I post MySpace bulletins from time to time (i.e., that's pretty much how you can tell on which days I have access to the internet) with a "Song of the Day." I basically take the lyrics to a song I've heard within the past 24 hours, which stuck with me or made me feel something, and I rework those lyrics as prose. Today I did two Saul Williams songs ("1987" and "Tao of Now"), but this is the real song of the day. It's so catchy, I just might get circumcised.
I'm going to eventually get around to revising the tags on my previous posts, and using only very general and common tags. There's just no use for so many. I think I'll narrow it down to things like "revolution" for my rants, "adventure" for my, well, adventures, and "piracy" for my Big Idea. And even though I already have sixteen blogs, I just might start up one for book reviews (actually, there is one among those sixteen; I suppose I'll just update it--I last posted there almost six years ago) and another for song-of-the-days... I have it in my head that now I'm actually living an interesting life, I might just start up a website rather than make use of MySpace for all my publishing needs.
Oh yeah, and I'll definitely keep the "wx" tag, because weather in Seattle is worth mentioning. It's July--the end of July, even--and it's not going to get over 70°F today. Here's some perspective:
Murfreesboro, TN: currently 91° (feels like 100°), with 57% humidity
Tucson, AZ: 103° (98°) 14%
Killeen, TX: 100° (109°... good Lord, dad, leave) 38%
Seattle, WA: 69° (68°) 42%
Let's see... what else is up? Josh (Jenn's boyfriend) moved in with us, so now we're three people living in a one-bedroom apartment. We're planning to relocate next month, hopefully to another, equally affordable place in the area. Also, I'm squirelling money away in the hopes of being able to afford rent & deposits for the new place and still make it to Burning Man. As long as I limit myself to the supermarket (i.e., cut out Red Robin and the Joker--but Jolly Roger's still cool 'cause it's cheap), I should be able to save up weird amounts of money.
I remember working full-time for T-Mobile, making something like $14/hour... what a life of luxury! But the thing is, I always lived up to my means... I have just as much spare cash as I did then, it seems, even though here I pay nearly double the rent, and over double in gas (even though it's a 30% shorter drive to work).
And I was obsessed with winning the lottery, then. I was spending $50/month on lottery tickets and thinking about what I'd do with the winnings.
And do you know what I was going to do? I was going to live more simply, and travel more. With the excess dough, I was going to do things that would help people. I actually thought to myself, "if I had more money, I could help people."
And then I thought to myself, "what are you doing to help people with the money you have now?" I stopped playing the lottery, then.
And then I did an even crazier thing: I quit my job. So not only did I have less income... I had no income.
And do you know what I did then? I lived more simply, and I traveled more.
This is treatening to turn into a much longer post that what I've resigned myself to (I'm about to head to the library to pick up a book that's being held for me), and so I'm going to change tack (but note to self, add "money" to the list of blogs-to-come) and just mention that me:income / water:pitcher. Whatever size container my employer grants me, I conform to its shape. I see no reason to do that, when I could live even more simply, and have even more money... and then I could actually use that money to help people--for now. Ultimately, I intend to help people with no money at all. But until I work up that much nerve...
Oh, yes, and other things I've been up to:
last Monday, Jenn, Josh and I met up with coworkers+ at Golden Garden (the beach not far from our home; have I mentioned we hope to find a new place in the same general area?). It was a good time, although I managed to get embarrassingly drunk, and Jenny (one of my coworkers) told me it's going to be a weekly event now. Perhaps with a bit less alcohol, though. So anybody coming to visit Seattle, be sure you're here on a Monday.
The day before that, Anna and I went to the Center for Wooden Boats to take part in the free sailing they make available on Sundays. Most of the voyages were booked full by the time we arrived, but there was room left on the last one--which was on John Wayne's yacht! So we got to go out for a 45min trip around Lake Union. Very nice. When visiting, also plan to be here on a Sunday.
Yesterday, I saw the new X-Files movie. I was very pleased. Katie said it wasn't like the X-Files. It wasn't like an episode of the show (it was, in fact, like a movie), but I thought it had everything that the X-Files had ever had going for it. Katie complained there wasn't enoug Skinner, but that's because she's a perv.
Top it off with a good (abeit short) conversation with Nathan, and making Jenn watch V for Vendetta, and yesterday was just another good day in a good week in a great city.
Showing posts with label wx. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wx. Show all posts
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
new adventures!
I'm really happy about this: I have done a lot in the past nine days.
I have a tendency to be lazy--one of my biggest motivations in leaving Tennessee was to escape what I thought of as a "sedentary lifestyle." So any week in which I leave the house two or more times (for something other than work) is a big step for me, but it's a first step, and I hope to reach a point where I spend the majority of my time out & about.
Here's some of the things I've done lately:
--I walked with Anna down to the waterfront, and took a ferry to Bainbridge Island, where we had pizza, and then returned to play Rock Band until we dropped.
--Saw Dr Robert Thurman speak at SPL on the Dalai Lama, and how the world might (he says will) change through a Buddhist perspective.
--Explored the U. District, where Anna introduced me to an awesome bookstore and an equally awesome video store (the movies are arranged alphabetically by director!), and then we talked about Mike Samberg over drinks at an Irish pub.
--I finally got to work in receiving at BN. I guess since that's what they hired me to do, and since I've been there for a month now, they finally decided to put me in there. I celebrated by spending my lunch break that day drinking and writing.
--Friday I went downtown to join my aunt, uncle & cousin in seeing Alexander Nevsky, while the Seattle Symphony and Chorale performed Prokofiev's score to the film.
--yesterday I took a bus to the U. District... it became stuck in traffic (yesterday was UW's graduation) so I hopped off & walked around until I found my way to Maitreya & Mark's house, and we went to see the Mariners lose to the Nationals. None of us are fans of baseball (actually, I think yesterday was the first baseball game I ever watched that wasn't a video game), but Mark had free tickets so it was worth doing. This was the first time I met Mark, and the first time I'd seen Maitreya in probably ten years.
--Today I joined my aunt, uncle & cousin again, this time for Fathers' Day brunch. That was very nice, and Bria (my cousin) and I followed it up by going down to the pier and touring one of the boats from Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch." It was freaking cool (Bria liked neither the motor-oil smell, nor the discomfort of it, but I thought it was awesome, and am now considering going out with them for a season).
Anyway, that's the laundry list of recent accomplishments. Not the most exciting, but oh well. I'm going to go now, and try to get rid of this headache.
Oh, yeah, but before I do, I just thought I'd mention the fact that it's been in the mid-sixties for the past two days here, and I consider it to be wicked hot. Mark & Treya, having just moved here from Jersey, were asking about becoming acclimated, and I'd say it happens pretty quickly... considering I've been here only six weeks, and that I moved here from Arizona (where it was 117°F yesterday).
I have a tendency to be lazy--one of my biggest motivations in leaving Tennessee was to escape what I thought of as a "sedentary lifestyle." So any week in which I leave the house two or more times (for something other than work) is a big step for me, but it's a first step, and I hope to reach a point where I spend the majority of my time out & about.
Here's some of the things I've done lately:
--I walked with Anna down to the waterfront, and took a ferry to Bainbridge Island, where we had pizza, and then returned to play Rock Band until we dropped.
--Saw Dr Robert Thurman speak at SPL on the Dalai Lama, and how the world might (he says will) change through a Buddhist perspective.
--Explored the U. District, where Anna introduced me to an awesome bookstore and an equally awesome video store (the movies are arranged alphabetically by director!), and then we talked about Mike Samberg over drinks at an Irish pub.
--I finally got to work in receiving at BN. I guess since that's what they hired me to do, and since I've been there for a month now, they finally decided to put me in there. I celebrated by spending my lunch break that day drinking and writing.
--Friday I went downtown to join my aunt, uncle & cousin in seeing Alexander Nevsky, while the Seattle Symphony and Chorale performed Prokofiev's score to the film.
--yesterday I took a bus to the U. District... it became stuck in traffic (yesterday was UW's graduation) so I hopped off & walked around until I found my way to Maitreya & Mark's house, and we went to see the Mariners lose to the Nationals. None of us are fans of baseball (actually, I think yesterday was the first baseball game I ever watched that wasn't a video game), but Mark had free tickets so it was worth doing. This was the first time I met Mark, and the first time I'd seen Maitreya in probably ten years.
--Today I joined my aunt, uncle & cousin again, this time for Fathers' Day brunch. That was very nice, and Bria (my cousin) and I followed it up by going down to the pier and touring one of the boats from Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch." It was freaking cool (Bria liked neither the motor-oil smell, nor the discomfort of it, but I thought it was awesome, and am now considering going out with them for a season).
Anyway, that's the laundry list of recent accomplishments. Not the most exciting, but oh well. I'm going to go now, and try to get rid of this headache.
Oh, yeah, but before I do, I just thought I'd mention the fact that it's been in the mid-sixties for the past two days here, and I consider it to be wicked hot. Mark & Treya, having just moved here from Jersey, were asking about becoming acclimated, and I'd say it happens pretty quickly... considering I've been here only six weeks, and that I moved here from Arizona (where it was 117°F yesterday).
Friday, May 16, 2008
wx
So today it got hot in Seattle. I haven't paid attention to any weather information, and my guesser's busted (when I came here in January, I hardly felt the difference in temperature between Tucson and Seattle), so I couldn't tell you how hot it got to be... all I know is, for the first time since 29 July 2007, I'm experiencing humidity.
I remember in July, flying into Nashville after having taken five days to drive to Tucson, getting off the plane and understanding very well the meaning of the word "muggy." I'd been out of my natural habitat only five days and already the humidity spoke a foreign language to me. And today is that day all over again (er, under better circumstances, though).
I don't mind it, though. I actually miss it sometimes. I grew up in a house with no air conditioning, so there was no escaping it. That house trapped the moisture and it was normally cooler outside than in during the summer days. After moving out of that house, it was always too convenient to turn on the air and chase the mugginess out. In that house it was inescapable, and because of that it didn't seem to bad. I even appreciated the mildew smell in the house. (I probably would have been okay without the actual mildew on everything, though.)
Now as humid as Middle Tennessee was, Hawaii was worse. And the day that Jeremy and I hiked the forest around Manoa Falls, that was the most intense of it I've experienced. So it would make sense, of course, that as soon as it gets hot and heavy in the Northwest, I'm going to go hiking and camping in the Hoh rainforest.
And, as usual for a camping trip of mine, I am wildly unprepared... I'm basically going with a couple changes of clothes (I recalling coming out of Manoa rather muddy), peanut butter, honey, and a bag of trail mix. And books, of course. And beer. Of course.
I remember in July, flying into Nashville after having taken five days to drive to Tucson, getting off the plane and understanding very well the meaning of the word "muggy." I'd been out of my natural habitat only five days and already the humidity spoke a foreign language to me. And today is that day all over again (er, under better circumstances, though).
I don't mind it, though. I actually miss it sometimes. I grew up in a house with no air conditioning, so there was no escaping it. That house trapped the moisture and it was normally cooler outside than in during the summer days. After moving out of that house, it was always too convenient to turn on the air and chase the mugginess out. In that house it was inescapable, and because of that it didn't seem to bad. I even appreciated the mildew smell in the house. (I probably would have been okay without the actual mildew on everything, though.)
Now as humid as Middle Tennessee was, Hawaii was worse. And the day that Jeremy and I hiked the forest around Manoa Falls, that was the most intense of it I've experienced. So it would make sense, of course, that as soon as it gets hot and heavy in the Northwest, I'm going to go hiking and camping in the Hoh rainforest.
And, as usual for a camping trip of mine, I am wildly unprepared... I'm basically going with a couple changes of clothes (I recalling coming out of Manoa rather muddy), peanut butter, honey, and a bag of trail mix. And books, of course. And beer. Of course.
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