Sprizee :: A simple girl replete with complications

This month being December I'm really into...

...Trader Joe's 3 bean marinated salad (in a can!), Joe Joe's chocolate peppermint cookie sandwiches dipped in more chocolate, snow!, carpooling to work, wrapping presents, workouts fueled by listening to TBTL (folks who aren't local: there's a podcast and it is hilarious/informative), walking to shops in my neighborhood to find unique Christmas presents for my peeps, catching up with high school friends, pub trivia at the Old Pequliar, wool stockings, LaFarge cement factory tour, The Airborne Toxic Event, Mary Gauthier's Mercy Now, Dark City, The Visitor (seriously, go rent this), Let The Right One In (worth it, go see this at your local art house cinema), Sally's engagement and the New Year's Eve party tonight!

Welcome to the Seattle snow globe.

I have witnessed a bunch of strange things in the last 24 hours that are already starting to feel like the new norm.

1. Folks cross-country skiing down the middle of my street. So far three.
2. Steep neighborhood street closed to cars and converted into a snowboarding/sledding run.
3. Walking 3 blocks down to a main road because there was too much snow on the ground to drive around my neighborhood and meeting up with carpooling coworkers.
4. Me worrying about the snow being so high that it might get into my kneehigh rainboots. Not quite but almost.
5. Man walking along main street in Ballard with giant garbage bags, two. One wrapped around each shoe/leg.
6. Guy in wetsuit waterskiing on Lake Washington near 520 in a Santa coat and hat.
7. Me sitting in my coworker's car stopped ON I5 in the left lane of traffic (you know, that FAST one) right before the exit to 520 while her and another coworker hopped out to clear off the front window since all the snow she left on her roof fell onto her windshield and obstructed her view for important things like SEEING while driving.
8. Making a mental note to always remove ALL THE SNOW from my car before driving.
9. Getting to the office and seeing a Geo Metro stuck in the driveway of our parking lot. The driveway had become a snow bank thanks to the snowplowing along the main road outside my office.
10. Noticing the rest of the parking lot wasn't much better. A good foot of snow all around.
11. Me, coworkers, and friendly strangers pushing and digging cars out of the snow. So far two.
12. Watching the postman drive by my office, not even attempting to make any deliveries. See #9.
13. That means a bunch less packages will be under the tree come Christmas.
14. I don't care. Snow is the new sunshine. More, more, more! 

What a Christmas card.

What a Christmas card., originally uploaded by sprizee.

Yesterday I walked up the street in my neighborhood to do some local Christmas shopping and pick up a few provisions. On my way back home, around 3 PM, it started lightly snowing. By the evening the snow had picked up speed and the sky was raining white magic. By time I finally went to bed, around 1 AM, it was still snowing. Which means this morning I woke up to a lovely, pristinely white first day of winter. I love mittens, scarfs, wool coats and rain boots. I could get use to this.

Memories like spies. Salt betrays me eyes.

My friend Jack and I are in the back of my parent's VW camper. He's wearing a denim jack with a sheepskin collar.  For some reason he starts pretending he's watching a movie inside his coat.  Lifting it open with one hand while wearing it and peering secretively inside. I know he's full of it, yet I insist he open his coat fully so I can verify that he's not actually watching a movie. I know it's not possible, and yet I still want proof. So, of course, he just keeps acting like he is watching a movie and that it's the most interesting thing ever. And whenever I ask for him to prove it he says, "Sorry. Can't let you.", while blocking my view and pushing me away. I still love him for that.

Everyone loves Jack. He's the class clown. The one always smart mouthing to the teacher. He's popular. He knows everyone and everyone knows him.

Jack and I live 3 block away from each other. His parents live in a rented cottage near the beach. It sounds charming, but really, they're just poor.  His mom is somehow disabled and living off a paycheck from the state. His step-dad, I remember very little about, and his dad isn't around much, but prison is mentioned whenever his name comes up.  

5th grade. Many nights we ride our bikes past my house, past his house, down along the sound. We skip stones into the shore and turn over rocks. Then we wait for the sun to fade into the water before, begrudgingly, heading home. One night we locate a tree swing in someone's yard. Their yard overlooks the water. We take turns pushing each other. We talk. I wish I could remember what we talked about. What do you talk about when you're 12 years old? But, still, we talk. 

He asks me out. I accept. A week later we break up. 

3 years later we don't see much of each other and we don't have much in common anymore. We no longer walk to school together because school is miles away now, not blocks. We are never in the same classes. We hang out in different crowds. There were no cliques in elementary school. Popular was popular. But now there are the preps and the rockers and the nerds and the jocks. So when Jack changes schools after moving in with his dad, I don't really remember saying goodbye or caring much one way or the other. I might have just assumed we'd keep in touch. Or more likely we had already grown so far apart that it no longer really mattered to me. 

Isn't it strange how the people we still remember so vividly can disappear so quickly? And that we just let it happen?

I can never bring them back

But those days remain inside the very heart of me

My memories are white and black

But the song's the same

It plays in every part of me.

Last night I went searching for Jack online. I've searched before but his last name is generic. Proverbial needle in a haystack. Still somehow I managed to I stumble across his step-dad's obituary from 2006. Which is how I discovered Jack passed away in 1999. He was only 23. That sort of broke my heart.

You're the boss, applesauce.

I wish someone would create a phrase dictionary filled with sayings to incorporate into everyday conversation. If I ever got around to doing this I'd make sure to include twist and shout - over and out and you're the boss, applesauce. Also, fuck that noise, what the what?, and [xyz] broke my brain. You know what I mean, jellybean?

Merry Christmas!

Christmas., originally uploaded by sprizee.

What's your favorite tradition? Mine's picking out the tree, mistletoe, cedar garland, hot chocolate, eggnog, wrapping presents, exchanging gifts, lights, wandering around downtown with no destination, baking Christmas cookies, playing boardgames, spending time with family, building a fire in the fireplace and roasting marshmallows.

This month being (not) Novemember I'm really into...

...Twitter mostly, working and when I'm not working avoiding updating any actual blogs I author. I did manage to check out the Lucy Exhibit at the Pacific Science Center and then I stopped at the Dahlia Bakery for a late lunch yesterday.  Of course, this is all old news had you been staring at my Twitter feed. Good thing I don't have an addictictive personality. Oh, wait. Can't stop tweeting. Anyways.