Raw Danger!

Seattle was too good to only go once. Recap of a second trip I took goes here:

In late September, I took a trip to visit my friend Lish up in Seattle. It was a great time, and upon returning, I was looking forward to getting back up there sometime soon. There was an upcoming vacation week during the week of Halloween, but the original plan fell through, which was to take my father to Maui as an early birthday present. The idea of going to Maui alone was entertained for a few minutes, but having been back from Seattle for less than twelve hours, it was still fresh in my mind, and a new thought materialized: what if I just went up there again? I asked Lish if she’d be okay having me crash with her again, and she said yes. Went back to work the following night, confirmed that the vacation week wouldn’t be bumped, and bought my plane tickets the following morning. The following 5 weeks or so were spent counting down the days, and being excited at having such a cool trip to look forward to.

(above: we meet again, Gate 206)

The day of the trip comes, and my father gave me a ride to the airport. It was a fairly smooth ride out, and not having to worry about leaving the car somewhere meant one less hassle upon returning. The trip through TSA took a bit longer this time due to more travelers, but the machine didn’t detect metal in my leg, so if a longer wait means no rubdown from a stranger, that’s a fair trade. Camped an outlet until it was time to board, found the seat, then shared a row of seats with a lady who never spoke and casually tore pages from an issue of National Geographic. No idea what that was all about.

(above: “Have you guys and gals ever seen… A TREE? No, no, no… not those shriveled black things. Brown bark, green leaves, photosynthesis, all that good stuff!”)

After a little confusion on my part concerning where arrivals go, Lish pulled up and off we went. It was great to see her again so soon, since initial figuring was that it would be next year at the earliest. We headed back to her place and talked for awhile, and it was just so nice. In this comfortable place with this interesting person, just sharing stories, I can just lean back and just feel good and glad to be there. There aren’t many places or people that have this… effect? This power. Superpower, even.

(above: the software of choice for our epic RNG-based battles)

Prior to coming up, I’d ordered a birthday gift for her, but initial details looked like it wouldn’t make it through the post until this trip was over. However, it turned up a few days early, and so I was able to bring it along. She asked if she should open it now, and did: it was this exceptionally clean, sealed copy of T.G.I.F. for the Atari, which she had as a youngster. After seeing it, the debate became whether she should unseal it, which is totally her choice. It would be neat to crack it open and have that new game smell and flawless inserts to look at, but once it is open, it’s opened. Up to her, though.

(above: Lionhead, not my photo)

For dinner, the destination was Lionhead, which is listed as a Sichuan-inspired restaurant. We split two dishes: fried rice with maitake/yam/bacon, and La Zi Ji, which is chicken with peppers, said to make your mouth and lips tingle. I didn’t get much of a tingle sensation, but my brain equated ‘tingle’ with the sensation of eating Pop Rocks candy, so nobody’s fault there but my own. Everything was quite good and tasty. Lish tried to teach me different ways to properly hold/use chopsticks, but aside from a couple of decent grabs, it wasn’t clicking and is something I should probably practice later at home. After surrendering and requesting a fork, the utensil usage was like so: a fork in my left hand to pick up, and a chopstick in my right hand to serve as a little barricade, to keep things from scooting around the plate. When Lish questioned it, I said that I was ‘fusion eating.’ She playfully said, “I’m so mad at you right now” and made sure to tell the waiter guy, who also disapproved of my slick terminology. Overall, good restaurant, would go again.

(above: the long-awaited T.G.I.F. rematch)

We got back home, and it was time to have a rematch in T.G.I.F. Last time, Lish won by a fairly wide margin. The game is RNG-based, which means skill isn’t the key factor, but it’s still fun to talk trash about how GOOD you are at this game when you’re winning. The result is as shown, I won this time. But it is worth noting: due to the random map generation of the treasure hunts, Lish got completely blocked from the squares that would’ve given her a treasure, and possibly enough money to have won the game. So while it is my victory by the numbers shown, it’s probably better to call that one a draw.

From here, she showed me some shows I hadn’t seen, Archer and Coupling. They both seem pretty solid, and I should go through them at some point. But by this point it was fairly late and she had work the next day, so it was time to get ready for bed. This is the moment in history at which my body and subconscious decided to illustrate just how truly comfortable, safe, and ‘at home’ I feel at Lish’s place. She goes to get ready for bed, and I’m setting up my sheet and pillow on the couch. As she disappears into the bathroom, I lay on my stomach in just a t-shirt and underwear. The dark room, relative silence, and the comfort of being fully horizontal apparently all took over, and I fell asleep. I wake up, open one eye, see her standing across the room in a robe, and my groggy thought process asks me, “am I farting?” I sure was. For a long time, too. I ask if I broke all the wind, and she comes over, which is the last thing I wanted, because I like her a lot better alive. She says that it doesn’t smell (I don’t actually remember, but she doesn’t lie so I’ll take her word for it) and then says good night and I fall back asleep.

The next morning, I asked if all that had indeed happened. Lish told the story from her side, which was that she saw me zonked out and was going to turn the light off, but wondered if it would wake me, which she didn’t want to do. So she continued getting ready for bed and thought she heard snoring, but it wasn’t snoring. It was my body doing its thing down there. I later equated it to being 45-seconds long and she laughed at that multiple times, so maybe it was that long? Tough to say. Only thing I know for sure is that the first day was a whirlwind, as travel days tend to be, but it was quite a good one.

Day two recap can be found here.