Ennui-less in Seattle

What a week so far. I haven't stopped going since Monday morning...not sure how much longer my caffeine resistance is going to hold out. Especially now that I've officially gone off the deep end by accepting a fourth job that will get me out of the house by 4:45 a.m. a few mornings a week.

But! So far, so good, despite my ostensible foolhardiness on the job front. However, multiple jobs lead to good things, like
- money
- feelings of purpose and accomplishment
- gratitude, especially in this economy
- many new friends


And those things lead to fabulous adventures like last Sunday night! REI hosted a staff beach party on Alki Beach - miles of actual beach (not just a strip of gravel and rocks that the city of Seattle seems to think can be referred to as a "beach"), with sand you can dig your toes into and everything. It's located in West Seattle, which means that, like the photo posted several entries ago taken from Gasworks Park, it affords a stunning view of the downtown skyline from across the waters of Puget Sound (Elliott Bay, in the case of Alki; Lake Union, in the case of Gasworks.)


I got off work at 7:30 on Sunday, swung by my coworker Zanna's houseboat on Lake Union to give her a ride to the beach bash, swung by home to pick up Seyeon, and the three of us trekked across the West Seattle Bridge with a mission - make it to beach before the bonfire was out and all the marshmallows roasted. We pulled it off!


We stayed late with a couple of other REIsters (apparently that's the lingo for us; I'm learning) around the bonfire, watching it go down, talking about life, trying to find the perfect placement in relation to the fire to keep from either burning up or freezing our butts off in the September nighttime chill.

In other magical nights in Seattle, I got together with fellow Oberlin alum (!) Zoe, who hails from Portland originally but is going to grad school up here. We missed connections a lot throughout our years at Oberlin, despite having been in touch (via the now ancient blogging website, Xanga) the summer before college even began. It was great to finally get to know one another a bit more, and in the context of the city. We went out for great Mexican grub on Broadway, then off to Gasworks Park for a lovely sunset, the longest falling shooting star either of us had ever seen (it started directly overhead and fell, over the course of many slow, beautiful seconds, to the horizon before finally burning out), and a long night lying on the grassy side of a hill overlooking the sparkling skyline.


Final other highlights of the week, in spite of the 60+ hours of labor:
- Seeing a really stirring, well-orchestrated performance of Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking" at the Intiman Theater with Lu
- 8, 12, and 16 mile runs along Lake Washington Boulevard, with clear and stunning views of both Mount Rainier and Mount Baker
- Fabulous, killer cycling class earlier today
- Lots and lots of cookies and cupcakes, courtesy of Seyeon's spectacular baking skills
- The usual awe and wonder: mountains, sunrises, sunsets, Space Needle, I-love-Seattle, blah blah blah...


:)