Weird Day
It was a weird day today. I went to a party last night, but didn't get back to my apartment until 2am, mostly because I had a really hard time finding parking near my place. I ended up parking very far away.
I woke up for no apparent reason at 4am. I was wide awake, but still tired. For the life of me I couldn't fall back asleep, but must have eventually drifted off around 5:30am. The weird sleep and the me forgetting that I parked very far away made me late for my breakfast "date". I met up with Ashley, one of the girls whose apartment I saw. I really liked her and her place, but a friend of hers needed a place to live suddenly, so I was elbowed out. Not that I mind at all at this point. Joette is awesome and gets awesomer everyday.
Ashley's pretty cool too though, so I was glad when she emailed to see if I wanted to hang out.
She's interested in art and in meeting new people, so I think she might become an official "new friend" in the near future. Haha. I'm such a dork about everything here, but I love it. I embrace my awkwardness and the fact that I don't know anyone here and that I'm brand new. It's fun. So far every day has been new and interesting. But as I mentioned, today has just been rather weird.
After meeting late, we had a nice breakfast of waffles at this waffle place that turns into a bar at night and has an art gallery in the back. It was cool and would be neat to hang out there one evening over a cocktail.
I headed back to neighborhood and decided to stop in the Pearl to go to "Storables" to get a laundry basket that I'd seen advertised. It wasn't as squishy as I thought it would be though, so I decided to do without for the time being. I did stop by the art store and had a successful visit. I picked up some watercolor paper and 2 brushes. My mom sent my water colors out. I've had the itch to paint, so I hope to do some tonight.
Back at the apartment I decided it was time I kick it into high gear and finish unpacking and organizing my room. So that's what I did. I set up all my shelves, put away all my clothes, unpacked all my bags once and for all.
During my organizing frenzy, I heard a loud crash! outside. Sure enough two cars had collided at our intersection. I'm not exactly sure how it even happened, but the cars looked pretty messed up. Luckily no one was hurt, but there was quite a commotion.
I went to the window in the sitting room to look at the incident from a better angle. I gazed at the sidewalk below as a man walked by. He was wearing streamers around his neck. Metallic red and silver ones that were crunched and curled and trailed down around his upper torso in such quantity that it took on the appearance of a lions mane. It was odd to say the least.
When I'd done as much organizing I could, I decided to return a trash can to IKEA (I had bought it as a bin to put compost materials in because it had a lid, but turns out Joette already had something really similar), and since I was going to make the trip, I also decided to pick up a few more of the cardboard boxes that I'd gotten at the last visit. I had put stuff in all the boxes I got during my last IKEA pilgrimage but still had a lot of stuff that was "floating around." It's just nice to be able to put any odds and ends in a box with a lid; makes my room look less cluttered, plus they have a cute pattern on them.
So that was my destination, but for some reason I headed down Burnside instead of Everett, so instead of easily getting on the highway, I headed downtown. I figured that there must be an entrance to the highway on the far side of the river, since that's where the highway goes, but I ended up on a wild goose chase. I did see one sign for the highway I needed, but the sun was at a blinding angle after the instructed turn, so who knows where I was supposed to go. I ended up in the industrial district. After driving around aimlessly for a while, I saw a sign for another bridge and thought there might be a highway entrance off of it. There was, but unfortunately, not the highway I wanted. I drove parallel to the highway I wanted to be on for a good 20 seconds. Rats. I realized I'd have to get back to the west side and start over. So that's what I did. I looped to the north and all around the city, only to get back to Everett, where I should have started in the first place. The whole ordeal cost me a half hour which unfortunately caused me to miss DSW's closing time by mere minutes (I had also wanted to return a pair of shoes).
I told Joette about my "adventure" and she said that she's done the same exact thing a couple of times, and that the entrance to the highway on the east side it really tricky to get to and easy to miss.
So at IKEA there was this guy who was IRATE about something or other at the return counter. He didn't get violent, but spoke in loud heated tones. The manager totally kept his cool and his voice so low that I couldn't hear what his responses were to the angry man's comments of, "I can learn to live without IKEA as well as I can learn to live without foreign oil," "I want more than just my money back... (mumbled offer)... that's not good enough!" and, "I'm going to go to the internet and write about this experience... people will read about this; you haven't lost only one customer today, I can assure you of that." It might have been funny if I didn't find the whole thing so pitiful. I mean seriously, what at IKEA could possibly stir such anger, such passion, in such a small, balding, white haired man? Maybe I should do an internet search for his "rage" review.
After angry man had gone and I'd returned my cute little red trashcan and lid, I set out to find my boxes. Oh, I stopped at the cafeteria for some swedish meatballs of course. In line for my meatballs I saw this REALLY TALL GUY. He must have been 7 feet tall. I'm such a jerk, but I couldn't stop glancing over at him, just to make sure I saw him right; that he really was that tall. He and his 5 ft. tall girlfriend sat across from me at another table. He was even tall sitting down and his t-shirt said, "Obey Propaganda". I have no other insight or comment or witty thing to say about it; it's just notable because it's not every day that you see such a tall person.
I got my boxes and went to the check out. I rang them up and they were $2 more than last time! I looked closer, and realized I'd picked up the large size. I thought the package had felt a little heftier when I picked it up, but I didn't realize there was a larger size, so I didn't think twice about it. So I had to walk halfway back through the IKEA marketplace to get the smaller sized boxes.
For some reason my mood was really weird; almost mopey, almost homesick, but not quite. I kept trying to focus on good things like my awesome new apartment, a good song on the radio, new friends, or the amazingly clear dark blue night sky that was highlighted by the glowing white half-moon and the remnants of the rainbow toned sunset, but with only moderate success. I could get happy about all those things, but at the same time the weird mopey funk was hovering.
I decided to "order" an awesome parking space right in front of my house that would be easy to park in (I've been parking really shittily today; once I was 2 feet from the curb, once I was at a crazy angle, and once I actually parked *on* the curb. sigh) and that would be available the first time I drove by the house. I forgot about my "order" on the rest of the drive, but as I got a couple of blocks from my place, I remembered and anticipated my spot. I was not disappointed. In fact, I could hardly believe my eyes. Right in front of my house was an "end" spot. I pulled right in with plenty of room to the corner and to the motorcycle in front of me. It sure made unloading my car very easy, and it also helped to lift my mood once and for all. It's kind of nice when little things like that work out.
I'm returning my rental car tomorrow. Perhaps that's part of my mood. It'll be my first time without a car. I'm not terribly worried, but having the car has definitely come in handy a few times. I'm excited not to have to deal with parking, not to have to buy gas, and not to have to drive around for 30 minutes looking for a tricky highway entrance. I think not having a car will take a little getting used to, but I think it'll be a good experience for me.
Back in my room, my windows were still open. As I sat and assembled my new cardboard boxes, I heard a guy walk by while singing "Wonderwall" quite loudly and with feeling. If he had finished the song while under my window I might have clapped. But he didn't. I just heard the words, "And all the roads we have to walk are winding, and all the lights that lead us there are blinding, there are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how, because maybe you're gonna be the one who saves me" fading into the distance as he walked on.
A little later I heard a heated argument outside. From the girl there was a lot of, "no! stop being an asshole! are you finished? swear you'll stop. SWEAR IT!" In response to the girl from the guy there was, "princess... come here! come here right now! *laughter* come on, stop. ok, fine I'll swear it." Then he started singing! "I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky..."
Um yeah. Did I mention it was a weird day? I love living in this city.
I woke up for no apparent reason at 4am. I was wide awake, but still tired. For the life of me I couldn't fall back asleep, but must have eventually drifted off around 5:30am. The weird sleep and the me forgetting that I parked very far away made me late for my breakfast "date". I met up with Ashley, one of the girls whose apartment I saw. I really liked her and her place, but a friend of hers needed a place to live suddenly, so I was elbowed out. Not that I mind at all at this point. Joette is awesome and gets awesomer everyday.
Ashley's pretty cool too though, so I was glad when she emailed to see if I wanted to hang out.
She's interested in art and in meeting new people, so I think she might become an official "new friend" in the near future. Haha. I'm such a dork about everything here, but I love it. I embrace my awkwardness and the fact that I don't know anyone here and that I'm brand new. It's fun. So far every day has been new and interesting. But as I mentioned, today has just been rather weird.
After meeting late, we had a nice breakfast of waffles at this waffle place that turns into a bar at night and has an art gallery in the back. It was cool and would be neat to hang out there one evening over a cocktail.
I headed back to neighborhood and decided to stop in the Pearl to go to "Storables" to get a laundry basket that I'd seen advertised. It wasn't as squishy as I thought it would be though, so I decided to do without for the time being. I did stop by the art store and had a successful visit. I picked up some watercolor paper and 2 brushes. My mom sent my water colors out. I've had the itch to paint, so I hope to do some tonight.
Back at the apartment I decided it was time I kick it into high gear and finish unpacking and organizing my room. So that's what I did. I set up all my shelves, put away all my clothes, unpacked all my bags once and for all.
During my organizing frenzy, I heard a loud crash! outside. Sure enough two cars had collided at our intersection. I'm not exactly sure how it even happened, but the cars looked pretty messed up. Luckily no one was hurt, but there was quite a commotion.
I went to the window in the sitting room to look at the incident from a better angle. I gazed at the sidewalk below as a man walked by. He was wearing streamers around his neck. Metallic red and silver ones that were crunched and curled and trailed down around his upper torso in such quantity that it took on the appearance of a lions mane. It was odd to say the least.
When I'd done as much organizing I could, I decided to return a trash can to IKEA (I had bought it as a bin to put compost materials in because it had a lid, but turns out Joette already had something really similar), and since I was going to make the trip, I also decided to pick up a few more of the cardboard boxes that I'd gotten at the last visit. I had put stuff in all the boxes I got during my last IKEA pilgrimage but still had a lot of stuff that was "floating around." It's just nice to be able to put any odds and ends in a box with a lid; makes my room look less cluttered, plus they have a cute pattern on them.
So that was my destination, but for some reason I headed down Burnside instead of Everett, so instead of easily getting on the highway, I headed downtown. I figured that there must be an entrance to the highway on the far side of the river, since that's where the highway goes, but I ended up on a wild goose chase. I did see one sign for the highway I needed, but the sun was at a blinding angle after the instructed turn, so who knows where I was supposed to go. I ended up in the industrial district. After driving around aimlessly for a while, I saw a sign for another bridge and thought there might be a highway entrance off of it. There was, but unfortunately, not the highway I wanted. I drove parallel to the highway I wanted to be on for a good 20 seconds. Rats. I realized I'd have to get back to the west side and start over. So that's what I did. I looped to the north and all around the city, only to get back to Everett, where I should have started in the first place. The whole ordeal cost me a half hour which unfortunately caused me to miss DSW's closing time by mere minutes (I had also wanted to return a pair of shoes).
I told Joette about my "adventure" and she said that she's done the same exact thing a couple of times, and that the entrance to the highway on the east side it really tricky to get to and easy to miss.
So at IKEA there was this guy who was IRATE about something or other at the return counter. He didn't get violent, but spoke in loud heated tones. The manager totally kept his cool and his voice so low that I couldn't hear what his responses were to the angry man's comments of, "I can learn to live without IKEA as well as I can learn to live without foreign oil," "I want more than just my money back... (mumbled offer)... that's not good enough!" and, "I'm going to go to the internet and write about this experience... people will read about this; you haven't lost only one customer today, I can assure you of that." It might have been funny if I didn't find the whole thing so pitiful. I mean seriously, what at IKEA could possibly stir such anger, such passion, in such a small, balding, white haired man? Maybe I should do an internet search for his "rage" review.
After angry man had gone and I'd returned my cute little red trashcan and lid, I set out to find my boxes. Oh, I stopped at the cafeteria for some swedish meatballs of course. In line for my meatballs I saw this REALLY TALL GUY. He must have been 7 feet tall. I'm such a jerk, but I couldn't stop glancing over at him, just to make sure I saw him right; that he really was that tall. He and his 5 ft. tall girlfriend sat across from me at another table. He was even tall sitting down and his t-shirt said, "Obey Propaganda". I have no other insight or comment or witty thing to say about it; it's just notable because it's not every day that you see such a tall person.
I got my boxes and went to the check out. I rang them up and they were $2 more than last time! I looked closer, and realized I'd picked up the large size. I thought the package had felt a little heftier when I picked it up, but I didn't realize there was a larger size, so I didn't think twice about it. So I had to walk halfway back through the IKEA marketplace to get the smaller sized boxes.
For some reason my mood was really weird; almost mopey, almost homesick, but not quite. I kept trying to focus on good things like my awesome new apartment, a good song on the radio, new friends, or the amazingly clear dark blue night sky that was highlighted by the glowing white half-moon and the remnants of the rainbow toned sunset, but with only moderate success. I could get happy about all those things, but at the same time the weird mopey funk was hovering.
I decided to "order" an awesome parking space right in front of my house that would be easy to park in (I've been parking really shittily today; once I was 2 feet from the curb, once I was at a crazy angle, and once I actually parked *on* the curb. sigh) and that would be available the first time I drove by the house. I forgot about my "order" on the rest of the drive, but as I got a couple of blocks from my place, I remembered and anticipated my spot. I was not disappointed. In fact, I could hardly believe my eyes. Right in front of my house was an "end" spot. I pulled right in with plenty of room to the corner and to the motorcycle in front of me. It sure made unloading my car very easy, and it also helped to lift my mood once and for all. It's kind of nice when little things like that work out.
I'm returning my rental car tomorrow. Perhaps that's part of my mood. It'll be my first time without a car. I'm not terribly worried, but having the car has definitely come in handy a few times. I'm excited not to have to deal with parking, not to have to buy gas, and not to have to drive around for 30 minutes looking for a tricky highway entrance. I think not having a car will take a little getting used to, but I think it'll be a good experience for me.
Back in my room, my windows were still open. As I sat and assembled my new cardboard boxes, I heard a guy walk by while singing "Wonderwall" quite loudly and with feeling. If he had finished the song while under my window I might have clapped. But he didn't. I just heard the words, "And all the roads we have to walk are winding, and all the lights that lead us there are blinding, there are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how, because maybe you're gonna be the one who saves me" fading into the distance as he walked on.
A little later I heard a heated argument outside. From the girl there was a lot of, "no! stop being an asshole! are you finished? swear you'll stop. SWEAR IT!" In response to the girl from the guy there was, "princess... come here! come here right now! *laughter* come on, stop. ok, fine I'll swear it." Then he started singing! "I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky..."
Um yeah. Did I mention it was a weird day? I love living in this city.