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Sunday, March 28, 1999
One year ago: Social Groups
I'd been wanting to go do some shopping downtown, and Saturday afternoon looked like a good chance to do it. My first stop was the Nordstrom Rack, where I wandered amongst the shoes but didn't try on one pair. I bought an issue of Ornament magazine and read it, while sitting at the tiny counter of the crepe booth at the Pike Place Market. It felt good to be doing such a very "Seattle" kind of thing. I proceeded on to Ross "Dress for Less" which was what had drawn me downtown in the first place. I bought a bunch of tops, mostly, and what I'd gone down there for was pants! But the knit pants they had didn't have any pockets, and I really do want pockets.
Saturday evening I wanted to get out dancing again. I hadn't danced since last Sunday! I knew that Hep Jen was DJ'ing a dance at a high school up Lake City way, but it was a PTA benefit dance, not intended specifically for high school students, so it seemed possible that there would be some partners there for me.
I carefully printed out the address in a large font (for easy reading in the car) and I looked it up on mapblast. But I managed to leave the piece of paper on the kitchen counter, and I muddled the address in my mind. That's how I managed to overshoot and drive too far north. I stopped at a gas station and asked if the attendant knew where Nathan Hale High School was, which he didn't, of course. He did let me look it up in the phone book, though, and once I saw the address I knew that I needed to head south.
I think I parked on the wrong side of the school, but the door was open and I wandered through the halls until I heard the swing music playing. I'd gotten there just as the free beginners' lesson was over. I didn't know ahead of time that my friends Mark and Holly were going to be teaching it! I saw very few other familiar faces, though, and the dance floor (vinyl tile over concrete) was never crowded at all.
The Savoy Swing Club Demo Group was going to perform later. I was glad of that. Most of them are dance buddies of mine, so I did have some people to dance with after all! I danced with a few beginners as well, being as encouraging as possible. The whole thing was over by eleven o'clock, and I'm sure the PTA didn't make the money that they were hoping for. The problem was not enough publicity, I think, or maybe the swing boom has peaked?
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This morning I spoke with Jack, and decided to go over there this evening. I can't do much to help with the crisis (his daughter is still on the run) but at least I can keep him company. I walked down to Broadway to make some purchases, things I decided would be helpful if I'm spending the night more often.
I wanted a lamp for my side of the bed; Jack's so tired sometimes that he goes to sleep first. I'm up reading later, but the lamp is on his side of the bed and I don't want to disturb him to turn it off, so a few times recently I've gone to sleep with the light on. I also wanted an alarm clock or clock-radio; Jack's alarm clock is on the far side of the room, to help him actually get up when it goes off, and that means I can't see what time it is in the middle of the night.
I successfully found a lamp I liked in just a few minutes, but the clock decision took more time. I finally gave up on the idea of a clock-radio. I'd need to have one with an earphone jack if I wanted to listen to the radio at night, and none of the models at Fred Meyer had that feature! Nor did they have the TV sound that would also be desirable to me, so I went for a large-display Timex digital alarm clock, that lets one choose between bird song, ocean, brook, or startling buzzer when waking up. My walkman-style radio will still work for late night listening; it has a timer that turns itself off after one hour, so the batteries won't run down if I fall asleep.
Jack suggested I stop on the way over and buy him a Sunday paper, and something for dessert. Cherries are a favorite with him (I remember the way he monopolized the cherry pie at Thanksgiving!) so I got a good cherry pie, and some Breyer's French Vanilla ice cream, so we could have it a la mode. He cooked up some frozen teriyaki chicken breasts, rice and veggies for dinner. It was good, and quick!
Jack kept a good attitude about all the stuff I'd brought with me, and we took the opportunity to do some picking up in the bedroom so I could plug the lamp and alarm clock in. By then, it was time for The Simpsons and Futurama, the debut of the new series by Matt Groening. I really liked it! Groening is quoted in this week's TV Guide (read by me standing in line at the grocery store) that he wants to make it a freeze-frame series, so packed full of amusement that you'll have to videotape it and go frame by frame to get all the jokes. I didn't realize that quite a lot of it is computer animation. They did a good job of making the hand-drawn and computer-aided parts match!
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