104°

It's going to be another hot one.

Yes, yes, it is,

everyone says, or when they meet each other mid-day, It's so hot. Everyone repeats this stupidly, as though at a loss for words.

I read that the line for AC units at Home Depot rivaled nerds waiting in line for the latest sci fi film. Even when the employees told them the AC units they were waiting to unload could never meet the demand, people still stood in the 100 degree heat hoping to be one of the lucky ones. And once they got their treasure, they were sent out through the garden section to avoid...what? Getting mugged? Getting stabbed over an AC unit?

Yesterday I took the bus after work to meet Andrea and swim at Greenlake. Though being submersed to your neck in water was a reprieve, after fifteen minutes and a handful of sunscreen we could feel our faces burning. When we got back to her car around 3:30, a sign in front of one of the buildings claimed it was 104.

It's light and 90° well past 10pm. No one can eat or sleep, and this combined with the heat makes people act unusual and cranky on the roasting buses.

Coffee, Bacon, Toast & Jam

Very little makes me more content than waking up late, making a delicious breakfast, and having the time to savor it. Yes, I move very slowly.

I haven't felt like updating this lately, but I'll give you some bullet-points of what I've been up to since I last wrote here:

• Finished my second week of work yesterday and I still love it. My boss is on vacation all next week, and she left me a list of things to do while she's gone. This is how I work best.
• Sasquatch needed models for a newly-wed cookbook, and I volunteered. I think they really wanted couples, but hey, I'm a rebel. That photoshoot's on Wednesday (and I just found out it counts as work! This really is the best job ever).
• Went back to swim at Madison Park Beach.
• Went rock-climbing last week with Sarah's brother Chris and his friends and saw Chris fall and break his ankle. Horrible. First time I've seen someone break a bone, second time I've been in a hospital. Wondering how much good that first aid course I took did, as I had no clue what to do... Also, increasingly worried about my lack of health insurance.
• Saw "500 Days of Summer," which scarred me for life...maybe in a good way.
• Went to ballet class again over in Greenlake - with Andrea this time. I especially love this class; it makes me so happy! Definitely my exercise of choice.

La Liste

I'm trying not to get too touchy-feely on this blog, but I wanted to share this cute music video. It's all about that list most girls have in their heads about things they want to one day do with a boy (here it's stuff like "Go to Ikea" "Listen to Janis Joplin" and "Ride a bicycle built for two" [yay high school French; I'm pretty proud of myself]). Speaking of high school French class, I remember a girl from that class whose dream was to go to Disneyland with a boyfriend.

I have to stop thinking about stuff like this!

Do you / did you ever have a list like this, and if so, what does it include?

I just finished my first week at my new job. I'm still afraid someone is going to run into my corner office with the huge tree-filled windows, waving their arms and shouting, wait, wait, there's been a mistake!

Meanwhile, while I'm still dreaming this dream, here are some photos:

One of my windows

Hello, Seattle!

Four floors above the street (incidentally, the lyrics of a great Waifs song).

So happy!

Bangs

Should I cut them short, à la Audrey Hepburn...Or grow them out, à la Françoise Hardy...?

Yesterday Linnea and I went swimming at Madison Beach Park, which was the ideal lake swimming experience. A stretch of attractive people and their colorful towels patchworked against the green grass...and beyond, Lake Washington blue and cool and sparkling. The water was a little cold at first, but once you strode past those initial few steps it felt amazing. I swam out to a dock with two diving boards - populated by a number of fit gay men in speedos (whose diving skills I watched with awe) - and jumped off the high dive. Just like being ten-years-old again at the YMCA. Yeah, right.

Just looking at these photos makes me want to go back today...and tomorrow..."and all the days forever more!"

I GOT THE JOB! I GOT THE JOB! I can't believe it!!!!!!!!
I feel like someone is playing a cruel joke on me and I'm halfway afraid to get my hopes up.
I'm the new publicity assistant for Sasquatch Books.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roskilde

I wanted to share these great photos of Roskilde, the Danish music festival, that our hip Swedish friends posted on Facebook. It looks like so much fun - summery and carefree; I hope to go someday...

Life isn't about endings, is it?

Trying day. Thank goodness for the original Office, and the wonderful person who uploaded the second season finale to Youtube.

Here's the best of the best:

A philosopher once wrote you need three things to have a good life: 1), a meaningful relationship, 2) a decent job of work, and 3) to make a difference. And it was always that third one that stressed me - "to make a difference" - and I realised I do everyday; we all do. It’s how we interact with our fellow man.
--David Brent.

Genius, genius, genius. I cry every time I see the ending. And it's a tough choice, but I think I do prefer Tim to Jim...

Mannequins are Shoplifters, Frozen

Medium Large is written by the guy who writes Sally Forth, believe it or not (Francesco Marciuliano). It's often pretty sketchy, but I thought this one was hilarious. I was that "older brother" (sorry, Emily and Aubrey).

- If you sit in the bathtub long enough, you'll literally turn into a prune.

- Silverfish eat your bones.

- There's a skinny little man who lives in the light pole and changes the stoplights.

- Giant squids come up on the beach at night (I believed this to be true).

Do you remember the childhood world of fantasy and ritual? Kids suspend their disbelief because everything is foreign and wonder-ful. The world is composed of so many bizarre truths that anything seems possible.

In Dependence

Moving to an area where your father and his six siblings grew up means you end up spending a lot of time with family. Though three of said siblings and their progeny live out of the state, my aunts, Julie and Dede, and uncle, Rich, live in the area. Then there are my cousins, Jannell, Jeff, Jeanine, and Adrienne who still live nearby too. And two of the third generation, Ryan, and Kaley.

I spent the last 24 hours with Aunt Julie at her beautiful light apartment in Bellevue. Her unit overlooks the pool, and just past a few pine trees you can see the water. Yesterday was blazing hot when she came to pick me up, and the navy blue interior of her '86 Camry was baking in the sun.

Her daughter, Jannell, son-in-law, Erik, and grandson, Ryan, came over in the evening for dinner, and we watched fireworks from a claustrophobically-packed park a block from my aunt's apartment.

Ryan is four, and packed with personality. He was cracking me up all night with his big words and bossiness. It was fun to be with him for his first fireworks show. He kept saying, "I'm not going to be scared. I'm going to shout louder than the fireworks." He's a lot like my brother when he was that age.

He liked my hat...

...and my headband.

Maidenbower Beach, by my aunt's (she's sitting on the wall).

Wedding on a boat. What fun.

Toooo many people!

Ryan put his anthrophomorphic blanket ("Yum Yum") on his grandma's head, "so he can see the fireworks."

Woke up today feeling like I'd been dragged through a fence backward (is that the saying?). Congested, sore throat, eyes hurt, sneezing obsessively...mainly just feeling rubbish. I think I'm getting allergies for the first time in my life here.

I would have slept hours more, but had an informal interview at a Montessori preschool ten blocks away near Green Lake. It's really small; located in the owner's home, but sounds like so much fun. The owner, a hippie-ish woman in her early 30's, warmly invited me in and introduced me to her husband, another of the teachers - a girl in her 20's, and two of the fattest guinea pigs I've ever seen. They offered me a clay mug of peppermint tea, and as I picked a guinea pig hair out of mine, they told me about the position. It sounds fun, but doesn't start 'til September.

When I got home, I checked Craigslist and lo and behold there was an ad for a publicity assistant at a publishing company. I was so excited I applied right away, and ten minutes later got an e-mail saying they wanted to set up an interview. I wondered how she'd even had time to read my cover letter and scan my resume. So exciting. So that's next Wednesday. Whew. I feel extremely lucky, but wonder how it will all work out. Now I'm almost hoping I don't hear from that admin. job.

Heading down to the Seattle Center (the Experience Music Project museum) in a bit with Andrea to see a Jim Henson exhibit. It's free tonight. You know this makes me want to grab my ukulele and start singing "Why are there so many songs about rainbows?" in a Kermit the Frog voice. Instead I will leave you with some photos from yesterday's expedition downtown:
Yummy crumpets at Pike's Market. Mine's the Nutella one - of course.
Enjoying my sexy sexy crumpet whilst watching the strip club sign across the street flash "LUBES" and worse. Cool waterfall you can walk through! I got soaked. Luckily it was hot. Then some hooligans squirted us with a water gun while we were waiting for the bus.
I thought San Luis Obispo had the only bubble gum alley. I was wrong.

A beautiful evening at Gasworks Park with Andrea (roommate) and a few of her friends. It's right on the water, with a huge grassy hill. While we sat there, hundreds of sailboats rode in a circle in a sailboat parade of sorts. Perfect day.