PlatKat.com: November 2007

Friday, November 30, 2007

Happy Birthday, Kat

Friday Night 1:

Friday Night 2:

It began when my roommate Kristen and I went to Solo Lounge, where her friend was showing his art. The place was cute and trendy, and it had a great wine list. So it was much to my surprise when they followed the chill, downtempo dj with a loud, obnoxious bluegrass band. What the hell? Smoking and drunk texting ensued. I also met a nice girl named Holly.

Then we went to Nuemo's, where Kristen is the resident photographer. Before we went in, we ran into Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service fame, and we talked to him. Hold on a minute, I'm going to pick up these names I just dropped. At the bar, I met a nice guy named Mikey.

After the show, we went to the hot dog stand across the street. Kristen got the last hot dog. But that's cool 'cause I got a giant Snickers bar from the ghetto Shell station on the way home and ate the whole thing in the car. Happy birthday, indeed!

posted by platkat @ 7:51 PM 1 million people love The Kat

Thursday, November 29, 2007

My Last Day of Being 26

This year was kind of a trainwreck, but I'm sure some sick part of me is going to miss it. I liked being 26. It was a comfortable age in most cases—I was old enough to sound well-rounded and important in job interviews, but young enough to be cute and realistically naive sometimes.

Now I'm beginning the onset of this:

The Saturn return is an astrological phenomenon that occurs in a person's life at approximately 27–30 years of age and again around the age of 58–60, with the third and usually final occurrence around 86–88. The planet Saturn takes approximately 29.5 years to orbit the Sun; when it returns to the exact degree along the ecliptic it occupied at the time of a person's birth this is referred to as their "Saturn Return".

Saturn is symbolically/astrologically associated with time, challenge, fear, doubt, confusion, difficulty, seriousness, heaviness, and hard lessons, among other more positive things such as structure, significance, accomplishment, reflection, power, prestige, maturity, and order – this is why astrologers believe that the thirtieth birthday is such a major rite of passage and is considered by many astrologers to mark the "true beginning" of adulthood, self-evaluation, independence, responsibility, ambition, and full maturation.

I'm not a huge believer in astrology, but if the shoe fits...

posted by platkat @ 4:46 PM 1 million people love The Kat

Monday, November 26, 2007

Nerd.

Now that it's noon and I'm up and about (ha), I'm settling in for another day of this:

It's a hard-knock life... for me...

posted by platkat @ 9:20 AM 0 million people love The Kat

Saturday, November 24, 2007

But I Still Love Technology...

So I'm still honeymooning with the Sidekick, but I'd never forget about my Lappy 3000.

Right now, I technically have it all. Technically.

posted by platkat @ 8:10 PM 0 million people love The Kat

Friday, November 23, 2007

My Birthday is in One Week

Lacking many of my party-throwing resources (e.g., friends), I'm not planning on getting anything or doing anything or going anywhere, I just thought I'd throw out that little PSA. My level of excitement about my birthday varies from year to year. Usually I'm either really excited or really not excited. This will mark the exit from my mid-20's, and I was kind of dreading it a few weeks ago. Now for some reason I'm kind of excited. It makes very little sense, since I'm in a new city and don't know enough people to have a giant blowout celebration. Last year, I was in the same situation, so I went to a dive bar and ate hot dogs. It was something to do...

I already bought myself a birthday present, my new Sidekick LX. The more I use it, the more I love it. Can you marry a phone? I just might. If I can find a hack to use Google Chat and play Tetris, you should plan on receiving an announcement in your mailbox.

"I now pronounce you Kat and phone. You may enable the Bluetooth."

Okay, I made a wishlist on Amazon. Stuff. I like it.

posted by platkat @ 12:04 PM 2 million people love The Kat

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Real LOLing

You know how the opening credits of "Sex and the City" show Carrie walking down the streets of Manhattan looking super-reflective, like she has a million important things on her mind? Well, I do that too, but I also talk to myself, complete with facial expressions and hand gestures.

This was okay when I lived in Manhattan because there are so many people around, no one gives a rat's ass what you do. And I got away with it in Austin because people are just weird there. But in Seattle, it's considered kind of strange, almost to the point where people cross to the other side of the street when they see you coming.

I learned this today as I was walking to the Rite Aid downtown with LOL Internet going through my head. Unless you've already done it, don't click that link. If you have, you're doomed and there's no hope for you. You're going to be like me now.

LOL is such a common internet acronym that people type it frequently but are rarely actually laughing out loud. As I hoofed it up Third Avenue, I began laughing out loud at the absurdity of "LOL Internet" and couldn't stop.

I ended up calling my sister with my new Sidekick LX, which has been working fabulously despite the fact that it's blue and sort of uncute. I explained to her that I was laughing out loud, which is okay if you're at a computer screen, but not when you're alone walking down the street. At least if I'm on the phone, I look like I'm part of a conversation that is funny and not randomly laughing at some asinine song that I can't get out of my head. This also reminded me to get stamps, so I walked to the post lolffice.

On my way home, I decided to make my own song. It goes like this:

Seattle
LOL, Seattle
Creepy dudes and Seahawks games
Seattle
LOL, Seattle
Microsoft and seafood bars
Seattle
LOL, Seattle
Pike Place Market and loft parties

Wow, this is worse than LOLcats... I'm a LOLcoholic!

posted by platkat @ 3:59 PM 0 million people love The Kat

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Seattle! Whoo!

Yeah, just wanted to pop on and say I love it here and I'm having an awesome time and even though no one gives a shit.... I do! I love it here! I've met some of the nicest people and everything looks really promising and I can ramble and ramble because even when I had a clever writing style it didn't really matter so this is what you get right now. I'm going to write like a high schooler and pretend it's normal. Here it is. I said I was giving it up, but... My LOLseattles. Let me show you them.

posted by platkat @ 11:48 PM 0 million people love The Kat

Friday, November 16, 2007

LOLcats: I Quit!

Really, it just has to stop. First it was just LOLcats, but now I can has LOLjobs, an LOLplace, and LOLfriends... not to mention tons of cool LOLstuff. At some point, I'm going to have to stop LOLing or my brain is going to implode from trying to process all the bad grammar.

So please...

KTHXBYE

"I'm not addicted, just heavily committed."

posted by platkat @ 8:59 PM 0 million people love The Kat

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

PlatKat's Halloween Adventure!

I'm late, but not by months like I had anticipated. After pitting an age-old camera against brand-new Vista, an insightful compromise was reached via a CompactFlash card reader. (Duh!)

This year's Halloween was one of the biggest and baddest ever. I was also sober the entire time, which allowed me to escort myself to three different parties on opposite ends of town Saturday night. This was also my first Slut-o-ween. As I come of age and find I have less and less to worry about, I've become more comfortable with my body... in goofy, somewhat revealing outfits. Us nice girls only get one day a year, we might as well make the most of it!

Here's a pic of me taken with Path and Stacie at the first stop on my Halloween adventure:

Pictures from another house party

Pictures from Igor (Downtown)

Pictures from my camera (Once again, if you want to be flickr friends, befriend platkat. Still not going pro!)

posted by platkat @ 10:13 PM 1 million people love The Kat

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

A Couple of Pics from the Market

Last week, I embarked on a journey. I won't get into what it was for or how doomed it was from the start. But I will note the happy moments I spent taking these two pictures as the sun was setting on Pike Place Market. The day was good, the night was full of promise, and I... will gracefully refrain from adding a "Trainwreck of the Year" caption below my picture.

Just your average Seattle produce stand pest...

posted by platkat @ 10:46 PM 0 million people love The Kat

Monday, November 12, 2007

Any Given Monday

After fully recovering from my Ambien coma around noon, I learned the Seahawks had a game today. The jersey-clad guys playing catch and pitching tents in the empty lot across the street, highlighted by the scent of barbecue and random indecipherable shouting, tipped me off. So far, the only feature of living next to Safeco Field has been an extra half-mile walk to anything interesting. Today, I'd get to bear witness to the vibrant side of my neighborhood in action.

Even though I wasn't going to the game, I thought about going out for a drink at one of the bars around here. The new girl in town surrounded by a zillion men out to kick back and have a good time? Like shooting fish in a barrel.

But wait a minute, I hate football. Actually, I am so oblivious to the appeal of football, I don't even think I can hate it. In fact, the only sport I like involves sitting in a chair for many hours and looking serious (and kickball, but I've said enough about that). Any bar I visited in my neighborhood this afternoon would be at least partially filled with blustering idiots yelling plays at a deaf plasma TV and humble sheep nursing obscure brands of beer because "it's the thing to do on game day," and partially may be a rather forgiving estimate. I'm sure some decent folks would be out, but it would be asking a lot to get them to talk about something other than football during the big game.

So, no game for me today. Perhaps my proximity to the festivities will break me one day...

Addendum: So what'd I do instead? I walked up First Avenue for a long time, then settled in at a cafe and wrote in my journal for two hours. Yeah, I know. Snark on, sports fans. Snark on.

posted by platkat @ 8:00 PM 0 million people love The Kat

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Home

I spent all day by myself, in near complete silence, eerily isolated to the point where I actually got spooked by people/things/noises several times as I walked to the store for some paper towels. Walking home, I wondered if I'd ever get used to complete darkness at 4:30. I finished my chores and then browsed the craigslist personal ads to laugh at them.

Then my roommate and her boyfriend burst onto the scene, arms loaded with the miscellany of any artist/musician duo, but most notably a bottle of champagne. Kristen threw silver confetti everywhere while Kyle sat down and played some songs on his guitar.

Teeny-tiny champagne buzz, live music, and general happiness with the Seattle skyline glowing through our giant loft windows. So darkness is what you make of it.

posted by platkat @ 8:20 PM 0 million people love The Kat

Thursday, November 08, 2007

The Politics of PlatKat

I have the sharp mind of an elephant
And the sloppy personality of an ass
So I guess that makes me
...a libertarian?

posted by platkat @ 6:28 PM 0 million people love The Kat

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Senseless in Seattle

Yet another transition taking place, and it is no less giant. So far, my experience has been one long acid trip: I'm cold, I'm jittery, and my sense of time is fucked up beyond all recognition. And when the trip finally ends—IF it ends—I will never be the same again.

I rolled into town around 11am on Friday. Miranda in her ever-increasing greatness flew down 71 to get me to the airport in time. My flight was uneventful (good!) and I arrived without incident. I had three bags and a briefcase and no one to greet me.

Once outside, a limo driver flagged me down. I decided to pay the extra 10 bucks to arrive at my new home fabulously.

I met my roommates, tall girls with dark hair and bangs like me. I was stunned at how friendly they were. Both are photographers, one of whom was leaving to pursue a career in New York.

I now sleep in her room, a loft above our 1600+ square-foot studio. I expected that I wouldn't be able to stand up in there, but I guess I wasn't planning on having to climb a steep set of stairs. Given my agility, it will be a matter of days before I fall down them. Seriously, someone start a betting pool.

I met with the recruiter who got me my Intuit job, and we had a great conversation. It was completely refreshing to sit down with someone so enthusiastic and interested in my skills. Little did I know that my ardent online searches for tech writing jobs would bear almost limitless fruit, in the form of phone calls, e-mails, and bone-crunching slide tackles.

After my interview, I walked through the Fremont neighborhood and took a bus that dropped me off near the water. During a short walk home, I thought about how nice it was that there are so many busses that run so frequently. However, the system for payment is perplexing. My roommate, Kristen, tried to explain it to me ("Sometimes you pay when you get off if you're going from Downtown to another neighborhood, or if you're going from here to Capitol Hill, but at night you pay a different rate, but only if you're not going Downtown, but if there's a full moon then you have to hop on one foot as you enter the bus and then exit while flaggelating yourself with a giant salmon..."), but I just ended up blankly staring at her, deciding I would ask the driver. And this wasn't a problem! The drivers here call out all the stops in their native tongue of English. Beautiful.

Unfortunately, the cabs here suck. None of the drivers have any idea where anything is, which is ridiculous because their whole job is to drive around and know where stuff is. Once I get my bearings and get a permanent job and home, I doubt I'll need cabs very often anyway.

In between e-mails and phone interviews, I've been taking walks to get to know the city better. I of course returned to the Pike Street Farmer's Market and window-shopped Downtown. Yesterday I ran along the Puget Sound, and today I visited the aquarium. I like seahorses, and contemplated having one tattooed on my left bicep. I don't know if I'll always love seahorses, but it's something to contemplate.

The weather was rather nice my first few days here, but the honeymoon is over. Last night and this morning, I battled the rain as I tried to figure out who I am, where I'm going, and what I want to do with that information.

See, I came here to completely reinvent myself and live a new life. When making the decision to relocate here, I thought back to the last time I felt really good about my job and living situation as an independent person. I vowed to get in touch with the recruiter who facilitated that to see if he could make it happen again. There are jobs at Microsoft for me if I want them, but something in me is telling me to wait for (and continue seeking) the opportunity that's right for me.

It's so scary to leave a relationship and a home that are comfortable, though not invigorating. And although restarting my career looks promising, I am exploring the social aspects of my new life here and trying to figure out if this place will accept me. Yes, I feel like a child on her first day of school. My pencils are sharp and my notebooks are fresh... and that's all I can really be sure of.

posted by platkat @ 5:10 PM 2 million people love The Kat

Monday, November 05, 2007

Blind Date

Now that I'm single again, I have nights like this to look forward to:

posted by platkat @ 3:20 PM 0 million people love The Kat

Thursday, November 01, 2007

My Stuff in a Box

Sing along!

Hey babe, I think it's time you gave me something
So just sit down and listen
Even though we've been together such a long long time (such a long time)
Our relationship has flatlined
(Wooow) You know it's November and I'm feeling cold inside
Now it's time for you to start giving me all the things that are mine
They're not all that need, but I want them a lot
Some things for you to set aside -- it's my stuff in a box
Not asking for a diamond ring
You had years to get me that sort of thing
Not asking for a fancy car
Although I sold mine to be where you are
Not asking for a house in the hills
But I'm gonna need a few things still
Want you to give me something really nice
Somethin' special...
It's my stuff in a box, my stuff in a box babe
It's my stuff in a box, my stuff in a box babe

You should be wise enough to know when my stuff needs sendin' (yeah)
So I have a request, just do it - I'll take care of the rest
To all the fellas out there with long-time exes
It's easy to do, just follow these steps
1: Acquire a box
2: Put my stuff in that box
3: Mail me that box
And that's the way you do it
It's my stuff in a box, my stuff in a box babe
It's my stuff in a box, my stuff in a box babe
Thanksgiving; my stuff in a box
Festivus; my stuff in a box
Groundhog Day; my stuff in a box
Every single holiday; my stuff in a box
Sub-let to sub-let; my stuff in a box
I'm changing jobs again; my stuff in a box
Backstage at your indie rock shows; my stuff in a box (yeah-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow)
my stuff in a box...

****

Who said breakups had to be 100 percent miserable and sad? I'm whittling this bitch down to 99.9.

Pending receipt of stuff in a box, I will post pictures from Kat's Halloween Extravaganza. (I don't care if it's over, I'm still excited about Halloween!)

posted by platkat @ 9:42 AM 0 million people love The Kat

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