Bionic Teutonic

Currently, Seattle (and Seattlites) are totally shutting down because we have experienced a whole whopping 1 inch of snow. Jesus, people. I can’t decide if Seattlites are actually freaked out by this, or are just using it as an excuse to get out of work/ school. The city buses all have their snow chains on, although since they are driving on roads that are COMPLETELY free of snow, all the chains are doing is tearing up the roads and slowing the buses down. Oh, and sending a trail of sparks flying as they go. A hell of a lot of my co-workers had left work by 3:30 today to beat the ’storm’ that was moving in, threatening to drop another 1/2″ of snow. I’m embarrased for my city.

Here is a track I wrote a couple of years ago (jeez, time flies). Not totally complete in my book, but hey, they never really are.

Ariel and I just made it back home after a 14 hour flight from Iowa. It was seriously taxing. We had two layovers, both of which sort of stretched on forever. I had a book, but other than that, it was an entire day spent waiting….and waiting…..and waiting. I’ve decided that my nightmare job would be working at a restaurant in an airport. I would get very depressed spending half of my life in an airport. Other than that, we had a good trip back to visit my mom and susan. I ate myself till I was physically uncomfortable. Good food, good company, and it’s always nice to spend a little time back in the house you grew up in.

Thanksgiving is coming up and I’m going to be heading back to Iowa to visit my mom and Susan, et. al. Aside from the whole ‘oppression of native people’ thing, Thanksgiving is by far the best holiday. No presents to feel pressured to buy, plenty of warm winter drinks (Eggnog and Rum! Wassail! Glueh Wein!) The only thing to do is enjoy company, overeat, go for walks, and otherwise spend some good, quality time with people you care about. I am thankful for thanksgiving having remained relatively free of overt commercialization. Amen. Now let’s eat.

On a totally different note, something I never have understood is the way that most people seem to think it’s odd if you go out to movies by yourself. Seeing as how this is one of the least social of activities available, one would think it would be totally normal to do this. But somehow I always seem to get strange looks when I tell people I went to see a movie by myself. Asking somebody if they would like to go sit in a dark room and not talk for 2 hours doesn’t seem necessary to the enjoyment of the film (or of each-other). If somebody just ‘happens’ to want to see the film too, fine, but I really feel no pressure to find somebody to go with and find it strange that other people seem to expect this.

I just took my first bath in the new bathroom and I’m pleased to report that it was fan-frickin-tastic. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

This past weekend, Ariel and I got in the car and made our way south. Friday, we stopped in Portland and spent the night with my brother. We went to the greatest Tiki bar over by his house for a drink. Hula girl frescos, drinks that tasted like jolly ranchers, and some karaoke duets coming from the back room. My brother and I were pretty close for much of our childhood but for college and the few years afterwards didn’t keep in the best touch. As we’ve aged a little, it’s been nice to make meaningful connections again. Although we are quite different in ways, it’s funny to see him do certain things or tell a joke in a certain way that I think of as mine, and realize that it’s not a unique trait, rather that it comes from somewhere, a shared history. My brother is also just plain a good, decent person, and I’m glad I have family like that. On Saturday, we were able to meet his new girlfriend, the first I’ve ever heard him be really excited about. It’s nice to see him happy and I got a good read from her. She had a great sense of humor and seemed to be a good fit.

Saturday morning after breakfast we headed down to Eugene to hang out with our friends Rob and Kara. Rob is an acupuncturist and Kara is a Doula and massage therapist, and both a thriving down in Eugene. One thing I was thinking about and admiring about their respective careers is this: With most alternative medicine/ massage/ etc, the career path generally seems to involve setting up your own practice. The opportunities to get a job where somebody pays you every week are more scarce than those when you go down more traditional career paths. This means that to succeed, you have to have a certain amount of business savvy that really isn’t part of your schooling. I feel like I meet a lot of people with all the technical knowledge for a career in alternative medicine/ massage/ etc. but can’t quite seem to make it work on the business end. All this is to say that I was inspired by how well Rob and Kara seem to be doing creating a life and career that is very much their own and thriving.

On Sunday I spent a little time with my Grandmother, who is now living in a retirement community down in Eugene. She seemed to be doing fairly well, although she is a little bit more frail physically every time I see her. Her eyesight is really going and she can only get around with the help of a walker. It seemed like everybody had one of those things when I went to go pick her up.

On our way back up to Seattle, we stopped in Portland to have a brief but delightful dinner with out friend Esther. The ride back up was scary as hell. It was raining very, very hard and visibility was slight, at times bordering on nonexistent. I even considered pulling over and waiting for the rain to pass, but that didn’t seem like it was going to happen at any point, so I managed to white knuckle it back home. All in all, we managed to pack in some good social time with a bunch of different folks that I don’t get to see often. It’s nice to be able to get out of town without having to turn it into a large trip. Nothing more than gas and some time on the road.