That Was The Week That Was

Technically speaking, it's been a week and a half since my last entry, and boy was it eventful! My Mom is a coordinator for a junior high college prep program, and the kids took a trip to the University of Washington last week. They needed some extra chaperones, so Paul and I tagged along. This also gave us the opportunity to 1) See some of our dear friends in the area, 2) For him to do some job searching and me to take the WEST-B (more on that later), and 3) For us to go see the American Idols tour in Tacoma (more on that later as well).

We stayed in the conference dorms with the kids (Perhaps I shouldn't call them kids... It makes me sound old LOL). It felt a little bit like a prison or some other institution with it's concrete walls, tile floors, and minimalist aesthetic, but at the same time it stirred fond recollections of our own collegiate dorm stays, which made it very quaint and fun. We also got to experience The Cafeteria again, but this one was much nicer, if only because it's fountain dispensed Coca Cola products instead of Pepsi, as Gonzaga's had. We were alotted three free meals a day at the cafeteria if we wanted, but I wasn't that nostalgic for college days :-) Happily, the University Village shopping center (not to mention the U-District "Ave") were very close by and afforded us some other options. Mom, Paul, and I spent hours enjoying food and fun at these places, as well as the two-story Target near Northgate Mall.

On Tuesday Paul and I went to an old theater called The Neptune and saw "Hancock". It was a great movie with a clever premise, fun writing, and interesting use of the themesong to "Sanford & Son". Will Smith is pretty much always fantastic, and, well, anyone who's had occasion to read this blog knows how I feel about Jason Bateman. It was awesome to enjoy a movie in such a retro setting. We sat in the balcony- an actual old-fashioned balcony! There was also a nearly-antique box office out front. It makes me happy that places like this still exist.

Meanwhile, back on campus, we got to enjoy more modern fun: An open-to-the-public XBox equipped with Rock Band. We sang, strummed, and drummed to our hearts' content (well, my heart probably would have been content with a little more... :-)) The first night we were there we just asked some guys that were playing if we could "join the band". It was really fun to simply jam with some friendly strangers. This came in handy later in the week, when (long story) the game wouldn't let us proceed without a guitar player. Out of nowhere, one of the guys from our previous jam session volunteered, and we had a blast... We really rocked Boston (the band, not the city...though on Rock Band it could have been both!)

A dose of Quantum Leap is calling my name (to be shortly followed by sleep), so I'll resume this entry later with our trip to the EMP.