twicketface (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
twicketface) wrote2002-08-12 02:19 pm
twicketface) wrote2002-08-12 02:19 pm
Smiling like a vampire as you disappeared beneath the white caps
I've been in an off mood lately. I woke up Saturday morning and was just destined to be grumpy. Maybe the adjustment of our vacation being over and being back home or maybe I was just due for a bad mood. Luckily, I have a wonderful wife who picked up on it and made me laugh and great friends (read: Terry and Danielle) who were seemingly just what I needed.
Lately I've been worried about a lot of things and generally unhappy without an obvious reason. Maybe it's a touch of depression? I think I'd be generally happier if I wasn't so liberal in that I spend a lot of time and get worked up over the problems of the world and it can be quite draining at times. Plus, I was a more than a little disheartned to have relatively few people remembered our anniversary. I try to find happiness in the little things, but when they don't come through for me, I tend to lose part of myself. Perhaps I just need a good cry.
Work is a little surreal with my boss gone. Her cubicle is cleaned out and I've got stacks of binders, manilla folders and papers with sticky notes of instruction on them. My new boss (i.e., my old boss's boss) will be out this afternoon on vacation, which makes for an easier transition.
While at Danielle's house, I was paging through the 2002 Alumni Guide from our high school and came across an old friend's name (Marty) and contact info. I just sent him an email after 6 years of no communication. We were best friends from 6th to about 10th grade, whereby he fell into the druggie crowd and took a turn for the worse. I hope he's doing well and it would be cool to hear from him, just to see where life has taken him. Plus, Andrea will give me two dollars and fifty cents.
I've made the decision to re-do my website and I'm excited about it. And I want your help. Please? Check out my Dear Bigfoot section and send me a question to post. It won't hurt a bit.
And, in case you are curious:
Well, suffice it to say our vacation was wicked awesome. Terry drove us to the airport (Madison) and we patiently waited for our plane while enjoying some lunch. We flew from Madison to Chicago to catch our connecting plane. Leg room was not meant to be, but I found one position that I could have some semblence of comfort. I was sweating a lot and generally feeling not that great during the flight to Seattle. I made it until about 30 minutes from landing when the puke spewed forth. Luckily, they have these little bags to use. The young girl across the isle kept staring at me afterwards, which made me feel embarassed. We landed and got our suitcase and proceeded to get a ticket for the Grayline, which is the bus that takes you from the airport to your hotel. Our hotel wasn't on the regular route, so we needed to take a connecting van to get there. Our driver was a nice woman with frizzy hair that filled us in about Seattle as we drove past the waterfront.
We checked into the hotel and went down to the restaurant for dinner. Marie got soup and a salad and I got a turkey sandwich. I asked for it with no tomatoes and with added raw onions. However, it came with neither. Our waiter was nice, but I think he was the only guy working there. We pretty much went to bed after that.
Sunday we headed to the Experience Music Project (EMP), which is in the Seattle Center, which was about 2 blocks from our hotel, which was really convenient. The EMP is this big musical museum/exhibit place. We were fitted with our MEGs, which is a computer/headphone/scanner contraption that allows customers to take a self-guided tour. You point the scanner at the exhibit and it brings up these audio clips on your MEG for you to listen to. First, we went to the Uncommon Objects exhibit, which had objects that are connected to musicians. John Lennon's glasses, Kurt Cobain's sweater, Gene Simmon's large rubber boots, Steven Tyler's microphone stand with scarves, Slash's top hat, and so on. It was interesting but my MEG kept having problems, so I have to get a new one.
We proceeded from there to other exhibits and had a great time. We spent about 3 hours there and could have easily spent another 3 hours going through everything. We went through the gift shop and ate at the restaurant there, which was really good. We also spent some time downtown, via the Monorail. Please understand that I'm the kind of guy who gets positively giddy over public transportation. The Monorail station was also in the Seattle Center, which took us directly into downtown Seattle. It was about a 6 block walk to the Public Market. It was just like I thought it would be, via my watching the Real World clips from when they were in Seattle. People everywhere and loads of shops and colorful characters. I think this was the highlight of the trip; lots of positive energy and fun people.
The rest of the trip is a bit sketchy, since the days flowed together, but here are some other things we did. We went to the Pacific Science Center, also in the Seattle Center. Lots of hands on stuff that was cool to play with and lots of kinds going "Awww, cool!". We spent a good deal of time there and also saw the IMAX presentation of "The Human Body", which was interesting and a little gross. Thank goodness for the Learning Channel.
We went on an Argosy cruise as well, which was very informative about Seattle. It was about an hour around Elliott Bay and gave a lot of history. We also saw Pier 70, which was were the Real World was filmed. It's now a restaurant and parking garage. Weird. We had a nice woman take our picture with our camera too.
We went to the Woodland Park Zoo, which was really neat. The only problem was there were almost too many kids there, so it was hard to see all the exhibits. Lots of field trips and lots of little kids holding hands with their "partners", which was admittedly cool. We had to take the bus to get there, which was a bit of an adventure. We saw lots of neat animals but only one prairie dog. Oh well. We also got to go in the butterfly exhibit.
We went on the Underground Tour, which was ok. I was expecting more stuff to see, but it was still good. We had a funny tour guide and got a lot of history of the seediness of Seattle. We went to the Seattle Aquarium too, but it wasn't all that great either. Smaller and not a whole lot to see.
We saved the Space Needle for our next to last night and it was loads of fun. The guy that took our tickets complimented me on my face to face shirt. We got some great pictures of the city and another nice woman took our picture with our camera too. Felt different to be up that high and they had lots of information about the Needle and such.
The second coolest part was finding the Left Bank Books store, which was a worker owned store with lots of zines and interesting books. I picked up "Everything You Know is Wrong" and it has been fantastic. I will own a bookstore before they lay my bones to rest. Inspiring and cool to see.
We also walked to the International District, which was very long and far away. It was fun, but not much to see there. We got a bagel along the way, which was great. Lots of good food there, but it was a little pricey.
The return trip was rather annoying. First, the plane was too small so they were looking for people to take other flights. Then, there was something broken on the plane so we needed to wait. Then, we finally got on the plane and the windshield was too hot, so we had to wait. 3 and a half hours after we were supposed to leave, we finally did. When we got to Chicago, we had to run to get our connecting flight to Madison and we were met with hassle at the gate since they weren't going to let us on the plane. Then when we finally got through and ran to get on the plane, the stewardess said to me "Hey, take a deep breath, everything is fine, we're not going anywhere without you" which was supposed to be resassuring but just irked me.
Finally, when we got to Madison our flight attendant mistakenly said "Welcome to Milwaukee" twice, which freaked me out a bit. Plus, our luggage didn't make it on the same flight we did, so we had to wait until the next day for that to show up. On top of it all, I thought we were going to have to get a different flight out of Seattle to get home on time, so they booked us on a flight through Colorado to get to Madison. That flight wasn't due into Madison until 9:45, so that's the info I gave my parents, who were picking us up from the airport. As it turns out, we obviously didn't need that flight and got in around 8:45. Luckily my parents came back from the airport early after being confused as to why our original connecting flight arrived without us on it. Confusion was the theme of the day, but we made it home safe and sound eventually.
Things I noticed on the trip:
Only one person said "God Bless you" when I sneezed, and that was on the plane ride back to Chicago
Lots of homeless people around
Lots of activism type stuff, with sightings of Greenpeace, some people who wanted to oust John McCain and Joe Lieberman from office and a group that was against the killing of the children in Iraq. Refreshing.
17 Starbucks(es) during out stay
Seattle is an incredibly hilly city and our calves got a good workout.
Despite the reputation, it was sunny and warm the whole time we were there. We had about an hour of rain on the first day, but that was it.
Marie was the more daring consumer and ended up ordering a meal of rice, vegetables and this outstanding peanut sauce that I ate roughly half of because it was so good. Like melted peanut butter, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
It was nice to be in a progressive city that supports local merchants in a very open way. I realize it's a big tourism attraction as well, but it was great fun too.
I overheard these two statements that somehow stuck with me. The first was at the zoo and the second was at the airport after our flight was delayed:
"It takes a lot for me to fall in love with a pair of jeans."
"I'm convinced that the world is slowly becoming one big screw job."
It feels good to be home.
Lately I've been worried about a lot of things and generally unhappy without an obvious reason. Maybe it's a touch of depression? I think I'd be generally happier if I wasn't so liberal in that I spend a lot of time and get worked up over the problems of the world and it can be quite draining at times. Plus, I was a more than a little disheartned to have relatively few people remembered our anniversary. I try to find happiness in the little things, but when they don't come through for me, I tend to lose part of myself. Perhaps I just need a good cry.
Work is a little surreal with my boss gone. Her cubicle is cleaned out and I've got stacks of binders, manilla folders and papers with sticky notes of instruction on them. My new boss (i.e., my old boss's boss) will be out this afternoon on vacation, which makes for an easier transition.
While at Danielle's house, I was paging through the 2002 Alumni Guide from our high school and came across an old friend's name (Marty) and contact info. I just sent him an email after 6 years of no communication. We were best friends from 6th to about 10th grade, whereby he fell into the druggie crowd and took a turn for the worse. I hope he's doing well and it would be cool to hear from him, just to see where life has taken him. Plus, Andrea will give me two dollars and fifty cents.
I've made the decision to re-do my website and I'm excited about it. And I want your help. Please? Check out my Dear Bigfoot section and send me a question to post. It won't hurt a bit.
And, in case you are curious:
Well, suffice it to say our vacation was wicked awesome. Terry drove us to the airport (Madison) and we patiently waited for our plane while enjoying some lunch. We flew from Madison to Chicago to catch our connecting plane. Leg room was not meant to be, but I found one position that I could have some semblence of comfort. I was sweating a lot and generally feeling not that great during the flight to Seattle. I made it until about 30 minutes from landing when the puke spewed forth. Luckily, they have these little bags to use. The young girl across the isle kept staring at me afterwards, which made me feel embarassed. We landed and got our suitcase and proceeded to get a ticket for the Grayline, which is the bus that takes you from the airport to your hotel. Our hotel wasn't on the regular route, so we needed to take a connecting van to get there. Our driver was a nice woman with frizzy hair that filled us in about Seattle as we drove past the waterfront.
We checked into the hotel and went down to the restaurant for dinner. Marie got soup and a salad and I got a turkey sandwich. I asked for it with no tomatoes and with added raw onions. However, it came with neither. Our waiter was nice, but I think he was the only guy working there. We pretty much went to bed after that.
Sunday we headed to the Experience Music Project (EMP), which is in the Seattle Center, which was about 2 blocks from our hotel, which was really convenient. The EMP is this big musical museum/exhibit place. We were fitted with our MEGs, which is a computer/headphone/scanner contraption that allows customers to take a self-guided tour. You point the scanner at the exhibit and it brings up these audio clips on your MEG for you to listen to. First, we went to the Uncommon Objects exhibit, which had objects that are connected to musicians. John Lennon's glasses, Kurt Cobain's sweater, Gene Simmon's large rubber boots, Steven Tyler's microphone stand with scarves, Slash's top hat, and so on. It was interesting but my MEG kept having problems, so I have to get a new one.
We proceeded from there to other exhibits and had a great time. We spent about 3 hours there and could have easily spent another 3 hours going through everything. We went through the gift shop and ate at the restaurant there, which was really good. We also spent some time downtown, via the Monorail. Please understand that I'm the kind of guy who gets positively giddy over public transportation. The Monorail station was also in the Seattle Center, which took us directly into downtown Seattle. It was about a 6 block walk to the Public Market. It was just like I thought it would be, via my watching the Real World clips from when they were in Seattle. People everywhere and loads of shops and colorful characters. I think this was the highlight of the trip; lots of positive energy and fun people.
The rest of the trip is a bit sketchy, since the days flowed together, but here are some other things we did. We went to the Pacific Science Center, also in the Seattle Center. Lots of hands on stuff that was cool to play with and lots of kinds going "Awww, cool!". We spent a good deal of time there and also saw the IMAX presentation of "The Human Body", which was interesting and a little gross. Thank goodness for the Learning Channel.
We went on an Argosy cruise as well, which was very informative about Seattle. It was about an hour around Elliott Bay and gave a lot of history. We also saw Pier 70, which was were the Real World was filmed. It's now a restaurant and parking garage. Weird. We had a nice woman take our picture with our camera too.
We went to the Woodland Park Zoo, which was really neat. The only problem was there were almost too many kids there, so it was hard to see all the exhibits. Lots of field trips and lots of little kids holding hands with their "partners", which was admittedly cool. We had to take the bus to get there, which was a bit of an adventure. We saw lots of neat animals but only one prairie dog. Oh well. We also got to go in the butterfly exhibit.
We went on the Underground Tour, which was ok. I was expecting more stuff to see, but it was still good. We had a funny tour guide and got a lot of history of the seediness of Seattle. We went to the Seattle Aquarium too, but it wasn't all that great either. Smaller and not a whole lot to see.
We saved the Space Needle for our next to last night and it was loads of fun. The guy that took our tickets complimented me on my face to face shirt. We got some great pictures of the city and another nice woman took our picture with our camera too. Felt different to be up that high and they had lots of information about the Needle and such.
The second coolest part was finding the Left Bank Books store, which was a worker owned store with lots of zines and interesting books. I picked up "Everything You Know is Wrong" and it has been fantastic. I will own a bookstore before they lay my bones to rest. Inspiring and cool to see.
We also walked to the International District, which was very long and far away. It was fun, but not much to see there. We got a bagel along the way, which was great. Lots of good food there, but it was a little pricey.
The return trip was rather annoying. First, the plane was too small so they were looking for people to take other flights. Then, there was something broken on the plane so we needed to wait. Then, we finally got on the plane and the windshield was too hot, so we had to wait. 3 and a half hours after we were supposed to leave, we finally did. When we got to Chicago, we had to run to get our connecting flight to Madison and we were met with hassle at the gate since they weren't going to let us on the plane. Then when we finally got through and ran to get on the plane, the stewardess said to me "Hey, take a deep breath, everything is fine, we're not going anywhere without you" which was supposed to be resassuring but just irked me.
Finally, when we got to Madison our flight attendant mistakenly said "Welcome to Milwaukee" twice, which freaked me out a bit. Plus, our luggage didn't make it on the same flight we did, so we had to wait until the next day for that to show up. On top of it all, I thought we were going to have to get a different flight out of Seattle to get home on time, so they booked us on a flight through Colorado to get to Madison. That flight wasn't due into Madison until 9:45, so that's the info I gave my parents, who were picking us up from the airport. As it turns out, we obviously didn't need that flight and got in around 8:45. Luckily my parents came back from the airport early after being confused as to why our original connecting flight arrived without us on it. Confusion was the theme of the day, but we made it home safe and sound eventually.
Things I noticed on the trip:
Only one person said "God Bless you" when I sneezed, and that was on the plane ride back to Chicago
Lots of homeless people around
Lots of activism type stuff, with sightings of Greenpeace, some people who wanted to oust John McCain and Joe Lieberman from office and a group that was against the killing of the children in Iraq. Refreshing.
17 Starbucks(es) during out stay
Seattle is an incredibly hilly city and our calves got a good workout.
Despite the reputation, it was sunny and warm the whole time we were there. We had about an hour of rain on the first day, but that was it.
Marie was the more daring consumer and ended up ordering a meal of rice, vegetables and this outstanding peanut sauce that I ate roughly half of because it was so good. Like melted peanut butter, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
It was nice to be in a progressive city that supports local merchants in a very open way. I realize it's a big tourism attraction as well, but it was great fun too.
I overheard these two statements that somehow stuck with me. The first was at the zoo and the second was at the airport after our flight was delayed:
"It takes a lot for me to fall in love with a pair of jeans."
"I'm convinced that the world is slowly becoming one big screw job."
It feels good to be home.
no subject
you'll have to give me more details later. Seattle is my home yo and I love hearing other people's impressions of it.
Didn't I warn you against the aquarium?
Re:
I'm all about the details, drop me a line and I'll fill you in. Still hard to believe I was there a week ago!