Things I Will Find Myself Missing About Anacortes

I am someone who becomes attached to things very quickly. For example: In summer school biology class (that I took to get ahead), we had to create a bug collection (properly labeling the species and type) for our final class project. My friend Elisa had caught a caterpillar and dropped it into a jar for temporary storage before it was transferred to the the kitty litter-plaster of paris-acetone gas chamber. While it was in it's little holding cell, the caterpillar just made circles over and over again to the point where we named it Speedy. And once you name something, knowing that it will be dead mere hours later and pinned to a foam board, the act of killing it becomes heart wrenching. I assume little Speedy was eventually killed, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Just trying to remember it brings a tear to my eye.

That being said, knowing that I will be moving away from the Northwest, Seattle, and Anacortes is heartbreaking. For the short time that I have lived in Anacortes, I have grown strangely attached to this little town. Perhaps it is due to all the Gilmore Girls I watch and my secret wanting this town to be my Stars Hollow.

Things I will miss: This view.

These are the things I will find myself missing about Anacortes when we move away:

-The Senior Center. In this period of unemployment, I have volunteered at the Anacortes Senior Center as a way to keep myself from going crazy and also to just hone whatever skills I still have. But I like the place and the people that frequent the Senior Center. They are just characters. Most of them are what I imagine my friends and I will be like when we get into our twilight years.

-Stan, Yeong, and Mark the Skagit Transit Bus Drivers. They are awesome--when I get on they greet me by name, they know when I get off so if I happen to zone out they won't pass my bus stop, if the bus is running late and I need a transfer they know to call the bus driver ahead to wait for me. Yeong even brought me homemade kimchi one day when she found out I liked kimchi. They were the first people I ever talked to, on a regular basis, in Anacortes.

-The Seafood guy at The Market. I swear he's stoned most of the time, but I've never met anyone who's more excited about seafood than that guy. Plus, he remembered that I was from Seattle and what I did last weekend, thus making for casual conversation while he's weighing out salmon for me.

-The deer in the backyard who live under our porch. Sometimes I pretend they are like pets, but sometimes they are just a touch annoying what with the eating of the foliage and peeing on our lawn.

-Victoria radio, mostly like CJZN The Zone on Vancouver Island. It's a cute little radio station and they play great music and they're just so adorable in their little Canadian ways. Although I have yet to get used to their weather reports, as they measure the temperature in Celsius.

-Old Salts. It's a gas station mini-mart. But it's owned by a nice Korean couple, who make kimchi on the reg and sell it. Homemade kimchi, at a gas station mini-mart in Anacortes: Weird, I know, but so delicious.

Lazy Wednesday Blogging

If I could spend all day just riding the ferries, it would be awesome.

I am congratulating myself for following my self-imposed mandate to blog every Wednesday for the last month by writing bits of random thoughts, because I am too lazy to organize them all.

So, where are you from?
I feel, as of late, it's become a bit difficult to give people a straightforward answer to this question. Technically, I am from Seattle, because that's where I last lived before moving to Anacortes. But I didn't really grow up in Seattle, I've only lived there since college (and for three of those years, only during the school, I'd peace out before summer officially began). I'd like to think that I'm a California girl at heart, but I think I relate better to the Pacific Northwest now. And don't even get me started on the people who ask me where I'm from only to follow up with, "No, really, where are you froooommmmm?" With the barest hint that perhaps I truly hail from a place a bit more Oriental than Seattle or Los Angeles.

Alternatives in case this whole finding a job does not pan out:
All this time not working has given me ample opportunity to consider my alternatives if I never am able to find a job when we move to North Carolina. Chief among the current alternatives I am thinking about is to learn how to print screen t-shirts and posters. Then I can create some witty one-liners, print them onto t-shirts, and peddle them to all the Marines and their families in the area. Right now, I'm thinking something along the lines of "Semper Fly for a White Guy"...of course not all Marines are white, so I'm going to have to think of more ethnically diverse options. Or, I can print something like "Marine Wife", but in a hipster-esque print for all the trendsters in the service so that they may rock the t-shirt ironically. Perhaps I should give this more thought.

One more thing on public transit:
I neglected to mention this a few weeks ago on my thing about public transit, but one thing Skagit Transit does have on Metro is that the drivers are quite personable. Perhaps it's the low rider volume or maybe it's just that Skagit is better at customer service, but for the first time in years (or ever for that matter) I know what my bus drivers' names are. We have pleasant conversations on the way to wherever it is I am going for the day and I ask them about their weekend plans. I know that Sam the bus driver does not care for mussels. It's a weird experience, because I am so used to just turning up the iPod and zoning out until I get to my stop. Now, I hardly pull out my iPod, even though I still keep it on me, and the conversations definitely make for a more enjoyable ride.

Exploration! Destination: Edison, WA

Probably about a month ago, I managed to convince Jack to drive out to Edison, WA for a day of exploration. Edison is a tiny little hamlet to the east of Anacortes and just south of Bellingham. Well, it would be directly east of Anacortes if not for Padilla Bay and that whole body of water.

Anyways, Edison is what I imagine a town (if you can call it that, the 2010 Census registered 133 residents) would look like if all the Capitol Hill hipsters decided to move out to the country. The town has 2 art galleries and a small handful of artsy boutiques cum antique shops. That's 2 more art galleries and a small handful of artsy boutiques cum antique shops than I'd expect in that area.

Fun fact! Edward R. Murrow graduated from Edison High School

Jack and I had lunch at Edison Inn, which reminded me of a much larger and slightly less greasy version of Kate's Pub. Apparently, you can't go wrong with food in Edison--all the restaurants and bakeries (Yes! There are even multiple restaurants and bakeries in this town of 133) came with rave reviews online, and even a mention in a recent Bon Appetit issue.

It was an entertaining afternoon, poking around all the closed shops (we went on a Thursday, I believe, and most of the stores/shops are, understandably, open only on the weekends) and pretending to be really interested in that $1,000 oil painting of Puget Sound. Also important to note before you go: Breadfarm, which apparently makes super delicious pies, cookies, and bread, are cash only. I did not know this and so when I went in looking for coffee and a cookie, I had to turn around because I did not have cash. This was most painful and heartbreaking.