The Greater Seattle Area.

I dislike it when people say they are from somewhere, but really live 45 minutes outside that city. 

So, to set the record straight, I live in Bellevue, WA. Which is just on the other side of Lake Washington from Seattle, here look:

Those two freeways that go from the Eastside into downtown Seattle are floating bridges, which are pretty cool to drive across. And it's about a 15 minute drive to downtown Seattle from my house.

I work in a big tall building in downtown Bellevue, it's pretty close to where the Bellevue dot on that map is. Now I'm sure you've all heard the stereotype about Seattle. That it's full of dirty vegan hippies and banjo toting hipsters. And that is correct. Don't forget the homeless people. Seattle is broken up into neighborhoods, much like any big city, and depending which one you're in determines how many hipsters you're bound to run into. There are vintage shops, mirco-breweries, gluten-free restaurants, and bike shops all over the place. 

I live in Bellevue. The Eastside.  Birthplace of Microsoft, Bill Gates has a mansion here. Bellevue has the stereotype of people filled with the wealthy stuck-up folk. Which is true. Skyrise condos. Beamers are the poor man's auto. Every public space is immaculate landscaped. And the city just got its first Wal-Mart last year (they were previously forbidden to build within city limits but Wal-Mart struck a deal, it's one of those fancy neighborhood market Wal-Marts, where the employees wear green polos).

These of course are stereotypes, other people live here too. Like me, I'm just happy to soak it all up.

Being alone is not being lonely.

So, I've lived by myself now for nearly 4 months. 

And it's great; expensive, but great. 

Every time I tell someone I live alone, especially people in my ward, I usually get the response, 

"Oh, my gosh don't you get lonely??"

I added two questions marks because that is how concerned they all sound. 

And of course, I tell them, no. 

There's this stigma that if one spends time alone, one must be lonely. 

No way, dude. 

I share a lot of character and personality traits with my father, one blatantly obvious one is 

I rather enjoy being by myself. 

I like having my own space, full of my things. 

I like living alone because I can do what I want whenever I want to, which sounds selfish, but being single and in my 20s this is about the only time I have to be 100% selfish. I like sitting in a quiet apartment and reading a book. I like going out by myself. 

I prefer to go shopping alone. I love to see movies alone. I go out to eat alone, with the companionship of a good book usually. 

I like that I am filling my apartment with things I picked out and purchased, with the exception of some generous donations from the parentals. Thank you. I get almost a sense of accomplishment not only being able to handle living alone financially, but also emotionally. 

Don't get my wrong, I will be more than willing to share space and time again one day, you know, like with a spouse. But not until I buy all the furniture and decor for the apartment so he can't try to weasel in some sort of sports memorabilia or a lazy boy. 

The End of an Era

Whoa dudes and dudettes, it has been a pretty large chunk of time. 

Let me just wrap up the last three months of my 2012 challenge to do new things and go new places. 

October. 

Where did I go? No where. I also did a whole lot of nothing. 

Ok that's not all true.

I spent all of October in the interview process with Eddie Bauer Corporate Headquarters in Bellevue, WA.

 I guess that counts as both. This is my first grown-up job. And by that I mean it required a real live college degree. Does it a require a degree in Art History? No, no jobs do. 

 So that's new. And it was in a different county, so I suppose that's travel. 

November.

So my new thing would be starting that job I spent a whole month interviewing for. Seriously it was like nine interviews. As for travel, well, I spent the first 12 days of employment commuting to Bellevue. Which was roughly 50 hours in a car. That's a lot of bad car radio karaoke. 

December. 

Ok so technically I moved into my apartment at the end of November, but I'm going to make it my something new for December. I started living in my very own apartment all by myself for the first time ever and it's super awesome and I love it. But I went no where. No travel. 

Yeah 2012.

I have two friends who actually live in Seattle. Both Jill and Nicole left Myler Disability just two weeks after I did. I suppose we were hoping to start a mass exodus but not many others followed. Regardless, we have all decided to adventure it up in the wild northwest. 

Last weekend we went over to Issaquah. 

One stop was the Boehm Chocolate Factory.

Here's Jill and dog Jacques playing at the onsite Alpine Chapel.

Jacques.

Got me some chocolate. 

More to come. 

My third best friend

Since June 2012:

Veronica Mars

because I needed a high school flashback

Dawson's Creek

because I needed Pacey Witter. 

Fringe

 because I needed Pacey Witter grown-up.

The OC

because I never finished the series. 

The Big Bang Theory

because I needed the back story to all the reruns on TBS.

Battlestar Galactica

because I was convinced it would change my life, and I'm a nerd.

Freaks and Geeks

 because I'm trying to be culturally well rounded, in the 90s.

This list is proof that I have a problem. I'm a member of TA. Television Anonymous. Although not so anonymous anymore. And it's not actually a real thing. But, I still have an addiction. 

Or maybe I just really enjoy television and getting my $7.99 a month worth of Netflix. 

teach me some melodious sonnet

I've listened to this every night before I sleep for quite awhile.

It calms me. 

It sparks my prayers. 

It describes how I feel so perfectly,

how I want to feel always. 

Plus it's Sufjan Stevens so it makes me cool and indie.

Biggie Smalls had it all wrong..

Shortly after leaving Utah I upped my job searching, you know, since I am no longer an employed citizen.  I created this folder in my email titled Seattle Jobs. Every time I get an email saying my application was accepted I put it in that folder. It currently contains 34 emails. And that goes back a month. And and not every job sends you one of those. And and and I most likely have deleted a few and don't feel the need to sift through my email trash to prove my point further. I have most likely applied to over 50 jobs in four weeks, to the following companies:

Nordstrom Headquarters

Amazon

Microsoft

Seattle Art Museum

Cornish College of the Arts

The Art Institute

The Marriott

The Hyatt

The Sheraton

Sur la Table Corporate Headquarters

Kate Spade

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Seattle Children's Hospital

Virginia Mason Medical Center

J. Crew

Madewell

H&M

Pacific Bridal Shop

As well as inquiry letters to events planning companies and floral design studios. 

(Oh and a couple jobs in Boston as a favor to a friend.)

So if any of you friends out there has a connection, boy do I need it. 

LESS money, Mo problems.