I’ve made it up to the Seattle area where I’ll be for the next couple days, visiting friends and getting some other stuff done, (mostly involving updates to the websites though not things that will actually go live for a while). I traveled sloooowly up through Oregon and Washington taking time to spend a couple days not doing much but finding a nice place to park and reading a couple books I’ve been meaning to get around to.

Sometimes I fall into that trap of confusing movement, (as in time spent driving down the highway), as a progress of some kind. I need a couple 0 mile days to remind myself that it’s not about checking as many things off the tourist list as possible. After all, this is more than just a vacation, this is my life. :)  Despite what I mentioned earlier I suppose I am still adjusting to the idea of semi-permanent travel. I think it’s the difference between traveling and living nomadically. In my mind, when you’re traveling, you’re focused on the new people and places you find, comparing and contrasting the experiences to those from other places. When living as a nomad it’s part of your daily routine to incorporate new people and places into your life.

There is a distinction in my mind between the two, but I don’t think I’ve actually made it clear. I’ll have to keep thinking about it and get back to it.

I lived in Seattle very briefly four and a half years ago, so I’ve spent part of today driving around the old neighborhood. Surprisingly little has changed, but then again, I was only here for two month so I didn’t get a really good sense of all the details anyway. Also, I spent a lot of time at the mall. Not because I was shopping, but because I was dead broke and working in the music department at Barnes and Noble trying to get by until an internship that was promised to me would actually start. In the end, the internship fell through and I left Seattle for KCRW in Los Angeles. Leaving the better city for the better radio station. (At least, that’s what I felt at the time. Los Angeles has grown on me since then.)

I did end up spending the afternoon at the mall because I wanted to eat at Pasta & Co, one of the best places to grab lunch I’ve ever been to. Along with Pike Place Market, the view of Mt. Rainer, and Olympic National Park it was one of the things I missed most about Seattle. I was very pleased to discover it was still there. On my way through the mall I even made a quick run through the Barnes and Noble, just for old times sake. The only thing I’ve noticed that’s changed about the mall is the addition of an Apple store. Which works out quite well for me since they have wireless that reaches the parking lot here.

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