A whole new world

I arrived in Seattle on Friday night to visit my friend Emily. This portion of my trip, like Las Vegas, was non-school related. It was a quick breather in between checking out more schools as I figure schools shouldn't really be visited on the weekends and I should go to as many places as possible while I'm out traveling. Just like the previous stops this one showed me a world I had not yet known. For those who know my family and myself, we strictly adhere to the Apple products only policy in our household. Being in Seattle I landed right in the backyard of the competition. With my friend an employee of this unnamed company I quickly found myself in enemy territory. Friday night we got a quick bite for dinner before heading out for the night. We met up with a few people, stopped by a traffic light party, which I had never heard of. This concept didn't work out as the company/city apparently has 700 guys to 1 ratio. We departed after a few minutes and continued on to meet up with some other people as we intended to before hand. We ended up at a bar that previously held the task of being a funeral home. I'm not one to frown upon originality, but with coffin doors, a sign for flower delivery inside, and the fact that for 30 minutes I was eerily thinking of death (not even realizing why until later) I can't say I endorse this place. I did respect the no cover, however, gladly would've paid in exchange for the thoughts of I'm going to die soon. We didn't stay long and called it night.

Saturday gave me a preview of how weather in Seattle is and would continue to be for the remainder of the trip. It would pour one minute, snow the next, and be sunny shortly after. We didn't do much in the afternoon besides get lunch with this trend and knowing it'd be a late night ahead. I didn't realize at the time, but I'd soon be venturing into unchartered territories in various ways. We went to dinner with about 30 people, many who work for the company in celebration of a year after a surgery for someone. It was a good meal, though I did state the obvious that Apple was better to those around me. One of them was willing to admit he felt the same way, while the others defended their products claiming much of the reason Apple is "better" was marketing, and not necessarily the product itself, but with Windows 7 things are going to change again. Everybody was really nice though and the discussions were good, so I can't really rip on them much. After dinner we headed to another bar, just one for people to relax and drink, but there was another plan for the rest of the evenings that I had previously heard rumblings about, but was not sure if we'd be partaking.

The clock struck midnight and the large crowd dispersed except for a small group who were planning on continuing the party. The new plan was to go a bar called "R Place." That was fine, however, based on the normal crowds I see at bars this would be different because it turns out this is a gay bar. We drove down the bar and at first struggled to find parking, leaving a slight chance that we may have to cancel this portion of the evening, but to no avail a spot was found and the journey began. We walked up to the door and saw 2 giant men dressed with crazy fullout makeup talking to the bouncers outside showing us the correct way in. I felt as if I was about to enter the benefit party in the movie Chuck and Larry. I walk through the door and am immediately hit with a $7 cover charge, which I think if you're a straight male entering this place you shouldn't have to pay. I did anyway and immediately ordered a drink. After everyone got their drink we headed upstairs to dance, at least it wasn't downstairs. We got up there and the place was definitely a party with quite a lot of people dancing, many of the same sex together. It wasn't that big of a culture shock when we arrived up top. I actually noticed a lot more female couples being provacative in their dancing and actions than the men, which may have been selective sight on my part, but those women were definitely not frowned upon by myself. Unfortunately another thing not difficult to notice were the men in just underwear (clearly stuffed as I actually saw a guy readjusting the toilet paper)dancing for people on little platforms seeking tips. The dance floor was quite hopping, we stayed on the edge for most of it, but a couple people wanted to head into the eye of the storm and dance right in the middle, so I followed along. The middle was just more crowded, though it seemed more females existed on the inside. The most awkward part of the middle was the leaking water from the ceiling, it kept hitting me in the head and semi-freaked me out being hit by random splashes of water in the club ummmm. We were only in the middle when the bar made an announcement for last call and closed up at 1:40, which is kind of bullshit because you have until 2 to at least let people keep dancing. I had no problem getting out of their though. There was one more club open down the street that we walked down to of the homosexual persuasion, but with the daylight savings stuff pushing the clock to 3, a long line, and a $10 cover for a place that would be closing at 4 we called it night. We headed back to the apartment and called it night.

*Just as a note to that previous paragraph, it was extremely difficult to type because every sentence sets me up for gay jokes, which I had to throw at least one in, but I really tried to avoid as many as possible. It's more of a mocking myself, but I know you are personally thinking of awkward innuendos to go along with the sentences like "Giant men in makeup showing us the correct way in."

Sunday was back to a normal day, I woke up early to watch the MSU game while people slept and we later went to brunch with a bunch of people. Later in the day we walked around downtown Seattle and went to the markets etc. Seattle's a decent city, I had been once before so I didn't have a need to see all the touristy things. It was a very nice afternoon though, perfect for walking around the town. Of course right around the time we got back the clouds turned gray again and snow fell upon the city. I had a good time here, it was a nice change of pace and good to venture out a little.

I hope to escape tomorrow before more snow takes over, as anything above in inch seems to scare the city into paralysis. I'm due east to Chicago where I will somewhat stay as I continue to check out schools, this time Madison. As previously stated I did get recommended for admissions there, so this is one visit that (hopefully) cannot backfire and end up being a total waste. I'm going to drive to Madison on Tuesday, but still not sure if I'll be staying overnight or just making a real long day trip out of it. I'm about to "lose" some more hours in addition to the extra one I did last night in heading to Chicago so for once I may be too tired to just stay up all the time.

It is now officially one month until I head to Europe, I'm very excited and also have some small fears. I think I've done a good job on this mini trial run and although I haven't been on my own like I am about to be, I think it's good prep for someone like me. I should be back in Detroit on Thursday, so if I don't stop by before I'm sure I will see you then where we'll start putting everything together, making some more decisions, and get the fuck outta the country.

Hope you enjoyed your time here to today and if you were offended at all, just remember you're the only one who cares.

-BK to the 5000th