Last night was the WORLD LEADER PRETEND party, the 32nd cacophonous adventure thrown by Guerrilla Masquerade Party. I went as Abe Lincoln, Dan went as the Pope and our friend Spencer went as Fidel Castro. Other costumes included a Mary Todd, another Abe (with gun shot wound!), a prime minister of Israel, another Fidel, another Abe, and the Dahli Lahma.
The party took place at Sunset Bowl, which sadly will soon shut its doors and be razed to make room for condominiums. In the meantime, though, business is booming! The bar was jam-packed and the wait for a lane was in the 3-drink range.
Also, my camera officially bit the dust last night.
Eat
Last weekend we returned to doing something we often did in our younger days, which is go out for breakfast! We happened to be up very early on a Saturday so this definitely did not qualify as brunch.
Already having tried Beacon Hill's Baja Bistro, we headed south to our favorite neighborhood that's not technically ours, Columbia City. I sure wish Beacon Hill had half the restaurant variety as C-town, but I musn't be selfish and the drive isn't too bad.
Having attempted in the past and been too late to beat the enormous crowd, we took advantage of our early rise and got a table at Geraldine's Counter.
I knew the place was owned by persons who also owned another Seattle establishment, and the whole time I was convinced it was Coastal Kitchen. Silly me. My co-worker corrected me that the sister restaurant is El Greco on Broadway.
Confusion aside, the meal was delicious and the coffee pretty darn good (they serve Vita). I had a savory scramble, chocked full of sausage, mozzarella, peppers, hashbrowns and onions. The side dish of bread can be either a homemade biscuit, muffin or a slice of toast from the Columbia City Bakery across the street. The sourdough was top notch. Service was fast and friendly. It's a busy place, not a lot of privacy and can get loud. But it's breakfast. They also seem to have an extensive lunch and dinner menu.
Clearly, we enjoyed it.
Drink
The embodiment of Abe Lincoln actually began on Tuesday with "Fours Bars and Seven Years Ago." From the GMP website:
It's become an underground tradition for some well known Seattle artists to celebrate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln by growing beards, dressing in top hats and suits, and spending February 12th roaming the city having drinks and turning heads.
This year, ol' Abe is turning 199 years old, and in honor of that momentous occasion, we've all been invited to join the fun!
Dan took on the Lincoln garb while I tagged along in street clothes to join in the revelry as much as possible on a school night. First stop was the Hideout on First Hill, which is a cozy and artsy nest with happy bartenders who make mean French 75s.
I fully attribute my struggle against daily life on Wednesday to those two little darlings.
We made it to the second stop, the War Room for "Lesbian Hip Hop Night." Yeah, I don't know either. But we had one more drink (and hated ourselves the next morning for it) and enjoyed the gawks and John Wilkes Booth jokes. The turnout was great and there were plenty of women sporting the Abe beard - very impressive!
Read
I am almost finished with Hawai'i's Story by Hawai'i's Queen, a 400-page recount of the fall of the monarchy by the last reigning sovereign of the Hawaiian Kingdom. She is careful to stick to the facts, but her impressions ultimately prevail and they are most justified in this moving, sometimes shocking memoir of the final years and days leading up to the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy by the "Provisional Government" of the US.
I look forward to finishing it and will reveal more then. There are several appendices, which describe the different geneologies of the royal families and some newspaper articles from the time of the Queen's forced abdication from the throne.
I started taking a distance learning course two weeks ago, through the Kamehameha school system. The title of the course is He Inoa 'Ala and it asks us to consider the origins of our names, the names in our families, the very act of naming. Primarily, the material covers name (inoa) traditions in Hawaiian culture. However, the benefit of this knowledge can be applied anywhere as we all deal with names on some level every single day.
The course is divided into three sections, each to take approximately one week. We go at our own pace, and after each section are asked to reflect upon what we've learned about in the discussion boards. So far we have a very eager group! I was a bit intimidated at first, not being a Native and having a pretty ordinary name. Everyone is so kind, though, and yes so filled with "aloha" that I have not held back in posting my impressions and finding parallel applications to the issues raised in my own experiences on the Mainland.
Excited to delve into the final week's material starting tomorrow! We have to do homework for this lesson with our families. Project!
Remember
February 8th was my nephew Blake's 8th birthday - man, that seems really old. We celebrated the following night and our gift to him was the EyeClops. It is sort of like a magnifying glass you hook up to your television to look at objects more closely on the screen. It's pretty neat, and I think my nephew will really enjoy it.
My sister might have to endure him dragging bugs into the house, though!
Worry
I have a genuine worry this week. I made a doctor's appointment for March 4th - the dreaded physical exam that seems to be somewhat controversial. Some doctors feel it is a waste of time/money and one shouldn't bother coming in unless they are at risk or exhibiting symptoms of an illness.
Well, last time I was in for one was about four years ago and the doc said every 3-4 years until you're 40. I guess that's the magic age for yearly check-ups. Can't wait! I hate doctor visits, even though I'm pretty sure I'm perfectly healthy. My mind goes to crazy places.
So, on March 5th I will hopefully have put this worry to rest for another 3-4 years!
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