Its been a heck of a week! Less than a week if you consider how long I procrastinated my last publication, I suppose. But I am fortunate in that there is much to write about. From a process standpoint, this edition will be a bit trickier. I usually take a bunch of pictures on my phone to use as reference, but I wiped all my phone pictures to back them up to my NAS this week, meaning my photo storage situation is all scrambly. I will try to assemble a legible narrative.
What I've Been Up To
October 5th feels like a distant memory, a sunny and unseasonably warm day lost to the sands of time. As the days grow shorter, giflgoose and I have been putting more time into sunset walks, trying to soak in the final delicate rays of sunlight before they are gone for the year.
The History of Concrete
On Monday, girlgoose dragged me out to SIFF uptown to watch what I assumed to be a dry and unpopular movie entitled The History of Concrete. In my blissful ignorance, I had devoted little thought to this movie plan, mostly thinking that the poster was kind of funny and that it would be more exciting than staying home. What I was not anticipating was this being the Cinema Event of the Year, with the line to SIFF uptown literally wrapping around the block from the theater. My friend texted us that the theater was full at around 6:55 (we love a punctual man), but we were delayed waiting in line until 7:30 (the film started at 7:15) and the line stretched behind us as far as the eye could see, with no end in sight. The theater was, predictably, packed to the brim, so we had to sit at the front and gaze up at the screen like this:
THAT GUM IS BUSTED!!
junior mints i smuggled in from the grocery store
Look how crazy the line was, you can barely see the SIFF sign.
The movie was surprisingly good, almost disappointingly non-technical. As a long time NYC dweller, it was great to see a movie displaying the craziness of NYC. Underneath the bizarre web of personal anecdotes and hare-brained tangents, the film did raise a sort of lingering sense of doom about the city's crumbling infrastructure, which John Wilson did a great job of highlighting throughout the movie. Some of the personal plots were very interesting, so bizarre that it strains belief. I won't spoil anything but it was a good movie for sure.
On our walk home we saw this raccoon, who I have been reliably informed by a close neighborhood informant was living around here for quite some time. He seems to have left now, though. I hope they are still doing well. I named him Kenneth. If he is a woman raccoon, I hope he will correct my error posthaste.
Sunset Walk
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we took a walk around the neighborhood around sunset and the sky was so beautiful. In the cloudy season, we get pink clouds and the glassy downtown becomes a lovely reflection of the sky. I told girlgoose the building looked like the trans flag and she told me I clearly don't know what the flag looks like. As usual she was correct, but I think the colors are right.
Tuesday was mahjong night with friends, we haven't played in a while so it was fun to get my ass totally blasted by these math nerds.
The Fresh Hells of Grocery Outlet
Okay I must make a confession. I love Grocery Outlet. Perhaps it is my internalized love of gambling, or my hatred of spending money, but there is something so satisfying about going to a place and just seeing tons of weird stuff that they will probably not have in stock a month from now. Our house was running out of groceries, so I biked over (they need more bike racks so badly, I've seen 3-4 bikes locked to the single grocery cart stopper they have at a time). As usual, I was not disappointed, dozens of bizarre seasonal, cultural, or otherwise limited special items, all at deep discounts.
Two things I want to highlight:
These are "jaguar cacao", a close relative of the standard cocoa beans that are made into chocolate. I've had these a few times in super high-end chocolate bars and as part of my friend's chocolate club, and they sort of grew on me? But my understanding is they were an extremely expensive luxury. So I was shocked to see them available at grocery outlet! I can't recall the price, but these jars are pretty big and they're quite good! They also have an INSANE amount of fiber.
As for these I saw them at a distance and thought they looked delicious. However they are TRUFFLE FLAVORED?? Who the hell came up with this abomination. I didn't buy them, if anybody does decide to take the plunge I would be curious if they are any good, but this seems, to me, an unholy combination of flavors.
Trader Joes Walk
Sort of had the mandate of heaven on our walk to Trader Joes this Friday, we told the cashier (named EDEN!! coincidence? I think not! [ she did not like it when i mentioned the book / upcoming tv show, may have ruined her entire day ]) that we were planning to watch the sunset, and it just so happened that the clouds broke on our walk home, bathing the world in a surreal golden pink glow. I was pretty much unable to get a good picture of the sky due to the slight drizzle, but I have a few walking pictures.
The fig tree behind our apartment building also has been finally bearing fruit, which has been fun both as it attracts birds and as a challenge to steal the fruit from our neighbors.
Saturday Adventures
Saturday, if you paid extremely close attention to my previous newsletter, you may recall there was a Turkish festival happening in Seattle Center. Well, on our trip to visit the Renegade Craft fair, girlgoose and I stumbled across it on the way and decided to stop by. It was pretty neat, a fairly popular fair with lots of people and cool live performances. The food was quite extortionately priced, however, and you could pay $30 for about 1/4 of the lamb kebab platter you could get at Cafe Turko for $29. Anyways it was fun and this one photograph definitively proves that I was in attendance.
The Renegade craft fair was our primary objective on the trip, and I was glad it had moved from Magnussen Park, where it was last year. The event was super busy and full of cool vendors from all over the country. I talked to a bunch of vendors from Portland, LA, and even from New York, to my surprise. I exercised great restraint, but this one booth hit me with that "limited time offer" for a Seattle tea they made specifically for the festival, and I had to buy it. It is one of my prized teas now, a loose leaf green tea with bergamot and rose petals. It's like a light Earl Gray you can steep a few times (though the first steep will pretty much wipe out all the rose flavor).
Four Dollar Wine
Sunday in lieu of my standard poker night, my friends and I tried out the $4 wine from Trader Joes and sat around a fire. The wine was shockingly good, not life changing or anything, but eminently drinkable, which can often not be said for cheap or even mid-cost wines.
I Saw the Signs
You will not be shocked to hear that I saw a fairly small quantity of signs. I will be on high alert for signs next week, I promise.
What's Coming Up
As for me personally, I am going to Port Townsend with my friends this weekend!
There's a new HALO exhibit showing at MoPOP starting Oct 14
Board game night tonight (October 13) from 6pm-9pm at Gearhouse in Capitol Hill! This tends to fill up so get there early, maybe 5:45.
Silent book club at Salt & Sugar Cafe in Ballard October 15 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
MEAD FESTIVAL! I wish I could make it, but I will be, as mentioned, in Port Townsend.
Best of the Net
I never played machinarium, but people seem very excited about Machinarium 2.
talking about the future of atproto spaces, something I am personally very excited about
the AI companies are Once Again Committing Felonies, but it's just an oopsie no big deal
Phew, that was a lot of writing. I am once again grateful to everyone who reads these, and to for my free field reporter subscription that makes my email newsletter possible! Hope you are all having a great week!!