Let's go crazy!

Washington State is so fun for me now. I mean, it always was, but more in that 'home' sort of way rather than the vacation I now see it as. Started off my July visit with a triathlon!
"Don't worry, everyone looks like a sausage." (encouraging words from) Tina Chan

   

Then there was Sarah and Joe's wedding out on the farm...

...and Seattle to see my family...

 

 

...including walking around Mt. Rainier National Park with my mom...

 

 

...and I still have another weekend in Richlandia coming up! :)

The balance of my NYC summer is ripe with visitors: Shannon from VA, Drew and Jasmine from Boston, and Amber and Kristie from Richlandia. AND I'm going to see the revival of RENT on Broadway! :) Very excited.

And because even my family is confirming with me, yes, I'm returning to WA at the end of August. No one, and I mean no one, believes me...

New is old

In a rare paradoxy, new has become old to me. In that I have had my fill (for now) of new people, places, and things. Give me tried and true. Give me the usual. Give me traditional. Give me the old standby. Yes, amen. Are you a familiar face? Come talk to me. Are you an old friend? Splendid. Have I known you long enough to milestone any recurring season or time period that enables me to complete the phrase "the last time we did this ..."? Hallelujah. Nostalgia is my current passion. So I am marking any repetition, pattern, familiarity. The fact that my friend's one year old son stopped fussing when I arrived to today's Memorial Day picnic (ah, memory) recognizing me was enough to stem the tide of uneasiness I was feeling about sharing time with friends among acquaintances. Thanks, kiddo.

Shout out to Meredith for prompting this update. Co-sponsored by Mountain Dew for luring me into caffienating. Just kidding. I take full responsibility for being awake five hours before I need to go open the pool.

And so on

I've been working as a substitute para-educator (quite the tongue twister for me) in the Kennewick School District for the past few weeks. So: yay, job! I really enjoy it so far. Lots of stories. Another time.

In--what is becoming characteristic--fiscally liberal style, I am headed to Hawaii next week for my sister's 40th birthday. You may say this rings a bell, that's cuz last year we celebrated my other sister's 40th birthday. For a virtually unemployed girl, the rest of my travel plans for this non-sabbatical year surprise even me. Gosia, my friend in Poland, is getting married the first weekend of May. Joyce whom you know from her visit to me in NYC and my visit to her family in Atlanta is taking me to EPCOT/Disney World with her later in May. And I've got a cruise to the Bahamas on the docket for my uncle's 70th birthday. Just tonight, I ran into the dear parents of an old friend of mine who said she's going to Spain in July and renting a big place and everyone is invited...and of course my 2nd thought (after "Oh dear") was: July is open.

I think I can register for my proof-of-dementia-card soon.

Caffeine free diet Irene

As I told my friend Julie, I've been meaning to title a post the above for a few weeks now. Ever since I stopped drinking coffee one fateful day, I think it's been three weeks now, and survived the throbbing headache, I have, in fact, been caffeine free. I've quit coffee several times before in my life but this is the first time that I've really appreciated not being groggy and 'in need of a fix' in the morning/afternoon. So, I think I'm going to stick with it. I feel more clear headed, physically--not necessarily otherwise, and it makes me happy.

As far as "diet": I've been tracking what I eat and happily weigh a little less than I did two years ago at this time. We'll see. No big hopes, although I am going to Hawaii with my family at the end of this month. So there is a motivating factor.

I had my first full day as a substitute para-educator today. It was pretty fun. I liked the alternative high school environment I was at. Listened to a great sermon recommended to me by my ex-colleague and still friend Scott that reminded me of many Great Truths and so complaining about my wage is really towards the end of the list of things I can be doing with my life. :) I love perspective.

Scrabble cake made by Jessica. The "I" is for me and it is yummy! Thanks, Jessica!

Oh, and I finished the draft of the play that I was working on! Yay!

And a shout out to Alison whom I had the pleasure of lunching with the other day. She said my blog has been useful in disproving some of my alleged whereabouts. Thank God for that!

Just a sign that I'm in Richlandia. Note the politely stated limit. :) Another bonus of bus-riding: I get to walk a bit too and catch these treasures.

In true cyber-stalker fashion, I really want to meet this woman who reminds me eerily of myself, but she has not responded to my comment. I guess I don't make much of an impression in the blogasphere. :) But if you get a chance, read it! It's amazing.

Pounding the pavement or otherwise

So this is how Day 9 on the Richlandia job hunt went: up at 7:30am, sunlight streaming through the window from the east. Part way though quiet time my mom says breakfast is ready. So I go. No need to be all high and mighty about my QT, rather, eat while it's hot. Deftly avoid last week's Thursday morning topic of conversation and finish tranquilly. 

Back in my room, I realize there is no way for me to catch the 9:25am bus so opt instead to take my time, take a shower, etc. Select appropriate pre-interview outfit and run out the door at 10:25am tossing an easy "I've gotten good at this" to my mom as she locks the door behind me. Half way down the block, think, "I don't like this jacket. Not for today." Oh well-it and continue toward the stop when the #26 blows past me (at the helm: the driver who yesterday complained about increasing property tax to pay for education initiatives trickles down to renters). Gah! Walk slowly back to the house. At least I can change my jacket now.

Compare schedules to make sure the 10:55am will align with the #120 to Kennewick. It does. Shuffle around the closet to locate my springing pink mock-silk jacket and head back out the door at a conservative 10:50am. The #26 is caught and off I go.

I truly love the bus. I don't know what's come over me. I can only imagine that I experience each ride wearing Big Apple-colored glasses. I love the fat old ladies who travel with their doggies. I love the quietly chatting kids with angst-dyed hair and skateboards to roll home on. I love the smelly dudes nodding off in the handicap seats. I love the crotchety drivers. I love that it costs a neon-green stamp-sized ticket (valued at $1) to board and that I get a newspapery torn transfer slip in return. I love that I can wear headphones and really, if I actually did everything right, rides would only take on average ten minutes longer than it would to drive.

Fade out dream sequence. As scheduled, we arrived at the Knight Street Transfer Station and I hopped on the #120--my first inter-city ride! Due to my own stupidity, I got off too early and instead of walking (here's where this post's title comes into play) on the weedy dirt path (sidewalks end abruptly in Richlandia) to my intended destination, I decided to wait the half-hour until the next bus. At the Three-Rivers Transfer Center (I may hit them all before long), I enjoyed the sun, the side view of the county jail, Infinia Corp's shiny solar dishes, and best of all made friends with a middle-aged Iraqi lady named Thrwi. I know, how the heck do you pronounce that? Well, all I can say is that it sounds like it looks. :) Immigration officers must be much cleverer than they were when my parents came to this country.

Finally, at around 11:40am I am in a financial services office sitting with the nice lady who informs me they have already filled the position but she'll keep me on file. I was kind of stunned to get a sit down chat with anyone on the spot but I guess this is how things happen around here. And I was glad I had missed the first bus so that I could change my jacket. Really, the first one was the (if you know me well) polyester maroon jacket with golden-yellow fuzzy lining that my uncle got back in 1965 or something--older than me is all I know.

Back on the WB (or 'westbound' for all you personal car people) #120 I asked the bus driver is there was a stop close to the (sniff, I'm so sad it's not Espresso World anymore) Coffee Roaster place and she said no, the route turned onto Jadwin before stopping. No harm, just a few extra 100 feet. She later stops just in on Jadwin before the marked stop for my benefit, pretty nice. It's no good though, my left heel is already bleeding from too many steps in nice shoes. I finally make it to the job hopeful lobby and tear the little flap of skin from the back of my foot.

The office is locked. I leave the folder with my info perched on the handle of the door and leave. Text my friend Debbie to see if I should go back and receive ‘ABSOLUTELY’ in response. She's the one who gave me the idea to apply, so, I wait. The massage therapist from downstairs says she thinks he just went out to lunch. Meander over to the river and gaze. I time how long the baby geese stay underwater when they dunk. It's about 20 seconds. You were curious, right? Then I check back at the office, still not there. Do I catch the 1:15pm or wait more? I choose wait because 1) I'm already here with a cover letter dated Mar 4th, 2) I'm already dressed up, 3) I already have a blister, 4) I have no other pressing things to do. 

Second cool interaction: I go into the salon where I don't see the massage therapist but another also beautiful woman in the same uniform and ask her if she has a band-aid. She says, "I do!" and quickly fetches it for me. Now that is customer service. Amazing. Flowers might be overboard but if I had more money I'd consider it, I felt worlds better.

Finally met the guy around 2pm after a bowl of black bean chili (another surprisingly good thing, and only $4) from Rosy's Diner. Done. It's an awkward time now, just missed the 2:15pm so I walk along the river passing moms pushing strollers and retirees puttering after dogs. I feel out of place, and more so because of my hat, shiny pink jacket, skirt, and dress flats.

Two shots of the Columbia from my phone. 

Catch the 2:45pm after standing on the warm, dusty corner across from Denny's. Home around 3pm. Just over four hours start to finish. Eh, what's an unemployed girl gonna do anyway? Blog about it.

Like a place on W 49th St

My breakfast today. Picked up a package of Shoyu ramen from Uwajimaya in Seattle before returning to Richlandia. Most my NYC church friends will recognize what I am trying to re-create here.

Ramen, baby bok choy, fried egg, duck meat.

I really really should be working on the play so let me keep this short and go do that. :) This is the start of my sixth day here. I have applied to a couple places but no bites yet. And have taken up the quasi-urban hobby of riding the public bus around town. Aw yeah. Volleyball was fun last night, though, and so has been catching up with friends.

Exit wounds

Not that I've been shot. It's just the pin prick-sized scabs on my hand just healed from helping arrange roses at the TSC volunteer banquet--and that was about two weeks ago. And there's a fading bruise on my shin from when I ran into Juanita's granny cart containing her Christmas tree. And, well, the gap in my heart whenever I leave NYC. And, well, well, it's time. I'm done. Time to shut down the blog because there are no more travels.

Nancy (of Richland) asked me today if I plan to be temporary for much longer. And it's like: yes, I not only plan to be temporary, I AM temporary. And eternal. Confusing right? It's the dot, not the line--according to Randy Alcorn. But no, I want to be Somewhere. I don't like being elsewhere. I like location, I just don't like fixed location. (A big thank you to Nancy for the lovely lunch and chat!!)

My dad said I need to own things to teach me responsibility. Like a computer. Or a car. Using things that don't belong to me, I don't learn to take care of them. I didn't get mad, visibly. Certainly my internal resume ticker was flashing: I just took care of my sister's FOUR kids for a week! My Linkedin recommendations rock! I bought and installed RAM for your computer...Oh hollow justification.

Anyway. Here's some pictures to lighten the mood of this post.

Some of my ex-colleagues at the Deutsch department party I crashed.

Kristin and Linsey prepping lemon tart.

Closeup of tart.

Juanita and the tree. :)

Richland and the Olympic Peninsula

Lots of pictures from June and July!

While in Richland, my mom cooked for me. Here I am enjoying a salad on the front steps of the house.







Also, my hair has gotten so long (I'm pushing a year since the last cut) that I've taken to double looping it. Looks vaguely Japanese to me.






So I went to visit my refugee friend in Prescott, on the apple orchard where she works. This is the long, straight road between.







Here's mom and dad at lunch. :)

And here's peaches from the tree in the backyard that my dad tends. Yummy, juicy!








OLYMPIC PENINSULA:
This is Rialto Beach. My first time touching the Pacific from the Washington State coast.















Ruby Beach:













Rainforest near Lake Quinalt/Maple Grove (Nancy wisely took pictures of all the signs so she wouldn't have to rely on memory to place photos, wish I had.):















Forks signage. Nancy's humor.


Order window at Sully's, Forks retro burger joint. Forks is the setting for the popular book/movie Twilight. I know nothing about it except that one of the actors has been in the tabloids.









Cape Flattery, the northwestern most point on the continental 48 states. I loved this place. None of the guide text talked about how dramatically beatiful it is, just the location.
























Crescent Lake









Hurricane Ridge













Rock shop that was Nancy's only Must See, outside Port Angeles.


Annual sand castle contest in Port Angeles that we paid a dollar to sneak peek.







Visited my best friend from high school, Meggan, and her family in Port Angeles. Her Swedish husband, Mattias, also spent high school in Richlandia so we all go way back. The last time I saw their little one she was 2. Their elder daughter was spending a few weeks in Sweden so I missed her. It was a great, short visit. We chatted and played Euchre!












We went to dinner at her friend Joy's restaurant, called Joy's. Nancy treated and said it was the best meal she's had in a long while. The food was great. Cheesecake...














We left the Peninsula on a Saturday and drove to Camano Island where my sister's friends invited us over for crab!



































Back in NYC. I'm freelancing at my old company, Deutsch. I'm subletting a room in a 2BR near Columbus Circle and posing as a Manhattanite. This is the MoMA special exhibit by a Chinese artist who collected all his mother's belongings and arranged them as an installation piece. Meant a lot to me, in terms of my own saving, spendthrift mom.

This caught my eye, narcissist that I am.








And this is called "Huggable Mushroom Cloud" which also was a great meld of my spheres.