La Push, Washington; Low Season

Winter settles fairly evenly across the middlest part of the Midwest. One part is cold and snowy, so most of it is, and the rest will be soon enough if it doesn’t immediately fall under the same blanket. There might be a difference of 20 or 30 degrees, but all the temperatures end up south of the freezing point eventually, so it doesn’t matter so much.

Washington isn’t like that. There are snow-clotted passes and temperate Sound- and ocean-bordering areas and this middle part that’s apparently part desert, and winter settles unevenly, uneasily across the state. After moving here, I realized the whole grunge/layers look was just a simple adaptation to the Seattle weather. These things are revelations when you’re from the outside. Continue reading →

People I Saw at the Nine Inch Nails Show, Part Two

Let’s continue what we started, shall we?

This guy hasn’t worn this hoodie since 1998, but I bet he’s still wearing it as I type this. He had the look of a man who’d rediscovered something vital.

This couple will be tipping the sitter tonight, because they’re having their best night in a long time.

Enid Coleslaw made an appearance.

There was something almost architecture about this dude’s hair, as if he had the potential of taking an eye out with one of those stalagmites if he wasn’t careful.

Best. Mom. Ever.

There were a lot of these kid-sized NIN shirts floating around! Another favorite was the woman pulling a new Nine Inch Nails shirt on over her old Lady Gaga shirt. I would like to think that she had like five more shirts on under the Gaga shirt, each one from a show she’d seen at Key Arena in the previous months.

What have we learned from this? Well, I’ve learned I need to go out and doodle people more often. These were all done from memory, as I didn’t think to take something to the show to draw on. You? I would guess you’ve learned that you missed a rad show. Or that I devote a considerable amount of energy to not appearing to stare at people, even though I perpetually am.

P.S. A friend posited that Regretpants from last post was having the shifty britches feelings that can come with doing ecstasy. The more you know!

People I Saw at the Nine Inch Nails Show, Part One

So the Nine Inch Nails show last Friday was good. Great. Amazing. Really, I can’t say enough good things about it, so I’ll just refer you to someone else’s version of the same sentiment and leave it at that.

But the other great part of it, the part I didn’t anticipate? The people. My god, the people! You know that feeling when you’re walking toward a show, and you start recognizing your crowd as you get within a couple of blocks? The area around Key Arena was thick with it – a thousand men in black hoodies, battered 20-year-old NIN tour shirts worn with reverence, and so many people summoning their 1994 selves.

So while I loved the show – I loved the show! – the part that really turned my heart was the people watching. Everyone was having a stellar night.

I was so struck I came straight home (after cocktails, I mean) and drew. Here’s the first installment of two of People of Nine Inch Nails. (I can’t call it Nine Inch Nails Parking Lot, as I suspect a majority of us took the bus to get there.)

This is the first person I saw. Put me immediately at ease. Sometimes it’s nice to see someone and to have a good idea of about half of the contents of their bookshelves. Here, I see much Neil Gaiman, some obscure philosophy, and the earlier works of Anne Rice. Fine company in a diner for sure. Continue reading →

Why, Honolulu?

What state does this interstate go to?

Why was this cartoon fish given smallpox? Is it meant to be cute smallpox?

Why don’t I live somewhere that has a regularly updated sand sculpture in the lobby? Where are my life choices lacking?

And just what is he smirking at?

Why don’t all states use “coned” as a verb on street signs? It’s delightful.

Who made this sign necessary?

What this dog? Why? How?

Whose idea was this?

Are the trolleys just to convey the most “Americaness” possible in a single mode of transportation? What cultural thing is it exactly that makes cartoon-covered open-air buses a preferred method of transportation? (This is one version of many.)

What on earth must we look like to other countries?

Why are region/country-specific airlines so rad?

How awesome is this dog?

Seriously, how awesome?

What would it take for every airport to have a lei stand?

Whew.

Previously in Hawaii: Valuable Travel Tips for Your Waikiki Vacation and Hanauma Bay: The Most Dangerous Place on Earth. Still to come: in which we go hiking and get covered with mud.

Forbidden Photos of Ancient Peru

I can hear you from here. “My darling Standard Deviation, those cars are not Peruvian, ancient, or forbidden. What fresh hell is this?”

“Well,” my natural reply comes. “As those are Ford Tauruses, you are correct on all accounts. But I was able to take so few pictures of the main exhibit itself that I chose to use this as the title card instead.”

“Oh,” I hear you say. “Ok?”

Good enough.

Here are some things I don’t do as often as I’d like:

Go see readings at Richard Hugo House
Go to the Frye or the Henry
Go to the Seattle Asian Art Museum
Go to SAM

I could go on at length. But really, the list would just be a selection of likely upcoming blog posts for the next year, so I’ll spare you for now. What I’m saying is that there are basic cultural things I miss in the way of everyday life, same as most people. This past Sunday, I was reminded of how rad SAM is. Continue reading →

An Exercise in Incongruity: Luminasia

When you grow up feeling out of place, it’s easy and probably healthy to grow a sturdy exoskeleton of disdain and ironic distance. We have to get out alive somehow, and if that means your default expression has to be a sneer of a derision for a while, well, then that’s what it’s going to take.

I think this is fine unless it follows you into adulthood. Some of my favorite people are the ones who came through hard times as teenagers and young adults; some of my least favorite are the ones who did the same but let those experiences rob them of their vulnerability and easy humanity.

As you might have guessed, I generally consider myself to be in the former category, something that took some work and distance to achieve. However, the legacy of a rich background of self-defensive contempt is that it can sneak back up on me without warning sometimes.

If you’re lucky, though, that makes certain things into that much more of a delightful surprise.

With that in mind: ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else, I give you Luminasia.

I decided to go to Luminasia because a certain online travel deal site had a special and because I was then able to talk my neighbor into going. He’s just as into the unlikely as I am, and I sweetened the deal by buying his ticket. These are the things one must do when one decides not to own a car. By which I mean: make awesome friends who are willing to spend a Sunday night doing something odd. And, joy of joys, another friend decided to join us too.* Continue reading →

Valuable Travel Tips for Your Waikiki Vacation

I was only there for four-and-a-half days, but lo, I didst learn something. And this is where I pass my hard-earned wisdom onto you.

1. Drink all the pog juice you can. No, more than that. Rum is optional but encouraged, as with most things.

Continue reading →

Hanauma Bay: The Most Dangerous Place on Earth

Or: A Semi-Complete Record of the Warning Signs of a Mighty Fine Snorkeling Spot.

One of my main goals* for Hawaii was snorkeling, something I’ve been longing to do for the last, oh, four or five years. We decided to go to Hanauma Bay on the basis that it is beautiful, and because of a lovely teenage memory of chasing a glorious rainbow fish through the coral for what felt like hours.** Continue reading →

I’m Back, Kittens

Did you miss me? (No, of course you didn’t, because of the miracle of scheduling posts.)

I have approximately 500-odd pictures to sort through. That’s going to happen soon. Once I get through the gauntlet of work, class, and various obligations. So: November.

In the meantime, I have this for you.

I snorkeled in that. I snorkeled, and it was wonderful, and I chased rainbow fish and was reminded of another layer of being a joyful human being that one can forget about living in the Pacific Northwest. And as being a joyful human being is pretty much my goal above all else*, that is a pretty great thing.

So I shall see you soon with tales of muddy trails, military installation-topped mountains, ripoffs that are worth it, adventures in pescetarianism, and one pale and nerdy person wading through the deep metaphorical waters of a very strange place.

Also, some of those tags? Just reused because I could. I confess.

*The “all else,” however, is an exceptionally long and exciting list these days.

A Voyage into the Beacon Food Forest

There, we have arrived at the same incorrect preconception together.

“Food forest” is a bit of a misnomer. As my gardening friend explained to me, “Forests don’t actually create that much food.” That would be a garden. Which is what the food forest actually is. Also, the food forest is just a baby. At a mere two years old, it hasn’t exactly had time to develop the many-layered ecosystem it will eventually host.

And I knew my impression was bunk. It was part of why I wanted to go there. Because, honestly, this is what my brain conjured when I first heard “food forest”:

Which, like, no. Try this on for size:

There we are. Continue reading →

A Brooklyn Blog that Sometimes Travels

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