Seattle Soiree - Installment 5

INSTALLMENT 5 aka LIGHT ON THE PSYCH, HEAVY ON THE HILARITY

Bonjour,

From my now regular seat against the back wall under the Oscar Wilde painting at Starbucks in the U Village Barnes & Noble bookstore. The smell of freshly ground Seattles Best Coffee permeates the air and makes me truly long to endulge in a good ol "cuppa joe". *sigh* to dream...

Instead I have just ordered my Veinte, cinnamon Tazo chai tea with steamed 1% milk and 4 Splenda sugars. As Tom Hanks said in You've Got Mail - an order at Starbucks is not just a beverage, it is a daily self-affirmation that each of us is capable of making multiple decisions in order to get what we want. 

Ah! They've called my drink... *returns with beverage the size of Centrepoint* Inevitably it is overfilled but they put 2 teabags in it this time, the guy behind the counter must like me. When they only give me 1 it just tastes like slightly cinnamon flavoured milky water.

I'm so American right now :P

Several interesting things have happened recently: 

1. I was watching Cooking in the Northwest the other morning on the oldest television in the history of creation which is now equipped with a set-top box falsifying it's decrepit state with a HD picture and a remote, ahh technology. Anyway I watch learning to make crab stuffed portobello mushrooms and drooling all over the place when what should erupt across my 12" screen as I had just walked through the door on the way to the kitched but *scrolling text* THIS IS A TEST *cccchrewwwwwwchhhh, bbbvvrrrrrrrggggg, cccchhhhreeewwwwww* THIS IS ONLY A TEST OF THE EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM *bbeeeee-ooooooooo, ccchhhreeeewwwccchhhh, beep beep beep, ccchhhreeeewwwwww* THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS ONLY A TEST etc etc. 

How cool is that?! So there, my American experience is complete. It could only have been better, perhaps if it had been followed by "JUST KIDDING, YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE, THIS IS NOT A TEST" Then I would have had to get out the camera and perhaps phone you and say goodbye.

2. I'd forgotten a disconcerting side effect of the Seattle weather and progressive (read: hippy/lumberjack) culture: Women in this area have lost the understanding that body hair is truly and unwaveringly unacceptable. *shudder* And that under-clothing of the chest-assisting variety ought not be optional, particularly in the cold. *double shudder* 

It's sunny out today and I swear, it's like they've all been hibernating throughout the winter and, due to a lack of blankets, decided to grow their own. I nearly threw up. Good luck in Europe..!

3. Vitamin D is fascinating. My mother has a penchant for this particular vitamin and requested when I arrived that I conduct a little experiment - take it in heavy doses for the first week I'm here then try going without it for a few days and see if I notice the difference. I think I will term it "the Sunshine Vitamin". I feel miraculous! It's sunny (albeit chilly) outside today I've been radiating sunshine from my immune system for the past 2 weeks (save the 3 days of the camping trip where I stopped and it was as though grey clouds rolled in and burst open on my head). I highly recommend spiking your morning coffee with about 500mg of the stuff, give it a go - for science sake.

4. Shopping in America is akin to orgasm. I love it. They dote on you, the change rooms are the size of most pacific islands and the clothes are so ridiculously cheap! Not in quality necessarily but simply in price. I think it helps the economy has had it's ass fall out recently but I wandered through my old haunt Northgate Mall yesterday and by the time I'd wandered back out my wallet was only a couple hundred dollars lighter and I had 6 pairs of brand new jeans, 5 new shirts, 1 pair of stunning Hepburn sunnies, new earrings, a black patent clutch and several presents for certain people back home. I need to buy a new suitcase before I leave..in 3 days!

5. I have discovered that one can eat lunch purely from samples provided at food courts (or QFC). You go to the counter, ask to try a, b, c and d then say you have to go think about it. They forget your face in about 5 seconds flat so when you go back again and ask for samples of d, c, b and a they happily hand them over to you. Then the trick is to get the disgruntled Cinnabon employee who, when asked for a sample, takes an entire cinnamon bun, cuts it into 4 chunks, sticks 4 toothpicks in it and hands you the whole plate. GENIUS! (PS. Cinnabon rocks my size 00 world.)

Ok I think this e-mail's gone on about long enough - make sure you read it when you have time and aren't getting surreptitiously interrupted. So I'll wrap it up..

Re: Angels & Demons I wasn't saying the film itself was the most spectacular piece of cinema I have ever come across, not even close but it was the fact that I once again enjoyed experiencing mindless entertainment! I think it was an adventurous enough film (and we all know I would give any desired appendage to be Lara Croft) to pique my inner Indiana Jones afficionado and well done enough to remind me how it felt to watch such films as a child (in my old theatre no less) and the excitement I garnered from them. That was the fun part, not necessarily the film itself. I must say I did catch a few plot inconsistencies and I think it was a bit too much for my mum to grasp but it was enjoyable nonetheless.