Personal

Looks like Washington might be facing another drought this summer.

Washington was going through a drought the summer I came down here, too. While I wasn’t really complaining (gee — more sun? shucks!), I also didn’t really realize the extent of it until I headed out with some friends to see the Barenaked Ladies at the Gorge in central Washington. On the way out we passed a reservoir that was no more than half full, the air was scented with the smell of smoke from the forest fires raging across the state, and at one point the sunset was nearly obscured by smoke from a fire just a few miles away.

After getting everything set up at the campsite, we packed ourselves into two cars, and headed down a quicker route back to the Gorge for the show. The way there was fascinating — currently, huge amounts of the state of Washington are on fire, and there were amazing clouds of smoke from the fires just 40 miles away or so in the sky. The smoke turned an otherwise clear night to a completely opaque murk. Just fascinating to see — and the smell of burning pine in the air was an added reminder that all this stuff wasn’t that far away.

Growing up in Anchorage and now living in Seattle, neither droughts nor forest fires are generally something I have to be overly worried about most of the time (earthquakes, windstorms, and the occasional volcanic ashfall are more likely to crop up on any given day in Anchorage). When they come along, though, they’re often not that far away, either.

iTunes: “Swamp Thing (Southern Comfort)” by Grid from the album Music for Dancing (1994, 7:14).

Day three of the May Birthday Extravaganza — my long-time friend (since 4th grade) Royce hits 31 today.

Happy birthday, bub! :)

iTunes: “Profecia” by Calva Y Nada from the album German Mystic Sound Sampler Vol. IV (1993, 3:30).

Standing on the corner, I saw a bus coming down the street. Damn — “Ryerson Base” scrolled across the front, marking it as an off-shift bus going back to the base, so I turned around and wandered back to the bus stop to keep waiting.

Then I heard the sound of the bus braking and pulling over to the side of the road. The doors opened, and the sweet smell of pipe tobacco wafted out as the driver beckoned me in. “Hop on!” So I did.

“Just smokin’ down the road,” said the driver as the bus pulled out and I sat down. “I’m heading into the base, but I can get you that far, or if you see another bus that’ll work, just holler and we’ll get you on that one.”

A few blocks later, he pulled to the side again, and picked up another two guys waiting at their stop. “Jump in and hang on,” warned the driver, and the bus roared back to life, taking the next corner faster than I’ve ever seen an articulated bus corner before.

“So here’s the deal,” said the driver. “We’ve got about three more streets to cross, then there’s a stop just before the base. There’s a ton of buses that go through that stop, so I’ll let you off there, you’ll get downtown, and I’ll be on my way home.” Sounded like a good plan.

As we got closer to Ryerson Base, the driver pointed out the other two bus bases in the area (three of the five or six bases are in the south downtown area). Distracted by being able to play tour guide, though, he suddenly realized that he’d passed up that last stop that he was going to be dropping us off at.

“Well, that was my mistake. How about this — when we stop, just stick with me,” he said, and pulled the bus off the street and into Ryerson Base. He pointed off to the right side of the bus. “See that sign? That’s the parking assignments. This is a sixty-footer, so I park in lane 27 or 28.” Another quick turn, and the bus pulled to a stop in the midst of thirty or forty other members of the Metro Transit bus fleet.

The bus went dead.

“Okay, guys. Stick with me. You don’t want to get hit in here.” We all got off, and followed him out of the base and across the street into the employee parking lot. “Normally you wouldn’t be allowed in here, but it was my goof up. I don’t want to send you walking down that corridor,” and he gestured down the narrow road, obviously intended only to allow bus access to and from the base, “so I’ll just have to give you a lift to another stop.”

A few moments later, we all piled into his little Geo Metro. He waved his employee badge at the gate, the crossbeam lifted, and we drove off down the road. Not long afterwards, we pulled to the side of the road at the corner of Fourth and Jackson, in the International District. “That’s it for tonight, guys, I’ve got a ferry to catch.” We thanked him, got out, and he drove off into the night.

The other two adventurers wandered off to wait for the next bus to take them the rest of the way into downtown. I looked around, figured that it wasn’t that far, and started walking home through the Seattle night.

iTunes: “Helium” by 29 Died from the album Sworn (1995, 3:59).

It’s day two of the May birthday extravaganza — my brother Kevin turns 28 today!

Happy birthday, Kev!

iTunes: “I Sit on Acid (Remix)” by Lords of Acid from the album Lust (1991, 6:22).