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July 8, 2000 |
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Last night was a bit of a lazy night. I came by to pick up Pam for dinner. We had been debating wheter or not to get
together at all this Friday, but in the end we did decide to get
dinner. In fact, we went to a nice dinner at Shamiana.
I won't go into explicit detail about dinner. Suffice it to say that it
was exceptional as always. We did end up sitting in our table.
Actually, this is only the second time we sit at this particular table, this was the first time. We reminisced
about that night, and the things we had said. It had been nearly five
months ago since that night. I still remember it quite vividly. Of course,
many people will say that I have an
exceptional memory, to which I say it is simply a nasty allegation.
We didn't have the coconut ice cream pie, because Pam wanted to try the brownie. The brownie was good, not as
good as the coconut ice cream pie (even by her admission), but it was still
good. Comparatively, she seems to have a sweet tooth. Yes, I may
like coconut, but when I shop for groceries I rarely ever buy any junk food
(okay, Coke non-withstanding, but little else). You won't see me buy chips,
cookies, or ice cream. That's just not me. Pam on
the other hand…
We had also made tentative plans to see a movie, Gone in 60
Seconds. We had a bit of a debate as to which movie to watch… you
see, she didn't say that she wanted to watch this particular movie by name.
She wanted to see the new Nicolas Cage film. I have no qualms
about seeing a movie with Nicolas Cage; in fact, I find him to be an
exceptional actor. However, I would like to know something about
the film. I don't go to movies to see actors (or actresses), I go to see
film itself. Seeing a movie for the actor is a bit like going to Disney
World to admire the architecture.
The other movie she suggested was The Perfect Storm, (that is -
the George Clooney/Mark Wahlberg film). My suggestions were Chicken
Run and Titan A.E.. Out of curiosity she looked at the
reviews. Her suggestions didn't rate well; my suggestions did.
Not that I put much weight into movie reviews, but it amused me.
As it turns out, we didn't go to see the movie, we were both pretty tired.
What did we have planned for Saturday? Well, we did have dinner plans with Linda, Mary, her cousin Mark and his friend, David, but that wouldn't be until evening, until then we had no plans, or more precisely we didn't have plans.
Linda called around 8:30am to firm up plans for today. Yes, this is a Saturday. Unfortunately, we missed the call. Though she did call back a bit later. We all made plans to go to the EMP, or more accurately, they made plans. I really wasn't up to walking around for a few hours. I suppose that, to me, life is mostly instrospective, and I think I live more through looking in rather than to try to collect external experiences. I enjoy movies that make me think, not ones that will dazzle me with special effects. I asked Pam if it would be okay if I skipped the afternoon festivities and she had no objections. However, we still had to do a number of things, besides getting showered and dressed.
First, we had to drop off her dry cleaning… Actually, first was a bungled attempt at… a bit of a fun diversion on her part, unfortunately we simply ran out of time for that and we had to finish getting ready. Oh, as you might imagine, dropping off the dry cleaning was pretty trivial.
Next was getting lunch, we had about forty-five minutes for lunch. We decided to get something quick. I had recently read that Dick's was rated the best burger place in Seattle and there was one right down the street. We decided to try it.
Hey, Seattle… What are you people thinking? Dick's had precisely two things going for it. First, it was modestly priced. Second, it opened late, until 2am to be precise. That was it. Their deluxe was mediocre, I suppose that it didn't really help that it had been sitting under the heat lamp for a while. Their fries were soggy. I had every intention of finishing my meal, chalking it up as a learning experience, but I have a very high tolerance for this kind of thing. Pam is not quite as forgiving and we ended up leaving. I did end up taking the remaining two burgers with me, I just hate to see food go to waste.
Fortunately, there is a Kidd Valley within a block, also a burger place. Kidd Valley has exceptional burgers; I'm not sure how precisely how they got out-voted by Dick's. Their burgers were great as they always are and we also got shakes (peanut butter and mocha) and sides (onion rings and mushrooms). We sat in a booth overlooking the people as they walked passed. I noticed one young woman who had circled the block at least once, only to get into a minivan… a minivan from which an elderly man had recently walked out. It just seemed like a bit of a strange exchange to me.
It was about time for me to drop her off, and I drove the few blocks to the EMP. I would meet up with her later. One of the things I had planned to do was to visit Magic, and to make sure that he had enough food. On the way there, I could take care of a few errands that I've been meaning to take care of. As I headed towards the highway, I silently wondered to myself what I would do with the two remaining burgers we got from Dick's. I was too full and wasn't about to eat them, we had dinner plans for tonight, and I simply hate to see food go to waste. It was at this very moment that I was stopped at a traffic light, next to a homeless person with a sign which read, "Hungry, Please Help." I asked the man if he really was hungry, and when he agreed I handed him the burgers. Problem solved. Don't get me wrong, I have never handed any of these folks money, but I figured that if they were really hungry, I don't mind giving them some food.
As for the trip, I had gotten on the interstate heading north, forgetting that they had shut down the 520 bridge for the weekend. I suppose that I could've simply turned the car around, but I enjoy driving. I drove around the north side of the lake; it probably added another twenty minutes to my trip, but, like I said, I like driving.
I stopped by a waterbed store, to get new supplies for the waterbed I got from Len. It was larger than my current waterbed. I suppose that I might've kept the mattress, heater, liner, and pad, however, I thought it would be simpler and easier to simply buy an entirely new setup. So that's what I intended to do. They didn't have the mattress in stock, however, so I just ordered it. The remainder of the stuff I took with me.
I did make it to see Magic, who seemed fine. He seemed genuinely happy to see me. We spent a few minutes together, while I attended to his more immediate needs. I also checked on a few things at home. I picked out a shirt for dinner tonight, which happened to be incredibly wrinkled, but I knew that I would be able to iron it at Pam's. I left shortly after.
On the way back, I stopped by the Lucky Devil piercing parlor, where I originally got my nipple piercing. It's something I've been thinking about doing for a couple of weeks now, except that having to drive through Interstate 90, forced the issue, since it is only a few minutes from the interstate. I wanted to get a couple of different rings for my nipple to, you know… accessorize. I got a blue titanium ring with a smaller radius than the one I currrently wear, and I got one of the bars with the two screw-on bulbs at each end. I know… I'm so easily amused.
I then headed back to Pam's place. It is so nice not to have to worry about parking in Seattle. She had gotten back at about the same time and wondered where I was. In fact, she was just leaving me a message on my answering machine… just as I walked through the door. I showed her the new nipple rings that I had gotten.
I then proceeded to change the one I was wearing. I figured that she might be a tad disappointed that I had gone to the Lucky Devil without her, but at least I had not changed the ring. I proceeded to do the proper thing… wash my hands with anti-bacterial soap, wash all the hardware. Removing the ring wasn't all that tricky, there is a bead that is held in place simply by pressure. The only trick in this case is to remove the bead without having it drop into oblivion, which I did successfully. Rotating the ring out of my nipple was pretty trivial. Pam and I picked one the smaller titanium blue ring for the replacement. If you have ever messed with titanium nipple rings, you'll know that these things are not going to bend easily. I thought that maybe twisting it a bit so that I might rotate the ring in place and twisting it back might work, but this sucker wasn't about to twist willingly. So I simply had to squeeze my nipple into a gap scarcely more than an eighth of an inch. It really wasn't that bad.
You weren't all that interested about my nipple were you? [Sigh]
We spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening at Pam's. I ironed my button-up shirt that was wrinkled beyond comprehension. How do shirts ever get like this? Sometimes it seems as if they were designed that way to keep the ironing folks in business. I also spent part of the afternoon watching the night game of the Yankees vs. Mets double-header. It is unique in the sense that each game is played in the opposing ballpark. The day game was played in Shea Stadium; the night game played in Yankee Stadium. This is the first time it has happened since 1903. That's a pretty long time.
Meanwhile, she had picked up something for her sister, but did not have any wrapping paper. She asked me if I might make an origami something to adorn the presents. I was happy to, but we were running low on time. As it happens, I had foil origami paper at her place. We decided to make a crab. This model takes about twenty minutes to make. Among some origami purist, it may not be considered a true origami model. Why? Because to piece it together, you have to rip part of the paper. Still the model looks fairly impressive.
By the time we left, the Yankees were leading. Pam tells me that I'm an incurable baseball fanatic. I think she exagerates. As for the origami crab, I would have to finish it in the cab.
We arrived at the Waterfront, which is on Pier 70, about five minutes early. It was a beautiful place along the water. The sky was mostly clear and the sun shone over the water. It wasn't too cold or windy so we walked along the pier to take a better look at the water. I still had my hands full with this pesky origami model, but was nearly finished with it. None of the others had arrived yet, so we just waited there for a few minutes before going inside to sit in the bar.
The dining room was gigantic. The entire outer perimeter was lined with windows that spanned the height of the surrounding walls. Immediately in the center, sat an impressive piano, and there a gentleman sat playing live music. As you walk in, the bar sits on your right, and it ran down the entire length of the dining room. The bar section ran along the bar lined with some semi-booths and small tables. Presumably for the folks without reservations. The open kitchen was immediately to your left; though it was was an open kitchen similar to Fandango. None of the seats faced the chefs, which I found a bit disappointing. The main dining room was simply immense, just past the piano where the entire array of tables arranged sparsely so that carts could maneuver along this vast dining room. The room was cavernous; the roof supported by at least four incredibly thick flat black pillars. There were a collection of strange chadeliers hanging from the ceiling, each emitted a soft orange-bronze light. I'm not sure if the tone of the light was a function of the type of bulb or the surrounding fixtures. There was a smaller private dining room towards the far left, which was separated only by glass doors, presumably to give a sense of privacy and to eliminate some of the noise.
Pam and I sat in the bar, where she ordered a lemon drop and I ordered a waterfront sunset, which I'm fairly sure is simply some other drink that they renamed to match the name of the restaurant. I finished the origami crab just as they were arriving. Perfect timing. They seemed impressed. Mark wanted to disassemble it to figure out how to put it together. We were seated shortly after, the hostess carried our drinks to our table.
They ordered the appetizers and wine. I just enjoyed the conversation. They were all very diverse folks and it was a pleasure to listen to them. The waitress ran through the specials and a number of very quiet young men would occasionally wander by and fill our water glasses and put more bread on our individual bread plates. We had the mussels, oysters, spicy shrimp, and the fried softshell crab for appetizers. All which were very tasty, though I did not have any of the oysters. Naturally, all the food was arranged artfully, which to be quite honest, was a mild annoyance to me. It makes me feel snotty.
Throughout the evening, we were all guessing the tunes that were playing on the piano. Many of them I recognized, some of them were before my time. Certainly, I had heard most of them, though I did not know the name nor the artist.
During dinner, I didn't partake in the wine like the others. I don't have a taste for wine. I figured that if I can't appreciate the difference between a two dollar glass versus a twenty dollar glass I had no business drinking it. I did, however, have a lemon drop, which I have developed a little bit of a taste for.
Pam and I shared a spinach salad, which was exceptional. It was something that Fred had turned me on to a couple of years ago, whenever I see it I order it. My only complaint is that the dressing was chilled and I happen to prefer it warm, and no… I don't happen to care how it is supposed to be served. I know what I like.
I ordered the grilled New York for dinner, with the potatoes gratin. The food was arranged artfully, which again, was a minor annoyance. Other than the food, the white plate was spotless, with a wide rim that was easily an inch thick maybe more. I don't mind if the plate was clean, however, I would like some imperfections… give me a scratch or chip from use, maybe a streak from a bit of spilled sauce, perhaps some dew from having come from the dishwasher… Anything! Nope. It was picture perfect.
The potatoes were good, other than being maybe a tad salty, but that may have been because of the cheese. The steak was excellent. It was done perfectly so that it was the right mixture of juiciness and toughness. The sauce had a delightful tartness. It was an excellent steak.
Pam and I finished with the Tiki banana split. I had coconut ice cream, I had to try it. It too was good, though the mango ice cream was a bit too exotic for me.
We continued chatting for a while, Mary put in a request for the piano player to play Georgia. We continued chatting about their group of friends, none of who I knew. They described each of their real estate sales, as well as some of the little misadventures with different siblings. All very colorful and entertaining.
Eventually, we tired and broke up. We wandered towards the front door. Pam and I ordered a cab, though the hostess had warned us that they were taking particularly long tonight. We all said our goodbyes. They were a fun bunch, I was delighted to have met them. Pam said goodbye to each of them, vowing to see them soon. They all climbed into their car and drove off.
We went back inside to wait for the cab. We found a couple of spots near the bar where we ordered a couple of drinks, another lemon drop and a whiskey sour. Naturally, the cab got there shortly after the drinks came, so we ended up gulping our drinks.
The cab ride back was uneventful, save for the nearly missed turned by our cab driver.
We came back and turned some music on, quite loud from what I remember. We started slow dancing to the music near total darkness. It was quite pleasant. After a while we layed on the floor and started to chat about things… about where she would be living and what our future was, which is mostly hinging upon where she could find her next job. It was a bit of a strange conversation.
July 8, 2000