Three Hours Away There is a Land of Friends and Coffee...

I've spent three months here in the Pacific northwest of the USA, and I waited until the last minute to see my friends in Seattle. Yes, I procrastinated, but I saw them! Yay!

Last Thursday, I checked out the directions to Lenny and Tigger's Mom's house. Three hours (according to MapQuest) and a straight shot north from here. I got there with minimal traffic and minimal problems. So now I can add Seattle to the places I have driven to (as in actually driven, not rode along in the car with) along with Boston, Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, Manistique, Snowtown (numerous times) and the middle of Ohio. Soon I'll be able to log in as many hours in the driver's seat as my Dad, the Great Filipino Cross-Country Pioneer (we've driving across the U.S. three times, not to mention trips to Florida, Canada, etc. Dad hates flying.)

Although, to be perfectly honest, I did not actually go into downtown Seattle. My friends live about twenty minutes south of Seattle, which is just fine with me. I went there more to see them than Seattle. I spent most of the time shopping with Tigger's Mom. She took me to the Supermall. I almost bought Noona a cashmere sweater, but it was too batwing like. I got my favorite perfume, Grass from The Gap. I didn't think they made it anymore, and then I saw it at a Gap Outlet. I bought two gift sets, both for me! Tigger's Mom bought some maternity clothes, if you clicked on the link above you can see the ultrasound pictures :-).

Saturday night, we went to Yen and Yaren's place. See, it's like this... Yen, Yaren, Lenny and I (along with Ish and andy) were in a theatre group together at college. Good times, man, good times. Tigger's Mom was a regular at parties :-)

At Yen and Yaren's, I met Yen's parents and their cats. We had an awesome time playing Madden '06. I stink at football games, but apparently so does Yen. My team, the Detroit Lions beat the Seattle Seahawks at Ford Field with a score of something to another number I don't remember! Woo!

I'm very animated when I play video games, so I guess I was the entertainment for the first hour and a half. My coach, Yen's dad, picked out all the formations and plays for me (I have no idea what a strong I or a Cover 3 is) and I pressed buttons like a crazy person yelling things like "Run, man! Run like crazy!" and " Woop! Woop! Woop!" It was frickin' awesome. We spent the rest of the night talking about yarn and knitting, playing Madden '06, and watching Yen and Yaren's three cats do cute things.

Sunday, Lenny, Tigger's Mom and I went out to eat at a Mongolian BBQ. It was in a mall with a Hello Kitty store, so of course I had to stop there. I bought a lock-tight Hello Kitty container and a green Hello Kitty soy spout. I could'nt help it. I was there, they were there, it was fate. We also got some bubble tea (which I just remembered I left on the sidetable next to Lenny's couch. Doh.)

The Lions played the Packers that Sunday. Stink Pants #5 loves the Packers (I bet he would have Brett Favre's baby if he could). I was indifferent to football until I realized his deep love for the yellow and green. So now I cheer for the Lions out of spite (we're a competitive couple). They played, the Packers won, Stink Pants #5 called to gloat, Stink Pants #5 sucks. End of story.

The rest of us non-crappy people played Chrononauts. It's a fun card game where you're a time traveller and you have to patch time and collect artifacts. The game has the same feel to it as Illuminati, Killer Bunnies, and Uno, where grudges between friends can be held for long periods of time just because you took the one card they needed, or you forced them to draw cards until he or she held more than half of the deck in their hands. It's a cool game :-)

Afterwards, a couple episodes of Firefly to top off the night and bedtime. I should mention that the whole weekend, Tigger (a picture of him is also on Tigger's Mom's blog) was quite intrigued by my standoffish-ness. I wouldn't pet him because I'm allergic to cats.

The drive back home wasn't half as long as the drive there, even though it took the same amount of time. That's always the way it is. Now that I'm back, I'm glad I went, but I wish I had gone sooner, so I could go back again :-).