The Summer Adventures Are Just Beginning..

It’s been a while since I last wrote and I hope you missed me. You did, right? Please say yes, my ego couldn’t take it otherwise.

The last few weeks were a series of random events that didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to and an exhausting stretch at work coupled with the terrifying fact that I couldn’t decide what I should write about! The horror of writer’s block. Shudders.

I still don’t really have a specific thing to write 800 words about so I’m going to tell you about some of the above mentioned random things that happened.

 

I DID THE MOST INSANE HIKE EVER

I still haven’t climbed Mount Si, which, if y’all recall is one of my summer goals. However, I did a 14 mile hike the weekend before, by mistake. Yes 14 miles. On accident. To be fair, we only meant for it to be a 5-mile hike. That’s what the web page about Oyster Dome said. Except we went to the wrong trailhead and the map at the wrong trailhead did not specify the distance to the top. Good job, map guy. So off we set, expecting to reach in about 1.5 hrs and after 2 hrs, we still hadn’t, according to the map, reached the first fork. Doubt set in, but turning back at that point would’ve meant 6 miles of hiking in vain and we would be too tired to restart. So we climbed on. After about 3.5 hrs, we finally reached the top. The effort was worth every bit of pain though. I was looking out to the Puget Sound, the islands and waving at my Canadian neighbors. My eyes watered from the beauty. Okay, it was actually the wind and intense cold, but we’ll pretend it was the view.  After huddling for a bit and wolfing down a muffin each, we decided we were too exhausted and should get back down sooner than later. The hike down was awful though. We were tired, hungry and cold. And had 7 miles to go. Conversation died down. Most of my energy was spent putting one foot in front of the other. We barely made it to the car before collapsing. A 90-minute drive back into the city, I was sitting in a warm and toasty bath marvelling at the adventure, that I definitely wouldn’t repeat any time soon. At least we saw some great pictures of the forest and the ocean out of it. Samy gets all the credits for pictures and I get all the credits for posing.

 

I WENT ON A DATE

*Gasp*. Cute boy, nice job, great conversation, really pretty face. We meet for coffee, we chat about our lives, we laugh and I’m particularly cheerful, because this boy doesn’t let me walk all over him. Yes, despite my diminutive stature, I have been accused of being intimidating. I swear, I don’t mean to be, I don’t flex my impressive biceps or anything, but not everyone can deal with my questionable sense of humor and teasing. This guy can. I’m impressed, in fact he actually teases me back. Damn. Everything is well, the sun is shining, birds are chirping, and then…he asks me that one question, that ruins the afternoon for me.

‘So…how many kids do you want?’

Nope. Instant no. I get it, many men out there might be seeking compatible partners and a discussion about children is important.

But, this is a first date. I’ve spent roughly two hours in your company and I refuse, I absolutely refuse to discuss my child-birthing plans with you. There are tons of other things to talk about. If I happen to meet you past that one date, decide we are mutually interested in considering a future together, a decision that I might make after months (years?), only then, I may be willing to tell you how many kids I want.

So for the love of all things that’s holy, men, please, stop asking women how many kids they want. It is a personal question and not something one shares with just about anybody.

Shame really. The boy had such a nice face.

 

I GOT A KAYAK

Okay, so I have plans for my life. I want to own a car (check) and a house (not yet checked) before I’m 30. But then what? Should I buy a yacht? A small plane? Cry about not having the money to actually buy a yacht? Thinking along those lines, I actually took a small step in the direction of yacht buying. I bought a kayak! Okay I didn’t actually buy it myself but when my girlfriends asked me what I’d like for my birthday, I decided I wanted an inflatable kayak.

Of course after heavy research on stability, sturdiness and how likely I am to sink, I picked one, and for the last month, I’ve been carrying it around in the boot of my car. But, last week I finally did a test set up in my living room. I also inspired a friend to get one for himself and last Saturday we floated down the Fremont canal in our kayaks. That sounded way more romantic than it actually is. We ended up kayaking for 6 miles. As fun as it was, my arms are severely sunburnt. While my friend thinks he looks like a red racoon, I look like an unevenly baked potato. 

 

I GOT HIT BY A CAR

No, I wasn’t hurt thankfully, but I was outraged that a car knocked me down. I was minding my own business, walking across the intersection at a green light and was just passing a van when it rolled forward and the sudden bump knocked me over. I got up, yelled at the driver, made some choice gestures and walked away. The driver looked appropriately horrified and my dramatic snooty walk-away made my heart swell with satisfaction.

 

I FOUGHT WITH DUCKS

I waged a battle with ducks at work and …I did not win. So here’s the deal, I go to work pretty early. And every day of last week, as I was trying to drive into the office parking lot, there were two ducks guarding the entrance. They just stood there, coolly as you please, unperturbed that a giant car is slowly inching forward. I mean, I expected they’d waddle away if they see someone approaching but apparently not. Of course I wasn’t going to hurt them, so I ended up waiting the first day and they took 5 minutes to slowly shuffle away. On the third day, I lost my patience and quacked at them. I thank the heavens that it was early and no one was around to hear a grown woman stick her head out of her car and make duck sounds. I mean, I don’t actually speak duck. They probably speak American duck and I may have attempted Romanian duck. Or I could have accidentally told them to take their fluffy butts elsewhere. Suffice it to say, they didn’t move an inch and I had to wait for the requisite 5 mins before being allowed inside. I haven’t encountered them for the last couple of days but I pray that they did take their fluffy bottoms elsewhere.

 

I ATTEMPTED TO MAKE FRIENDS

Ever since I moved to Seattle, 99% of my friends are people I know through grad school or friends of people I knew through grad school. I’ve been wholly unsuccessful at making new friends outside of my circle. Since I’ve been writing more regularly now, I decided to go attend some writing groups where I can actually write my blog and socialize in the company of other writers. So exciting. Except it wasn’t. I picked a writing group through meetup.com and it was a two-hour event where everyone spends an hour writing and another hour socializing. I showed up and there were three other people at the table. Okay. So far so good. I said ‘hi’ and one person mumbles back a ‘hi’ without bothering to look up or make eye contact. Er…what? The next one hour was the horror show of awkwardness. The three other people continued to work with their earphones on, occasionally whispering among themselves. After about 40 mins, there was another hushed conversation and everyone just got up and left without so much as a glance, smile or a by-your-leave. If they tried any harder to avoid eye contact, they’d get constipation, jeez. In a city that’s famous for being polite but frosty, this was a particularly defeating experience. However, I cheered myself up with ice cream and fluffy corgis at the dog park so next weekend, I’m going to try a different writing group. Moi shall not give up.

 

Add to that a controversially disappointing Game of Thrones run and a 3-hour long Marvel movie and I’d say it was a pretty eventful month. Tell me about what you’ve been up to in the comments! And as usual, share and subscribe!

Kat out.