Friday, March 13, 2009

I ate sushi today for the first time. That’s not entirely true, I suppose. I mean I’ve had California rolls and boiled shrimp sushi, but never the raw fish variety that people are usually referring to when they talk about sushi. The new head of my department took me out for lunch to a neat little Asian place near the new office. It was kind of an upscale buffet with a pretty good variety of food. I had rice and vegetables, dumplings and grilled fish, and sushi. I only got one piece of the raw fish variety. I think it was tilapia. The meat was buttery and soft, and rather spicy, so I suspect they slipped something wasabi-esque into the mix. Still, it was quite good, and not at all what I expected raw fish to taste like.

The new office is nice. I have a view of the city out my window. Everyone laughs at my desk, as I apparently have the highest monitor to person ratio in the office at the moment. I’ve never worked downtown anywhere before, and I think I like it. The streets are relatively clean, and the stench common to most cities just doesn’t seem to stick here. The dockside markets smell like fish, of course, but fresh fish. The people seem nice as well. They keep to themselves on the street, I suppose it is a faux pas to make eye contact. Yet, whenever I’ve had occasion to deal with a stranger here, they’ve always been open and kind. The rudeness I’ve encountered in other cities seems conspicuously absent.

I’m walking… a lot… but, so far I haven’t had a problem with it. The ferry is a nice change of pace from sitting in traffic. My new commute takes longer, but I don’t feel like I’m wasting gas and life sitting in a traffic jam.

I bought a new hat, one of those trendy two-tone stocking caps, to replace the thin little black one that I got out of the bargain bin at the Burlington in Austin. It seems odd to be able to walk to a store on your lunch break and buy something to wear back to the office. I had a dream once that I was in a vast, multi-leveled city of the future, sort of like the grimy, dystopian things you see in sci-fi movies, but this one was clean and safe and wonderful. The architecture valued artistry in its functionality and the lights were warm and colorful… inviting. Being here is sort of like being in that dream, and I like it.

2 Comments:

Blogger Jess said...

You are giving me Seattle envy!

On that note, I will be up there for a trip in a couple of weeks. We should hang out.

3/16/2009 09:24:00 AM  
Blogger Wormius said...

Cool! Liz and I got our season passes to the Spice Noodle, although I've yet to go. See you soon.

3/19/2009 11:18:00 AM  

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