Seattle, Seattle

I just love this city.

Lauren, Roxanne, Ricky, and I took the bus up to Seattle yesterday. (We are eco-friendly citizens! ...or we just don't like parking.) Here are some highlights:

--We dubbed ourselves after Sex and the City characters. Of course, I got stuck with Miranda, the serious friend.

--Pike Place, of course. We were looking at jewelry from one vendor, and the conversation went something like this: [With Asian accent] Vendor (to Ricky): You are lucky man! You have three beautiful lady! You buy for all of them!

Ricky: Um...no...

Vendor: Yes, you lucky man. You must come from Utah!

Oh how wrong this man was on so many levels. First, we are all poor college students, so no one is buying anything for anyone. Second, I am Mormon, and we most definitely do not have three wives. Wrong church. Third, Ricky is gay. So having "three beautiful lady" is not that lucky.

--We found a divine Indian lunch buffet called Kastoori? It was just a hole-in-the-wall kind of place, but it was so good! And with unlimited naan bread? Don't mind if I do!

--Window shopping. We walked through Nordstrom and ogled over all the beautiful shoes we couldn't afford. The salespeople didn't give us the time of day probably because we were in flip-flops. We went to The Rack instead. (I realized though that clothes and shoes are nice, but they really aren't everything. I mean, $700 for Manolo Blahniks? Send me to Spain instead!)

--We found another restaurant/cafe to get cocktails at. I, being the non-alcohol friend, drank my weight in water because it was so hot outside.

--Losing track of time, realizing we had 20 minutes to catch the last train out of Seattle, and running with a full bladder across the city with three other tipsies= not such a good idea. While I was running, some guy gave me a flyer to join a gym. I guess my stride needs a little work.

--Running through a mass of hobos. I've never felt so guilty or paranoid for owning a purse before.

--On the train back, we met a man named John, who in a nutshell was probably just lonely and had a crush on Ricky. Poor guy. I'm glad we could keep him company. He has six books that he is going to publish one day, so watch out New York Times bestsellers!

All in all, it was just another day in the Seattle life.

.

One thing I like about being home is that I see more children around. In Provo, there seems to be one age group: 18-25 (give or take). Yes, of course I've had people bring babies to class, but for the most part I hadn't interacted with children for a long time.

Did I ever mention that I work for a clown? Because I do. And it's awesome. I am a balloon artist and a burgeoning face painter to boot. We are slowly removing the stigma that Stephen King put on clowns years ago with his novel/movie It. (Why does it seem that every young adult was accidentally subject to that movie as a child?)

Well, this job allows me to talk to little kids again, and I forgot what a special experience that can be. They aren't worried about the debt ceiling or the stock market or social security. They still dream big and are impressed by a sword balloon. The other day I was making balloons for two 13 year-olds, and I was relieved to hear that they weren't too old to like Justin Bieber.

Being exposed to so many kids has made me so much more sensitive to the known and unknown issues in their lives. I'm not a social worker or therapist by any means, but I can pick up on things kids say that indicate things may not be going so well at home. Sometimes you can just see it. And all I can really do about it is make a balloon or talk about Power Rangers with them.

Then I find myself praying. Praying that they can always have that optimism that they have now. Praying that they can always feel loved and accepted. And praying that the world gets a little kinder, a little simpler, and a little better.

Was that really necessary???

So I just finished the physics assignment that I was complaining about-oh, say-4 hours ago!!! Really, Dr. Rees, really? I pretty much do every problem, get them wrong, then use the answer to work backwards, and then I get it right on the second try with the new values. (My homework is done on the internet, and we get three tries, but the values will change if you get it wrong, so that way you actually have to do the problem.)

Anyway, now I have to go on to other homework. Lovely.

BUT, I only have one more homework assignment, quiz, and test for that class. And then I will be done with physics foreVER, foreVER, foreVER...(a la Squints from The Sandlot).