Laborless Day

So finally, I think I may have some items worth blogging about. I suppose. Blogging, in general, usually only serves a self serving purpose to make us feel like others actually care what we have to say. But, since most of us tend to enjoy getting a glimpse of random happenings or drama in other peoples lives, I guess I am doing what comes natural....

I had a whole four days off, which is epic considering I've been working 7 days a week since May (aside from a few Holidays). Two days off from my day job, 2 off from the film. So luxurious! I vowed to do NOTHING. I stayed here in Seattle to avoid the traffic and allow myself all the time I needed to sleep in and enjoy doing notta. The only thing I did do that was a little more work than I should have done on my "vacation" was go to the gym. I only went Friday and Sunday morning, but it still required me to get up semi early to do so. I have been a member of 24 Hour Fitness for about a year now. I had renewed my membership early and got a special deal. Instead of only having access to the gym near my work, I got access to all clubs for the same price. SCORE! So now, instead of driving out of my way on the weekends to get a work out, it's near by my home. The gym close to my apartment wasn't as nice as the one near my work, but it's more convenient.

Thursday my dad and step mom were going to meet me at my place to go to a concert at the Snoqualmie casino. I headed to my place after work so we could switch vehicles and take mine to the casino. We were going to go see David Allen Coe. I am going to assume most of you have no idea who that is. I was raised with a very eclectic array of music, a good majority of that being country. He is one of the “outlaws”. He had a few x-rated albums and once started a rumor that he killed a man who tried to rape him in prison. So he’s a shameless self-promoter, but it is very entertaining. He’s written songs for Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kid Rock to name a few. Anyways, it was bound to be an entertaining show. He has longer hair then my dad (who has hair past his shoulders) and beads in his bangs. Definitely not the traditional 70 year old, but considering the hippie/artist type I was raised with, he was perfectly normal.

We were meeting up with my dad’s friend and his daughter (who appeared to be around my age, which is strange since my parents had me at an “old” age in the 80s). This was my first time at a large Tribal casino. The one in my home town is fairly small and doesn’t have a buffet (last time I checked) or a concert venue. This one was huge! I was amazed at all the different slots and how many people play them. I mean I know casinos are a lucrative business, but I still don’t understand the concept of throwing away money you do have in hopes of getting more. Casinos wouldn’t be in business if people had a good chance of winning, let a lone making it rich. Anyways, we met up with his friend and his daughter. They decided to try the Brazilian buffet (which my dad was adamantly against and was upset it wasn’t crab night). I convinced him and my step mom to try sushi. Now I have ate a lot of sushi, and a good portion being raw, so I am fearless when it comes to ordering and unfortunately my dad and step mom trusted me. I should have been more cautious. We find the sushi bar and have to wait a moment or two to get a seat since most of it was overtaken by Japanese tourists (there had been two large tour buses out front). I assumed since I didn’t see any of them running away gagging, it must be OK. We order the salmon (which I thought was cooked, but I’ve had it raw plenty of times), a salad roll, and spider roll (my fav!). After some miso soup and green tea, our sushi arrived. I took the salmon right off the bat. Words cannot describe the horror that ensued. Now I can tolerate raw fish. You eat sushi quickly, and the flavor is usually mild. I want one chew or maybe two, and be done with it. I hit something that was akin to gristle, but I was pretty sure fish shouldn’t have gristle. I chewed. I chewed some more. It was apparently to everyone that I was getting a little sick. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to swallow but could not force my throat to do so. I chewed some more. It was not degradable. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and I had to spit it into my napkin. Being stupid enough to assume that it was the only bad piece (my dad had already swallowed two whole), I took another. SAME THING. NASTY! Unfortunately, I only got about once piece of the salad roll and 1 ½ of the spider roll down. There a. there wasn’t enough to go around and b. I didn’t really feel like eating afterwards.

The show was very good, despite me having to get up and go every 5 minutes due to ONE beer. ONE beer. I think I get a nervous bladder when I’m at a concert, but thankfully we were in the handicap section and I had easy access to get to the door. The only downside was all the drunk rednecks. There were a TON. Alcohol + rednecks = not a good thing. We get in my car to discover I have only ONE working headlight. Awesome. It’s night time and we are going to be driving in a wooded area for awhile. This is like the 4th time in 2 years I’ve had to replace a headlight. I replaced the driver’s side (the one that was out) about two years ago. It took about 2 hours for my cousin and I to figure out how to even get to the bulb because it was behind the battery. After that, the passenger side has went out TWICE. Obviously, there is something not right with my car because there have been other issues. So part of Friday was spent at the dealership. It’s always something!

Other than that, it was a fairly mild weekend. My mom was over so we rented movies and relaxed. We did some shopping and I got my hair done. While leaving the salon, we walked past one of those kiosks selling Dead Sea salt scrub in them middle of the mall. Now I know to walk briskly past those places and do not stop whatever they try to do. My mom wasn’t as prepared and the lady literally put out her arms after her verbal attempts to stop us did not work. Before we knew it, we had sea salt in our hands and were being forced to scrub. She had a heavy accent so we could not understand most of what she was saying, but all I could think of is as soon as I get my hands clean I am going to make a break for it. After lotioning up, I see her take my mom over to try to convince her she will give us both items for the price of one ($79, no thank you!). I knew that was my chance and I took it. I was laughing the entire time knowing my mom was still stuck with her. I finally made my way back towards the kiosk after hiding near the restrooms. My mom was standing around, searching for me. She was laughing to but told me that was a cruel thing to do. I informed her it was her fault we got caught in the first place.

Other than that, we drove around up north just to get out of the city. We bought some salmon jerky up around the pass and turned back. There was no real purpose of the drive other than to get away. I got the unfortunately call from my dad that he was in the hospital (I get weak in the knees with ANY medical talk, let a lone having a family member in the hospital). Of course, I get this call while I’m going near 60 in heavy traffic, in the rain, on the freeway. Thankfully, my dad is alright. He thought he had a heart attack. They still aren’t going to rule it out 100%, but he did sustain a minor injury to his ribs when he was saddling up a horse and they think that might have caused the symptoms, but they kept him over night to make sure and want him to do a stress test to make sure there are no blocked arteries.

We went back into the mall on Monday....not a wise choice. The largest mall in the northwest during any holiday offering sales is not a good idea. We probably spent 30 minutes or more just navigating traffic TO the mall then trying to find a spot in the labyrinth of parking garages. This jerk was working on his car and refused to let us get the empty spot next to him, even though he was only using it for extra standing space. Of course I had to open my mouth and threaten him and I made sure he knew I took down his license plate. After we finally found an available spot, I spent the rest of the time worrying he was going to find us and scratch the car. The trip was well worth it though. I went to Express because I received one of those $30 off your $75+ purchase cards in the mail. Their Editor pants are the only slacks I will buy, so I figured now was a good chance to get a new pair. I found 2 dressy tanks that were originally $30 a piece, slacks for $50, and some tights for $16. After some sales and the $30 off, it came to $61. Hell yeah!!!

After a lot of home cooked meals and a few out, I am a little sluggish but ready to get back into the regular mix. Besides, I have Halloween and all the other wonderful Holidays to look forward to. The weather is starting to change. The air feels and smells different when fall approaches. Soon Starbucks will have their fall flavors, Bath & Body works will be carrying all their pumpkin goodness, and I will have to dig out all of my sweaters.