A couple Vegan 'Me Days'

Yesterday was actually my birthday, today was kind've like my birthday observed. Okay, so, admittedly I'm not that well-connected. Not that I don't have any friends, just that I don't have many friends in Seattle. That I don't have any friends is another issue entirely. (Ba-boom-boom-chhh.)

As my 26th fell on a Friday, I went to work as usual, earlie in the mornin', and once finished in the early afternoon, promptly went home and got into the wine- Bright White by Bear Flag. I didn't drink half the bottle before I was basically out of commission and laid down for a nap. By the time I woke up, I was still groggy and basically, the evening was pissed down the toilet.

SO--I did my celebrating today. Wait a minute. Missed something. That wasn't it at all. There was a whole other piece. After work, I took my sorry as car down to a couple parts stores, to try and get some cures for its ails.

I got the gear oil I was looking for, and put it into the transmission case. As suspected, shifting became a lot easier. All the gear lube had been either burned off or leaked out- more likely burned off since the car doesn't have a working cooling system. The next project. Not sure if I can do it myself or have to pay an arm and a leg at a garage.

Anyway, so I did that. Wasted a lot of my time. Then, I went up to the U-district, not in time to get to the Wayward Cafe, and, with few other options, settled for Pizza Pi. Not one of my favorites, but it'll do. Should've gone to Thrive or Chaco Canyon- I know that now- but enjoyed a pretty full meal of synthetic cheese bread and a calzone, taking my cherry pie to go.

This is not meant to be a restaurant review, but, as a side, I thought the dough in both turn overs to be undercooked on one side. Doughy. Truth be told, I'm not very delighted with their cooking anyway, particularly the way everything tastes like the same bbq sauce. To boot, when I wanted to use the bathroom, I was told it was unlocked, but, no matter how hard I tried the door, couldn't get in. I waited to see if someone was inside, but don't think so. I'd been clowned. So, I wandered over to the park and- guess what? Yup. The gate on the loo was locked. Just my kind of sitcom life. So- I could'nt find a bush to piss in with any degree of privacy (Don't particularly want to get arrested for a sex offense as is possible in Washington state,) and didn't have to go so bad that I was willing to just saunter into a random bar or restaurant like I own the place, and skulk right back out. So- I went back- was promptly asked if I had possession of the bathroom key- and ate my food trying to read random bits from a copy of The New Yorker supplied by the restaurant.

THEN, i drove home and had the aforementioned experience.

So today, I rose at leisure, went back up to the U district in damnable traffic* which I didn't have the patience to drive through and detoured out of. I hit up Chaco Canyon where I had a delicious bowl of raw, pasta-like zucchini strands, and a gluten free Bard's Gold beer. Interestingly enough, my brother called, followed promptly by my mother during this time; neither of them knowing how good their timing actually was.

*As you can imagine, traffic is an especially painful experience for someone with anxiety disorder and a junk car with no cooling system, the engine heat blasting in their face through the vent on an already- unusually- hot afternoon- in a lame attempt to prevent overheating or irreparable damage to the smoldering engine block which should not be run in these circumstances. But then again, so can waiting for and boarding a series of buses, paying fare either in much needed laundry quarters or with a card that requires a 15 minute walk to refill, and self-consciously sitting amongst with the hardened thugs one is sure is staring at them, without knowing any recourse.

I then sauntered around the U district in my beer-inflicted hazy buzz, almost got run over by an sob in a beemer, whose passenger laughed as I flipped the bird without looking at them, tried to find some of the books for my upcoming classes in the University Bookstore (I am not going to UW,) wandered in the Twice Sold Tales book shop with a hugely obese tabby cat and some surly hipster employees, stepped into a record/ video/ gadget store where I purchased the first Ipod I've ever owned, a 2nd gen Ipod mini, for $35, and continued on to yesterday's missed destination- The Wayward Cafe, to purchase a plate of Colonel Wildcat's chiggen for later consumption. I also had the last cinnamon roll in the place.

Upon exit, a scraggly dude asked if I could spare any leftovers. I gave him half the meal, just put it into his hands since he didn't have anywhere else to put it- and I wasn't in a sharing enough mood to hand him the whole thing- he said "Vegan Power," and I made an iconic fist and said "thanks, you too." I ate the rest of the meal pretty much right after.

Why am I doing a minute-to-minute narration of my boring life? I'm not entirely sure. I guess I had some interest in these events for some reason, and also; being that it was my birthday; observed; I guess human nature is to talk about a day that's supposed to be special to us in some way.

In conclusion, I went to the Frye, but the exhibit hasn't changed since last I was there, so I continued to a Ross store where I bought an Ottoman and chanced upon a coworker; an Ethiopian guy named Aklile; purchasing a tea kettle. He invited me to check out his place in order to show me a futon he wishes to give away due to lack of space. It's so comfortable he says- he preferred it over the regular bed in his room, and would sleep on it in the living room. I doubt this claim, as I have a rather comfy pillow-top queen. At any rate, this may end up being the sofa I've needed to complete my space, and create a non anti-social chi vibe. And, I now have a new friend, to the extent that he speaks English. He broke in the tea kettle brewing me a cup, and requested I help him better understand his computer on weekends. I agreed, since that happens to be one of my specialties- though not one I'm particularly interested in.

So--wow- this is so much longer than it has to be or should be, and if you're reading this far, I salute your brevity. Why? Why would you do this to yourself. It's like watching paint dry--this post--is it not?

So yeah, I got some groceries at two cheap places- The Cash & Carry and Grocery Outlet, and went home, surprised that the car made it up that hill with all that shopping inside.

After being here a while I found, with some disgust, the decaying corpse of the goldfish I had noticed was ill and placed in quarantine with 82 degree heat, floating atop the tank, bent at a severe swimming angle. Not sure what his deal was, but he was very dead and rapidly and reekingly decomposing. Despite our best efforts, it's tough to revive a gold fish who wishes to leave this plane of existence. I don't blame him/ her and wish him/her well in the next life time.


Oh--and I finally figured out what pod casts are- I'd never put Ipod together with Pod-cast before. I also listened to my first one, one the unit, The last episode of This American Life. So- yeah- that's where I am in life. 26 years old and finally have a proper MP3 player that does nothing else but provide portable audio entertainment- as it should.



That's the pathetically sad way I gain another year. Thanks for reading. You crazy, indiscriminate reader of crazy, indiscriminate blogs.