\m/ also: tea, novels and sammiches!

Actual In Flames

Perceived In Flames

Grayson:
For those of you who don't know but somehow still care, In Flames is a band from Gothenburg, Sweden (same place Dark Tranquillity (sic) is from), who started out in the 90's and put out several albums with a relatively low following until the last few years, when their popularity has spiked with the mainstream metal community. On the short list of bands that I need to see before I die, this one has been elusive - I've missed them several times (the first time being too young to go to the bar they were playing at - and this was when they were small-time enough to be playing in bars). We finally got to see them, at the Showbox Sodo, which is a huge place (Big Easy times four, easily) near Safeco field. While we stayed in the beer garden for the show, it was *awesome* - the band didn't play my favorite songs, but they have so many good ones that they did play it didn't matter much. They also had some really cool stage lighting, which is unfortunately beyond the humble powers of my cellphone camera. Still on the bands-to-see-before-death list: Lacuna Coil and Rammstein, who are probably going to break up before we catch them :(

In other news...

Natasha:
Grayson and I fell a little behind on our writing this week, what with the concert and some flagging energy afterward. We tried to mix up the writing a bit this weekend for catching up on our word count (I am currently 4,000 words behind, and Grayson is currently 2,000 words behind. That will change today). We went to Shinka Tea, a tea shop on the Ave and had some nummy black tea and exotic Pocky-esque sticks:

and hand wrote our writing for the day, to give a change of pace.

Grayson was also excited that there is now yet another food establishment on the Ave that allows you to hyper-customize your food order without speaking to a person, as, for example, this new sandwich shop:
There is also a burger joint down the street that does it the same way. You check the boxes for what you want, hand it off, and get your food back, exactly as you want it without any errors, all while remaining in the comfortable cocoon in spite of social anxiety. And the Montecristo ain't half bad either! (They include grape jelly and the powdered sugar, but it doesn't get grilled french toast style)