Mortie, Mortie: He's no shorty, Mortie.
I saw “Willard”, starring Crispin Glover. Creepy, unsettling, and worth every penny.
Diana found a new place to live starting April 15th. It’s at the Opera Plaza building – almost like a mini city inside. I couldn’t live in that sort of dwelling – it’s too hotel-like, and I reserve that living for the occasional trip to Vegas.
Lindsay from Santa Rosa joined Laura and I for Saturday’s anti-war protest. There wasn’t as much turnout as the February 15th march, but it was still quite sizeable. The parade route was different this time – we marched through the Fillmore to Jefferson Square Park, and sat next to an area with yellow caution tape, which turned out to be a civil disobedience training area. The park is right across the street from a police station, and law enforcement was flanked along the rooftop, videotaping the event.A group of people within the caution tape area informed passerby of civil disobedience training about to commence. Laura and I crossed the barrier with about 40 others. I was nervous, because the yellow tape to me represented a true commitment to doing this, with the knowledge that this was probably being videotaped and photographed. After about 20 minutes in, I thought less and less about the police presence and more and more that I have the legal right to be a part of this training. Have I been that subtlety affected by anti-civil rights legislation?
A very skinny man in his early 30s talked us through and facilitated role playing events in partner form (one person plays a protestor, the other plays an angry commuter trying to get into the building they’re blocking). We did several of these events, and then went through short legal training if one might be arrested (I particularly dug that they’ve committed to my memory a legal hotline number: 415 385-1011).
The second organic dinner at Sutter and Octavia was smaller, but even better. I might start something like this when I move here, but make it more of a potluck so that people don’t have to pay a fee to partake (although what they’ve served is a deal at twice the price). Lindsay, Laura and I ended up at a party for someone who works at Global Exchange. I already have a resume in for a design position there. My fingers, legs, and anything else that can be crossed, is.
I was accosted by a lady on the bus who was sitting by the window, and I was sitting at the aisle. She said that the airport was her stop – I said it was mine, too, but didn’t get up right away. That’s when the elder woman, who had spent most of the trip next to me quietly, scribbling recipes onto paper from a cookbook, shoved me and started yelling. I got up and said “Relax!”. I don’t think she was playing with a full deck – and while my initial response was anger, I felt sorry for her after awhile. She’s likely a very lonely woman, set to her habits – quiet until slightly riled, and like a majority of passive-aggressive Seattle, a mental time bomb waiting to go off.
People are so in hibernation mode this week. There will be no karaoke on Thursday, for sure. I’m frighteningly busy with homework and freelance – I keep getting jobs, albeit small ones. My friend Julie and I had dinner last night – she’s really excited about a pending hotel gig in Thailand beginning in early July. I’m happy for her, as I know she’s had cabin fever here for a couple of years, and couldn’t wait to play overseas again.
I rented a car and drove to Santa Rosa to meet with John Stayton, to talk about the Green MBA program at New College’s Santa Rosa campus. We met at his home, the Golden Nectar farm. He was a half-hour late, so his wife showed me around the farm and talked about the projects going on there. When I finally met with John, we spoke about our respective backgrounds and he talked about the program’s offerings. This seems like a great fit – not a degree in journalism from Berkeley, but a wonderful foundation for some long-term plans – and I think that with this acquired knowledge, compounded with my design and political leanings, there could be a lot of potential for me in just a short time.I got a sunburn! Wait’ll the kids in Seattle see this.
After class (regretfully, I missed the first hour and what proved to be an amazing video about an alleged race riot at Thurgood Marshall School), I caught up with some politically oriented television. I finally got to see an episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher” – and it’s better than “Politically Incorrect” ever could have been. It’s much more daring and experimental, and one of two reasons to succumb to HBO, the other being “Da Ali G Show”.
A representative from West Seattle is attempting to pass a state law banning all forms of smoking within bars and restaurants. Rather than get attacked by conservatives who say that liberals are taking away smokers’ rights, he’s attacking smoking as a health hazard to the servers/waitstaff who have to soak in the stench all day. I hope this passes – it’s one of the reasons I enjoy going out dancing and singing in San Francisco. The restaurant associations in Washington state say that business will plummet, but I believe it will increase, since people who don’t go to bars and restaurants because of the smoking will now go if that law is implemented.I’m thinking about flying in to San Francisco next weekend a day earlier. I wondered aloud to a friend of mine about how psyched I am when I come back from the Bay Area, all charged up with new ideas and things to create and do as a result of my New College experience and the general outward clashing of ideas prevalent in that city, but that energy dissipates after a few days back in Seattle.
My friend Julie and I went to a vespers night at the Episcopalian church across the street – they have Gregorian chant, and turn off the lights. It’s a nice reprieve from an otherwise hectic few days.
A big gathering at Molly Maguire’s tonight, and I meet two more people who are moving to New York. Something’s catching.
“You know him. He was the guy who used to walk around downtown capturing crows in a cardboard box – the guy whose girlfriend led him around with a dog collar at the Catwalk?”
Overheard on Capitol Hill
Pundits are declaring the Iraq war “inevitable” again, and the terror alert has been reduced to “Elevated”. I think I’m going to turn off the media for a couple of days for a well-deserved break. Like homework, for instance.
I’m finally finishing up five days of a flu bug that’s going around Seattle. Hacking less and less each day. How pleasant.
The cleanse has severely curtailed my tolerance to alcohol. I had a glass of wine with dinner, and then later on had another one at a icky-snooty bar with friends, and ordered a third, but couldn’t drink it. I used to be able to work with a whole bottle. Ah, well – at least this has an economic benefit.
My cabaret singer friend, Julie Cascioppo, just got a 3-month contract in Bangkok at the Hotel Plaza Athénée, starting in July. Most everyone I know in Seattle seems to be heading out this spring. Have we as a city collectively squeezed everything we’re going to get out of it, and then leave? Won’t that only leave Microsoft employees behind? Yow.