Suddenly it hit us: We have to pay first, last, and deposit in this town. This is over $3,000. This is so painfully stupid and shocking that I spent last night in a state of Sticker Shock. We came unprepared. We didn’t realize that this was the case in Seattle. It’s not the case in CO, where people actually go off your rental history. Luckily we’ve found a place, and the landlady has recognized the gross indecency of wiping out my savings account. We managed to bargain with her, partly because the idea of draining my savings account to $0 is painful (and if I drop below a certain amount I’m charged monthly). We spent the morning in rental limbo, waiting for the background check to go through and the all clear. Our stuff is arriving Friday and we’re really hoping for a place to put it instead of moving it all into storage. Everything felt so crazy and horrible, and of course I cried. I can’t seem to get through moving without crying at least once. I should just expect it, time it out, hide somewhere so no one can see me, and just get it over with.
It’s another beautiful day, here in the city. Hobbes had taken to sitting on a chair next to the window and chirping at birds. You know, those wierd sounds that cats make when they see birdies? Well, Hobbes was firing off all these little chirps at these BIG ass seagulls, I mean these birds are probably equal to her size if not bigger. Our hotel room is across the street from Lake Union, and all sorts of flying wildlife come off the water and perch on telephone poles in front of our hotel.
We went to a Safeway Starbucks because I had a coupon for a free grande drink. The guy that waited on us was super nice and even upsized us to a vente when he found out we were sharing the drink, (and the smell of our broke asses was everywhere). When we tried to tip him for his generosity he said, “No, no, I can’t accept tips.” We tried to leave a dollar on the counter and he gave it back to us with a hushed, “Really, I can’t take it, there are cameras.” So, appearantly these new Safeway establishments that Starbucks have whored themselves out to are part of a union, and not part of the corporation at all. The baristas are actually Safeway employees and have signed away their right to accept tips (literally) when they accepted the job. I can’t imagine that Safeway pays them enough to make up for the simple fact that the only advantage to being a barista is THE TIPS.

PS: Is this at all easier to read? Some of my loyal fans have not been responding which alerts me to the possibility that the font has blinded them.