if we took a holiday

***Long-winded post forthcoming*** After five lovely days of mini-holiday, I guess I have to return to that dull and monotonous thing known as "real-life." I had a lovely time on vacay, we started out by going to Whistler BC for a few days where much hot-tubbing was had and the area of sunburned skin was increased. On the way, we stopped by this cafe for a much needed caffeine injection and a light dinner. It was a cool place, one corner was a yarn store where lads and ladies were hanging out in a knitting circle. The other half was a cafe where an acoustic open mike night was being held and the spirits of Melissa Etheredge and Sheryl Crow were being manifested. Then on the way home, we stopped by Vancouver BC (not to be confused with Vancouver WA, known for nuclear energy sites and lots of people with seven toes on one foot) where I got to spend time with my sister by spirit, Jessica and her awesome wife Anne. We went to this super-funky sushi joint called The Eatery. The decor was great and they had these weird super-hero, anime-ish, kewpie dolls wearing black spankies and red boots...somehow, someway I am going to find out who those little guys are. Next, the long drive back to Seattle, where instead of going home, we rushed over to The Element to see an epic set by James Holden. Even in my state of sheer exhaustion, I managed to rock out. But it can't all be candy-covered roses soaked in champagne. While at The Element, I saw two of the people who were unwittingly involved in the weekend that I really feel changed the course of my current life. Seeing them made me have two responses on polar sides of the emotional spectrum. One was shock and feeling like somebody just shoved a boulder into my stomach. I simultaneously hoped they wouldn't remember me and hoped that we would talk so they could see that I wasn't the person they had met in October. I wanted them to recognize that that person was a distorted version of who I was and it was unfortunate that they met me at a time when that version dominated my life. By the end of the night, we hadn't interacted and I don't (and won't) know if they just didn't remember me or they avoided me. But either way I was okay with that. Mostly because the other emotional response I had was that when I saw them, though mortified, I also realized that I had moved past that seriously fucked up time in my life. I'm stronger in so many ways and my life has improved tremendously and seeing those people was a complete affirmation of that. All of that and we haven't even gotten to the weekend. Saturday was spent with new friends, celebrating the lives of the seven people killed at the blue house. It started off by a day-long celebration at the Seattle Center, where the ubiquitous rain forced the event indoors to the food court. It was a melange of families spending the day together and candy-ravers. The energy of the place was great, you rarely go wrong when people come together to celebrate the lives of others by sharing music, circus acts, dancing, and girls in corsets walking around on stilts. That night, more time spent with new friends and break-corp...a musical style that I don't think I will ever learn to appreciate. But that's probably for the best, I've already lost enough hearing. Sunday was unofficially declared the day of recovery. My m.o. is to have massive weekends and then lose time and miss what inevitably end up being gorgeous Seattle days. But I still managed to accomplish a few tasks; including picking up my baby, who had a glorious time at my brother's place where he was able to play with his cousins (human, canine, and feline) and had a yard to cavort in and lots of butts to sniff. And I got to eat at a Capital Hill institution, The Honeyhole, which by the way I thought was a completely different kind of place when I first moved here. I had a reuben, thanks to Katie I can no longer pass up the opportunity to eat a reuben, even though, as Devin says, it's total gutbomb food. But my permanent state of diet and starvation went on vacay too, so it's all good. Blah blah blah, and more blah blah blah...now it's Monday and I have to unpack and get back to doing all the mundane things that make you appreciate vacations. And this was a good one, it was an opportunity to reiterate the fact that my life is full of love and friendship and beautiful people and fun and passion and other indications of descriptive corniness that make you want to gag a little.