Seattle Surprises

1. Did you know that 10 Things I Hate About You takes place in Seattle? Yeah, I didn't know that. I watched that movie last night with some friends from work and we figured out that the house Bianca and Kat live in is probably in Queen Anne somewhere. We've already made plans to find all of the locations in the movie and photo document the event. Consider yourself warned, Facebook. We also cracked open a bottle of wine to drink while watching the movie. I do not recommend the game take-a-drink-whenever-you-miss-Heath-Ledger. You'll only end up with an empty bottle and a little hole in your heart. 

2. So much for trying to be a classy professional. I've only been at work two weeks and I'm already organizing a bar crawl. They apparently have never heard of the concept and are surprised that the idea came from an Iowan. The hard part is going to be figuring out where to go and what design to put on the shirts. The two higher ups are named Ben and Jerry so I might milk (bad dairy pun) that theme. Kurtzy is going to help me figure it all out and hopefully it'll be a good time. Basically you can take the girl out of Iowa but you can't take the party planner out of the girl. 

3. This actually isn't a surprise, but more of a happy shift in attitude. Mollie and I are doing really well living together. She works 8-4:30 and I'm more of a 9-6 girl. So we completely miss each other in the mornings and by the time I get home she's already had dinner. But we've been bonding a lot. She'll sit with me while I eat dinner and we'll talk about our work days and the stuff that we want to get done in the apt. (We're still working on the cable and internet.) One night I was watching something in my room and she had a question for me. She stood in my door way, looking as if she felt like she was intruding or interrupting. Girl needs to learn that I have very small personal boundaries. I invited her in and we sat on my bed and chit-chatted the night away. Very Babysitters Club of us, but it was fun. I think we'll get along really well and won't be needing that roommate contract after all. 

4. I actually liked the movie Tropic Thunder. Kurtzy and I were in giggle mode after a particularly stressful day at the Rep. So we hauled it to the movie theatre to do the two things we love most: relaxing and paying for overpriced tickets. We didn't have time for dinner so I ordered a small pizza at the theatre and they delivered it to me during the movie. Now that's just cool. Unfortunately you could barely find a pulse with the audience we saw it with, but the two of us were dying the whole time. I completely recommend it if you want something light and frothy to watch. Thinking was not required for this one. On our way home we saw that that day was also the opening of the H&M downtown! We went in and explored the two store mecca complete with purple blazers and a trashy chick DJ playing euro-techno. It was pretty much the best way to end any day. (Mental note: I'm not allowed to go to that store until I have an actual paying job for fear that I'll spend my rent check.)

5. People in Seattle think "oxtail" is something you eat. I mean, I know you could put raspberry chipotle sauce on pretty much anything to make it taste good, but oxtail? Jury is still out on this one. 

6. I've finally decided to stop complaining about the government and to stand up and do something about it. Fran, Kurtzy and I have been given the go ahead to organize a booth where people can register to vote in the lobby of our theatre. You have to register by Oct 4th in WA so we're going to be making our effort for about a week as we go into previews for The Night Watcher (starring a woman who was on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, I kid you not). I hope that we can get a lot of people to sign up so that we can make some changes around here. But I swear, our efforts are non-partisan. To a point. 

7. People really mean it when they say Ask and Ye Shall Receive. Mollie and I asked for some stuff for the apt from SRO, our volunteer organization. These people came through like gangbusters. We got: a tv, lamp, laundry basket, 12 white hand cloths, spoon, spatula, salad spinner (?), grater, stir fry pan, and the piece de resistance, a cast iron pan. We've made out like bandits (that's what she said) and it's all for free. I might as well ask for a Wii and a Jaguar just to see what their limits are. 

8. The thing at the Rep that I'm most looking forward to working on is, drum roll please, managing their internet image. I'm going to be blogging, creating Facebook groups, and updating their MySpace page with the help of Andrew, a fellow intern. I'm so excited that the things I do voluntarily and incessantly in my free time, they want me to do at work. It's like paying me to blink or make sarcastic comments.  Once I get rolling I'll be sure to post the link so you can read whatever dish I come up with. This is such a beautiful thing. 

9. And finally, in a completely unsurprising turn of events, it has started to rain here. It's been overcast and chilly since Thursday and today it decided to stop threatening rain and just go all out. To be fair, it's not like we're Tina Turner to some Hurricane Ike, but it is coming down pretty hard. 

Too soon?