Double Shot of Seattle

This weekend was a extra strong, double shot of Seattle - for two extremely different reasons. Friday, easily found myself trying two different wines at the top of the Space Needle (again - like I have said, I need to go free and cheap!) with my friends from work Annika and Crystal (and her friend). Columbia Crest was the featured winery which had a very expensive line plus many cheaper ones that are found at many grocery stores across the country. At dusk, from the top of the Space Needle, the city was broken up into two views - one side was bathed in sunshine and the other rain. I've been told that when it's sunny and raining at the same time that "The Devil's wife is crying."

Saturday I did one of the many things I said I wasn't going to do that was "so Seattle" (thus loosing my midwest identity and become more and more west coast - this isn't hard core resistance but more of a game) - I joined Costco. Why is this so Seattle? Costco was started in Seattle - the flagship store is in the suburb of Kirtland. They're a fantastic company that actually pays their employees (on all levels) greater than a living wage plus benefits. Everyone loves them for treating people so fairly. However, as a single person I have no use for 36 rolls of toilet paper, 6 bottle of Lysal, 6 giant size Comet cleanser, 15 dish sponges, and the 1,000 other things that come in massive bulk at Costco. I just don't have any storage and really, I didn't grow up in the Recession - I have many reasons to believe that when I need a new sponge the grocery store down the street will have 2 for $1.50.

In trying to get my tire replaced (which was originally brought by my brother's membership) they said I would have to have my own. It also turned out that they didn't carry my same type of tire and were willing to take all four tires and replace them all at a reduced cost. They assured me that the whole deal wouldn't cost me more than $100. (The customer service is excellent too). I purchased my $45 Costco membership and loitered in the store while waiting for my tires - overwhelmed by the massive bulk of everything. I sat in the furniture section for a while (nice outdoor sets) and evening found some things I could buy there - pens (yes, I would eventually use 15), gum (all 8 huge packets), Luna Bars, beer, water, fish... after consulting with my brother on the phone, I did manage to find a way to make this worthwhile but there is no way 36 rolls of toilet paper will end up in my small apartment anytime soon - I'm positive the kitties would add this to their Olympic adventures.

I zoomed home on my new tires, changed and headed out the door to meet another work friend for an evening with the Rat City Roller Girls. Imagine roller derbies from the 1950's, 60's and 70's - before WWF, when women (and men) dressed in costumes and rollerskated around a rink trying to keep "jammers" from scoring points. It was AWESOME! I mean it was two of my favorite things - wheels and costumes - put together. There were catfights with fists flying and some serious violations of the rules but for the most part, there was some incredible skill involved along with pretty great body protection including knee pads, helmets, wrist guards and mouth pieces. There were great team names: Sockit Wenches, Derby Liberation Front, Grave Danger and Throttle Rockets and individual names like Bonnie Collide, Hot Flash (a woman who actually derbied in the 1970's), Diva State, Sybil Unrest, Ida Slapter, etc. They had a uniformed costumes but then each individual added their own individual flair and character.

The teams play two-twenty minute halves with intermissions in between. It took me about 10 minutes to get the rules and the objectives (see the link for an explanation). I had a couple of favorite players and a team I ended up rooting for. These were Hipsters, punk rockers, thin gals, bigger gals, lesbian and straight girls, mothers and daughters. Many had great skill and some were fresh to the teams. By the end of the evening, I decided I was going to go to every game possible (only $15) and practice my own skating skills and maybe become a Derby Skater myself! It's honestly an ideal combination of things I enjoy (I'm not good at being very mean but I can be dramatic). It was a fantastic time! I'm sold!

And I can't go thru the weekend though with mentioning my wonderful hike thru Discovery Park on Sunday but also without mentioning that, like anywhere in the US, there was a completely senseless tragedy this weekend when a young man took the lives of 6 other young people for no apparent reason. This even occurred about 5 blocks from my office in Capital Hill, a great Seattle neighborhood. Of course, there are senseless tragedies all over the world - one need not search very far.