Final Paper and Seattle

"Life consists not in holding good cards, but in playing those you hold well." ~Josh Billings

Well, I wrote my last paper yesterday. It was for my Recent Popular Literature class and is 14 pages long. I outlined my ideas at the office yesterday during my three hour shift and then when I went down to the ARC for four hours, I typed the whole thing up. All in all, it is a pretty good paper. I’m going to go up to campus today to print it off, edit it, and then email it to the professor. So one less thing to think about.

The only thing I have left is my Spanish Phonetics final. It is tomorrow, so I am spending the whole day studying for that. I’m also packing my clothes for Mexico and packing up some of my apartment. Oh, and watching the second half of the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy. That was absolute craziness last night. Julie couldn’t come over and watch it because she has too many finals to study for and she fell asleep yesterday. So, I sat by my lonesome with a Corona and enjoyed the first half.

Saturday night I had a killer sweet tooth. Vinnie and I were chatting online and I managed to con him into going out with me for ice cream. It was funny and we had a good time. I’m going to miss that kid. I like Vinnie a lot. He is sweet and charming. However, Julie and Gina both find him to be hot. I don’t see Vinnie as being attractive like that, he’s just super sweet and nice. Very intelligent and just a good guy.

So, I need to write about my Seattle adventure with Harvey. I don’t want to forget what happened, so this is probably going to be a condensed version, but still enough for me to remember.

Thursday
Harvey picks me up at 4:00 in the morning and we drive the 45 minute trip to the airport. Our flight leaves at 6:20 and we sleep for most of it. We catch our connecting flight and Harvey sleeps while I read. I do have to say that the woman that sat next to us on that flight just looked pissy. Never once did she smile and she seemed that she was all to important to be sitting next to some plain-Jane college kid.

Well, we arrived in Seattle and grabbed the bus downtown to our hostel. We got a little lost, but eventually found the place and it is one of the nicest hostels I have ever stayed at. Granted we were both in public rooms, basically four bunkbeds. However, the linens on the bed were nice and there were two extra blankets (more than I expected).

We wandered to find some lunch, we were both starving as it was about early evening our time and only 2 in Seattle. We found a great little Asian resturant and had really yummy curry chicken. This would be a staple for us in the coming days of the trip. We were both pretty exhausted so we went back to the hostel for a nap.

After the nap, we wandered down by the waterfront. Then we decided we were going to eat and go to the Space Needle. Harvey had never been to the Space Needle and wanted to see it. While Harvey had slept late, I looked at the information in the hostel and found an Italian resturant that gave you a drink, soup/salad, bread, entree and dessert all for under 10 dollars. It was near where Harvey and I were, so we went to it and had a fabulous meal of Ravioli. So yummy and Harvey had never had Spumoni, the house ice cream. So we enjoyed dinner.

We hiked up to the Space Needle and looked out on the city. It had been 17 years since I had been in Seattle and it has changed a lot. It was definitely a lot cleaner than when I was a little kid. We looked out on the city and pointed things out to one another.

After the Space Needle, we debated the merits of going out. We were both exhausted, so we ended up crashing early.

Friday
We ate breakfast together in the morning and then parted ways. Harvey went to the University of Washington to look at their programs and see the campus. I went to the aquarium. I remember going there as a kid and it has definitely changed. It is a really nice aquarium and I was blown away by all the sea otters and river otters they have. I really enjoyed the pool where you could touch sea creatures. There was one animal that looks like a giant sea slug. It was like jello to the touch. Quite interesting. They had an exhibit on SeaHorses and they are neat creatures. Very mythical looking

Then I found a place to have fish and chips. I miss fish and chips, such a yummy meal. Then wandered back to the hostel.

Harvey and I went to the Pacific Science Center that afternoon and played like kids. It was so much fun and that is what I enjoy about Harvey. He knows how to have a good time. We ended up getting yelled at by a woman because she thought we were breaking the rules. The truth of the matter is that she didn’t read a sign properly. There is this table and set of chairs that is built two times its size. So basically if you are six feet tall, sitting in these chairs you feel as if you are three feet tall. The sign on the table says you my sit on the chairs, but please do not stand on anything. So Harvey and I are sitting at this table, just talking about it and this woman comes up to us, "Nice example you two are setting for the children here. You two should know better than to sit on an exhibit."

I looked at the woman and nicely read the sign aloud to her, "Please sit on the exhibit, but do not stand. I don’t think we are breaking any rules." The woman was embarrassed, apologized and told her child that he could sit in the chair in a minute. People need to learn to mind their own business.

After that, we headed back to the hostel. Stopped at a restaurant, Pike’s Place Brewery and Pub in the market and had a nice dinner. We were both starved and exhausted. Then instead of going out, we decided to go back to the hostel and watch the movie for the night, 10 Things I Hate About You. For those of you that have never seen it, it is a modern day version of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, set in high school. Cute movie and taped in Tacoma, Washington.

Saturday
Again, ate breakfast together. Harvey went back to bed. I wandered. Then we were going to meet up in Pioneer Square and take a walking underground tour of the city. However, Harvey wanted to go to an art exhibit at the University, so I went on the tour by myself. The tour was really neat and I met a wonderful, older woman, Jean and she and I became fast friends during the tour.

Harvey and I met up for a chicken curry lunch and decided to just chill. We had plans to go out that night with some people. It’s an interesting connection. Harvey works with a girl who has a dear friend in Seattle. She gave Harvey his number and said to call him if we wanted to go out. Well wecalled Ryan and we decided to meet up at a martini bar, Tini Bigs.

Well, Harvey and I get there and call Ryan and tell him that we are basically sitting in the window. Ryan says he will arrive shortly and is bringing a friend. While Harvey is on the phone, I order us drinks. While standing at the bar, this Asian man and I begin to talk. He seems nice enough and a flirt with him a bit. Head back to the spot that Harvey is at.

Well, Ryan and his friend Zach show up. Both really nice guys. Ryan is super sweet and easy to talk to and Zach is so smart that it is hard to talk to him about anything (very stressful). We grab a table towards the back and start talking. After about 45 minutes, I go to the bar to order another drink, a dirty girl scout. Basically a mint chocolate martini with crushed graham cracker on the rim of the glass. While there, the Asain man, William and I begin to talk. He’s flirting and I’m flirthing back with him. 

We find out that we both like Billy Joel and he is in Marketing, which is what I find interesting. However, the man is a bit much for me. When he informed me that, "I"m like a tiger, Bella. You would have so much fun with me in an evening."

Well, I flirted with him a bit more and then went back to the table. He gave me his card and told me to call him if we went to a club or if I wanted to spend time with him. Yeah, I doubt that will ever happen. However, it did make me feel good.

We drank with Ryan and Zach some more and then went back to Zach’s place to hang out. It was fun talking to them. Ryan smoked out and offered us some. However, I wasn’t sure if I was going to have to take a drug test anytime soon for job interviews so I declined. Harvey isn’t a smoker, so he didn’t.

We hung out there till about 2 in the morning. Then they offered to drive us home. They were in no shape to drive, and I had only had two drinks and was completely sober so Ryan had me drive his car. We went to a residential neighborhood where there was this beautiful view of the city. At night it was neat, during the day it would be incredible. Well, I drove us back to the hostel and we said goodbye to Ryan and Zach. We told them that if they were ever in our neck of the woods, we would show them a good time.

Sunday
Got up, wandered around the city, grabbed lunch, grabbed the bus to the airport and then flew home.

That was the trip. We had a great time and I look forward to the next trip Harvey and I take.