Vertigo
The last week we had Jon (vertigo, not hachi) visiting us from Green Bay. Well, actually, to be accurate, he isn’t really from GB anymore as he’s moved out of Ben’s place and left his few possessions with his parents in Michigan while he travels the world. Just prior to visiting us he’d come back from Costa Rica and he was on his way to Vietnam, China, and Japan. Yowza.
While Jon was here, we did a lot of hanging out, playing games, goofing around, and just having a really nice time. He’s really personable and easy to get along with and even though I don’t know him all that well I felt really comfortable around him. We spent a lot of time talking about travel and risk-taking and relationships. We got bubble tea many times. It was just *really* wonderful having him here.
Thursday was the most notable day as he and I took a rather long afternoon walk together while Will was at work. The weather was absolutely gorgeous…it was sunny and reasonably warm. I showed him Sunset Hill Park, which is the one that overlooks Puget Sound (of which I’ve already taken many photographs) and we decided we wanted to find a way down to the beach (the park is on top of a very tall, steep cliff basically.) Jon was all ready to just hop the fence and scale his way down but I suggested finding a legitimate path down instead. XD We walked around a bit but only found dead ends, but one we happened upon had a hiking trail sign above it. However, above *that* sign was one that said “Trail closed.” Jon took this as an invitation and started down the path to make sure it was okay. As soon as I started my descent, I realized why the path was closed. The ground was muddy and was covered in slippery leaves and the path was quite steep. Because I hadn’t planned on this happening, I wasn’t wearing suitable footwear…as a matter of fact I had on my nice work shoes. Eep. Anyhow, I expended so much effort on bracing myself from sliding that by the time I finally reached the bottom my thighs were aching so badly I thought my legs would buckle under me. But we’d made it! We made our way down to the beach and spent awhile walking along the shore, and by the time we’d decided to head back, I got a call from someone who’d found my resume online and wanted to schedule a job interview. So I had a pre-interview screening while walking along the beach, something I never expected I’d do. :3 We went out and had Mediterranean food for dinner after that and I hobbled around since my legs and feet were in a lot of pain.
On Jon’s suggestion Will hunted down a board game called “Settlers of Catan” and we spent a lot of time playing that. It’s great fun…it reminds me a lot of Warcraft II in that there are areas of resources you collect to build settlements. On Wednesday I finally went in for my orientation for my contract position, which is the first of any type of work I’ve done since I got here. On Sunday we had curry with Chad after which we went and saw Narnia, which was very well done. I think we all appreciated it since those were books we grew up with. It was interesting having yet another person in the house who is in a long-distance relationship with someone in another country. Like Will, Jon’s girlfriend is also in Japan, so he spent some time talking to her over Skype. It’s nice having someone else around who understands what it’s like to be in this situation.
One evening Jon and I went to the Apple store so he could get a screw replaced on his laptop then we walked over to Omni. He and I played air hockey while we waited for dinner and then we ate with some of the Omni employees. It was delicious. We had a few rounds of pinball but ended up busting the machine after a ball got stuck. Well, not really, but we couldn’t figure out how to secure the glass back in place. Will stayed behind to talk to Hiroko and I proceeded to get Jon and myself extremely lost on the way back, proving undeniably that Seattle is not a happy place for people who are geographically impaired. Yay for maps.
We were all planning on having a bus adventure but it never ended up happening. We all either got up too late or wanted to do other things instead. Oh well. Because Jon wanted to play Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time so much, he ended up buying a used copy of it for me at Hollywood Video, and subsequently I ended up signing up for memberships at Hollywood and Blockbuster. I added Jules to my account so he can rent videos under my name. Heh. :3
I’ve been really concerned about money lately since my jobs have been less than fruitful thus far. I cried for a long time last night as I felt I’d painted myself into a corner by choosing the commitments I’ve made. Both Jules and Will talked to me and tried to offer logical advice, which helped a lot, but I’m still worried. I’m starting to get nervous about the day that Hiroko returns and Will moves off somewhere else with her and I’ll be alone. I’m not quite sure what I’ll do. ;_; Maybe by that time I’ll have a more steady income…which I’ll have to if I’m going to survive. It doesn’t seem like Jules will be able to come over any time soon. :(
To all my friends: I’m terribly sorry I won’t be able to buy Christmas gifts for you this year. I really am just *that* broke. Please understand that I feel really bad about this. ;_;
And speaking of Christmas, I’ll be going back to Wisconsin next week. I guess the reality of that hasn’t really sunk in yet. It’ll be nice to see everyone again but it’s going to be so blasted cold. That’s one thing I’m really enjoying about Seattle…I can still walk around outside without a coat and be comfortable. And it’s bloody *December*!
