Secret Urban Garden

Last Sunday was my last day of break, and I wanted to spend it doing absolutely nothing. And I did most of the day! But at one point I wanted to get out of my apartment for a while, so I went out and started walking. I didn't know where I would end up, I just wanted to walk in a different direction from usual.

It was a beauuutiful day for once and I wanted to enjoy the sun. After a little walking I stumbled upon what looked like a little park. When I got closer I saw that it was actually a garden. One that was a little rundown, but still perfect for what I wanted.

 After following a trail that was covered in bushes and thorns, I found a stairway which lead to an area surrounded by trees in full bloom. It was beautiful, but my allergies were also in full bloom...Next stop: Headache city, population: me.

If only I had my real camera, that would have made for some amazing photos. But these iphone photos will have to do.

And maybe this garden wasn't so much of a secret because there were other people there. But I don't care, I'm still going to call it that.

Snowmageddon 2012

Just a few weeks ago, the weather decided it was time for us to have another snowmageddon! Our first was a few years back, and I guess we were over-due for another exciting round of power outages, closed streets, car accidents, and school closures.



It wasn't bad downtown, where I live, but everywhere else seemed to have a foot or more of snow. My mom was snowed in for about four days!



When I'm back home-home, I hate snow! Mostly because it keeps me from going anywhere, and I get stuck inside without power. But here in my new home, I LOVED it! I could stick walk/bus wherever I wanted, and it was beautiful seeing snow in a new environment.

City Experiences

Seagull outside my window.

1. I was on the bus, late for school as usual. But apparently the universe felt that I needed to be punished for my constant lateness. I was just sitting there minding my own business, when I noticed the man in the wheelchair directly in front of me was rocking his body forward. He was trying to build up momentum to stand for a moment, not sure why, but when he did I had the horror of seeing his entire naked butt hanging out of his pants....his big, fat, old, hairy, naked, butt.

2. I was walking across the street, and a family was crossing the opposite way (towards me.) I noticed the girl bending over and before I knew it she was puking...But since they had to cross before the light changed, her mother was pulling her along. So this little girl was literally puking across the street....Just what I needed to see on my way to get lunch.

3. Seconds after that, the light changed and I was still a step or two away from the curb. But Mr.biker man must not have cared, and must have had somewhere to get to, because he raced by me faster than I could realize what was going on, and I thought I was going to die.

4. Uh...this one is my own stupid fault actually....I was walking down by the marker, texting. Yes walking and texting, I know I know. Anyways, since I was texting, my head was down. And when I walked into a patch of sunlight, the sun shined through my bangs somehow causing a strange illusion of an object being in front of me. This caused me to flinch out of the way, except there was nothing there. Just me, flinching from invisible objects in public...

5. Walking back to school I passed a crazy on the streets, well actually that happens pretty much every day. But some are nice and leave me alone. This particular man asked me “ey...is, is she still playin’ football?” I ignored him but he seemed to get angry “ey...HEY!!! Is she still playin football!!?!?” I shrugged and kept walking....a little faster than before.

6. Lets end on a positive note! As I was walking to my bus, I saw a homeless man on a corner. Nothing unusual there. But when I saw what he was doing I was shocked. He was...cleaning! I’ve never seen someone picking up garbage off the street that wasn’t their’s, let alone a homeless man who could easily be using his time to ask for change or shout nonsense at passerbys.

Pike Place

Oh my have I been busy...or maybe it's not actually that busy for a normal person's standards, but for lazy ol me? It's like drowning in projects and responsibility....But I'll adjust. Someday. Soon hopefully...

But instead of discussing of my school life that no one wants to hear about, lets take it back to last weekend, shall we?

 Once upon a time it was the weekend of October 8th. My uncle was bringing up my desk for me, and I was using Davic as free labor since I sure as heck wasn't gonna lift no furniture!
 When my Aunt and Uncle arrived it was WEIRD. Having my small town uncle there with my best friend in my big city apartment? It was like 2 or 3 worlds colliding. It was also a tad awkward that I didn't have anywhere for them to sit. Apparently they weren't okay with sitting on the floor so they just stood.

Afterwords, I wanted to take Davic to see something very Seattley, since he never really gets out of our home town. We decided to take a mini adventure to Pike Place Market!



The store we spent the most time in was probably my mom's "hippy store." The smell of incense literally smacks you in the face when you walk in, and there's hindu deities everywhere.





This store also has a no photo policy, which I didn't realize until I was leaving. I think this might have upset Ganesha. Look at how angry he was with me!


I'm sorry Ganesha!! I wish I knew the store's name so I could advertise them here to make up for my mistake.

Next up was the famous gum wall. I've always seen this wall in photos online, but in my whole life of coming here, I never knew it was at Pike place!

Take in all the beauty.

Davic was reluctant. For whatever reason he was grossed out by the wall (psh) and didn't want to go closer to it. Ironically he was the one who accidentally touched it. :)


I was STOKED.

Of course since the gum wall is down in an alleyway, there's plenty of graffiti.



Why does this bird look so traumatized by me? :(


While Mommie explored the vitamin and supplement shop, I let Davic pick where we went since the trip was more for him than anyone. Unfortunately he was interested in nicknacks. Ugly, tacky, cheap, useless, nicknacks...


Whatever makes you happy buddy...

Um. And then there were pretty stars? And peppers. I donno, sorry I don't have a segway. My photos get super choppy from here on out.





We went to Le Panier, and I finally tried a real live Macaron! Those cute little deserts you see as decorations everywhere lately.


Look at that chalk drawing! They look like Dahlias. <3

 
It was WAY too sweet for my liking. But the flavor wasn't bad. It was fun eating a green desert none the less.

We ate our deserts at a place I like to call "homeless park" but it was hard to enjoy them with all the cigarette smoke blowing around. *cough cough*


Oh dear there's a whole lot of awkward going on in this photo. We are the awkward family! But at least it's a cute awkward.....right? rigght?? :(

For some reason, that day we saw balloons floating away in the sky at least 4 different times. As we were walking down to the waterfront I finally caught one on camera.



We also saw this wedding party walking away post-ceremony. It seemed like a fairly creative wedding. If I remember correctly, one of the bridesmaids had a purple mustache glued to her face.



I really wanted to show Davic the classic waterfront shops. The Curiosity shop, Miner's landing, the aquarium, but we just didn't have time. But no worries, it just gives an excuse for us to have adventures again soon. :)

He did, however, make a new friend before we boarded our bus and ended our day.


Up next is a SUPER MEGA sappy entry about the next day at a Buddhist temple.

The City Life

Yup. I did it. I'm here. I moved. Actually, it's almost been a week. wow.

So what's it like? how was moving in? Well in some ways it was wonderful, and in some ways it was the worst.

Day 1: Davic helped me move in (I'm so thankful! he made it way easier.) We spent the day doing some mild exploring and figuring out the bus, and ended with a way overdue heart-to-heart. That night however was the WORST.
Sleeping in a new place is hard enough for me, I'm sensitive to my environment in every way. What made it 10 times worse was the city noise that I wasn't quite used to. Buses, sirens, you name it. And the cherry on top was trying to sleep next to Davic who tossed and turned and talked in his sleep. At one point he even hit me in the head.

Day 2: I felt VILE from a lack of sleep and the nerves from my new environment. Davic wanted nothing more than to explore the city, and could barely hold still. We had to compromise, spending some of the time resting in my room, and some of the time in the shops close to it.
That afternoon I had to send him home on the train, and of course I started to feel better right around this time! We said our goodbyes and I headed back "home." My first ever solo walk in the city. And when I got back my apartment felt sad and empty. This was the saddest point of my week.  :(  BUT I was able to sleep that night, perhaps from pure exhaustion.

Day 3: I don't think I did anything this day other than grocery shop. Which by the way is not so fun when you're paying yourself...
Although that night I fell back into my normal routine and it started to make my place feel homey.

Day 4: I didn't bring a razor because I expected to just buy one at the store below me. But apparently the people here don't grow hair, because I couldn't find any razors, not even the lady kind! So I checked out google maps, and found a route to RiteAid. The trip was interesting and was my first solo adventure through the city. I got asked for change, creepily smiled at, asked for directions, and had a picture of me taken!

Day 5: Orientation day at my school. I had to wake up early, take the bus by myself for the first time, and sit through several boring lectures. Only one of which even had to do with my specific major. I being hypoglycemic and all, need protein every few hours. That didn't mix so well with the 4 or 5 lectures that kept me there until afternoon....Also I was given my supply kit which weighed 70 thousand pounds. So wobbly, dizzy, little ol me had to lug alllllll that shee-yit home on the bus. Looked like this:

Day 6: Today. The most exciting thing I did was read my book outside. (woah a semi-social setting with people there? What's gotten into you?) And make a grilled cheese sandwich.

It is feeling more and more like home. Which I'm sure will only continue. Tomorrow evening I'm going home to visit because it's been SO long.  :P And on Monday...at 8 am.....class starts. dun dun dunnnnn!

Wish me luck <3

California Dreams Tour

Oh my, what an exciting adventure we had yesterday. After checking out a potential apartment for me, MyLinh, my mother an I had tickets to see the lovely Katy Perry. I have to say she put on an overall amazing show. 

My only gripe was that a soccer game was going on the same night, so traffic was absolutely nutso crazypants. I had no idea there were so many devoted soccer fans in Seattle. And plus wherever the people in the red shirts were from. 

When we arrived at our seats we saw some pink clouds, one of which was hanging high above the audience. We started making predictions about what that would be for.

There's the cloud. I was hoping she'd actually go up this high so she could be closer to us.

I was inspired by two whorishly dressed teen girls. If they can take sexy pictures so can we.

The opening act was Janelle Monae, who who was very loud, creative, and energetic. I personally liked her stage presence, but my mom wasn't two thrilled with her screams. When she was done she literally rode out on some guys back.... After her was DJ skeet skeet. He was good and provided a club-like atmosphere. (or what I assume a club would be like?) But I couldn't help but be distracted by his name a little...

The concert itself was amazing. Rather than a concert it was more like a theatrical production or something. I mean how many concerts have storylines? (Actually, I wouldn’t know...) I loved how it started with a little story about Katy and the butcher and the baker’s boy. Man was she adorable in that video. At the end when she climbs through the kitty door, you could feel the anticipation building in the room since everyone knew exactly what it meant, Katy herself was going to pop up any second!

And she was very creative in finding a way to incorporate her less sugary songs. :P This particular scene also taught me to never trust mimes...especially mimes bearing gifts. 

The outfits, the dancer, her spunkiness, it all made for an awesome show. And on top of that there were the extra things like lasers during ET, confetti and “whipped cream” sprayed at the audience for California gurls, and during Last Friday Night, photos were shown on the video screens including MINE. Maybe it was only 2 seconds, and maybe I was mostly covered up by an animated cat, but Mason and I were ON THAT SCREEN!!!  :D

E.T.  (Click any of these to see full size)

   

See? She did go on that cloud! But not as high up as I thought.

Yes. It is a hideous picture of me. But you know what? It was on a screen at a katy perry concert and that's all that matters.

When we left for the night we were all exhausted. My calves were for some reason sore, mom had a headache which caused a detour on the way home, and Mylinh? well. For some reason her milk was coming in during the concert, and had leaked through her shirt....oh the life of a young mother. 

Goodnight Seattle <3