Last week of May

1. Last Friday I went to one of the Seattle International Film Festival movies...I've never gone to any before, and I got some free tickets from the Mountain....figured I'd check it out. I saw Nurse.Fighter.Boy. The movie was great. It was about a single mom with sickle cell. The relationship between the mother and the little boy is so well done- sometimes I feel like the relationship development is lacking in movies- in comparison to books anyway. The casting was spot on...the little boy was so perfect...kind of like that little kid in Australia. And there was a really amazing soundtrack that just fit the scenes perfectly. While I enjoyed the movie, the part of the film festival experience that was so cool, was the director was there. He just flew in, introduced the film, and then did a Q and A after. I LOVE hearing people talk about their passions...hearing him explain why he included this part or that scene, or why he left certain parts out, or where he found a particular song, and how he spent the entire month of last May in the studio editing from 8:30am-3:30am. He has that much love for what he does. That is so inspiring to me. Cool experience...I'd like to think that I'll make it out to a few more.

2. On Saturday, the Adventurers Club had their first outing. We made plans to check out the Folklife Festival. For a few reasons having to do with our mission/goal (we haven't actually discussed a mission or goal, but these are what I imagine they would be if we had), 1. It's free. The Adventurers Club strongly believes in free and cheap...finding such events is really all part of the adventure. 2. Ohhh, the people watching. Seriously, have you ever been to Folklife? It should be called a hippie holiday, or, I don't know, some other alliteration involving hippies. 3. Food samples. When thinking of Adventurers Club, I didn't initially think about food samples...but really, what activity isn't enhanced by free morsels of yummy? We could do a club meeting at Costco on the weekend and call it a successful adventure.

I always think these big festivals down at the Seattle Center sound like a good idea...and then I get there, and remember how much I HATE the ridiculous crowds. Where it takes an hour (not an exaggeration) to get from point A to point B...which usually takes 5 minutes. Willow was certain she was going to catch swine flu, due to the close quarters and gross coughers...instead she was pooped on by a bird while we sat and ate our lunch. We saw so many accordian/washboard/banjo combinations of bands huddled together on the sides of the paths. And we caught some great bagpipe music, along with some Morris dancing (for those of you who don't know, as I didn't), this is the old Shakespeare kind of dancing with bells tied around your shins or shoes. Ohhh, the Morris dancers looked like they were having a ball. It was a good time, but definitely not a place I wanted to step foot at for the rest of the weekend. And I didn't.

3. On Sunday afternoon, I picked up a couple of musician girls at the Amtrak station. They are friends of friends of friends and would be playing a show in Seattle that night, and I offered them a place to stay while they were in town. It was a fun couple of days. You know how I loooove playing tour guide and showing people how great my city is, and it certainly helped that the weather was amazing. Truly, there is nothing more beautiful than Seattle in the sunshine...I think that's why it has to rain all the time...otherwise, why would anyone live anywhere else? :) Okay, okay...enough. So the girls (Lauren Zettler and Allison Weiss...check out their music) playing at the Skylark Cafe in West Seattle. They played before this other band- Lady Danville- who were actually pretty rad. I would def recommend checking them out...they are based out of LA, and had a lot of energy, interesting instrument usage and pretty cool harmonies. And totally great people...we hung out with them for awhile after the show...headed over to Alki and did the whole bonfire on the beach, with a ukulele (of course, why not?)...one of the guys told the most ridiculous ghost story, and we went around the circle telling our high and low of the day (though we actually did it Obama-style and did our thorn and rose of the day.) On Monday, we got up, and went to breakfast out at Easy Street. The girls have been doing a daily video blog while on tour, over breakfast...so they were in need of a good breakfast locale...and Easy Street it was...and they bought hoodies and tshirts, and then saw the Cupcake Royale sign from across the street...so we wandered over there and they bought two cupcakes each...documenting the whole thing on camera...as well as purchasing the "legalize frostitution" sticker. They spent the day at the EMP and then we went to Bimbo's for dinner. Yum. After Seattle, the girls were off to Vancouver, Canada for their last show of their mini tour.


4. I got bullied out of the pool at the gym today. I'm not a stellar swimmer...don't have any form, I don't like to put my face in the water (I can't stand not being able to breathe...especially when working out!), and I am about as slow as they come...BUT, I pay for my gym membership, I follow pool rules, and I should be able to throw a little variety in my workout and swim. Well, when I got to the gym (at 10am, mind you...I figured it would be an empty pool time), there was one free lane available, so I started my workout. Then someone else came and joined the lane...so there were three of us, and they wanted to do laps in a circle...which means I get lapped...over and over because, like I said before, I am the SLOWEST swimmer on the planet. I was feeling a little pressure to not get in these serious, goggle and swim cap wearing swimmers way...finally, someone left in the lane next to me, so I hopped over there...and then another no-nonsense, speedo-wearing swimmer jumped in my lane, and proceeded to turn the lap pool into a wave pool with his crazy thrashing and splashing. I nearly drowned...in the 4 feet of water. So I got out...ten minutes short of finishing my workout. So I went home and jumped on OnDemand to do a workout video. I opted for Carmen Elektra's Striptease. Wow, even in my completely empty apartment, I was embarrassed. Fun though.


5. Seriously California...WTF? I generally don't get into political arguments because I know that there is no use trying to change someone's mind about their belief system, and it just ends up being frustrating for both parties....but I'm really sad/angry/confused that California voted down gay marriage. I honestly don't understand how that happened, or really how it is even an issue. It is such blatant discrimination...I am just so baffled by the fact that it is even an issue. How many people get divorced every year? And they want to talk about the sanctity of marriage? How about we just let people that love each other do so...good grief. Really, just thinking about it gets me so angry...read this: Rob Thomas, of Matchbox Twenty wrote about the issue and pretty much says exactly what I think about it...check out the article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-thomas/the-big-gay-chip-on-my-sh_b_208183.html

And on that uplifting note...hope you enjoy the sunshine and have a great weekend!