The Merchant's Cafe

July 27, 2008

M and I went to the Merchant’s Café on Friday. It is the oldest restaurant and bar in Seattle, it was once a brothel, and the evidence was still there with lush regulars gracing the bar tops with raunchy dancing at every classic rock song. When getting some fresh air outside, a scrap broke out between the bouncer and a girl who’d just been kicked out. She was underage but felt she had the right be stay because she knew people at the bar, anyway, she threw a drink at the bouncer that reflected onto everyone nearby, I had lime juice in my hair and M and I were ready to start something if we didn’t have heels on. She got dragged across the street kicking and screaming. A man beside me was also the victim of the juicing. Him and his old man were in Seattle for one night and were due for a flight back to Newcastle, England the next day. Mike was a song writer and musician on tour with his father, who happened to be the first guitarist for The Animals and former band member for Eric Clapton. My stunned reaction, which included getting slightly teary eyed quickly scared him back into the bar. Mike and I talked outside for a while longer about the music industry and I invited him to visit my company the next time he was in town.

The next day I wrote my bike out to pick blackberries and fell asleep on a bench for a while, you know, like what the homeless people do. A stretch of the bike trail is full of exotic looking roosters, nobody knows who keeps leaving them there, but I hear every year there are new varieties. There must have been hens at one point but they must have run far away for fear of being trampled.

M and I went out in search of a live music venue for Saturday night. We went to the university of Washington district (also UW). We went to a small club called the Monkey, they had funky stuff all over their ceiling like a beer keg with plastic buttocks stuck to it. The band was a head banger called Ubik, their sound check was my favourite part: “check, check… check… CHEEEEECCCCKKKKKKKKK!!!!” The crowd really got into the music after a while, they even started moshing in the one cubic meter of space there was to stand, knocking over tables and chairs. The bass player was also dressed in a panda costume for those on ecstasy.

After our eardrums had enough, we headed back to downtown Seattle to an Irish pub called Fado. The band was great and the place was huge. I love it! There were many other pubs in that area and I will be spending many more weekends scouting out my new watering hole, although Thursday nights at the Duke of Wellington during my time in Waterloo is irreplaceable. The statistics were not lying. Seattle is home of the most eligible men per capita. They are everywhere and most are well dressed and handsome, a girl can get used to this.

Livin Loud

July 24, 2008

These past few weeks have just flown by. I had hoped to accomplish a lot more by the end of July, but it much easier to lounge the weekends and evenings away. Our last roommate, M, joined the household a couple of weeks ago from Sacramento CA. She is so great and has moved from far for a new life just like me.

A few things I’ve learned from living with the girls:

• all newly purchased clothes must be introduced to other members of the house
• The answer is always no to

-“Do I look fat/skanky in this?”

-“Am I being unreasonable to assume…”

-“Is it asking too much for him to…”

• Always answer yes to:
  

-“Do I look nice in this?” (followed by recommendations on accessories)

-“He’s cute isn’t he?”

-“Pina Colada?”

-“I worked out today, I can eat this right?”

• Purchase junk food but be incredulous about it
  
• Keep quiet when others complain about their bodies
  
• Walking in underpants is acceptable and common
  
• Cosmo magazine and Victoria secret catalogue must be in plane sight
  
• Cats must be spoiled and oogled at
  
• Weekend = car wash in bathing suits

All cliché, all true and pretty great actually, but if I don’t sit at a pub with some beers, boys and live music soon, I’m going to freak out. It’s time to make some new guys friends and work is where I’ll start. I already know just the one to befriend. I first met him when I wondered into the recording studio for a closer look at the mandolin hanging on the wall. He was testing some new speakers there and showed me a few things on the mandolin. Every Thursday my company offers a class at lunch ranging from company background, studio recording, digital mixing etc… These lessons are taught by company experts and such a rare resource. The biggest perk about this job so far. Today’s class was the second of a three part series on studio recording where we got to see pre-recording, fine tuning of the user interface and over dubbing of different instruments. Each instrument was recorded separately and combined. As soon as the mandolin guy started on his guitar, it was obvious that he was born with one in his hand, everyone was thoroughly impressed.

Sorry, I hate to rub it in, I really do, but I’ve just been informed of a room filled with prototype/sample guitars that is very overcrowded at the moment. My coworker was kind enough to help by taking one of the guitars to his desk and I will do the same soon.

The weather here has been beautiful and I wish I had a car just to be able to explore the area. Blackberry season is starting, bushes grow everywhere here and I will not go hungry for the next month. M and I may be doing the live music thing tomorrow. The weekend after that is roomie S’s birthday camping trip which happens to fall on STEVE MILLER BAND at the gorge amphitheatre, what am I going to do?

Never shopping again

I have discovered... Victoria Secret. Goodbye crowded malls, hello silhouettes and spandex!

good credit bad credit no credit

Where is the trust?! I can't get a credit card in this country! My fantastic bank (really they are a very established and helpful bank) cannot give me a credit card without US citizenship. I don't know if there's a bank in town that will look at my credit history from Canada. What really sucks is, people with no credit history cannot get a credit card from a bank. They have to start out at ohhh, Target or Home Depot. It's kinda hard to get established around here, looks like I'll have to buy a car with cash.

Other than that, things at the house have been good. My roomies brought their cats over to live at the house. One of them named Peaches, is the sweetest thing. I used to think the cats on cat food commercials were high on catnip or trained by the circus to make them so friendly, turns out, it was just Peaches! I have a land line set up now so if you want the number just ask! I miss everyone back home very very much, and one person the most. Whatever he's doing now, I hope he's happy and self assured.

Independence Day!

The last week flew by. I am loving this house. On Friday my roommate's friends came to visit. We went to the Mariner's game against the Detroit Tigers and lost, it was too bad that the Jays were in town the day before, but they got their asses kicked. We sat right behind right field and got to see the various leg stretches that Iciro is capable of. A totally drunk guy was sitting in the first row. He heckled the hell out of Joyce, the Tigers' right fielder. It was hilarious!

I went to Camano Island with Kendall and her bf for independence day. We played cards, drank and watched the tide come in at her friend's cabin. As soon as it got dark, our neighbours started all their firework shows. The entire bay was lighting up, it was awesome! One of the guys at the cabin took out some of last year's fireworks, he would light it up and throw it out into the water where they exploded in mid air. He burnt his hand by the end of the night, naturally. Apparently, the best (and most illegal) fireworks can be bought from the Indian reserves nearby. Its as if their way of celebrating the country was to blow up a part of it haha. It was weird to see stars and strips everywhere instead of red and white, but that's just one of many things to get used to around here.

The Moment of Truth

Have you guys ever heard of the show called "The Moment of Truth"? It might be new this season or just not aired in Canada. The game show is pretty similar to Deal or No Deal, or Millionare etc, because you can win money in increments. However, the contestants must answer personal questions about their life. They are first subjected to a lie detector test where 50-70 questions are asked. 21 questions are then picked for the live show. If their response is honest and matches the lie detector results, they can continue to the next question. Of course the contestant's immediate family and friends are there. Some harsh truths come out of that show, and just shows how far people are willing to go for cash.

I just saw the show for the first time yesterday. A woman (who'd been married four times) was asked if she would have married her current husband if he had no money, in which she answered "no..." So far, nobody has even come close to winning the half a million grand prize, its a harsh show but I'll be watching!