Celebrating in Seattle

A couple of weeks ago, I realized I would soon be completing another year's cycle. I had not given much thought to celebration but as little as the years mean to me, I cannot easily disregard ceremonial mileposts so as the day got closer, I decided I wanted to recognize it somehow.

And what better way to celebrate a birthday in a new place than to go visit an old friend!

My dear friend Dusty had been living out in Seattle since May and it had been feeling increasingly pathetic that I had yet to get time to see him since being out West. So on the week of  the 11th, I treated myself to a day off of Open Gym and drove up to the big city.

I arrived on Tuesday with time to do some splurge grocery shopping (so much for not spending any December food stamps before leaving) and then went to go meet him at work. Dusty's life revolves around pizza and music and he was gradually plugging away at each one out here, as intended. As such an epic pizza-maker deserves no less than the best, he had landed a job at the most talked up local Pizzeria chain in town. As he told me later, he'd walked in one day exclaiming "I've got pizza sauce flowing through my veins, man! I want to work for you!" and landed it the next day.

Birthday treats started from the moment I walked in the door, with the biggest, bestest hug I've had in months. We placed an order for one of their specials - Artichoke, pesto, garlic, goat cheese (and half simple for Dusty) - and caught up excitedly over dinner before heading across the street where I got to see Dusty perform his first Open Mic, debuting a cover of 'Wrecking Ball' as well as one of his own songs. His friend Elise also joined us and by the end of the night, he had made some of his first musical connections, including a very experienced and kind-hearted radio host who suggested they could maybe have him in the studio sometime soon.

Lookin' the part

Dusty's Music

Back at his house, I met his upstairs housies Falicia and Adam and the friendliest Mastiff I had ever laid eyes on. We hung out with them for a bit until falling into drowsiness and briefly brainstorming the birthday possibilities before going to bed.

In the morning, we walked down to a nearby cafe that Dusty had heard of. I had all sorts of snobbery apprehensions about an anonymous coffee-stop but they turned out to be a more-than-satisfactory hole-in-the-wall secret. The woman who served us had plenty of suggestions for our day of adventure and gave me my coffee for free.

We didn't end up taking hold of her ideas because of the time constraints but it gave me all the more reason to plan another trip. What we did do was rad, though. After we'd gotten a plan, we drove across the bridge to Gas Works park and walked and talked amongst some of the most beautifully reclaimed industrial space I have seen. At the top was an inlaid relief design of a sundial with all of the zodiacs and Dusty happened to point out that we had both stopped standing on top of our sun signs. Suiting for the day and the topic of conversation.

Before heading back across the bridge, we visited the troll underneath and also encountered some unidentified group of people getting ready to stage a video involving cut-out faces on sticks. When the music came on to the tune of the Fox Song I had to send Mary a video. That song will follow me everywhere for the rest of my life.

Back in Dusty's West Seattle neighborhood, we took a walk down the main street so he could grab a bite to eat and show me a poshy pet store for richer hipster hippie eco folk. I also couldn't resist his offer to stop by the pie shop and share a slice of homemade goodness.

Cranberry-Apple Crumb

We had planned to hit up Capitol Hill next but it was nearing rush hour so to avoid the stresses of the bus commute, we decided to beat traffic and take the car. A far more night-lifey neighborhood, Dusty pointed out that this was a mecca of gay bars and listed some spots that would have been a kick to check out sometime. But we opted a more mellow route, stopping in a vintage clothing store and a buddhist/hindu novelty store before topping off with a stop at Dilettante, the pinnacle of decadence. While I wanted to order the entire damn menu (no joke, I don't think there was a single thing on there I would not have at least tried) we both opted for the Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Martini. And I had to splurge on a birthday slice of Mocha Praline to take with us.

Mocha mousse, Dark Chocolate Mouse,
Chocolate fudge and a Praline Pecan crust. Damn. 

We finished up the night at Shadowland, the Open Mic bar, once again. I'd been informed that they have a silks class that practiced on Wednesday nights in the bar and decided this was something that I had to witness to believe, considering it was such a small space. Sure enough, while I don't think our waitress enjoys the video-game scenario of darting in between swinging objects to get people their orders, the performers do pull off a decent variety of tricks.

Thank you Dusty, for ringing in my 24th year with me! As wonderful as all of the treats were, there was nothing better than sharing good conversation with you to remind me of the amazing direction this life journey has led me so far. I hope I get to experience a lot more of it with you, both in your romping grounds and in showing you around the more rural wonders of Packwood.

I love you!