So as know, or maybe you don't, I've been here in Seattle just over 4 months now. Four months fthat sometimes feel like four years, but often feel like four minutes. Marking this milestone, I'd like to comment on some things I've observed since living out here in la la land.
Seattle: America's Garden Apartment, is the perfect description for this town. Chicagoans know that the term "Garden Apartment" is the glossed over terminology for basement apartment. I was at a party last Friday, and came across a garden apartment dweller, who had never heard of the term before but though it sounded nice. Dark, dingy and moist are probably the words used most frequently to describe the basement apartment. Lisa, a good friend of mine came to visit for two weeks in April and had a strong reaction to all of the mold festering in this city.
Seattle could also be called a grocery store becuase of the way it's laid out. Many of the ethnic resteraunts seemed to be concentrated in an area called "the International District", similar to that of the ethnic aisle of the grocery store.
Don't get me wrong, this is a beautiful place to live. People are so conscious here, that when a glass bottle is shatter on a street corner, people turn their attention in dismay to the rude person who dropped it. A yelling is the most you'll get out of a Seattelite. Most of the time it is indirect passive aggressiveness. Speaking of this, driving is a passive aggressive activity in this city. I have never felt like an aggressive driver until I moved to this city. On many Seattle streets there is no specifically marked left turn lane. This concludes in up to a dozen cars sitting behind one car that has is turn signal on and is turning left. They just wait till he turns and often miss the light. Luckily I have been fast enough to move into the right lane and go around them just in time to make the light. People are still shocked that my license plate is from Montana.
Seattle is the only place I know where there are severe weather alerts when the temperatures get below 35 and above 75. Chicago is the only place I can think of where people die from the heat in the summer and freeze to death from the cold winters, the severe weather warnings there mostly concern themselves with tornadoes and storms that have already hit the surrounding areas. Although we are on the coast and in the mountains, the weather here is predictable; 55 and partly cloudy is what I could say about 90% of the days I've spent here. The amount of times I have heard thunder can be counted on one hand, and I specifically remember what I was doing when it thundered.
On another note, a more domestic one perhaps, I must tell you about the new amenities I have living in Seattle. Recycling is a big part of life here in Seattle, and it's so easy. In addition to our regular garbage can, we have a recyclable can for paper, plastic, tin and aluminum, a bin for glass and a bin for yard waste. All are clearly labeled and all get picked up by the city(or a company the city has hired) and taken away. So, in other words, you cannot just toss a 2 liter Coke bottle in the normal trash, that would greatly frowned upon, plus you'd be liable to receive a ticket from the city. No joke! Supposedly there are fines for throwing away too many recyclable materials in the normal trash. Although I have never met anyone who has been fined, I believe it because they give out tickets for all kinds of things here. A cyclist I know received a $125 fine for not wearing a helmet, jaywalking fines do exist and as you all know I was accused of breaking the law by sporting the wrong colored light on my bicycle during the critical mass ride.
Garbage disposal is the word they use out here for yet another new contraption, the in-the-sink-food-grinder. It seems more like a food processor to me. So I've gotten into so much trouble with my roommates on this note. I did not grow up with such luxuries and therefore did not know the proper etiquette of this machine. You have to flip a light switch to get it grinding, but the water must be running at the same time to act as lube for the grinder. Since when did water lube metal?? Anyways, in addition to obvious items; silverware, bones, and fingers, there is a plethora of other items that are not suppose to go down the food grinder. I was beginning to compile a list of these things; no apple cores, no orange peels, no whole pieces of fruit, no eggshells, no banana peels, the list goes on and on. I know this is not a food processor, because I would never actually shove a whole bunch of veggies down there and then try to fish the mixture out with a spoon. It seems strange to me, that it is not suppose to be used for grinding peels or cores up, but it is called a garbage disposal. It seems to me as if the only thing it can handle is crumbs and liquids. Why even have such a thing? As a kid I would've had so much fun with one of these garbage eating monsters.
Seattle really is a nice place. It is such a beautiful city that to escape from the beauty people delve into the rusted cartoonish ruins of Gas works Park. Sometimes I just have this urge to see junk and garbage. In Chicago, people try there hardest to get escape from the garbage and cracked sidewalks, by spending the day at Millennium park, a beautifully manicured park downtown.
So if you think you see garbage blowing by you, don't be fooled, it's probably just a balloon, saying: "this is not your lucky day, this is just another day in la la land".