send all their kindred into torpor and watch 'em cry
Day 2: Seattle.
Colin: Today I got up around noon ( finally! sleep! ) and walked over to Zack's house where he was babysitting his little sister. As soon as Julie got home, we walked over to the good 'ol bus stop over at 75th and 15th and caught the 72 express downtown. We were going to Westlake Center, to surprise our online-nerd-game-guild leader Melonie.
We get there, walk into the EB Games where she works, and surprise surprise, she's not there. We wandered back outside and noticed that there is a big open space right there in front of Westlake where several music acts had themselves set up and didn't appear to be being bothered by the cops. After we return from Mt. Vernon on the 5th, we are thinking about heading down there again to see how much trouble we can cook up, and how much money we can make. So anyway, I call Mel on her cell phone, and of course she had forgotten that we were coming and had the rest of the week off due to the fact that she had taken vacation time for a trip to Oregon. She has to wait for her fiancee to get home, but agrees to meet us in the U-District, so we hop on a northbound bus and head back toward Wallingford.
When Melanie and Brent arrive, we all instinctually try to avoid talking about EQ2. No, not here, we're normal people meeting at a normal coffee shop to have a normal conversation. Well that lasted about 5 minutes, seeing as the main thing we had in common was EQ. It turns out that it worked out to be a pretty good ice-breaker. I personally really liked Brent, which surprised me, because I expected meeting him to be much more awkward. I hadn't played with him in-game nearly as much as with Mel, and I wasn't sure what to expect when I met him. We had a very pleasant time and agreed to meet again next time we're in the city to play a Vampire: the Masquerade card game that they are really into. Why not? I personally wish that the four of us all lived in the same city, because I think there is potential for great friendship there. Naturally, I forgot my camera for all of this, so I don't have any photo documentation of the event. Mel had her camera, and hopefully she will provide me with some pictures, although there really wasn't much to see.
After we left, I had a very pleasant dinner with Zack, Julie and George Shangrow, and watched a plethora of Monty Python before heading back to my mom's house to pick up my brother and his friend Cam, and take the whole crew bowling/DDRing. I must say that aside from meeting Mel and Brent, this first portion of the trip where we are basically just visiting home doesn't really feel like an adventure quite yet. I can't wait to get to Oregon, and juggle and camp and breathe a little, without the weight of our past lives bearing down on us quite so much. Seattle is a beautiful, refreshing, wonderful town, but it feels heavy to me right now, and I will spend very little time here this summer. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we ship out for Mount Vernon, and the woodsy residence of Zack's father. I am very excited!
Zack: I ended up getting home at 7 in the morning to the groggy glares of my mother. I quickly crawled into bed, and closed my eyes for 3 hours. My grand sleep total for the past two days is now six! With the evil orb in the sky high in the air, I pulled myself out of bed I hijacked the espresso machine for some zombie-away juice. Colin then showed up at about two and we made our way out to meet our EQ buddies. Colin's already gone over this, so I will just pipe in a little about this.
I was nervous about meeting Brent (Melanie's fiance) and was very worried that he would take a disliking to Colin and myself, Brent and I managed to get comfortable around each other very quickly. Once we found out that each of us had played Ultima Online back in the day, we went off into our own little geektacular world and outnerded even Melanie and Colin!
Being back in Seattle is a bitter-sweet experience. I find that I do not want to see many of the people who were my closest friends when I lived here. This town is the zenith of beauty for me, but I know that it is no longer my home. I have outgrown it here.
Eugene and the real beginning for our adventure draws closer every second.
We're ready.