Before I begin, I want to point something out: I don't know exactly why, but I got in a terrible habit of eschewing capital letters when I type things online. Usually, this is no problem. Tweets, YouTube video descriptions, and Tumblr posts aren't usually subject to the intense grammatical scrutiny that accompanies almost every other medium of written words. However, when I looked at the layout of my blog, I started thinking about it and realized that large blocks of text in ten-point Times New Roman written in all lowercase letters would be awfully intimidating, so I'm trying my best to be all prim and proper with the capitals. Please forgive me if I forget to capitalize an "I" somewhere; it's habit, and that guy doesn't deserve to be capitalized anyway.
Over this past weekend, I made a journey up to Seattle for the gathering there. I was excited about the prospect of traveling alone; I saw it as some sort of strange rite of passage into independence (also, I think trains are interesting and a great way to travel, so that was nice too). However, I almost didn't make it due to a pesky fever that decided to show up the day before I was supposed to leave. Luckily, it subsided and I was able to leave a day after I originally planned, which cut into some hanging-out time but still allowed me to get there on time. The bigger downside was that instead of leaving at a relatively comfortable 9am, I was at the train station at 5:45am, which was decidedly not awesome.
Once I finally got on the train, things went very smoothly. I fortunately had my new Nintendo DSi XL with me and a copy of Dragon Quest IX, and that's never a bad thing. That held my attention for most of the trip. They played a movie as well, but I didn't watch it; it was the Disney documentary Oceans (there was a groan of disappointment throughout the car when the conductor told us that our only provided entertainment was going to be a nature documentary). I sat alone in a two-seat cluster until the train pulled into Kelso. At that station, a kid got on the train who could've easily come out of a Zumiez catalog, although he looked significantly less content than their models usually do. With a look of intense disinterest on his face and a skateboard in his hand, he sat next to me. At this point, I became alarmingly self-aware. To him, I was the alpha dork: I was on a train by myself, wearing glasses and a Three Wolf Moon shirt, and playing a Japanese RPG on a brand-new handheld system.
We did not exchange numbers.
At long last, the train rolled into the Seattle station. I stood up for the first time in nearly six hours and promptly hit my head on the luggage rack, which discouraged me from standing anymore. My seatmate (note: surprisingly, Firefox's built-in spellcheck recognizes "seatmate" as a word) stifled a laugh, which was the first emotion i had seen from him in the three hours that our paths had crossed. Although my head hurt and my dignity had long since fled, I took solace in the fact that I did something that caused a listless shell of a human to almost have a feeling.
And then I was there, so that was exciting. I'll talk about it more in another post because I feel like this one's getting a bit long.
Listening to: The Who - Baba O'Riley
Currently fixated on: This coat
*Note: I'm required to say that I was given the DSi and Dragon Quest IX by a company called Brand About Town on behalf of Nintendo. However, I'm allowed to say whatever I darn well please about it, and it's a fantastic game; definitely give it a shot ^_^
Over this past weekend, I made a journey up to Seattle for the gathering there. I was excited about the prospect of traveling alone; I saw it as some sort of strange rite of passage into independence (also, I think trains are interesting and a great way to travel, so that was nice too). However, I almost didn't make it due to a pesky fever that decided to show up the day before I was supposed to leave. Luckily, it subsided and I was able to leave a day after I originally planned, which cut into some hanging-out time but still allowed me to get there on time. The bigger downside was that instead of leaving at a relatively comfortable 9am, I was at the train station at 5:45am, which was decidedly not awesome.
Once I finally got on the train, things went very smoothly. I fortunately had my new Nintendo DSi XL with me and a copy of Dragon Quest IX, and that's never a bad thing. That held my attention for most of the trip. They played a movie as well, but I didn't watch it; it was the Disney documentary Oceans (there was a groan of disappointment throughout the car when the conductor told us that our only provided entertainment was going to be a nature documentary). I sat alone in a two-seat cluster until the train pulled into Kelso. At that station, a kid got on the train who could've easily come out of a Zumiez catalog, although he looked significantly less content than their models usually do. With a look of intense disinterest on his face and a skateboard in his hand, he sat next to me. At this point, I became alarmingly self-aware. To him, I was the alpha dork: I was on a train by myself, wearing glasses and a Three Wolf Moon shirt, and playing a Japanese RPG on a brand-new handheld system.
We did not exchange numbers.
At long last, the train rolled into the Seattle station. I stood up for the first time in nearly six hours and promptly hit my head on the luggage rack, which discouraged me from standing anymore. My seatmate (note: surprisingly, Firefox's built-in spellcheck recognizes "seatmate" as a word) stifled a laugh, which was the first emotion i had seen from him in the three hours that our paths had crossed. Although my head hurt and my dignity had long since fled, I took solace in the fact that I did something that caused a listless shell of a human to almost have a feeling.
And then I was there, so that was exciting. I'll talk about it more in another post because I feel like this one's getting a bit long.
Listening to: The Who - Baba O'Riley
Currently fixated on: This coat
*Note: I'm required to say that I was given the DSi and Dragon Quest IX by a company called Brand About Town on behalf of Nintendo. However, I'm allowed to say whatever I darn well please about it, and it's a fantastic game; definitely give it a shot ^_^
I love that you're about as self-aware as I am. And that coat looks like Edward's, just a passing observation. Also, I wish trains were better available in the south, I like them too.
ReplyDeleteHey Adam, just wanted to say I think you're writing is great :) It's really quite evocative. I look forward to more bloggness.
ReplyDeleteTake Care,
Maurice