I checked my mail today, and there was something unusual in it. An enveloped that was hand-addressed. Not a bill, not junk mail, a real piece of mail... with a stamp and everything. Now, you might expect these at your birthday, or a holiday, but in the middle of the summer? I was excited...

Until... I opened it. It was just some pieces of paper from my friend, E., who lives in Hawaii. I am helping him with something and it was just paper to go with the project. No letter, no drawings, just... one more thing I need to do.

I miss letters. My first year of college was 99/00 and even though the internet was prevalent on all college campuses, we still sent letters to each other. Sure, it took longer and the news in the letter was already spread in an email.. But you had something tangible, something you could see, handwriting. It told you a bit about a person, paper type, pen choice even pen color all told you just a little bit of something about the originator. In addition, how special did you feel when you received a real letter from someone other than your mom???

Sometimes I feel like moving to Seattle is going away to college, part two... with a nicer "dorm", more expensive "stuff", and a way better car. Just... it is harder to meet new friends, and real life responsibilities are so much more complicated than just making sure you wake up 5 minutes before class starts.

Yeah, it is super similar... Only this time I am 2100 miles away, rather than 400. Oh, and when my doctor asked for a local emergency contact... I put my mom's cell number, in Detroit.

drama. yes, so much drama. i am not going to explain the whole story, but basically.. if you are a guy cheating on your girl... don't get me involved, and definitely do not, under any circumstances whatsoever have her call me, because i really do not need that. you're a grown man, deal with it yourself. and if she does call, do not expect me to lie for you and cover for you. oh, and don't lie to me, too. lying just gets you in trouble all around!

whew, now that venting is out... it is very warm in my apartment, i have the windows open and the breeze smells like clean laundry. it is because the street cleaning trucks put some type of detergent into the alley, and i know it is not natural, but i love the scent.

yesterday my friend and i went to cougar mountain to just... take our mind off of seattle drama and drama people. it was gorgeous, i have never been and we just went on one of the shorter trails, but here are the pics!

From 2008-07-13 Co...

After that we came to my rooftop, drank some beers, grilled some food and then off to Del Ray. We chatted with randoms, had some food there, and then eventually came back to my place to chill for a bit.

Then tonight I went to Umi Sake House for a late night dinner, with my friend Peter.

A side note, in the past week, I have had three people from my "past" re-enter my present life... and let me tell you... it has been wonderful.

Yesterday I went to Spa Noir, in Belltown, for a 40 min facial. The facial uses Eminence products, which I guess is an all organic skin care line. OK, so this is my second visit to Spa Noir, and if I had to base this spa upon this visit, I probably would not go back, which is sad because the owner is really good to our community! Just next time, I will make sure to see a different esthetician.

My appointment was at 1:45. I came into the spa and sat down at 1:41, everyone was in the backroom and it was a few minutes before anyone appeared. The esthetician that I ended up seeing spoke to her coworker in a very passive aggressive, condescending tone, then asked me if I wanted to use the bathroom before, and I said yeah, that might be a good idea. Then she said, well, we are already running 5 minutes behind schedule. I then used the restroom and after I finished looked at my phone - which runs of Verizon time - and it said 1:45, which was my appointment time, originally. Weird.

The spa itself is dark, has exposed brick, and has quality equipment and comfortable rooms. I do not like the music they play, as I am more of a fan of "spa" type music that helps relax you. The music they play was modern soft-rock, which I totally dig, but didn't help put me into the "relaxing" mood (not to mention I kind of felt I was a burden on my esthetician, which one should NEVER feel in a spa setting.)

I did like my facial quite a bit, but it wasn't the best one I have ever had. Part of that might be the fact that Rachael, my esthetician at Salon Agape in Novi, Michigan spoiled me with her amazing facials!

After that my friend came over, cooked a pasta dinner, and then we drank some wine and talked for a bit. After that we went to Umi Sake House and had the tropical sunrise roll - Yum!

Next Cory called me and said he and friends were at Belltown Billards. Now I swore I would never go here again, but here I am... at Belltown Billards. I hung out with Cory for a bit and his friends... they were playing pool... I danced a bit... they danced... then something crazy odd happened...

Cory wanted to introduce me to his friend... so we started talking and he said he was from Detroit, I said I was, too... He said where, I said Farmington Hills... he said he was, too... Turns out he went to Harrison and graduated in 1996... and I grad in 99 so we were there at the same time. It was just crazy.... so many MI people are out here!

It is super nice out today, and I am sitting on my balcony enjoying the sun while typing this!

It's mid morning here in Seattle... the sky is a uniform grey... I like that description of the color... anyway, I am a bit tired today. I had Dan over for dinner while I cooked, (sun dried tomato and shrimp pasta) and my exhausted self fell asleep early while he twittered around for a few hours trying to fall asleep.

This morning I had an interesting email... one that I don't often get... just a general "what's up"... I knew that there was more behind it, so I answered it and it turns out it was just an intro to an - just wanted to let you know I am moving back to Detroit... My random friend that I met in Detroit that lives about 2 miles from me in Farmington Hills... and lives about 5 blocks from me here in Belltown... is moving back to Detroit. I am happy for him that he got this awesome job with my first love, the Detroit Pistons... and really the Sonics were not where he should have been... but, somehow it was so comforting to know that there was someone here that knew me by way of knowing my home? I do not know if that even makes sense... And as an added bonus, I got all the free Sonics tickets I needed.

That got me thinking about random friendships I have had in the past few years. I travel a lot, for work, for pleasure. I have lived or done extended visits to countless cities... so I have met my fair share of friends. Some are friends for an hour, a day, a few weeks... or life long. Sometimes you can have an intense and amazing friendship with someone over, let's say, three weeks in Minneapolis, that is so meaningful you could not imagine your life without having met that person. Other times you can bond with a friend over a Piston's Brawl, shot of Tequila, and the thought of one day moving on from your city... Or, sometimes you can even meet someone over a setback, like at a car repair garage in Manchester, Tennessee... who will forever leave a thumb print on your heart...

Sometimes there is so much that goes into meeting someone... For example, with my basketball friend... It was me being late, Jeff being hungry, us wanting Olga's, me being dressed up all weird, Jeff going to the bathroom, me talking to my friend about my flight back to Seattle... etc... Actually, goes back before that... Jeff and I becoming friends again, after not being friends for awhile... Or most recently, in Vegas, for work... running into an old friend that we had had a falling out due to a situation neither of us could control.. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, with a new friend... and now the old friend and I are back in one another's lives...

Perhaps I am ranting, or feeling a bit... melancholy... but I know that when life changes, relationships change... and I am OK with that... but it still feels bittersweet...