Hurricane Simulator.

I just got home from seeing a show called "Ragtime" at the theatre I used to work at.

There was a long string of events that led me to seeing a show in my hometown tonight; it's funny how life works out that way sometimes.

This morning my dad dropped my cousin Josh off at 7 AM. Much to my approval, Josh wanted to sleep a bit more before we set off on any grand adventures, so I arranged him on the living room couch with a blanket and hopped back upstairs, crawling under my covers and fading out into dreamland for another two hours.

When we finally both felt it was a more acceptable time of day for sightseeing, we headed out the front door so I could first show him around my neighborhood. The area of Seattle I live in is pretty exciting in itself, so we spent a good two hours walking up and down the road, looking at shops and restaurants, and having me introduce Josh to Chipotle (he's from a part of North Dakota that's so small they don't even really have fast food readily at their disposal). He proposed we have a salsa eating contest, and because we're lame people, we scooped chip-ful after chip-ful of the hottest brand Chipotle offers into our mouths, caps tightly on our drinks to cut off lifelines. Looking back, I don't really know who won.

In our short time back at my house, we watched this video together. I did a parody of a Ke$ha song mocking Twilight with Alex Carpenter and Jason Munday, and I have been waiting impatiently for weeks to see the finished product. In my opinion, it was worth the wait.

Next I decided to take him to the Fremont Troll, which is exactly what it sounds like -- the giant troll statue that was erected beneath the Aurora bridge. It was teeming with young children, crawling all over his hands and face, but despite the even larger plethora of parents attempting to pose their kids in front of his stony gaze, it's still one of Seattle's greatest quirks. Even if Josh hated when I insisted on taking a photo of him too.

We headed further south, then, and I showed him the boats lined up in the sound, ready for Seattle's Seafair this weekend. Then it was time to head to the mall, our midway point between my house and my brother's, where I was passing the cousin duty back off to Nick. We were a little early so Josh and I did a loop around Target and then amused ourselves by looking at birds and fish in the pet store. There was also something in the mall called a "hurricane simulator". I had never seen one before but Josh told me they have them all over in North Dakota. He told me he and his friends sometimes drive two hours just to get to the closest mall with a hurricane simulator. You know, for fun.

Essentially you pay two dollars, step inside, close the glass door, and it feels like you're in a hurricane. Basically.

Once Nick showed up we chatted for awhile over ice cream before they headed home and I was stuck on the wrong side of the freeway during the worst time for rush hour traffic. I decided to see what Eia was up to, and luckily enough, she was on her way to Village Theatre (where I used to work) to see a show (the aforementioned Ragtime).

Instead of going home, I hopped back on the freeway heading further east, and before I knew it I was back in the familiar lobby of the place of my employment for the past five years. It was nice to see everyone; both people working in the box office tonight were ex-coworkers and good friends of mine, and even the lobby attendant on duty tonight selling refreshments was someone I was fond of. The show was wonderful, albeit not a happy show.

And now I'm home! I've spent a lot of time at home recently, so it was a nice change of scenery to be out and about all day today. I think I have a long day of laundry ahead of me tomorrow, so I'm curious as to how I'll make that interesting in blog post form.

Last google search: fremont troll
Chipotle burritos: 16