Laurie -1 Guy in the Chai House - 0

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!

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.)

Overheard in Ballard (fancy pants bistro edition)

Around 5 pm or so, as I put together YET ANOTHER piece of office furniture, I said to my pal Sharon... "after this, let's go drink beer." After two more hours of back breaking moving madness (no, really, my back got older faster than I did, AND one of the movers quit(not our fault) in the midst of the job) I was really ready for one. We ended up at a fancy hipster former gas station "Station Bistro" for a porter and some warm dinner. It was quite awesome, and I feel silly for not going there for so long.

But this is another installment of "Overheard in Ballard". I'll set the scene: Two young dudes in woolen caps are lighting smokes.

"Hey man."
"'sup Couch! How you doin'... Couch."
(long sigh) "Not bad."
"Hey, Couch... what's your real name? I've just always called you couch."
"Justin. Joo-stun.. actually."
"Justin, that's cool. Why DO people call you Couch anyway? You sleep on a lot of 'em or what?"
(another tortured sigh) "I used to work at this skate park, and one day I brought a couch there."

Overheard in Ballard

There's a website called Overheard in Pittsburg... http://www.overheardinpittsburgh.com/

It's pretty funny. I know of it, because my friend Chris occasionally reports shit his husband Jeff said, because homeboy is too funny to keep from the masses.

Anyway, I've been campaigning my fella, IT to the stars (TM), to start Overheard in Seattle, already, doggone it. My campaign consists of possible entries, like these two, from my late afternoon commute today.

Guy is waiting for bus. Bus arrives...stops... opens doors. Guy waits a beat and then his eyebrows shoot up in surprise! (Hey, look! A bus!) He boards jovially and sits down. We head over the Ballard bridge.

"Hey. Up there, are you gonna go left, or keep going straight?"
(Quiet Bus driver voice.) "Going straight"
"What?"
"Going straight."
"What?"
"Going Straight."
"Oh. Good. That'll give me awhile, cause I forgot where I'm goin'"

Guy laughs so hard, I can smell the Nightrain from two rows BEHIND him.

wait... for... it...

"Oh! That's right. The strip club!"


LATER (walking down the street, two fourteen year old girls and a balding guy)

girl 1: didn't you want to be a marine biologist?
Girl 2: Yeah, but they can go out if they want. They can have a tan.
Girl 1: Daddy, there's this surfer girl who's like 13, and she got her arm bit off. Now she's got her own lotion company.

That's what I got for you folks...