Tai Chi Camp 2009 Pt.3

6 PM Wednesday. Seattle. We're in like Flynn. Rolling up right into rush hour. Rush hour is nuts compared to Milwaukee - more like Chicago's rush hour where you're stuck dead - moving feet/minute instead of MPH. We're staying in Seattle with Casey's friend Chris. We have Chris' address, but no map and neither Casey nor I have high tech iPhones. After 30 minutes in traffic, we're about 4 ramps past Mercer Island. We decide to exit and chill out until we get word from Chris afterwork. Hunger is getting the best of Casey. He hasn't eaten much today and we're both on our 34th hour in the car, 30 hours driving, 4 hours combined for sleep.

Casey pulls into the parking lot of a Pho restaurant. Casey goes in to grab something to eat as I stay in the car. I didn't bring very much money, so I'm trying to conserve. As Casey is inside eating, I decide to eat vegetable soup out of the can. Frugal! After I'm done I made this video:



Its ends a bit abruptly. Cut short due to a 'NOOOOOOO!' moment as my mostly-empty can of tomato.based.vegetable soup dumps on the passenger seat of the Fiesta. Quickly I scramble to dump some water on it. Then, realizing I don't have anything to wipe up the pool of tomato-vegetable-water collecting in the back of the passenger seat, I have another 'NOOOOOOOOO' moment.
Briefly I debate in my mind:
'What do I use?'
I look around:
Pillow case? No. That's stupid.
Blanket? No. That's stupid.
The shirt I'm wearing? No. That's REALLY stupid!

Another panicky moment goes by before I settle on grabbing a clean sock out of my suitcase. I get the sock wet and wipe up the soup-water puddle slowly permeating the seat. The Fiesta's seats must by Scotchguarded to hell as the soup and extra water comes right up.

Chris moved from Milwaukee with his wife, Judith. Judith is out of town, so I don't get to meet her. Chris is cool. He's a physical therapist. Like a good Daoist, he's using his Tai Chi in his daily life, sometimes using it on patients. Chris has a dog, Pepe. Pepe is a small, white puff ball who is suppose to be non-allergenic. I am suspect and remain cautious around the animal. Pepe is a super chill and spends most of the time lounging around. He wanders out to Chris' side yard to lay down in the sun if opportunity arises. He seems to respect me. I respect him. I will call him a 'friend'... for now.