welcome to seattle.

so because jared's car is working again we drove to work this morning, which meant i got in an hour earlier than normal, which meant that i was able to slip out at 10 til 4 (i skipped 10 minutes of work, bad me). that, in turn, meant that i got to see daylight after work for the first time in several days, and probably the last time for quite a while. this whole darkness thing is taking some adjustment, trust me. it's not that it's affecting my mood - i'm actually getting steadily better despite the decrease in sunlight - it's just an odd sensation to step out of the building at 4:45 and have the streetlights be on and the sky a deep purple color. i have to say, though, that the evenings right now are gorgeous. today it cleared up after raining this morning, so the world was still wet but the sky was vibrantly pink and orange and blue. it's different than the winters i'm used to, but i think i'll do just fine.

anyway, that's just one of many reasons i love living in seattle. here is a quick list of some others.

- the fact that every single kerry-edwards sign and bumper sticker is still proudly displayed. george w. bush isn't our president here.
- live music. dj music. music in alcohol establishments every fucking night of the week. goodbye, boredom.
- public transit. sure, the people on it smell funny sometimes, but the bus has never failed to get me where i want to go.
- water. i love seeing the sound every day when i'm walking around downtown. i love smelling ocean some mornings. i love shilshole beach.
- the people. they're great for watching. though i suppose the same could be said for anywhere, seattlites have their oddities. playing spot-the-transplant (the ones from LA are the ones holding umbrellas when it's barely raining) is a favorite pasttime of mine.
- my neighborhood. it's the perfect mix of safe and exciting, most of the bums stay west of here, and the neighborhood to the south is somewhere i'd imagine raising kids, yet i'm within walking distance of several restaurants, more than enough bars (one of them is even gay) and the grocery store.

anyway, this city sufficiently rocks. i want it to be my home for ever and ever unless i decide to move to canada. but really, i don't like hockey, and i pronounce it "ah-BOWT" not "a-boot".