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May 14, 2000 |
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Pam and I woke up fairly early. Early enough to have brunch even. It turned out to be another beautiful day.
Note: Call me a cynic. This is simply a trap. Seattle weather generally sucks. Today is simply a tease you see… If the weather was bad all the time, then it would simply be a matter of us poor depraved folks becoming accustomed to it. You know the way we have become used to our webbed feet and gills. However, it only does this to break our will, it gives us a false sense of hope. Seattle is truly a sadistic city. Not only does it want us miserable, it wants to be able to exert control over our well being… or maybe I'm just a cynic.We decided go to the Pike Place Market to get brunch. I trust I don't have to elaborate about the entire Seattle traffic situation. To say that it borders on ridiculous is a sledgehammer of sarcasm. And obviously… no, the poor weather doesn't particularly help, although admittedly today was exceptionately nice.
We decided to ride the bus into the Market. She has a bus stop less than a block away from her place, so it is pretty trivial to take the bus. Our timing was perfect and we arrived just as the bus was pulling up. She had her bus pass since she rides the bus every day to work. I however, didn't have bus fair, but she had loose change and paid for my fair …which was incredibly sweet
She pointed out a woman who had approached her at Larry's Market before… one who had talked to her about religion. She was carrying her bible today. Pam didn't mind having been approached; she found it a bit curious. It is a good thing she didn't approach me, because I would do what I could to distress her. I have little tolerance for any stranger who would presume to tell me how I should lead my life.
After a failed attempt to track down a restaurant (sorry, the name eludes me…). We ended up going to Maximilien in the Market. We first approached the host and he asked us whether we had a reservation. [… for brunch?!] He was able to seat us anyway in a cozy booth upstairs overlooking Elliott Bay. I was seated next to a suit, though fortunately he wasn't wearing his coat. Pam had the salmon Benedict and I had the salmon crepe. Both were delicious; I'd order either one again.
While we were having our brunch, we were observing this family at the next table. It looked like it spanned three generations, who seemed to be wearing their Sunday best. It looked ritualistic to me; I suppose that's a cynic's way to describe traditional. The younger children seemed to be programmed into obedience, almost knowing that Sunday brunch isn't simply a meal, but a weekly ordeal.
There was a boy of maybe eight or nine in age, who wore precisely what would be tolerated for this occasion. He wore slacks to appear proper, but wore them with sneakers. He looked as though he was enduring this moment with his family.
We had to head back shortly after that, I had to make my way back to my place. I had already missed my workout the day before and would hate missing another. We got on the bus and went back.
Once we got back we still had some time to kill. In fact, enough time so that we could do some frolicking, so we did. I could elaborate here, but you know…
I went back to my place and immediately got changed. Incidentally, that same muffler was still there on the tail end of the bridge. As for the workout, I was to do my cardio and weights. The cardio went fine. I haven't been able to run as quickly as I would just a couple of weeks ago, but I'm maintaining my target heart rate, which is what is important. However, I can't help but to think that this means that my level of fitness has somehow deteriorated over the last few weeks, which does disturb me a little. Weights were uneventful, save for the exception of doing them in a different sequence.
I got back in time to do Sunday Dinner with Len™. We ended up talking about getting dinner at about 6:30pm. Len arrived shortly after. He has been particularly lacking in suggestions for dinner the past few weeks. Not that he is normally forthcoming with suggestions, but today he was in rare form. We did end up going to Chili's. He finally admitted to being interested in their new Mushroom Jack fajitas.
We also ended up having the Lettuce Wraps as an appetizer. I found that they had left the lettuce a bit too wet. Separating iceberg lettuce is not a particularly easy task. One of the tricks that you can do is to run the leaves under tap water, making sure to run the water between the leaves. The water will help separate the leaves. One thing to note is that now you have very wet lettuce and you should do what you can to shake off the excess water. Did I mention that I was a waiter for a number of years?
I also ordered the same fajitas as Len. They looked quite promising in the menu. And they were. Our waitress was certainly polite (and attractive), but a little forgetful. Len and I briefly talked politics. We rarely ever talk politics, especially during baseball season. Naturally the conversation drifted from point to point. I forget precisely what we were talking about at the time, but Len's response was:
"The world may suck, but at least we have onions."That's a quoteable quote if I ever heard one. Len has been quite fond of onions as long as I've known him. I've even described it as a fetish at times, but he seems to balk at the term. I suppose that I can't really blame him, when you take into account the sexual connotation with it.
Once I got back to my place, I realized that I had left the article that Len gave me last week at Pam's place. I had skimmed over the article and wanted to read it more carefully, there was also an option to send feedback to the paper and I briefly thought about it. I called up Pam and asked if I could come by and pick it up.
I drove across the bridge to her place. Eighteen minutes flat. Not that I was trying to speed across, but I normally note the time so that I have better estimates of how to pace myself.
What was supposed to be a stop for a few minutes, ended up being a stay for a few hours. Not that I minded, and presumably neither did she, although she did have to get to sleep eventually. We ended up chatting for a while, which we both seemed to enjoy. I was helping her put some of her laundry away.
I left fairly late, it might've been past midnight. You know what? That muffler was still sitting there on the 520 bridge. I silently wondered how long it would remain.
May 14, 2000