home in seattle

hello,

i've finally got a moment to give a few words. there is a little monthly calendar that i got from work, and it has been getting full. after my australia trip, i've decided to actually start living in seattle instead of seeing where things would take me. its great to be open to change, but when you have been in a place for a year and can't really call it home, something is wrong.

so, my home in seattle:

the place is still looking very empty but it doesn't bother me at all. having an empty living room with a tv for movie nights, a bean bag chair, a dining table without any chairs, and a makeshift work station (to be by the windows to steal internet from the cafe across the street) is a daily reminder of living within my means. i come home, walk inside and say "crap, i don't have much". i'm not trying to fill it with things just because there is space.

on sunday i joined an italian speaking group that meets two times a month. the first meeting was on monday and it was amazing! i have been missing my italian speaking fix. the first thing i did afterwards was put a long list of italian movies on my netflix queue. out of the 6 people there i was the worst speaker but no worries, i'm not trying to win the best-italian-speaker-in-seattle award. the good news was that i understood every single word spoken, and i wasn't translating in my head, i was understanding as it came. the i-need-to-work-on-it news was that my speaking was horrible. verb tenses, vocab, all the filler words, they all disappeared. we'll be working on that.

i have a hanging pot on my balcony now. the great part is that the real construction is going to start on my apartment complex on monday. i didn't really understand the message they posted and i'm not sure what they are going to do exactly, but my guess is that the entire building will be covered in scaffolding. i think that is going to be fun, like living in a giant pillow fort. maybe my hanging plant might not be so happy about it. i'll miss the view from the windows though. i gather its going to take a few months. if thats true, more time at the coffee shops! oh, i hope it doesn't effect the internet connection. i'm holding out as long as possible on that.

i will be attempting to make my own pasta. i now have a rolling pin. i'm not sure what else i need. but a figured a rolling pin was necessary.

the trip to australia was great! i've got pictures to post from it, so i'll wait on the longer explanation. no complaints, but it was more work than play. casey and i used every free moment as best as possible, but it mostly was jam packed with work things. still no complaints. some highlights: getting scraped by a kangaroo (how often does that happen?) who was way taller than i initially thought; climbing trees in an australian gum tree forrest; wake boarding on a man-made, pull-line wake boarding park (much easier to get up and going, incredibly difficult to make the turns without dislocating your shoulders, elbows, wrists, back, and ankles); mixing with the belligerent locals at a pub in alice on a sunday afternoon; scuba diving and petting a nemo fish on the great barrier reef (the cute dive instructor had me sold on the dive the moment we stepped on the boat, dang her sneaky sales tactics); riding a camel! - big fan of camels but would have liked to see what his top speed was. we were going kind of slow. i guess when its listed out like that, there definitely aren't any complaints (it was still exhausting though).

i have worked one year at my office, which means i now make a much less embarrassing salary. i feel like things are more in line with the work i produce. also i moved into a shared office with my groups manager. she is only in two days a week, so its just me the other three. i really like working with her so all the days should be great.

kickball is still sweet. the last game we played was the most fun of this season. our team was really interacting and the other team was rad, so the whole game was fun. there isn't a winter kickball season, but the other team invited us to some winter for-fun pickup games. absolutely, i'm up for that. theres something about playing outside in the winter and getting the cold hands and runny nose. its a good part of life.

invite a friend to dinner night has been going really well. i couldn't find an available friend for last weeks meal, mostly because of my more full schedule. the challenge has been the vegetarian meals but everyone seems to enjoy the picnic style seating on our living room floor.

bring cinammon rolls to a neighbor night has been a bit tougher. theres a very small window of time to deliver baked goods to a stranger, and thats assuming that they are home (my guess is from 7:45pm to 8:35pm is the best time). not going to give up on this one though. i think it will get easy as we come into fall/winter; i'm hoping more people will be home in the evenings.

personally, things are so much better. i feel more whole now. i got a book about abandonment that actually christiana recommended. and although it was a bit hard to read, there was one sentence that was exactly what i needed. part of me does want her to feel like she has missed out (its a bit immature, but still, somewhere in my head, that thought does exist). and the book says that a certian type of anger is good and: the best revenge is success. which i think is great because its helping me get back to focusing on life and living the best i can. eventually that need for revenge will fade away and in its place will be a full exciting life. i'm already feeling different over the last month with more thoughts on possibilities of life than on the all consuming thought of how i was hurt. i wish her her own success, and in the meantime i will live my life to the fullest i possibly can.

so happy overcast seattle day! theres a fall, crisp feeling to the air and i'm getting excited about all of the trees changing colors. the hooded sweatshirt is back out but not quite the wool socks. maybe next month.

chad.

1.64

the new place is awesome! i spent the last hour at the coffee shop across the street. they had an alternative folk singing guy (there will be live free music every friday and saturday). i was starting to fall asleep in my chair from not getting enough sleep last night. i think i'm a pretty slow mover. i took one full day. its crazy to think that less than a year ago i moved up here with one car load of belongings. now i've got quite a few more (although, the car loads were not as tightly packed).

i really can't convey how much i am liking my new place. i had to move out of the last house on monday, and was able to move into this one on friday. that meant one week of being homeless. i almost wish i had more time. everyone at work was so incredibly nice to bring me home for the night. my apologies go out to jamie for breaking her air mattress (all i did was push the tab like it told me to). some highlights of the week: wonderfully prepared lunches for work, my first thin-tire-bike ride, a treatment massage (for my shoulders and neck, apparently i have a freakishly tight neck), but the best part was being able to hang out with people every day of the week. i would like to do more of that.

my current projects:
finish unpacking and sorting all of my crap
find where in the apartment i can consistantly get free internet
set up a local phone line for the apartment (right now, yonina, my roommate, is the only one with a local number, which means anyone that uses the apartment call box, will be calling her)
fill the living room with things. sitting things, specifically

the coffee place across the street has a great atmosphere. i will be a regular there by the years end (both to fulfill my new years resolution, and because i like it). a short hot-chocolate (with whipped cream) costs 1.64. thats a fair price for becoming a regular. they have a lot of board-games too, so maybe some game nights are in order.


have a good day,
your friend
chad.

cupcakes and bugs

good moment of the day: eating the new raspberry cupcake at the cupcake royale.

not so good moment of the day: seattle is finally hot with the rest of the country. the last couple of nights i have slept with the windows open. and have been completely eaten alive by a variety of bugs. current bug bites: back of shoulder, behind the elbow, on my third rib, and the same toe on both feet (the one next to the pinky toe, and one of them is all swollen). i would like to take all of my skin off.

chad.

best thing i have done in seattle

hello,

a lot of things have changed in the last two months. i'm not with christina anymore. things just didn't work out. she is an amazing person and, one day, some guy is going to be one of the luckiest to end up with her. unfortunately its not going to be me. after a good bout of depression things are starting to move forward again. my friends have been the lifesaver and i am incredibly luck to have them.

i think the timing of everything has been good for me. my lease is up at the end of this month so i'll be having a fresh start in a new place. carie bought a house with her boyfriend and moved out a couple weeks ago, emily moved into her own place closer to the city last week. now its just yonina and me, and we don't really have anything at all so the house is pretty empty. we'll be finding a place hopefully this weekend that is closer to a city center. i'd really like to walk to a grocery store; thats my only rule for finding the right place. then it will be off to the garage sales and thrift stores to get things to sit on. the ol' brick and wood maguivered shelving unit always looked good to me.

my work will be sending me to australia in about three weeks. i'll definitely be posting some pictures. its going to be a completely different trip. reasons why:
* - i won't have giardia (the sickness i picked up in fiji, that i had the last time i was in australia). i plan on seeing much more than the hostel bathrooms
* - we will actually be staying in nice places, that will be feeding us good cooked food.
* - we'll be going on some pretty sweet tours; with kangaroos, penguins, koalas, camels and a bunch of other things
* - i don't have to pay for anything
* - i actual get paid to go

not bad. not bad. also, i'll be going with casey, who started work the same day i did. we are freakishly similar. they call us chasey at work, as we both usually end up with the others papers/files/phone calls because people get confused. i'm really looking forward to the trip.

i joined a kickball league with some friends from my community group. its coming to the last game of the season, and we really need a win to get into the tournament. its amazing seeing grown adults playing kickball. our team brings capri-suns, orange slices, and goldfish to the games. our team name is 'lord of the pants'. the first game we played, i had a short stint of being first base. there was a moment of hesitation on my part that ended with me throwing the ball as hard as i could to get someone out (in this case a girl). the problem was, she was only about three and half feet away from me...and was running straight towards me. the ball hit her incredibly hard in the chest and rebounded into her face. i got the out but she (and her team) was not very happy. my team now calls this pulling "a chad". and i got player of the week last week for the league. here is the write up from the website:

POTW: Chad Watson
Lord of the Pants
With is signature move of always throwing the hat off before making the catch, Chad Watson was huge in the field on defense and never made an out at the plate in the Lord of the Pants win on Tueaday night. Chad received several calls from the crowd to throw off his hat AND his pants, but Chad is too classy for that. Way to be Chad....way to be....

playing kickball has been the best thing i have done in seattle. this season is over soon, but we'll be playing at the greenlake one for the fall season.

thanks for listening, have to eat breakfast and go to the horse races for tildy's birthday party!

have a good day
your friend
chad

the window

i have finally reigned victorious over my window.

before all of us moved in, the house was painted by a crazy man living next door (who later stabbed someone with a sword on the street outside our house. he has since moved out). he wasn't sane and he certainly wasn't a very good painter. many of our windows are painted shut and while i'm ok with some of our house windows not being able to open at least since its not too hot yet, i'm not ok with my windows not being able to open.

i was able to open the window looking out to the front from the start, but the side window has proved to be quite the project. today it is finally open. after days of hammering the paint covered seams and being told some of the windows just wouldn't open (implying that my window was one of them), i now have a wonderful crisp breeze blowing through my room. i was focused so much on getting the paint off of the inside that i forgot to check if the crazy fool painted the outside also, which of course he did. so, its happy days ahead as it gets warmer during the summer.