Captains Log, Stardate 20101127

can't you help me as I'm startin' to burn

too many doses and I'm starting to get an attraction
my confidence is leaving me on my own

no one can save me and you know I don't want the attention.

Went to a party where they served some kind of Russian...food thing that was completely unlike the Russian food at Natasha's wedding.  Found out that half of the guys there were web developers who are mild buzzword and language fanboys (one even used the phrase "semantic web") just in time to avoid saying something increadily disparaging about web developers.  We also got into an argument about the efficacy of a trebuchet in a paintball match.  I've never played paintball, and I was the only person suggesting it would not have much use.

There were no girls at this party that I had any chance of making out with, (and also Firefly Girl--who rejected me--decided to sit next to me and talk to her friends about her problems finding guys to date) so I left for my planned activity for the night:  showing up at the seattle salsa congress.  I mean, I had been talking to two cute girls for a little while, but in a span of about fifteen minutes I found out they had boyfriends and then they left and also I ate some ice cream...not necessarily in that order.  So despite the fact that I was comfortable and having a good time and about 80% sure that the other people in the room didn't hate me, I left for the "congress."

I didn't feel like going home to change or get directions, so I tried to subtly take off my long-pjs that I had been wearing under my jeans in my car, and then I drove to Sea Tac because I know the congress was in some hotel near it.  I remember thinking as I did all this, this is the kind of adventures I miss, or never had but wish did.  Anyway, then I took two wrong roads, and then stopped at the first hotel that started with an H.  Turned out to be the right one.

I don't know why there are called congresses.  There's no voting.  They are just just events, or conventions, the same thing you'd see for anime or videogame or comic books, with the difference being that there are attractive girls at the salsa one.  Not so much in Seattle.  I had this inner fantasy that all of the people I knew at La Luna would be there--Krystal, Sharon, maybe that girl whose name I can't remember but was also in our performance class and dropped the boyfriend keyword the one time I tried to talk to her in a bar, Erica, hat girl, the girl who did some kind of boob shaking move in brazils and laughed when I got distracted, the girl who was as hot as Krystal, maybe some of the guys whose names I didn't bother remembering but are still cool, etc.  I didn't see anyone I knew [from Philly].  There was hardly anyone there.  These things have always sounded like a big deal, but this one was not.  I did see a bunch of Seattle people (mostly creepy or annoying guys I don't want to talk to).  I guess no one flies all the way out to Seattle for salsa.  I could have awkwardly stood around by myself, looking for girls to dance with, but I already do that every week at Century Ballroom. So I paid $40 for ten minutes of disappointment.  Then I left.

On the way back, I was driving fast and listening to the radio.  I love doing that.  I was severly disappointed when my exit came up;  the thought of driving on surface streets and going home and playing Diablo2 alone by myself on a saturday night was unbearable, so I called Luke and drove out to Issaquah and we went drinking.

Then I drove home, going fast on the highway listening to the radio.  Some mediocre DJ mixed in Memories by David Guetta while I was blasting through an I-90 tunnel at just shy of 100 indicated mph (my speedometer reads high).  It was the highlight of my night*.

This girl I know back home suggested...lets just say I think someone in Philly asked me out on a date, maybe.  Its been like a year and 9 or 10 months I've lived in Seattle, and I am not exaggerating when I say I am still meeting more girls in Philly since moving here.  I'm starting to think it is Seattle and not me.  I've investigated what it would take to extricate myself from this place, and the process will be time consuming for boring logistical reasons such as having a 15-month lease in a not-actually-renter-friendly-state like Washington.

My early estimate for when I will next been in philly is roughly from christmas day to maybe a day after new years.

I have no grand plan for the future and no easy answer.  Have to finish this novel thing in the next few days--will probably truncate a few tangents and just include the important points.  Probably going to try out another salsa studio;  salsa classes are good places to meet people (better than the clubs, if you are a guy).  Might take a cooking class.  The doctors I saw about my heart told me not to ski, but I might do some of that anyway:  low altitude, packed snow.  I used to ride a motorcycle;  syncopy while on a black diamond can't be much more dangerous.




*I realize that 100 mph isn't that fast, but it was raining a bit and the roads were wet