28 THINGS FOR 28 YEARS

++ I'M OFFICIALLY IN the heart of my late 20's. A list of 28 things I never thought I'd be doing right now. One for every year I've been alive.

01. Living in Seattle.
02. Working full-time for four years at various architecture offices.
03. Have a place that I own.
04. Commute daily to work by walking.
05. Have a cadre of Persian friends.
06. Play flag football literally under the Space Needle.
07. Referee indoor soccer.
08. Use an umbrella instead of rain jacket.
09. Own a Blackberry.
10. Have a vast majority of my male old school friends be married.
11. Have none of my female old school friends be married.
12. Be tired of road trips and pick flying instead any day.
13. Be in not one, but two curling leagues.
14. Have a Washington driver's license.
15. Have Washington license plates.
16. Be registered to vote in the State of Washington.
17. Know someone who has bought and donated an art installation at the Seattle Art Museum.
18. Be the the 'old guy' on any soccer team, let alone two of them.
19. Be the only person in the office with ties to Ohio.
20. Have other native Asians work in the same office.
21. Be in a relationship with a girl from Washington.
22. Consider myself a left coaster.
23. Not be disappointed, not necessarily happy, but not disappointed when it rains.
24. Only monetarily able to visit my family a few times a year.
25. Think 85 degrees outside is hot.
26. Think 35 degrees outside is cold.
27. Find solace in a tall drip.
28. Know I'm headed down the 'right' path to wherever I'm headed. ++

WASHINGTON DRIVER'S LICENSE

++ FINALLY GOT MY Washington driver's license today. Finally. Getting to the DMV wasn't a problem. However, waiting for an hour and eighteen minutes was a bit cumbersome. Well, that and the fourty-five dollars it cost me. I'm slowly switching out old Ohio stuff for new Washington stuff. Last year was the license plates. This year is the driver's license. Oh, also last year was the new condo, well, not new new, but new for me. Oh yeah and last year was switching my voter's registration from Greene County, Ohio to King County, Washington. Who knows, next year I may even finally switch my telephone number from a 937 number to a 206 number. No, that's crazy talk. ++

SEATTLE WAS OHIO FOR A WEEKEND

++ THIS PAST WEEKEND Seattle had an identity crisis and temporarily thought it was Ohio. Friday brought cold, but not cold cold, just a little below average Seattle beginning of December cold. However after Friday was when she thought it was a Midwestern state. Saturday morning was cold, upper 30's. Then around noon it started snowing. And not just Seattle snowing, which is minimal, but huge huge flakes snowing. Sideways and heavy. This lasted all day and finally sticking, leaving behind maybe a quarter inch of slushy snow. The evening temperature warmed and the snow turned into a cold rain, eventually melting the rest of the snow. Sunday morning was a brief spell of snow, quickly dispelled into an outright rain, Ohio style, but not warm. Blah blah blah.

Monday was the second highest recorded rainfall in a day in the history of recorded rainfalls for Seattle. Oh, but it warmed to 59 degrees. Snow one day. Almost 60 degrees the next day. I heart Seattle weather!

"The rain was tapering off in Seattle this evening, according to the National Weather Service. And that meant the one-day rainfall record in Seattle, last set four years ago, would probably stand. The last record was 5.02 inches at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, set Oct. 20, 2003. The weather service today said 3.46 inches of rain fell at Sea-Tac between midnight and 3 p.m. today. Even so, Seattle city officials noted that more than 5.8 billion gallons of water have fallen from the sky locally in the past 24 hours, enough to fill Green Lake six times." ++

MY STOLEN CAR UPDATE

++ SHE'S BACK! AND I've decided to name her Old Steady, which I know isn't a very feminine name and isn't particularly flattering, but that's what she is. Always there (except when I'm taking her in for maintenance) (and except when she gets a little antsy and decides to take herself for a spin.) Welcome home Old Steady, welcome home. ++

MY STOLEN CAR

++ MY DEAREST CAR. Please come home. Our relationship together is a long history, full of first experiences and ups and downs. First, let me apologize for never giving you a name. After 175,000 miles and 11 years, I feel terrible that I’ve only ever referred to you as ‘she’ or ‘her’. You must feel slighted. My sincerest apologies for more often than not neglecting you your oil change every 3500 miles or 3 months. Also, please accept my deepest apologies for never giving you a bath or a wash in well over two years. I’d throw out an excuse but there is none which is acceptable. With the lack of an oil change and lack of a bath, it’s no wonder you always felt dirty and never sexy. Words escape me. We’ve been through so much.

Remember when we first drove ‘across country’. And by ‘across country’ we really only went halfway, stopping in Denver. There and back. Twice. We were as carefree as birds. You, a young svelt car, not even 100,000 miles and me a young buck, eager to shed the young naïve view on life. The first experience of an extended road trip is something you and I can share only with each other. It was quite a time. We played in the mountains both in the summer, hiking every weekend, and in the winter, making our weekly weekend trips up to Vail and Beavercreek and Breckenridge to snowboard. We made many more trips ‘across country’, the others being actual trips across country, to San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. You were a trooper, a real trooper. I pushed on your pedal for 40 hours straight for at least two trips, you humming the entire time, asking me to stop only to refuel. We made a few marathon trips: one from Seattle down to San Diego in 23 hours, through the southwest desert, up to Denver and fast tracked home. Another, a whirlwind from San Francisco up through Portland and an afternoon stop in Seattle, and then east through Yellowstone and the Badlands and Devils Tower, stopping to get gas in Gary, Indiana. And another from San Francisco, stopping in Yosemite for our first time ever, on to the Grand Canyon, down through Texas and pit stopping in New Orleans, before trekking back to Ohio. On every trip I packed my stuff in your backside until you almost couldn’t move and you never complained. You never asked for any rubbers, but I tried to provide you with new tires as your old ones wore down.

We went through tough times as well. I dropped railroad ties on your back left side and then never took you to the body doctor to get cosmetically repaired. I ran you into a guardrail once. (I’m sorry.) Numerous random strangers penetrated your back right side, groping you for anything they could, usually only taking your voicebox. You’ll remember I always replaced it with another radio, but after the 4^th or 5^th time, I knew you couldn’t take it much more, so I did us both a favor and gave you back your original factory radio. It wasn’t that you were old, you were just getting seasoned and looked better au natural. You didn’t need anything to help push-up your volume. Steady and even-tempered were always your best traits.

I hear it’s still possible that you’ll come back. It’s what ‘they’ tell me. They even say it’s possible within a week or two, but if it’s longer than three weeks and you still haven’t come home, they’ll take your name off the milk carton and put another tick on the old bed post. I promise, I’ll give you a name you deserve. I’ll take you in for routine check-ups. After we frolic anywhere, I’ll lather you silly and tickle your tires with brushes so full and soap so bubbly, that the cars next to you and me will blush and look away.

I miss you. Please come home.

(PS. I’m sorry I got pissed that one time and permanently blinded you. We’ll have to do something about your windshield.)

PSS. You know the SUV which sleeps next to your bed? We’ll he looks like he’s been crying.) (But that may also be the rain. I’m still up in the air about it.)

PPSS. (I think I’m going to chalk it up as crying.) ++