Rallying together

On Saturday, Grayson and I headed downtown. We made a stop over at REI to pick up my awesome new urban-ready messenger bag (thanks mom!) I am now the proud owner of a bag that I do not have to remove or struggle to hold on to when I get on the bus, a bag that will hold all my usual crap, plus a huge book, a whole lunch and French textbook and binder, or my laptop for writing. I am also the proud owner of a bag that is waterproof, and will no longer saturate my books, notebooks and papers when I am out and about in the rainy city. Yay! We then headed downtown, I got a couple new shirts for work (totally sweet couponage!) And then we wandered through Pike Market, which still, after living here for five months, is an awesome thing to be able to do whenever we want. Yay! We then took the bus through Pioneer Square, past the Underground Tour office, and checked out FOUR bookstores in a row. Woohoo!

We then made our way back to Westlake to the Anti-Proposition 8 rally, observe our shaky cell phone videos of the awesome signs and huge crowds:

The weather was favorable to the cause, and the mayor dubbed November 15 as "Marriage Equality Day" for the city. Much of the vitriol in Seattle was against the LDS church, which contributed a great deal of money towards defeating Proposition 8 in California. This made for an interesting time for me, especially being from Idaho, and seeing how Seattleites reacted against the Church. Case in point:


There were a bunch of other silly signs, for what else could you expect from a city as tech-savvy and caffeinated as this?

The home of LOLcats:



There were some other signs we didn't capture, PROP 8 FAIL, and another: < / prop8 > which means "End Prop8" in html code.

All in all it was a huge event:

Afterwards it was back toward the homestead for hair cuts, reading, novel writing and sleeps. Today, we started chores, made breakfast (nums!) planned our impending Thanksgiving menu, did some writing, shopping, and headed to the cinema.

We saw Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which had very gross and very funny parts, but was mostly hokey and unbelievable. Even for a movie. Who was Kevin Smith's intended demographic? Raunchy 18-35 males would have gagged at the schmoozy plot, and no girl that I know of in existence could have really identified with Miri...meh. It is really crazy that I can walk to the movie theater. Wee!

The Election (with commentary)

You get to hear from me this time! I'm charged with writing about the election since Natasha wants to keep her posts politically neutral (but she agrees with me on everything anyway, so, alas).

So there was this election...I think something important happened, but who knows?

It was an historic election, as the pundits never tire of saying. First black President, a sweep of Congress by the Democrats, all good stuff for us blue voters.

More importantly, we got to vote for some pretty cool ballot initiatives. Washington, with our help, became the 2nd state in the Union (after Oregon) to legalize a right to death - doctors can now prescribe patients with less than 6 months to live an overdose on pain meds so they can end their lives with dignity. It felt so good to finally vote for something important. I always knew voting in Idaho that my voice would be drowned out by the deafening mob of angry Mormon Republicans. It's such a refreshing thing.

Not such good news elsewhere in the country, however. Proposition 8, a state constitutional ban on gay marriage, passed. The strange thing was that it passed with a huge majority amongst minority voters, which is sadly ironic. It's so sad that these people claim to follow Jesus and can't even abide by his most basic teachings - to walk a mile in another's shoes, for example.

Also, in Minnesota Al Franken is behind a few hundred votes in the recount for his Senate bid. If you don't know who he is, think back to Saturday Night Live - he's the Stuart Smalley character ("I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darnit, people like me"). He's written some excellent, funny books in recent years, although a run for Senate was perhaps out of his league. The pundits I trust most are still calling it a tossup.

NaNoWriMo is going swimmingly for Natasha and I - we fell behind a day or two, but caught up with a last minute blitz on Saturday. Four hours of writing in the posh community room in our building. We might post some pictures of it at some point, because it's a very nice amenity to have.

The perpetual rain that Seattle is famous for has begun, and stayed with us. I never realized how inadequate my clothing is for this reality. I might have to shell out some duckets for some waterproof clothing.

Novelin' fools!

A great thing about Seattle are the hills that jut up all around the city. These steep hills all around several lakes make for amazing views of the city, huge, sweeping picturesque swaths of trees and gorgeous houses, which in autumn are all dotted bright read and vibrant yellows, surrounding the greyish blue lakes flecked with white boats. Such a beautiful time of year, and then, with the intermittent rainfalls, it makes for perfect novelling weather. This year, I've roped Grayson into my crazy novelling shenanigans. We are, together, united against evil (or with evil?), writing our own 50,000 word novels (about the size of Gatsby or Brave New World) in 30 days. Already, Grayson and my novelling styles are really rather markedly different, but it's fun to have a built in partner in literary abandon. So far, we're both on track, too!

Here are photos of Grayson and I setting up at a coffee shop on 1 November:



In other November goings-ons, this Tuesday is an election, which I fully intend to vote in. Floating around Seattle is the ubiquitous Stranger alternative newsweekly, which this week (surprisingly, because it's a third party candidate) is endorsing my favored pick for the Presidential race on their cover:

Any and all copyright violations are fully apologized for,
and at request the image will be removed forthwith.
The artist is here. Also, read The Stranger.

I for one welcome our new, adorable kitten overlord.

Here is another kitten overlord...for five minutes on Halloween, Hobbes was the fabled Hobbesian Avenger:

He then promptly tore off his uniform, revealing his kitten-disguise.

Now get out there and vote VOTE VOTE!

My shredder's name is Chompsky

Friday night I went out with my book club and saw a movie, and Saturday I went to my Virginia Woolf workshop. The rest of the weekend was engaged thusly:

PRODUCED

• 2.25 bags of shredded paper
• 4 bags of trash
• 2 bags of recycling
• 1 box of donatables

COMPLETED

• 1 novel (that makes three this week)
• 1 overhauled file box
• 1 sorted bathroom counter
• 1 sorted junk drawer
• 1 sorted refrigerator top
• 1 bag of books sold

AFTER
Earlier this week, I couldn't fit a single sheet of paper in.

Here is where it went

Hobbes inspects my work (his white kidgloves are obscured)

Which item does not belong?

What was once a pile of indiscernable food, boxes and small appliances...

Much of this was done now because next weekend, NaNoWriMo begins, and I can't have any excuses to *not* write, among all the other millions of things I'll have going on. This year, I have Grayson in on the action...woohoo! Wish us luck!

It was an ordinary Thursday...

...like most others...

I went to work,

then I went to Fremont.

Had tempura for dinner...


...while I read books before my French class.

Walked along the canal to my French class.

SAW A DINOSAUR.



Went to French class, then home, then sleep. The End.

Saturday, Grayson and I went on a craaazy adventure to the outskirts of Seattle, into the BURBS! Grayson had to take his GRE in Mountlake Terrace, and I, as the ever-necessary navigator, was elected to come along, and find a way to kill four hours in Mountlake Terrace. No easy feat. There was NOTHING around, except for a couple of restaurants, more casinos, and a solid waste plant! Woohoo. I had to walk two miles to find a coffeeshop, technically to a different town, Edmonds. I read books, drank chai, and walked all the way back just in time to meet Grayson, who scored an AWESOME 1490 on the GRE. Then we took a two hour bus ride through Shoreline (the fourth town I had been in that day) to Northgate, and transferred to a bus home. It was a wild adventure that consisted in next to nothing.

An open letter to the citizens of Mountlake Terrace:

Dear Citizens of Mountlake Terrace,

Please tell me what you do for fun on a normal day?

Yours truly,
Me.

Today, Grayson and I walked to Wallingford to see W. It was okay, funny at parts, though mostly a poorly written, not entirely well-casted movie in which I couldn't really tell what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish. Meh. I should have known from the preview that my favorite scene would be the slow-mo, almost-undoing-of-our-Pres-by-a-pretzel scene.

Burn Your Computer After Reading

Now that the weather is cooling, and fall is encroaching, my list of things to see is dwindling. Alki Beach is still on the list, and the weather this weekend would have been nice (if one was not swimming), but rumor had it that some event was going down and it would be packed. Other than that, I still want to see the Ikea store, the neighborhood called Georgetown, Kobuta Gardens, Kabaret Verboten at Can-Can (which I'll never be able to drag Grayson to), Gregorian chanting at St. Mark's (a huge cathedral in Capitol Hill), and possibly, maybe, Mt. Rainier, though I'm not much of an outdoorsy person, it's probably prettier to look at from the city than to go to ;) There are also TWO more shops for cupcakes I need to hit. Also: three more renowned coffee shops, and Grayson and I are planning a jaunt to Victoria and Vancouver for his birthday.

This weekend, there were three things in three different parts of town that I wanted to do within the space of a few hours. I have enrolled in a Virginia Woolf reading class that lasts for 6 weeks, in Capitol Hill, from 10-2 on Saturdays. We are reading Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse. This Saturday was the first meeting, and there was also supposed to be a National Novel Writing Month (November) meetup for people who are writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days (which means a 1,667 words a day goal, which takes me 1.5-2 hours, I have written two parts of one big novel this way, and am planning on participating this year, as I have an idea for a new novel to write) in the U-District at 11, and Chris Onstad, the creator of my favorite web comic, was going to be in Wallingford at 2. I managed to go the class, which was GREAT, then straight to Wallingford where Grayson and I met and went to the signing. There was a huge long line of fellow nerds, some asked poor Chris stupid, annoying questions. We got an issue of the zine he has created in the voice of his characters signed to both of us. He was very nice, and I asked him if he would ever bring back one of my favorite characters, Ultra-Peanut, who has been MIA for 6 years. He responded positively, which makes me happy. Rumor had it he was going to hang out after the signing, but I didn't feel like finagling the crowd of drooling fans (among whom I definitely count myself, Onstad is a genius), so we walked home and hung out for a while,

had German street food for dinner,

and went to see Burn After Reading, which was hilarious (from the Coen brothers!) and gross (who brought you the delightful woodchipper scene in Fargo). It was playing at a few theaters here, but we chose the Seven Gables Theater, because it's one we haven't been to, and it was quite a place, it only has one screen, and it's all built into this ancient, gorgeous Victorian house. It was very cool.

Today, I want to try port (which they sell at Safeway here, whoa!)

Aussi, le dimanche je nettoyer mon apartement. Which reminds me: part of what has been occupying a great deal of my time is a French class I'm taking. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I leave work a little early, come home, eat dinner, change clothes, and take a 20 minute bus ride, along a hill overlooking Lake Union and the downtown skyline, then the Fremont troll, to Fremont, then I walk for ten minutes in the twilight past the 3400 Phinney chocolate factory, the Fremont Outdoor Cinema, and the Canal (very Euro) to the Seattle Language Academy, for an hour and a half of French. The class is small, and very helpful, and fun. I have a bundle of phrases under my belt already and it's only been two weeks. I want to spend time in the interim before I go back for my English degree studying a language (as well as reading the classes), so this is part of reaching that goal. After class, I walk back to the bus stop in the dark, and wait 30 minutes for the next bus (all this waiting and extra commute sure help cranking through those classics), come home, and crash. On my non-class days, I strive (and usually manage) for an hour of studying. Now, between my Saturday class, my Tuesday and Thursday class, and the soon to dominate my life National Novel Writing Month, in addition to working full time, will certainly prove taxing. I find however, that it seems that the more I pile on my plate, the more I tend to actually manage my time properly and get everything done. Though this many things on my plate may be a different beast. All of it does help to meet people, though.

Atheism, Legos, Guitars, and Lasers

Natasha's pretty busy right now so I've been authorized to make a post in her stead this week. We will see how this goes.

Things continue to go swimmingly, with lots of fun activities on the weekends to keep it interesting. We are running out of places to explore, but there's always something new going on, so as long as we've got the cash, we're never bored.

Friday night we met up with the Seattle Atheists again. The occasion: the release of Bill Maher's movie Religulous. We met up at P.F. Chang's for dinner, had a great meal with good company (met a guy who spent the last 3 years teaching English in South Korea, with plenty of interesting stories), and walked to the theater. The movie was OK, not very intellectually rigorous, but very amusing if you're the atheist/agnostic type. Bill Maher, as you might expect from a comedian, delivers on the humor if not the philosophy.

Kitty is about to be sans manhood! He goes in tomorrow to have his operation. Our veterinarian is either a) for the paranoid upper middle class person who will spend anything to guarantee a pet's health, or b) a complete scam. Or both. Anyways, they require a blood test to determine if kitty's kidneys are up to the anesthesia. No other vet I've ever heard of is daring enough to invent these kinds of reasons to charge an extra $130. At least the actual procedure is subsidized by the state. The surgery ends up costing less than the blood test. Unfortunately there are no other vets in our range, and it already costs big money just to take a taxi to this one, so we have to make do.

I mention this because that blood test thingy was last Saturday. Also on that day we took a trip to Madison St to check out Piroshki, a Russian deli type restaurant (also the name of the type of food they serve). We found a place called Piroshki Piroshki in Pike Market, which sells (tada) piroshkis, but Natasha claims they are not genuine. I could care less, because they are amazing. Rather than explain the whole concept of piroshki, I will let you read about them here.

Anyways, Natasha claims that the Piroshki place on Madison is authentic, but what do yo know, their business hours are basically 9-5 M-F. Which means that, unless we get time off of work, we will never be able to go. Perhaps one day...

Sunday was BrickCon - a LEGO convention! Nostalgia heaven! Try that in Boise!

Right when you go in the door, they have a model of the Titanic about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide:

Further in, you get to see some amazing scenes. There were fairy tales, Vikings, medieval battles, dragons attacking castles, trains moving through cities, models of the Space Needle, and much much more:

And my favorites, the Battlestar Galactica models:

Many, many other things, including a replica of a Giger painting, and a model of the Space Needle taller than me (including a working elevator).




We also visited the Experience Music Project and the SciFi museum (both located in that very strange looking building next to the Space Needle). I got to play a bass again (been a very long time!!!). Saw some really neat stuff in both - Kurt Cobain's guitar from the Smells Like Teen Spirit video, quite a few of Jimi Hendrix's guitars, memorabilia from Seattle's entire musical past right back to the gold rushes of the 19th century, and much more. The SciFi museum was even better (especially for a nerd like me) - I got to see first editions of some very famous novels, and props/clothing from old televisions shows and movies. Very cool. Photography is banned in both places, so unfortunately no pics.

Natasha finally got her passport in the mail today, which she is very excited about! Europe is one step closer...