Quick, Strange Moment of Meeting

The mere brute pleasure of reading -- the sort of pleasure a cow must have in grazing.
-- G. K. Chesterton

Tuesday, June 24, 1997

Today was an expensive day for me!

First I went downtown to the Medical-Dental Building (I love that name) for a "consult" with Dr. R---, the oral surgeon recommended by Dr. I----. I had the first appointment at seven AM, since I like to work on an early schedule. Since I wasn't sure exactly how long the appoinment would take, I decided to park in a lot instead of at a meter. I picked one several blocks away, where they had an "Earlybird" special -- five bucks for all day. I knew it wouldn't be all day, but I didn't want to worry.

Dr. R--- said that even with the special x-ray that goes around your head, he didn't want to decide about restoring vs extracting my tooth until he saw the situation. I committed to two different plans, and I won't know which one happened until after the procedure at the end of July. I hope the temporary filling will last until then! He will be removing both wisdom teeth at the same time. If he extracts the tooth I'll have some insurance benefit left for this year; if he opts to restore it, I'll have used up my quota for this calendar year, and will be paying out of pocket for some of the procedure, and anything else I need to have done for the rest of the year.

Of course, it turned out that I would have been perfectly OK parked at a meter; the appointment took less than an hour! If tonight hadn't been the Clarion West reading, and my neighborhood parking sticker were up to date, I'd have taken the bus to work. That would have been simplest and cheapest of all, except for any parking tickets bestowed on my car while parked near my home.

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I left Redmond at four-thirty because I was worried about finding a place to park at Elliot Bay Books for the Clarion West reading. There was a Mariners baseball game tonight, which makes that neighborhood very congested, with not a space to be found near the store. I ended up at a lot about eight blocks to the north, but it was such a pleasant evening and I had plenty of time, so I didn't mind the walk.

I stopped at CD Wherehouse and treated myself to some CDs, then browsed at a used book store without finding anything. The Capitol Hill branch of this store, Twice Sold Tales, is usually a fruitful shopping experience for me, but maybe different people bring their books to the downtown store.

At Elliot Bay Books, I treated myself to two books from the bargain loft, Tracey Kidder's Old Friends, and a collection of stories by Raphael Sabatini (author of Scaramouche). I wonder if knowing I'll soon need to spend money on something so non-fun impelled me to treat myself on these goodies?

I like the food at the Elliot Bay Books Cafe. I had quiche and a salad, which each were good but didn't really go together. I pretended they were two separate courses. I ate and chatted with Jerry Kaufman while waiting for my online buddies.

I think this was the first time I met in person with people whom I got to know online. Ceej is a Clarion West student this year, and Javina is also in town, so I had suggested a meeting at this first reading. Ceej recognized me by a Pier1 fan I was carrying, since I had suggested she might want to bring one with her to the workshop. Seattle can get hot sometimes, and some of the buildings aren't air-conditioned. We chatted with the other students and I ate dessert (Chocolate Oat Bars! Yum!) while others ate dinner. Still no sign of Javina.

We went in to hear the teacher for the week, Michael Bishop (Brittle Innings), read some of his poetry, a short story, and portions of an autobiographical essay. I really like his writing, and his verse is wonderful! Javina, Orson, and Ed came in while the reading was going on. (I recognized her because she said she'd wear something orange.) After the reading we all chatted for a while. Javina stunned us with the news that she won't be writing her journal anymore! That news, with Jerry's bulletin that Apparatchik won't be published anymore, left my jaw on the floor!

I gave Ceej a ride back to campus, and gave a ride home to Jane and Kate. I hope we didn't overwhelm Ceej with pointing out the wonderful features of Seattle!

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