This wasn’t a terribly ambitious weekend, but as the only weekend in between two conventions, we hadn’t planned it to be. Even so, we managed to have some fun.
Friday afternoon after work we trekked up to Bothell to for doctor’s visits. It’s a bit of a drive from where we live now, but she’s great (runnerwolf referred us to her when we moved out here, and I have no desire to search for another provider.)1 After getting done with our checkups, we headed over to Northgate Mall because seananmcguire was stopping there on her whirlwind book tour up the west coast. We arrived about 90 minutes prior to the start of the event, so we wandered around the mall to see what kind of food was available. The wait at Red Robin was longish, so we ended up at a sushi buffet that had a variety of tasty things. Buffets are fun for trying things you might not ordinarily order. I had an interesting spicy jellyfish dish, which is something I’d never eaten before. It wasn’t bad, though I don’t think it’s going to become a favourite. After eating, we went back to the bookstore and upstairs to where the talk and signing was to occur. There was a nice crowd of people there, some of whom I knew and many of whom I didn’t, and there was a good discussion and laughter and many, many books being signed by Seanan.
Saturday, I took my guitar over to Dusty Strings to get it checked over. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, but just like myself, I like at least once a year for someone other than me to give it a good once-over and make sure there’s nothing that requires attention. Since I’m giving a concert next weekend, it seemed like a good time. While I waited, I browsed around their shop and played a variety of instruments I can’t immediately afford. (They had a gorgeous super-jumbo baritone guitar that was tuned in D (so, one full step down from standard) that had a lovely voice, but it costs $8000 so I don’t think it’s coming home with me any time soon.2 They also had a resonator ukulele that I would love to have if I decided I wanted to learn to play the ukulele, and an octave mandolin that looked like it would be fun to pick up too. Fortunately, they brought my guitar back to me with a clean bill of health, so I was able to get out without incurring unpayable debt.3
Today we strolled over to Seattle Centre for lunch and a quick visit to the EMP Museum. I had seen the Horror exhibit while happyfunpaul was visiting, but kitanzi had twisted her ankle earlier that norming and bowed out, so we went through it and had fun looking at all the props and watching some of the films. 4 We also went upstairs to the Sound Lab, where they have a variety of instruments you can play around on, in little booths. I spent some time wailing away on a drum kit, which made me wish I actually knew how to play the drums and lived in a place where I could practice them if I did. It’s good stress relief. 🙂
Tonight over dinner we watched a History Channel documentary about pre-Columbian “discoverers” of America,5 which traced through various of the potential folks who might have been here before 1492. The Chinese, Japanese, Vikings and Polynesians, Madoc of Wales and Saint Brendan of Ireland, and the lost tribes of Israel that feature into the Mormon mythos all got examined, and while the narrator was a bit melodramatic at times in the way that History Channel documentaries tend to be, the actual information was fascinating and enjoyable.
How was your weekend? Do anything exciting?
It’s not like we’re at the doctor’s office THAT often for it to be a real problem. ↩
For values of soon that include “like, ever.” ↩
This time, at least ↩
I tried out the scream booth, with amusing results. ↩
“This has been on the TiVo for a long time,” I remarked. “It’s a history channel documentary that’s actually about history. ↩