Day 128

where to start.. sometimes so many good things happen and it's hard to know where to begin.

we went downtown seattle for the afternoon yesterday with jeremy. my ipod freaked out again and erased itself so i stopped by an apple store for my 'ipod appointment' i'd booked. my name was on the booking list on the tv and everything and in the end, the mac fellow gave up trying to fix the hopeless cause and gave me a brand new one.

the three of us wandered around the pike place market and i practiced photography. they throw fish around and chant and i saw them drop one. i was right there and have a good picture to prove it. i'll add it to the list of promised pictures sometime. blogger has been bugging when it comes to putting pics in posts lately so i'll try to get that worked out. i'm thinking of creating a photography website cause i haven't put hardly any pictures on this blog or facebook yet and i have some good ones.

anyways, the headless fish slid between the feet of an older man. everyone got excited and the animated, tattooed worker chuckled with the cluster. the whole market scene was really busy and i couldn't imagine having to do regular grocery shopping as open mouthed and fanny pack toting yuppies slowly grazed through the seafood and fresh flowers. we soon met up with parker's cousin, another jeremy, and crashed for the night at his apartment nearby. before this, i'd happen to wander into a chill looking coffee shop, cliche for seattle but who cares, and spent my last crumpled bills on a coffee. there was a piano on a makeshift stage towards the back and after the counter girl asked if i'd gotten any good pictures, i asked the brown smiling eyes about what it takes to get to play one night. after shuffling some papers and confirming some quick facts with another barista, she handed me a paper with booking info. i might look into that. the gig.

we woke up at 6am this morning, day 128, to get jeremy, the australian, back to the ferry. afterwards, parker and i drove back up to the deserted market. denizen unloaded flowers from trucks and i ordered a coffee in the original, very first starbucks. we were the only ones in the place at the moment, but apparently after nine a.m., you have to fight to get your stuff. i found the process quite peaceful and, actually, got a free coffee after the barista screwed up my order. free coffee from the most original and demanded place in the city. good start.

this energy lasted me the rest of the day. until right about now. we got back and i mowed the lawn and have been working on a landscaping project at this house for the last six hours. i've had some real food now and sit here, ready to continue to edit the hundreds of pictures of the seattle skyline at sunset and the market and everything else.

Day 114

after years of yearning, the wait is over.

the seattle skyline rose under rolling grey clouds.

the needle, petite and reserved, waited at the left side of the horizon. bulky and dark buildings of men formed a line, all waiting, it seemed, for their turn for a chance to win the heart of the white princess of seattle if she would happen to turn her face back from a quiet gaze across the puget sound. i never once saw her flinch.

the bumbershoot festival, based at and around the base of the needle, drew masses of people, most of which were distracting and interesting and unlike any that i'd ever seen in person. death cab for cutie wasn't until nine p.m. and we rolled in at eleven a.m. to guarantee tickets to the main stage, so we wandered around checking out the rest of the festival.

white cups gleefully bobbed in the fists of thousands of coffee sippers. the green lady with parted hair was everywhere and i wondered for a moment who's picture the starbucks logo was inspired by. she is everywhere, now, whoever she is. especially this morning in seattle.

extremists and radical hippies carried signature clipboards and posterboard signs amidst the crowd. before a part of the film festival, a staff member stood before the crowd to introduce the indie films and gave a plug for another organization where we should help cover up our carbon footprint for driving that day. the streets were noticeably clean, even in a carnival of thousands of pedestrians, white food tents, and traffic controlling fences.

paramore drew a large emo rocker crowd. not the best fit for a midday show, but satisfying enough.

we stumbled upon a stage, one of about seven that were filled with music throughout the day, that had a delicate and pretty native american girl. she sang songs about ferns and water and fire and wild grass. her voice and hollowed echoing resonation accompanied her dark hair and strange modern charm.

starbucks and clif bar booths presented tiny samples to the crowd and we stopped back several times in between walking to different stages and theaters.

we went back to the main stage to secure the closest position towards the front as we could without being in the extra-special section right below the stage. under the glow of the looming space needle, hippies and emos and musicians and everyone else stood in the warm, clear summer night to shed their summer skin on this labor day and last night of the festival.

Day 69

the third week of camp ended in routine fashion. the q-town camp songs are so stuck in my head now that i felt a little stir crazy as they were being blasted across the field of departing campers.

the camp directors organize a weekly bus that goes into town for staff to take to get supplies. tonight they were going to see the new batman movie as well, but the thought of riding with a bunch of talking people to pay money to experience a formulated evening was not exciting to me at all.

jen's brother was playing at a coffee shop in nearby nanaimo. the music didn't start until 7ish, so we took off to the canadian version of borders. 'chapters' was filled with the smell of new books and a built-in starbucks. after some coffee and a scan through the fly fusion magazine, i found my place in the music/photography section. they're always together in whatever bookstore i've ever gone to and i think this is great.

i stood alone in front of the shelves of band and artist biographies and realized it would take about twelve years to be satisfied in this section, so i picked up the scrapbook of john lennon. this is an amazing recreation of mementos and copies of original song scribbles. i'd read the bob dylan one back at borders in the usa. i bought a new edition of a music magazine since it was cheaper. we stopped at a sporting goods store where i found some sweet clearance shirts that not only were needed but helped to fix yesterday's issues. the recognition of the smell of left shoes all pointing one direction on a sales wall was a scary and sudden reminder of the terms like over-pronation and motion control and adidiprene and gel. we got out of there soon after this.

the bands were playing at a place called the buzz and was laid out in a J pattern. the door was at the bottom left tip of this shape, the counter was on the inside left of the curve, and black wooden tables and leather seats and folding chairs scattered the long stalk that lead to the brick-backgrounded stage. the musicians often bounced on and off stage after songs as they played covers and some originals. i had a so-called 'canada moment' in this shop.

outside, on the right side of the stalk, there was a patio where people congregated at a wooden picnic table to talk over the music. someone had a couple small puppies and a little girl in a sundress and two small boys dressed in p.j.s chased the little animals around the concrete. across the median and street was a suburban subdivision where a canadian flag flapped on a pole in some backyard. back inside, most of the girls wore sundresses and many guys had beards or dreads or plastic-framed glasses. after walking in and standing around a bit, a barista came from behind the counter and offered me a free latte. the people i was with thought she was hitting on me, but i think they'd pry just made an extra on accident. free is free and i like free. anyways, this canada moment revealed a truly vagabonded utopia.

i'm back at camp now, sitting next to a piano keyboard on a dimly lit stage. the bus rolled in a few minutes ago. it's been a good day. tomorrow is 'staff development day' and sunday starts the next junior high camp and a new week of teaching video editing and shooting and such. i'm ready.