I've been meaning to write this one up for a while just because there are a few things I found interesting. In no particular order:
1. Seattle is way less gloomy than expected. All the reading I did and statistics I looked at in preparation for our imminent move, I predictably saw overwhelming information about the cloudy and rainy drawbacks of Seattle. So then we get here and it's not THAT bad, I've come to the conclusion that these people have never been to Minnesota in January. Don't get me wrong, it rains... and rains... but it's mostly a light drizzle and I've been hearing from the locals that this was a "bad" winter. If this is the worst it gets, I can totally deal. The raincoat is replaced as the new winter coat and some wellies replace insulated boots for outdoors. I've always been able to feel my fingers and toes first thing in the morning when I jump in the shower. I guess the lengthy thoughts on the subject lie in the fact that people like to discuss weather ad nauseaum, and here I thought it was a Midwestern thing.
2. Soda water is a good substitute for wine. My sister and I did an experiment and didn't have any alcohol for a month. (In retrospect, we should have picked February as it's the shortest but...) There were a couple of cheats of course, but over all it was strictly no alcohol of any kind for 30 days. This was unthinkable at first, and super difficult on the weekends. But after a while I got used to it. Don't get me wrong, there were times when I opened a beer for Dave and I took longing whiffs of his freshly opened bottle and almost cracked, but mostly just didn't think about it and it didn't seem so bad. I found soda water was a good substitute, when I wanted something that had more pep than just plain water. I felt like I was having a fancy drink, immature I know but I figured whatever kept me from cheating.
2a. Cutting out wine didn't make me feel any better. Allow me to explain a little. I had this preconceived notion that I'd feel like I had all this pent up energy and ambition. A phrase I commonly use to describe this is: "I was living a lie." But that didn't happen. This leads me to one of two conclusions: 1. Contrary to my personal diagnosis, I am not an alcoholic. Really. I can put away a lot of wine when I want to. However, due to gnarly hangovers that emerged in my late 20s, I can't do it with as much gusto as I used to, but daily drinking of delicious wine allowed me to drink my way through a seemingly alarming amount. Forgetting that Dave usually enjoys some with me and I usually opt to drink at home rather than going out (we are saving for a house after all) so maybe I was worried for nothing. Coming from me? Shocking I know.
2b. Alcohol is not the reason I'm overweight. Now this conclusion wasn't too shocking for me, I've always known it's the quantity of food intake that always does me in when I step disappointingly on the scale but I had hoped that it would make a small difference. From what I could tell, it didn't. Hrumph.
3. People in Seattle are INSANE for bicycling. I'm not kidding. It's such a serious commuting option bikers need to actively be watched for when making turns and pulling out of parking spots. In fact, they're totally gutting the road outside our apartment building for, among other reasons, better bike lanes. And the riders are decked out too, complete with spandex shorts (even when it gets below freezing) tear drop helmets, gloves, review mirror attached to helmet, head and tail lights (multiples of each), front/back/backpack carrying bags. All of this is fine of course, more power to them, but what I hate is the douche-bags that pass me GOING UP A HILL. It's not embarrassing enough that I have my frumpy wellies on because I don't have fancy biking shoes coupled with the crappiest/oldest bike of all time, that's better suited for mountain biking but they're not even breathing hard. Meanwhile, I'm seeing stars and heaving my lungs like I've been a 40 year smoker barely keeping it together so I don't throw up. It's not their fault though, I just have a crappy bike and am severely out of shape. But that doesn't stop me from hating them an their chiseled bodies and downhill pedaling (seriously, isn't gravity enough for you people you have to pedal while you're going down a hill?). With that said, I do appreciate all the bike lanes and I currently use biking as my commuting option of choice. I just need better equipment I think, or at least that's what I tell myself.
4.You're supposed to be hungry when you're trying to lose weight. I know this one sounds like a no brainer. But every diet plan (the "healthy" ones anyway) have lead me to believe that you're not supposed to get hungry because then your body goes into starvation mode and doesn't burn fat or something. It's recently been brought to my attention that you will be hungry when you're on a diet. I'd been convinced that when you're hungry, you eat, just make wise choices. It could just be me but that doesn't work... at all. See above for comments about volume. I think I was associating hunger with being starved. That goes to show my American version of starvation.
5.People in Seattle stop for you when you're not in a crosswalk. Maybe it's the hippie West Coast reputation or the laid back atmosphere but people never seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere. Of course you always have the exceptional assholes but over all people are embarrassingly nice about stopping for you, especially if it's raining and/or cold and you have your hands full. On the flip side of this issue, as a pedestrian, if I'm ever actually IN a crosswalk and people don't stop for me, I feel entitled to be mad at the non-stoppers and it's all Seattle's fault. I fear the day when I'd have to walk around Minneapolis again with the "always having something more important to do than stop for someone" mentality I'm used to... maybe that's why everyone on the west coast is late? Who knows, but I like it. Maybe it's my Midwestern upbringing to feel bad when people stop for me, oh the martyrdom.
*Steps off soap box* and this concludes my rant. Here's your movie quote since this appears to be a list that should have been a bunch of little posts but things just kept occurring to me:
"Top 5 musical crimes perpetrated by Stevie Wonder in the 80s and 90s go... Sub-question: is it unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins... is it better to burn out or fade away?"
