Tacoma, WA.
Last week was a beautiful week of mom's home-cooked food. She was up visiting her mom, my grandma, in Pullman, WA. She cooked up a storm for the family every day, and it was wonderful. It threw off my calorie count for the week--in fact, I didn't even bother caring--but well worth it. At least there was an Anytime Fitness in this little town (by the way, San Jose doesn't have one!). I'm convinced that beneath Christina's black skin, she is somewhere deep inside Filipino. She, like my family, has become obsessed with Scrabble, and, like me, has become enamored with my mother's cooking. Good stuff.
We found a nice little coffee shop in little Pullman called the Daily Grind. As a ritual, we went there every day for our daily dose of caffeine and internet (both are addictions, apparently). Life on the farm didn't have wireless (weird...who doesn't have wireless these days? haha). There was a open mic poetry night on Friday, and my mom decided she wanted to come along to get a break from cooking (we chained her to the stove). So she came along and I decided to go up and read one of my originals. It wasn't really the kind of poetry vibe I was used to--it seemed more like class assignment to read something you wrote for the professor. A lot of it was dark, deeply rooted in some angry sentiment. It makes me sad that it is so prevalent in our youth, but simultaneously makes me happy to hear it it expressed in an art platform such as an open mic. To paraphrase a line from 'Love Jones,' it's amazing what you are willing to speak in front of strangers that you won't speak to the people in your life that really need to hear it.
Right now we are chillin' in a spot in Tacoma called Bertolini's. It took us about an hour to find a coffee shop that had a good vibe to it that included internet. The combination is not as ubiquitous as you would think being so close to Seattle. There is, as expected, a Starbucks on every corner, as they say.
Due to my grandmother's bad influence, Christina and I have become somewhat obsessed with Scrabble. As soon as we left Pullman, I bought us a travel Scrabble set, as well as a six-dot Dominoes set. Yesterday at Barnes and Noble, I bought a paperback Scrabble dictionary. Oh, it's on. Christina also bought a pack of Uno cards. I actually can't believe we haven't thought of games before now. We have so much free time in between shows this semester, might as well keep the brain stimulated. Oh, and just to point out the geekiness in us both, we also thought it'd be a good idea to have Spanish lessons on CD for our drives. Yes, this is going to be a learning experience!
Until next time, good night, dear void.
