Oh so much to tell about!

It seems like forever since my last post... I'll try to be concise... but really, its been 2 weeks and actually a lot has happened!

These last 2 weeks have been a weird mix of absolute boredom and crazy buzy- never really a middle ground. I have a job interview on Thursday at the University of Washington... hopefully good things will happen and the employment gods will smile down on me... eeek!

I finally feel like I am getting a real grasp on this city, though I guess that's not too surprising seeing as I'm usually pretty good with directions. My most glorious moment was when my friend Kathryn gave me her street address and I knew exactly how to get there. Gotta love a quasi-grid system. Speaking of Kathryn, I'm slowly making some friends here. Kathryn is a college friend of one of my high school friends. She's doing AmeriCorp here in Seattle and she arrived on Friday. I met her on Saturday and showed her around some downtown. We had these GIANT cookies at the Pike Place Market- I think they dwarfed the cookies that Jenny ordered at Julia's on Alana's birthday. And they were orgasmically delicious! And so was Kathryn- super cool! YAY! I have a real fag hag in Seattle proper :)

I've done a lot of exploring over the last 2 weeks also, mostly with my friend Greg, who I met on MySpace. Like Kathryn, he is super cool and we've been hanging out a lot. Last night Kathryn and him came over and we cooked Paella and had wine and looked at stuff online. Della told Kathryn (they met briefly on Saturday when Della arrived with her parents) about the purity test because Kathryn and I were arguing over who was more bitter and who had a reason to be more bitter. So Kathryn, Greg, and I took the Rice purity test... it was funny... until Kathryn won the argument. Whatever... I hung out with Della and her parents too! We all walked around downtown and had dinner. Greg and I are planning on going to Vancouver on Friday! It will be my first time to Canada! I get to buy a little flag and add it to my wall of flags :) Kathryn and I are planning on going to the Seattle Aquarium and the Experience Music Project over the weekend too. YAY for stuff to do with other living humans!

I also hung out with that girl Tracy- my grandma's friend's grandson's best friend's sister who just moved here. We went on this walking tour of the Seattle underground- which was AWESOME and, luckily, underground because it started to rain- that coldish Seattle drizzle that I've heard so much about... it was my first real taste of what's to come for the majority of the year. It wasn't so bad. I had an umbrella so I decided to walk home- only about 10 - 12 blocks from Pioneer Square where the tour was. It actually wasn't that bad, especially because I got a hot drink from Starbucks.

I'm all moved into my new place! I absolutely love it! Everyone in this building is either 20-something or 70-something- it's a strange mix, but it really blends well the college and Florida lifestyles that I am so used to. Lots of grad students from Seattle University (which is 2 blocks away) live here so I'm hoping to meet some smart young people in the laundry room or elevators- its a 25 second ride up to my floor, assuming no stops. The building is only 1 block from the hospital district- nothing like Houston's, but still 3 big-ass hospitals all next to each other I guess should be called a hospital district. There are lots of little fast food places down the street- including a Quizno's, a wrap place, and a bunch of asian places. I'm gonna explore those soon. There is also a Starbucks on the next corner, and on the corner 1 block down from that. My new place has 57 Starbucks within a 2 mile radius. That's up 1 from my old place! Oh Seattle... I guess if I feel like burning off extra calories, I can walk to the one that is 2 blocks away instead of the one that is only 1 block away. I just got my cable hooked up- complete with the cable modem and a DVR! Oh it's delicious! I get to record all the Gilmore Girls so that Kathryn can come over and watch them with me :)

Anyways, that's my life update! I've put some pictures of my apartment below. I love my furniture. I also love JC Penney for giving me no interest and no payments for 18 months. I should have a job by then...

-Phill

p.s. Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Pressure. That's what I learned yesterday- its how you remember the downtown Seattle street grid- Jefferson, James, Cherry, Columbia, Marion, Madison, Spring, Seneca, University, Union, Pike, and Pine. How cool is that?!?

PICTURES: (1) living room sofa (2) "entertainment center" (3) bedroom (4) dining room (5) kitchen (6) bathroom (7) view to the north / space needle & stupid apartments blocking lower portion of space needle (8) view to the west / downtown