date, work, tired weekend
Jan. 24th, 2004 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseIt's turning out to be a very tiring weekend.
Friday, I had my date with Gray. We were supposed to meet at the Nickerson St. Saloon in Freemont. It was... interesting. It definitely turned out better than it began, but I'm still unenthused about the overrall effect.
I used Trip Planner to figure out how to get there. It set me off at Nickerson and 3rd, which is right in front of Seattle Pacific University. The address for the saloon was 318 Nickerson, so I figured I was pretty close... but a survey of the surrounding area yielded nothing. So I asked directions at a Bank of America. Nice guy told me it was up Nickerson, on the left, before the bridge. Walked up and down the street... saw the bridge... saw no saloon... walked back... asked directions again... got same thing...
After about 50 minutes of walking in circles through Freemont's industrial district, I was exhausted, frustrated, and wishing I'd never accepted the damned date. I wanted to go home. I went to the SPU student union building and got some nice guy out on a date with an equally nice girl to let me in and help me find some bus schedules. Found that there was ONE bus headed back to the U-District left - I'd missed the second to last by about 2 minutes. So I went and waited.
While I was waiting, another bus pulled up. Headed to Ballard... "well," I thought, "I know how to get home from Ballard. I'll just do that!" So, feeling quite clever, I got on. And, very promptly (as in, AS I SAT DOWN) realized that I was ANYTHING but clever. Yes, I know how to get home from Ballard.... I know how to get home from ONE STREET in Ballard. I know jack SHIT about the rest of Ballard. So I panic, talk to the driver (thankfully while he's at a stop-light) and, confirming that I'm a dumbfuck, get OFF the bus, with his advice that the 26 goes to 45th, where I could hitch a 44 back to campus. Which would be great, except I have no timetable for the 26 and no idea of when the next one comes. So I give up and start walking back in the direction I'd come from, thinking that I'd just give up, get change at the nearest open gas station, restaraunt or WHATEVER and call a taxi to take me home.
When what should I see directly across the street from me? You guessed it - the god-damned saloon. Apparently I'd gone just far enough past where I'd walked that I could NOW see the damned thing.
It's now 40 minutes after the time I was supposed to meet Gray, but I figure I can take a quick check to see if he's still there, apologize if he is, and if he's not (or, at that point, perhaps even if he still was) use their pay phone to call a cab.
He was still there. Nursing a beer, but he hadn't even ordered food yet. And I, being the soft-hearted twit that I am once I'm actually face to face with someone, couldn't just leave. So I had my over-priced but very good fish and chips and water... and then a Mac & Jack's... and a lot of talking once he actually perked up and stopped making me rule the conversation... and listened to him gripe about having forgotten his nicotine patch... And generally had a pretty good time, aside from the memory of my absolute PANIC earlier in the night when I'd thought I was totally fucked and lost and would have to call a cab all alone just to get home, and when I was sick of wandering up and down a rather desolate street, at night, in the drizzle. Or the near-hysterical teary-eyed feeling when I realized I'd gotten on a bus going to god-knew-where and didn't know how I was going to fix things because that bus I'd been waiting for would come and be gone again before I could get back to the stop and it was the LAST ONE.
As I concluded when I was wandering around, swearing to the cloudy night.... nice men don't set this sort of thing up like this. A gentleman (if you'll pardon the phrase) would not have a young woman meet him at a place she doesn't know, in a part of the city she doesn't know, at night, when she has no form of transportation other than the rather fickle bus system. Particularly when the young woman is *quite* a bit younger. Call me crazy, but I wouldn't do that to someone. Particularly not on a first date.
Long story short, he seems like a nice guy, but I doubt he's the sort I really want much to do with. a) He smokes, which I find distasteful, even though he's trying to quit. b) He's into the rave scene, which I also find distasteful. c) I get the impression that we have very little in common, or at least nothing that I consider too important. d) I just generally lack the interest in anything more than vague acquaintance.
Anyway. Then today was the writer's workshop for Dragon's Pen, which was a total delight. On that note, a big HUGE cheer goes out to my lovely roomie, Cora, who was accepted to the UW School of Medicine as of Friday!!!! YAY FOR HER!!!!!!!!!!
Then, at 3pm, I left the workshop to see if I was needed at work. I was, of course. So I stayed, and worked from 4-10pm, basically just hanging out with Max and watching a pretty cool Chinese New Year celebration, which I will be able to use for my little "experience" report for Eastern Religions. So that was cool, at least.
Anyway, I have spammed enough. I need sleep.
Friday, I had my date with Gray. We were supposed to meet at the Nickerson St. Saloon in Freemont. It was... interesting. It definitely turned out better than it began, but I'm still unenthused about the overrall effect.
I used Trip Planner to figure out how to get there. It set me off at Nickerson and 3rd, which is right in front of Seattle Pacific University. The address for the saloon was 318 Nickerson, so I figured I was pretty close... but a survey of the surrounding area yielded nothing. So I asked directions at a Bank of America. Nice guy told me it was up Nickerson, on the left, before the bridge. Walked up and down the street... saw the bridge... saw no saloon... walked back... asked directions again... got same thing...
After about 50 minutes of walking in circles through Freemont's industrial district, I was exhausted, frustrated, and wishing I'd never accepted the damned date. I wanted to go home. I went to the SPU student union building and got some nice guy out on a date with an equally nice girl to let me in and help me find some bus schedules. Found that there was ONE bus headed back to the U-District left - I'd missed the second to last by about 2 minutes. So I went and waited.
While I was waiting, another bus pulled up. Headed to Ballard... "well," I thought, "I know how to get home from Ballard. I'll just do that!" So, feeling quite clever, I got on. And, very promptly (as in, AS I SAT DOWN) realized that I was ANYTHING but clever. Yes, I know how to get home from Ballard.... I know how to get home from ONE STREET in Ballard. I know jack SHIT about the rest of Ballard. So I panic, talk to the driver (thankfully while he's at a stop-light) and, confirming that I'm a dumbfuck, get OFF the bus, with his advice that the 26 goes to 45th, where I could hitch a 44 back to campus. Which would be great, except I have no timetable for the 26 and no idea of when the next one comes. So I give up and start walking back in the direction I'd come from, thinking that I'd just give up, get change at the nearest open gas station, restaraunt or WHATEVER and call a taxi to take me home.
When what should I see directly across the street from me? You guessed it - the god-damned saloon. Apparently I'd gone just far enough past where I'd walked that I could NOW see the damned thing.
It's now 40 minutes after the time I was supposed to meet Gray, but I figure I can take a quick check to see if he's still there, apologize if he is, and if he's not (or, at that point, perhaps even if he still was) use their pay phone to call a cab.
He was still there. Nursing a beer, but he hadn't even ordered food yet. And I, being the soft-hearted twit that I am once I'm actually face to face with someone, couldn't just leave. So I had my over-priced but very good fish and chips and water... and then a Mac & Jack's... and a lot of talking once he actually perked up and stopped making me rule the conversation... and listened to him gripe about having forgotten his nicotine patch... And generally had a pretty good time, aside from the memory of my absolute PANIC earlier in the night when I'd thought I was totally fucked and lost and would have to call a cab all alone just to get home, and when I was sick of wandering up and down a rather desolate street, at night, in the drizzle. Or the near-hysterical teary-eyed feeling when I realized I'd gotten on a bus going to god-knew-where and didn't know how I was going to fix things because that bus I'd been waiting for would come and be gone again before I could get back to the stop and it was the LAST ONE.
As I concluded when I was wandering around, swearing to the cloudy night.... nice men don't set this sort of thing up like this. A gentleman (if you'll pardon the phrase) would not have a young woman meet him at a place she doesn't know, in a part of the city she doesn't know, at night, when she has no form of transportation other than the rather fickle bus system. Particularly when the young woman is *quite* a bit younger. Call me crazy, but I wouldn't do that to someone. Particularly not on a first date.
Long story short, he seems like a nice guy, but I doubt he's the sort I really want much to do with. a) He smokes, which I find distasteful, even though he's trying to quit. b) He's into the rave scene, which I also find distasteful. c) I get the impression that we have very little in common, or at least nothing that I consider too important. d) I just generally lack the interest in anything more than vague acquaintance.
Anyway. Then today was the writer's workshop for Dragon's Pen, which was a total delight. On that note, a big HUGE cheer goes out to my lovely roomie, Cora, who was accepted to the UW School of Medicine as of Friday!!!! YAY FOR HER!!!!!!!!!!
Then, at 3pm, I left the workshop to see if I was needed at work. I was, of course. So I stayed, and worked from 4-10pm, basically just hanging out with Max and watching a pretty cool Chinese New Year celebration, which I will be able to use for my little "experience" report for Eastern Religions. So that was cool, at least.
Anyway, I have spammed enough. I need sleep.
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-25 09:38 am (UTC)B
no subject
Date: 2004-01-25 07:06 pm (UTC)Serves me right for not bringing this up earlier, apparently.
Why the shock? Or do I even want to know?
I was just suprised, is all...
Date: 2004-01-25 07:44 pm (UTC)And, in all fairness, when he proposed the date location, did you voice any of your concerns about the location or time? I mean, he didn't just say "meet me here period, end of story" did he? 'cause that would have been alarming. ;)
Betho
Re: I was just suprised, is all...
Date: 2004-01-25 08:44 pm (UTC)And yes - you are entirely correct that I was at fault over the location thing, too. It was just massively frustrating, so I felt the need to bitch. It totally didn't occur to me that there'd be a problem until I got off the bus - when people say "restaraunt in Freemont" I just sort of figure they mean the busy happy down-town sort of Freemont area, with lots of bus access and plenty of open restaraunts and stores and stuff, not middle-of-almost-nowhere Freemont with lots of closed office buildings.
*Shrugs* Go figure. It turned out well enough, in the end, anyway.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-25 12:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-25 07:04 pm (UTC):P
Date: 2004-01-25 04:53 pm (UTC)and poor Gray for not thinking it through very
clearly. I'm assuming he gave you a ride home, or there would have been much more scariness, or at least a cab ride home to read about also.
If he DID give you a ride home, why couldn't he have just picked you up in the first place???
I guess that would be the question of the evening, huh?
I'm so sorry that you had a crappy friday evening.
You probably haven't had a chance with how busy you've been to see my LJ. I think it's ok, did it all myself *pats self on back* not bad for totally computer illiterate Mom, huh?????
Golden Globes tonight! can't wait to see how RotK
fairs. Hope that today is a fun and relatively uneventful (restful) day for ya!!!
Love ya!!!
Re: :P
Date: 2004-01-25 07:03 pm (UTC)I'll add your journal to my friends list today, and check it out.
Yay for the Golden Globes!