bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2021-07-19 05:39 pm
bigmacbear) wrote2021-07-19 05:39 pm
Lost Weekend
So the plan was to head to Seattle and see some folks I hadn't seen in a while. Gary is not one who enjoys crowded bars so he stayed home. I fixed stir-fry salmon and vegetables for dinner and left for Seattle on the 7:30 bus from Everett Station, stopping by the box to drop off our primary election ballots on the way. There was a dude strumming a guitar at the stop, and he was pretty good at it. He had a big upper body in a black T-shirt, a stubbly shaved head under a black ball cap, and wore skinny jeans which made his lower legs look out of proportion. An angry dude across the street in the ET bus stop shouted at his buddy; apparently they got stood up for a ride. Next to me, just outside the shelter, a sk8r girl was sitting on her board. Blonde, in all black, wearing a pink backpack and carrying a black one.
When the bus arrived, the guitar player sat in my usual place behind the staircase, so I sat opposite him on the upper deck of the Double Tall. A couple of sk8r dudes boarded at South Everett with heavy bags that bounced off every seat as they passed. Dude with Weird Al hair and a lot of ink visible under the tattered remnants of a shirt, wearing a Dodgers cap on backwards, boarded at 145th and sat in front of me. I used to have a shirt like that, it was my high school class jersey. By the end it was looking like David Banner's shirt after becoming the Hulk. There was a huge campsite north of Ravenna Blvd on the west side of the freeway. The guitarist left at 45th street.
I arrived at Westlake Station and had to use the elevator at Nordstrom because Westlake Center was closed. There were long lines at the ORCA machines so I decided to top up at Capitol Hill Station instead. I saw the two sk8r dudes on the train.
After topping up my ORCA card, I descended the hill to CC's. It was fairly busy but not packed. I just missed James Mulvaney. They've built up the area by the windows along Olive Way; it looks like the upper deck at Diesel except there's only one entrance/exit. I wasn't seeing anyone I know except Chris, and he was obviously busy, so I finished my drink and walked over to Pine Street, then caught the 11 bus toward Diesel. They don't stop at Rancho Bravo anymore, because of the BLM mural in the street.
At Diesel, I said hi to Red Mike. Hanging out while he checked out something in the kitchen, I met a dude named Matt who reminds me of Sugarbear. When Mike returned, he was chatting with a dude with a puppy in his bag. He liked my response to "Cheers." --"Seinfeld." Mike pointed out James sitting at the opposite corner of the bar and we chatted for a good while. Matthew who I know from Kenneth at Games Day came over, and I later found Kenneth and Thomas are his "boys" and his partner is Jimmy, who I met for the first time that evening. Matthew is a choral director by trade and I let him know of the opening at Puget Soundworks. Jesse was there as well, and introduced me to his friend Freddy. As it happens, Jesse works for an endoscopy practice and we talked about "getting it from both ends" and the fact they are recommending colonoscopy at 45 instead of 50 now. I was feeling good and texted Gary to meet me at Steamworks after the bar closed. I also met an Asian dude new to town named Jeff, who wanted to know about the Choruses so I texted him a link. I later saw Sean and had a brief chat with him. Against my better judgment I had a couple shots of Fireball in my apple cider, and at some point suddenly came over really drunk and stumbled. Mike was nice enough to call me an Uber to get to Steamworks safely, and I met Gary there and fell asleep in his room.
In the morning, about six, we got dressed and left to catch a bus to Northgate Transit Center where Gary was parked. I was not feeling well enough to drive so I asked him to take us home and we went immediately to bed. About three in the afternoon we went to pick up my car at Everett Station, and I watched TV for a while but soon nodded off and went back to bed about 5:30. Before falling asleep I called Colleen and caught up on her vacation. She told me that metformin metabolizes alcohol so you don't feel the effects right away, which might explain the sudden symptoms at the end of the night. Gary and I split a Mod Pizza around 8:30, and I went to bed for the night around 10:30.
Before starting my work day I sent Mike a message to thank him for the Uber ride. I decided to nap again about 8:30 during a gap between meetings, knowing I would make up the time during scheduled patching. As it happened, though, the SA who was to do the patching was out of the office and no one was available to reschedule.
When the bus arrived, the guitar player sat in my usual place behind the staircase, so I sat opposite him on the upper deck of the Double Tall. A couple of sk8r dudes boarded at South Everett with heavy bags that bounced off every seat as they passed. Dude with Weird Al hair and a lot of ink visible under the tattered remnants of a shirt, wearing a Dodgers cap on backwards, boarded at 145th and sat in front of me. I used to have a shirt like that, it was my high school class jersey. By the end it was looking like David Banner's shirt after becoming the Hulk. There was a huge campsite north of Ravenna Blvd on the west side of the freeway. The guitarist left at 45th street.
I arrived at Westlake Station and had to use the elevator at Nordstrom because Westlake Center was closed. There were long lines at the ORCA machines so I decided to top up at Capitol Hill Station instead. I saw the two sk8r dudes on the train.
After topping up my ORCA card, I descended the hill to CC's. It was fairly busy but not packed. I just missed James Mulvaney. They've built up the area by the windows along Olive Way; it looks like the upper deck at Diesel except there's only one entrance/exit. I wasn't seeing anyone I know except Chris, and he was obviously busy, so I finished my drink and walked over to Pine Street, then caught the 11 bus toward Diesel. They don't stop at Rancho Bravo anymore, because of the BLM mural in the street.
At Diesel, I said hi to Red Mike. Hanging out while he checked out something in the kitchen, I met a dude named Matt who reminds me of Sugarbear. When Mike returned, he was chatting with a dude with a puppy in his bag. He liked my response to "Cheers." --"Seinfeld." Mike pointed out James sitting at the opposite corner of the bar and we chatted for a good while. Matthew who I know from Kenneth at Games Day came over, and I later found Kenneth and Thomas are his "boys" and his partner is Jimmy, who I met for the first time that evening. Matthew is a choral director by trade and I let him know of the opening at Puget Soundworks. Jesse was there as well, and introduced me to his friend Freddy. As it happens, Jesse works for an endoscopy practice and we talked about "getting it from both ends" and the fact they are recommending colonoscopy at 45 instead of 50 now. I was feeling good and texted Gary to meet me at Steamworks after the bar closed. I also met an Asian dude new to town named Jeff, who wanted to know about the Choruses so I texted him a link. I later saw Sean and had a brief chat with him. Against my better judgment I had a couple shots of Fireball in my apple cider, and at some point suddenly came over really drunk and stumbled. Mike was nice enough to call me an Uber to get to Steamworks safely, and I met Gary there and fell asleep in his room.
In the morning, about six, we got dressed and left to catch a bus to Northgate Transit Center where Gary was parked. I was not feeling well enough to drive so I asked him to take us home and we went immediately to bed. About three in the afternoon we went to pick up my car at Everett Station, and I watched TV for a while but soon nodded off and went back to bed about 5:30. Before falling asleep I called Colleen and caught up on her vacation. She told me that metformin metabolizes alcohol so you don't feel the effects right away, which might explain the sudden symptoms at the end of the night. Gary and I split a Mod Pizza around 8:30, and I went to bed for the night around 10:30.
Before starting my work day I sent Mike a message to thank him for the Uber ride. I decided to nap again about 8:30 during a gap between meetings, knowing I would make up the time during scheduled patching. As it happened, though, the SA who was to do the patching was out of the office and no one was available to reschedule.