead of a half plate of chips. $10 for the smaller Son of Reuben

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My fingers are smart.

Awhile back, I saw this tiny plate with the Space Needle on it, and really wanted it. But for $24+$10 shipping, it was just too much for a tiny plate. It was late 2007, so I was already up here, but Seattle was still extremely new and exciting. I was pretty bummed, but eventually I got over it.

On Tuesday, after one last lunch at a Mexican restaurant (it was Cinco de Mayo, totally unintentional), Kr and I stopped at the Goodwill to drop off one last box from her office. And wouldn't you know, as I was blindly reaching for plates on a shelf above eye level (a shelf you could've seen, no problem), I pulled a Space Needle plate with a 99¢ price tag. Sure, I felt a little bit smug that I picked up such a bargain (although it's a little chipped), but mostly I was delighted that I got something I really wanted. Yay!

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Reuben Update: The Pike Pub and Brewery

We went to the Pike Pub and Brewery for Ra's birthday party. (Dammit, Shodoshima Ra has the same initials as G's brother.) The Reuben was good but the bottom bread was soggy, and it was served with chips. (The fries looked better.) Decent sized portion (I only ate half), and good enough that I ate the rest around midnight while watching Steve Martin host SNL. (Not that exciting.)

Current Favorite:
Three Girls Bakery - Pike Place Market
Giant sandwich, warm and consistent.

Great
Elysian Brewing Company - Tangletown
There's a caramelized sweetness that I couldn't identify after one bite. I need to try my own.

Good
The Pike Pub and Brewery
Soggy bottom bread (hee hee), nothing special but still delicious. Wish I had fries or a salad instead of a half plate of chips. $10 for the smaller Son of Reuben (1/31/09)

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Today was awesome!

List of awesome things that happened today, with links!

1. Some random stranger is going to send me an election day newspaper!
2. I made dinner without using a recipe! It was decent!
   
3. I saw John Hodgman!
4. I saw Jonathan Coulton!
5. I saw Sean Nelson!
6. I saw John Roderick!
7. My Obama shirt arrived! (Late, but I don't care!)

John Hodgman did a reading from his new book, More Information than You Require, but that's always more exciting because it includes Jonathan Coulton. Somehow this turned into a little skit that brought on a "replacement" singer, John Roderick (The Long Winters), and a "replacement" tweedy nerdy guy, Sean Nelson (Harvey Danger). It was like watching a cheesy high school skit, but with talented, clever people.

It was way awesome! There will be more photos elsewhere, but here's the one with Sean Nelson, because I love Harvey Danger and Sean Nelson is fantastic. I mean, look at that suit. It's teal a well-worn black suit (judging from other photos)!

John Roderick, Sean Nelson, and me!
(Yes, I am small, but they're seriously huge.)

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My Seattle To Do List

1. Eat a corned beef sandwich from Market House.
2. Woodland Park Zoo
3. Seattle Aquarium
4. The Asian Museums (Wing Luke, Seattle Asian Art Museum)
5. Bainbridge Island
6. A meal at Pasta Freska, where the chef comes out and asks what you like. He then proceeds to serve you things you can't eat, if you've specified such things.
7. A cupcake taste-off: Cupcake Royale vs. Trophy Cupcakes
8. A doughnut taste-off: vegan, organic Mighty-O Donut vs. Top Pot Donuts
9. Actually go up the Space Needle
10. Spend more than 45 minutes in the Experience Music Project (I did that in 2001.)
    
11. Hike somewhere near Mt. Rainier
12. Take an expensive food tour of Pike Place Market
13. Do (go to?) dim sum. Try not to be intimidated.
14. Go ice skating somewhere, Fisher Pavilion maybe.
15. Buy a bike. Learn to ride in traffic. Bleh.
16. Visit that goat farm I got a business card from.
17. Maybe join a CSA. Maybe.

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Rain

I feel like Seattle people* take pride in their ability to ignore the rain. But somewhere after sporadic, moderate drizzle, the weather becomes terrible, and people start to comment on it.

Choice quote: "The current weather condition in the Pacific Northwest is unspeakable."

"Unspeakable" translates to a fairly heavy rain with a decent wind. Kind of like the foreboding rain right before the oh-shit-I-can't-bike-straight typhoon weather really kicks in. And while I stayed inside just like everyone else, I thought it was funny that some people have a breaking point when it comes to rain. Freaking out once it gets too cold, I understand. I guess it's supposed to be warmer and drier by now (It's June? Holy crap.), but I haven't gotten completely used to the weather up here, so I'm just grateful I can wear zori on most days again.

*And when I mean people, I mean bloggers, because things like this rarely come up in a normal conversations with the people I actually know.

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WTF, I don't live in the ghetto.

But on the street corner, there is a cheap-looking tall, black woman's boot with a broken heel lying in a pile of leaves. Someone either lost it on a drunken walk home, or chucked it out the window of their car. I like to pretend there wasn't a scuffle, because the heel's broken. And it doesn't look like it'd easily slip off.

I'll chuck it tomorrow, but I might take a picture and post it first. Gross.

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August was a busy month.

Hello blog-friends, sorry about neglecting y'alls.

I was temping, blue-eyed Adalew came to visit, Kr. and her boyf came to visit, life was busy. Currently I've been hanging out with JH and RL who are in town for the weekend. (That ups the total number of visiting JETs to 5! Gwyn, you're next.) Tomorrow will be troll and salmon day (Fremont and the Ballard fish ladders). I'm currently unemployed and will be heading down to SoCal next week with boyfriend in tow. High school friend's wedding. I can't wait to introduce him.

Ah yes, and August was busy because I have my koibito back. Sorry. He has stocked my fridge well (cheese and pesto), and encouraged me to clean up more often. He does my endless supply of dishes and brought over his PS2. We've been watching Azumanga Daioh, which is an anime about high school students. Kind of wacky, but highly natsukashii. It's comforting to see the classrooms again, even in cartoon form.

So far the apartment doesn't seem too small with him around, and I'm definitely adding more homey touches to the place (a few plants and more clutter). Pictures are an order, but while the weather is nice and I'm not employed, I won't be spending much time on the computer. Sorry folks.

Ah yes, and I also have a new hobby, geocaching. Think of it as scavenger hunting with a GPS device. Downright addictive for me. There will be a post about that too, someday.

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I did it!

When I told my friend that I was going to try and go to Gasworks Park to watch the fireworks, his comment was, "It's a clusterfuck."

One of the Seattle blogs describes it as "Fuck Wallingford Day," because 60,000 people (and I assume that's a guess) swarm Wallingford neighborhood. For the record though, that blogger was more than a bit miffed because some Wallingford residents didn't want summer concerts at Gasworks Park, blah blah, snipe snipe, NIMBY righteousness, etc.

Well, I did it, and it wasn't so bad. I sat on top of Kite Hill, which was nice and steep, so no one blocked my view. Some people weren't so fortunate and sat right behind the paved path, which became crowded with standing people. This obnoxious older woman tried to shame them into sitting down, but all she managed to do was annoy me.

There was an inflatable Statue of Liberty head. I thought it was silly.

Oh! And no good pictures, because I don't know where my camera is! Rarg! I was super prepared: bottle of water, couple extra layers, book, snacks...and I didn't take my camera! I think (hope) it's at work, and that it didn't get pinched from my bag. That would suck a lot. I'll find out tomorrow.

The show opened with a giant military helicopter flying an American flag around the lake. That was awesome. I'm not so into the military or flag flying, but it was unique.

There were some really awesome fireworks: the typical neat ones--the smiley faces, hearts, Saturns--but they also had some that I had never seen. Cubes! Well, round cubes. And these awesome ones that looked like a single strand of icicle lights that got launched into the air and slowly floated down. And these jellyfish rocket things, that slowly floated up. Those two were my favorites.

And the music was interesting too. They opened with "America" ("O beautiful..."), and I assume it was Ray Charles' version, but I don't know for sure. Then it was all non-patriotic music. U2's "Beautiful Day," "Also Sprach Zarathustra," "Tequila," that one Austin Powers instrumental (I don't feel like googling for it), Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon," (excellent excuse to use the Saturn and star fireworks) "Bohemian Rhapsody," for goodness sake! (They used the smiley faces for all the background voices. It was fun.) They closed with "When You Wish Upon a Star" (Disney? kind of strange), and "Stars and Stripes Forever." Or at least I'm pretty sure that's what it's called.

Notice a trend with the music? Two patriotic songs. Two! Not sure if that's the style these days, or if it's just this particular show, or if it's Seattle being liberal. I enjoyed being able to sing along.

The crowds were super crazy, but I knew exactly where I wanted to go, and I showed up around 7:45pm to get a seat for the 10pm show. I would probably try to get there at 7 or maybe earlier if I was going in a group. It was pretty easy doing it alone though. I didn't time my walk there, but it only took 42 minutes to walk (almost 2 miles) home. Further than I thought, but sure beats the parking and traffic mess.

I'm glad I went, and I would definitely go again next year. Come visit if you feel like braving the crowds and doing a two-mile walk home. Hehe. I'll probably still be here.

Yay, I'm happy now. And this Saturday I'm going to a wedding in California! Everything is great. Oh wait, except for the camera thing. Grarg-ate. Yes, that's it. Goodnight!

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Dare I?

Look at this insanity:


That's where I want to go watch fireworks tomorrow night, by myself. Shit. I knew it was going to be bad, but seeing a picture makes it worse. And I'm doing it alone--no one to watch my space, no one to keep me company. (Hey, my only other choice was to go to G's uncle's cabin in the woods? countryside? err, remoteness with G's parents, but not his brother. No thanks.) While I'm tempted to tough it out, it means no bathroom breaks from the time I find a place to sit (or trusting strangers...hmm) until around 11pm, when I walk home. I dunno man.

And I'm not sitting at home on the 4th. I had a really shitty 4th when I was 18, and since then, I've disliked the holiday because of the associations. Well, there was one quaint year in Wyoming, but overall, lame. I have memories of sitting in my college apartment, attempting to write a paper while the neighbors partied it up. So I'm not going to sit at home, even if it means jogging block to block trying to find a good view.

Wish me luck.

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Bus Rant.

Here's my warning: This is a bloated post full of tiny things that don't matter. Perhaps you should go read a book instead. Now on we go.

Today I was cranky when I got on the bus, because my feet are tired of shitty shoes and I can't seem to find a pair to replace them with. And I spent most of my time today walking door to door in the building, trying to give out emergency handbooks and no one was there. And most of those floors were stuffy, warm and smelled (like paint or just musty old building).

So I get on the bus, and I have to sit next to this girl who coughed with her mouth open and constantly wiped her nose with her fingers. No sniffing, just constant wiping. Wipe wipe wipe, right next to me. And, because she was homely, that irritated me even more. She had a mopey face that suggested professional doormat. Some skewed logic tells me that it's okay to belittle pretty people with bad habits, but not mousey people. (Later, I found she had a loud valley girl voice because she had a buoyant conversation with her friend about whether or not they would go for a walk when she got home.) She was reading a book called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." Great. An unhygienic, homely hippie. I moved as soon as a full seat opened up.

I tried to distract myself by watching other people. Cute young Asian family gets on. Young-ish parents, adorable little boy. Most likely Japanese, considering dad and son both wore Ichiro jerseys. Awww.

A woman talks on her cell with someone (hopefully one of her offspring, and not a friend or husband, judging from the tone) about not overexerting themselves while running and the beef jerky multipack she bought from Trader Joe's. Do they want one? Because she can get them still. Etc. etc. Doting is cute, but not when I can't block you out. I don't know why I didn't plug in my ipod. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood.

There's a chubby dude with a face that's painfully ducklike. Thinking back to all the kids I didn't like in elementary, junior, or high school, I can't think of one that was as odd-looking as Duck Dude. I begin to wonder if this bus passes a special school like my 'cho bus did. Seriously. Duck dude, homely hippie...there's a scruffy looking white woman wearing a JANM t-shirt (Japanese American National Museum), which is odd, considering JANM is in LA, but she could just be one of the usual bus crazies.

Anyway, duck dude pulls the bus signal (does it have a real name?), and the bus driver roars past his stop, because this is the express bus (shaves my commute from 40 to 30 minutes). Still cranky, I decide that if I was a bus driver, I would do what this bus driver does: speed up as he passes the stop someone requests. True, the bus driver has an accent, doesn't enunciate, and doesn't use his microphone, but...oh there's no but. He deserves to be slightly passive-aggressive if he drives a bus all day. Not slowing down for people running for the bus is lame, but following your route with a touch of attitude is okay in my book.

Poor duck dude goes to chat with the bus driver. He has to get off at a stop that is mostly residential, and the other people that got off the bus are already scattering home. The bus stop he wants isn't very obvious. He gets off the bus with a terribly out-of-scale tourist map. Not even a bus route map. As the bus pulls away, he's asking the Japanese family something, and the dad shrugs. I'm almost tempted to get off the bus to help him out, but my feet hurt, and I don't want to risk him being a total mouth breather. I think about how he might enjoy seeing the troll (which is actually almost right under him), and how he looked completely lost, and I tried to comfort myself with the knowledge that when he gets home, he'll be proud that he made it. I also tried to block out the thought that suggested duck dude was the type to go home so traumatized, that he won't ride the bus again for months.

Poor duck dude. I hope someone took care of him.

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I like it here #1

Well, official #1:

It's 11:20pm on a Friday night, and my nasty loud street is mostly silent. A few cars whisper by. No more big rigs, no motorcycles or revving engines. Just a reminder that I don't live in the sticks anymore (ohh--sad realization--I'll miss the crazy loud frogs. And the fireflies. Aw.).

I was going to say that if this were LA, it'd be just as loud (well, without the stupid big rigs) at night, but this isn't the same as Sunset Blvd or Santa Monica Blvd (my sister's place, not mine...). I live less than a mile from the grocery store, the bank, even a movie theater, but I live in a residential area. A neighborhood, with a well-recognized name. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced. It's wonderful.

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Small wtf:

I'm on a roll.

There's a site where you can check real-time 911 incidents, and today, there's a handful of brush fires. Brush fires? So it doesn't rain here for a week and suddenly there's brush fires? No wait, it was raining early this morning.

It's probably just the hobos, or the hooligans or the college kids, and it's probably not in the scale of what I've grown up around, but still. Seattle gets brush fires? Crazy.

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Hey Seattle Drivers:

Since the weather's been nice lately, a lot of you have been driving with your windows down and your sun roof open. I don't blame you. I've got all my apartment windows open, despite the loud rush of four-lane traffic.

But for those of you who play your music loud enough for me to hear in my non-street-side bathroom, know that I take a great deal of pleasure in judging your music. I've heard more country pop (SUVs) than I expected for the Northwest. And just now a mid-thirties yuppie in a nice car was blasting Hotel California. I didn't mind him so much, although his car suggested he was a douche bag.

PS: Thank you for patiently letting me out of my scary parking spot. Somehow I don't think that'd happen in LA without a great deal of aggressive malice on my part.

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