Song of the Day: Owl City, "Hello Seattle"

Hello Seattle - Owl City

I'll ignore the fact that the song of the day fails to punctuate correctly. It's a good song and a good fit for my life right now, so it merits a post. But a note to Adam Young, the handsome face behind Owl City: next time you address a second party in the title of a song, use a comma. Thanks to you and those grammar ruffians Peter (no comma!?) Bjorn (another guy--not Peter's last name!) and John-- hipsters everywhere are bound to be terribly uninformed about comma rules.

Moving on...

I've now been in my apartment in Seattle for one full week.

Some things I've learned so far about The Emerald City:


1. The weather is not as bad as everyone says.

Though I hear It's bound to get grey any day now, I've seen the sun pretty much every day this week. The one day it did rain, my roommate asked me if I'd heard the thunder. There had been approximately one clap. I've been told that rain here doesn't come in dumps but is a constant drizzle for six months. Downpours like we're used to in the southeast make headlines.


2. The restaurant business here is serious stuff.

For me, this means two things: a. I need to get a part time job to afford to eat like the foodie that I am. and b. I can't get a part time job because I don't have 20+ years of waitressing experience.


3. The coffee business is also serious stuff.

I get looks of disdain whenever I go into a coffee shop and just order a small "drip" coffee. Which, fyi, is the Seattle way to order a regular coffee and is also the only cup of coffee I can afford right now. If you REALLY want disdain, just ask for a small coffee and they'll look at you, raise their eyebrows, and repeat your order back as "small drip?" (Subtext: "Where are you from that you don't know that drip is the word we use for the inferior coffee that cheap, sad out-of-towners like you drink). It didn't take me long to learn how baristas roll in this city. It also didn't take me long to realize that there's another part time job that I'm unqualified for.


4. Driving in this city is damn near impossible. Even with a GPS.

As it is, I'm not a fantastic driver. With an insurance record that includes not one, not two, but THREE run-ins with parked cars, I'm doing my best to keep my carelessness in check here. But this city is no help. Yesterday, it took me approximately 45 minutes to get to a lake that is only 3 miles away. With incredibly poor signage, turnabouts in place of stop signs, turn only lanes that come out of nowhere (and always in rush hour traffic), and highway on-ramps that seem like innocuous streets until you realize you can't turn around for another 2 miles(!!), the roads here are befuddling. I'm sure I'll figure out the lay of the land soon enough, but for now I've gotten quite used to the sound of the Garmin chiming "recalculating."


5. Cute/Geeky/Artsy/Mountainy Men abound here.

My mom and I went down to Pike Place Market before she left on Friday and I could barely believe my eyes. Cute. Boys. Everywhere. I asked my roommate about the phenomenon and she told me that the biggest industries here are dot coms and software companies (Amazon, Google, Microsoft) and jet engineering (Boeing), all of which are male-dominated industries. Of course, I went to an opening night in my industry last night and every good looking man I saw had another good looking man on his arm.. so I doubt too much will change in my love life. But after four years at a college where the male female ratio was 40/60, it's always fun to look ;)


As for my transition, I'm settling in nicely. I start my internship on Tuesday and couldn't be more excited to get back to work. The staff I've met so far at the Theatre seem leaps and bounds better than the nightmarish management I was up against last year and it seems like there are going to be a lot of exciting things that I'll get to do and learn in the arena of theatre education this year! I am, of course, terrified about the prospect of paying bills and supporting myself financially on an intern's wages, but I continue to hope in the promise that God will open the right doors and provide for me despite my fears. Thank you all so much for your prayers, comments, and phone calls! More than anything else right now, I'm missing the nearness of friends and family, but you all have been wonderful support even from miles and miles away. Know that I appreciate it and can't wait to keep you posted on my new adventures as they come.