Overheard Saturday Midday at Mr. Spot's Chai House:
Guy is first tapping away at his laptop, then greets a friend. The friend comes over to say hi, and they chat, after awhile, Guy loses interest in friend and becomes more attentive to his video poker game.
Guy is standing, leaning over glaring at his laptop.
"Stop betting Laurie. Stop betting. Oh, Laurie, come on, I'm not betting for nothing. Laurie, don't do it Laurie, you don't have it. We both know you don't have it. Throw your cards in Laurie. There's no way I'm bluffing, I can't afford to bluff. You don't want a standoff. Stop betting. Laurie!" There's a pause. Then
"Oh! Laurie you bitch!"
The friend mumbles a question. Poker guy responds.
"There's a lot of ways to win a game like this. A show down is one way. Yeah, I could probably go all in and win a in a show down. But I don't want to win in a show down on this one. Oh, Laurie!"
I glanced over at the guy's screen. Laurie's avatar had long blonde hair, blue eyes and a white cowboy hat. I wondered if she's a real person or just a computer player.
Oh Laurie!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
And all I got was some feathers in my hair...
Sundays are my favorite day of the week. They always start with a walk to the Farmer's Market. If I'm early enough, I get eggs, if I'm not I've got to wait until next week. I stop at Anselmo's for onions and potatoes every week, and at Growing Things when I need soap. I stop and listen to some Bluegrass on the sidewalk and taste the cheese before I buy it.
The next stop is for coffee or tea at one of my favorite spots. I've headed to Floating Leaves with my friend David a couple of times in the last month, and I often go to Nervous Nelly's (Where they know my name and my drink, and assume I want toast with cheese and egg.)
Today, I decided to head to the Chai House instead. When I first moved to Ballard Mr. Spot's Chai House was one of my homes away from home. The first day we had keys to the place, actually, I went out in search of some sage and prayer flags for our new home and I found myself at the Chai House buying both, and a Ruby Tuesday (Chai, no milk, pomegranite syrup, juice of a whole lemon and some cayenne pepper. Yummy.) Since we decided to move away from Seattle, I'm occasionally wracked with nostalgia and fondness for my adopted city. Unlike when we left the Northeast (I always knew I'd be traveling back for friends and family.) I'm not sure when I'll be able to make it back here and how often.
There I sat, knitting on the couch, gazing at the really bad art on the wall, sipping my Ruby Tuesday (fantastic for the immune system) and spacing out.
The incredibly competent barista with a subtle jerry curl kind of mohawk asked a woman who appeared to be a customer to cover for her. A few minutes later I happened to look at the people in line. They had snow in their hair! It wasn't warm today, but not cold enough for snow by at least 20 degrees! I looked outside... nothing. I looked back at the growing line and realized that they had feathers in their hair. Like, goose down. In fact... there was a young man with what looked like a pillow under his jacket. ? I looked outside again and discovered that feathers were blowing down the sidewalk, as if... as if there had been a pillow fight in the small park next to the Chai House. This is a bizarre thought to have, but the only solution to the evidence in front of me. The barista ran in, feathers in her mohawk and tagged out with her temporary replacement. I headed outside and sure enough there were a couple of pillows in sight, but a lot more hair full of feathers. In any case the entire park was FILLED with goose down. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but I'm sure some will appear in the next couple of hours.
When I got home, I googled "Ballard Pillow Fight" and found out that it was a "Flash Mob Pillow Fight."
I missed it! Something bizarre happened and I only got to see the aftermath! But really, the aftermath was more mysterious and lovely than witnessing the event without taking part would have been.
(In this one you can see the Barista in the sleeveless sweatshirt in the center.)
The next stop is for coffee or tea at one of my favorite spots. I've headed to Floating Leaves with my friend David a couple of times in the last month, and I often go to Nervous Nelly's (Where they know my name and my drink, and assume I want toast with cheese and egg.)
Today, I decided to head to the Chai House instead. When I first moved to Ballard Mr. Spot's Chai House was one of my homes away from home. The first day we had keys to the place, actually, I went out in search of some sage and prayer flags for our new home and I found myself at the Chai House buying both, and a Ruby Tuesday (Chai, no milk, pomegranite syrup, juice of a whole lemon and some cayenne pepper. Yummy.) Since we decided to move away from Seattle, I'm occasionally wracked with nostalgia and fondness for my adopted city. Unlike when we left the Northeast (I always knew I'd be traveling back for friends and family.) I'm not sure when I'll be able to make it back here and how often.
There I sat, knitting on the couch, gazing at the really bad art on the wall, sipping my Ruby Tuesday (fantastic for the immune system) and spacing out.
The incredibly competent barista with a subtle jerry curl kind of mohawk asked a woman who appeared to be a customer to cover for her. A few minutes later I happened to look at the people in line. They had snow in their hair! It wasn't warm today, but not cold enough for snow by at least 20 degrees! I looked outside... nothing. I looked back at the growing line and realized that they had feathers in their hair. Like, goose down. In fact... there was a young man with what looked like a pillow under his jacket. ? I looked outside again and discovered that feathers were blowing down the sidewalk, as if... as if there had been a pillow fight in the small park next to the Chai House. This is a bizarre thought to have, but the only solution to the evidence in front of me. The barista ran in, feathers in her mohawk and tagged out with her temporary replacement. I headed outside and sure enough there were a couple of pillows in sight, but a lot more hair full of feathers. In any case the entire park was FILLED with goose down. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but I'm sure some will appear in the next couple of hours.
When I got home, I googled "Ballard Pillow Fight" and found out that it was a "Flash Mob Pillow Fight."
I missed it! Something bizarre happened and I only got to see the aftermath! But really, the aftermath was more mysterious and lovely than witnessing the event without taking part would have been.
(In this one you can see the Barista in the sleeveless sweatshirt in the center.)
Friday, March 14, 2008
Metaphysical Poll
This is so fantastic and a perfect antidote for those of us who have spent way too much time staring at Geraldine Ferraro.
It's a place where folks post their dreams about Obama, Clinton and McCain. It's called the Metaphysical Poll because it's, like, where our subconscious can vote. It's also really fun to read. I had a dream about Obama early in the campaign, but can't find it in my journal, so I'll just have to spectate. Enjoy.
It's a place where folks post their dreams about Obama, Clinton and McCain. It's called the Metaphysical Poll because it's, like, where our subconscious can vote. It's also really fun to read. I had a dream about Obama early in the campaign, but can't find it in my journal, so I'll just have to spectate. Enjoy.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Island Wedding On International Women's Day
I'm finally sick today, which is good because it's been LOOMING for weeks now. It gives me a chance to tell you all about the wedding of my friends Sandra and Molly. It was absolutely beautiful, and warm and everything a small wedding on a small island should be.
The adventure was more than just a wedding however! First, we had to get there! The brides asked Z and I if we could transport the officiant, JT to the ceremony on Orcas Island. Our little red wagon is the best, and I'm crazy about her...let me say that right away. Her CV joint is on it's way out however, and she's not the comfiest ride in town for an older person (the officiant) who might be stiff after hours in our back seat and Z is far too tall to hang in the back. Yet again, I am blessed with fantastic friends, and we borrowed our pal's VW van. This way we could ride AND sleep in comfort without having to pay for a room! Now, there's no sense in all those captain chairs going to waste... within days before the weekend, we had a merry band... Zak and I would pick up Julie, John and JT and head north. It was awesome...
except that I couldn't quite get the blinkers to work. They worked when I picked up the van on Friday night, but come Saturday morning, no go. I spent all the time I'd put aside for a hair cut buying fuses and replacing one, but still I hand signaled my way all the way up to Orcas.
First I picked up Julie (and a couple of "back up dresses" for each of us) and headed back for Z. Then we picked up John at Mighty O, along with some donuts and coffees, and then finally we were in front of JT's door, handing her a latte and apologizing for being almost 40 minutes late. (The blinker fiasco and a top secret wardrobe emergency were to blame.)
On the phone Friday night, JT had said "I'm not an anxious person." She proved this. Back home, I only took ferries to little tiny islands, ferries that left every 20 minutes or so. Here, in the Pacific Northwest, I've arrived for a ferry two hours early, and STILL missed it and had to wait still more hours for the next one. There are no ferry reservations, only ferry victors and ferry victims. Granted, ferry tragedies generally occur on busy, sunny, summer weekends, and not in March. All the same, I burned rubber all the 85 miles up the highway, no bathroom stops.
I got to know JT a little bit because she sat up front with me. She's a professor who teaches writing and poetry, and she was the academic advisor to Molly, one of the brides. We had a nice chat that occasionally overlapped and mingled with the hilarity that was happening in the back. Luckily, I'd happened to have heard all the stories that Z and Johnny told, so I didn't miss out on too much.
I'm a pretty good driver, and Z taught me how to drive. He is a very safe driver, and is anxious whenever he's in the passenger seat. I owe John and Julie something really great because they kept at least part of his brain occupied enough so that I didn't hear him gasp or holler when he was overwhelmed at the dangers of highway driving.
As we were approaching the ferry, I heard John say "He died when his bladder exploded. Most people figure it was mercury poisoning though." It was at this moment that I realized that we hadn't made one stop for the whole trip. We pulled in at 1:12. The ferry was set to leave at 1:15. The woman in the booth told us we would make it on. We celebrated. I parked. If we'd had to wait for the next ferry, we'd have gotten dressed on the boat and just barely gotten there with JT just before the whole shebang was due to start.
Here's Jules mending her gorgeous black dress on the ferry. We got to hang out with some really cool people, so I hardly even noticed that I'd forgotten to bring cards.
HREF='http://bp3.blogger.com/_h2R7-FlbRtI/R9V2mNYkC9I/AAAAAAAAAH8/DudgiIiA5Ug/s1600-h/PICT1151.JPG'>
I was very hungry when we got to the adorable inn. The three J's checked in, JT stayed at the hotel, and the rest of our band struck out for lunch. We found the little organic coop, and I had tofu and veggie sushi with brown rice. I picked my food first (I was most desperate.) and collapsed on the sidewalk in the sun. After a couple of bites, I realized I was in the way of any potential traffic (not a lot in the sleepy tourist town in the off season. I watched a bunch of local teenagers who looked like they'd been sniffing glue or something reenact scenes from Beowolf until Jules came out to join me. We talked about love and marriage and all of that lovely mess. I finished my entire lunch by the time the fellas were done. Still hoping to get a haircut, I ducked into one of the three hair cutteries pointed out on my tourist food map from the inn. No dice. Julie and I went back to get ready, and here's Zak and John having their lunch among the gulls across the street from the inn.
The sunlight was so beautiful, and it made photos really tricky.
Foreshadowing for the toast that would come later.
The adventure was more than just a wedding however! First, we had to get there! The brides asked Z and I if we could transport the officiant, JT to the ceremony on Orcas Island. Our little red wagon is the best, and I'm crazy about her...let me say that right away. Her CV joint is on it's way out however, and she's not the comfiest ride in town for an older person (the officiant) who might be stiff after hours in our back seat and Z is far too tall to hang in the back. Yet again, I am blessed with fantastic friends, and we borrowed our pal's VW van. This way we could ride AND sleep in comfort without having to pay for a room! Now, there's no sense in all those captain chairs going to waste... within days before the weekend, we had a merry band... Zak and I would pick up Julie, John and JT and head north. It was awesome...
except that I couldn't quite get the blinkers to work. They worked when I picked up the van on Friday night, but come Saturday morning, no go. I spent all the time I'd put aside for a hair cut buying fuses and replacing one, but still I hand signaled my way all the way up to Orcas.
First I picked up Julie (and a couple of "back up dresses" for each of us) and headed back for Z. Then we picked up John at Mighty O, along with some donuts and coffees, and then finally we were in front of JT's door, handing her a latte and apologizing for being almost 40 minutes late. (The blinker fiasco and a top secret wardrobe emergency were to blame.)
On the phone Friday night, JT had said "I'm not an anxious person." She proved this. Back home, I only took ferries to little tiny islands, ferries that left every 20 minutes or so. Here, in the Pacific Northwest, I've arrived for a ferry two hours early, and STILL missed it and had to wait still more hours for the next one. There are no ferry reservations, only ferry victors and ferry victims. Granted, ferry tragedies generally occur on busy, sunny, summer weekends, and not in March. All the same, I burned rubber all the 85 miles up the highway, no bathroom stops.
I got to know JT a little bit because she sat up front with me. She's a professor who teaches writing and poetry, and she was the academic advisor to Molly, one of the brides. We had a nice chat that occasionally overlapped and mingled with the hilarity that was happening in the back. Luckily, I'd happened to have heard all the stories that Z and Johnny told, so I didn't miss out on too much.
I'm a pretty good driver, and Z taught me how to drive. He is a very safe driver, and is anxious whenever he's in the passenger seat. I owe John and Julie something really great because they kept at least part of his brain occupied enough so that I didn't hear him gasp or holler when he was overwhelmed at the dangers of highway driving.
As we were approaching the ferry, I heard John say "He died when his bladder exploded. Most people figure it was mercury poisoning though." It was at this moment that I realized that we hadn't made one stop for the whole trip. We pulled in at 1:12. The ferry was set to leave at 1:15. The woman in the booth told us we would make it on. We celebrated. I parked. If we'd had to wait for the next ferry, we'd have gotten dressed on the boat and just barely gotten there with JT just before the whole shebang was due to start.
Here's Jules mending her gorgeous black dress on the ferry. We got to hang out with some really cool people, so I hardly even noticed that I'd forgotten to bring cards.
HREF='http://bp3.blogger.com/_h2R7-FlbRtI/R9V2mNYkC9I/AAAAAAAAAH8/DudgiIiA5Ug/s1600-h/PICT1151.JPG'>
I was very hungry when we got to the adorable inn. The three J's checked in, JT stayed at the hotel, and the rest of our band struck out for lunch. We found the little organic coop, and I had tofu and veggie sushi with brown rice. I picked my food first (I was most desperate.) and collapsed on the sidewalk in the sun. After a couple of bites, I realized I was in the way of any potential traffic (not a lot in the sleepy tourist town in the off season. I watched a bunch of local teenagers who looked like they'd been sniffing glue or something reenact scenes from Beowolf until Jules came out to join me. We talked about love and marriage and all of that lovely mess. I finished my entire lunch by the time the fellas were done. Still hoping to get a haircut, I ducked into one of the three hair cutteries pointed out on my tourist food map from the inn. No dice. Julie and I went back to get ready, and here's Zak and John having their lunch among the gulls across the street from the inn.
The sunlight was so beautiful, and it made photos really tricky.
Foreshadowing for the toast that would come later.
more of the wedding
Zak looks skeptical...
one of a series.
DJ WD40 who rocked the wedding. Musically, the best wedding I've ever been too. This guy took care of the ambience and entrance and exit and dancing, and friends Sonya and Laura sang and played Nina Simone during the ceremony. For reals! We also hung with him while we waited for the next ferry home, and he's a cool guy.
John and Jules talking animatedly.
Jt looks on as the nephews light candles as the sun goes down in a blaze of glory.
one of a series.
DJ WD40 who rocked the wedding. Musically, the best wedding I've ever been too. This guy took care of the ambience and entrance and exit and dancing, and friends Sonya and Laura sang and played Nina Simone during the ceremony. For reals! We also hung with him while we waited for the next ferry home, and he's a cool guy.
John and Jules talking animatedly.
Jt looks on as the nephews light candles as the sun goes down in a blaze of glory.
Here's Sandra walking down the aisle with her two sisters. SHARP! They had a bit of a thirties theme and I'm so sad that not one of my pics of Molly came out even a little bit.
John rocks the hula hoop.
We ate Thai food, did I mention they served the BEST Thai food? How many cute little islands do you know with fantastic Thai food? I only know one. Apparently that's the way they found the hall where we were. They were looking for good food, found the Thai restaurant and thought "this would be good wedding food". Later, they asked "Hey, what's upstairs?" and were told "Oh, a hall they rent out sometimes." After the food, there were toasts, after the toasts there was dancing and dancing and dancing and even a little bonfire out back. Since I tend toward participation rather than documentation, there are no photos of that.
In the end, Jules offered to let me sleep in her bed and Z took the extra twin bed in Johnny's room (where the dancing girls used to sleep) so we didn't sleep in the comfort of the van. The next morning I got up by myself and took a walk, and hung with the seagulls. This crow tried to hang too, and was only occasionally rebuffed...
Then we ate a fantastic breakfast all together. Over coffee on the veranda, Julie regaled people with tales of my aggressive Sleepytime dance moves (she didn't sleep well because I kept kicking and poking her.) We missed the ferry which wasn't terribly shocking, and it was a nice day so we hung out with lots of other people from the wedding. I taught Jules how to play cribbage, and I discovered upon arriving home that the blinkers weren't broken. The hazards were broken, and I'd flipped them on that first night when trying to turn the headlights off. So, that whole time, I could have totally blinked instead of making myself crazy with hand signalling. The end.
John rocks the hula hoop.
We ate Thai food, did I mention they served the BEST Thai food? How many cute little islands do you know with fantastic Thai food? I only know one. Apparently that's the way they found the hall where we were. They were looking for good food, found the Thai restaurant and thought "this would be good wedding food". Later, they asked "Hey, what's upstairs?" and were told "Oh, a hall they rent out sometimes." After the food, there were toasts, after the toasts there was dancing and dancing and dancing and even a little bonfire out back. Since I tend toward participation rather than documentation, there are no photos of that.
In the end, Jules offered to let me sleep in her bed and Z took the extra twin bed in Johnny's room (where the dancing girls used to sleep) so we didn't sleep in the comfort of the van. The next morning I got up by myself and took a walk, and hung with the seagulls. This crow tried to hang too, and was only occasionally rebuffed...
Then we ate a fantastic breakfast all together. Over coffee on the veranda, Julie regaled people with tales of my aggressive Sleepytime dance moves (she didn't sleep well because I kept kicking and poking her.) We missed the ferry which wasn't terribly shocking, and it was a nice day so we hung out with lots of other people from the wedding. I taught Jules how to play cribbage, and I discovered upon arriving home that the blinkers weren't broken. The hazards were broken, and I'd flipped them on that first night when trying to turn the headlights off. So, that whole time, I could have totally blinked instead of making myself crazy with hand signalling. The end.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
moving pictures
Last night I watched Once. Now, I don't follow the Oscars, so I had no idea that it had won one, or even been nominated. When this film came out, around a year ago, I think... Z was traveling... I tried to go see it with my friend Kyle. I'd read a review in the Stranger that it was the "best movie with music in since Hard Day's Night" or something. I couldn't find where it was playing because there are a million movies and reviews with the word "Once" in them, and because it was only one word, I was fucked. We looked and looked and finally discovered that we'd missed the movie, so we decided to go to the Cinema in the U district and see whatever came next. We saw The Lives of Others another incredible film from overseas. Now, when I search for the film it comes up right away! Thank you Oscar.
In any case Once is really perfect. It's very simple and spacious, and I found myself projecting my entire life onto the two lovely characters. It's sort of about inertia in some ways, and in most ways so am I. Since I've recently made a decision that is in every way anti-inertial, I was very sensitive to it all, and the music provided this main line to emotion, completely skipping whatever rational thoughts I could have about the story. I'm no good at movie reviews, but you should really check this one out.
Bizarrely, we saw Hot Fuzz the night before which makes for a great/hideous pairing. Hot Fuzz was incredibly smart and funny and dreadful, and reminded me that I still haven't seen Shaun of the Dead. I'll get right on that.
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