Mary, Full of Grace and Other Stories

"I'm not very religious. So there's the risk that my praying could be taken as insincere or even an affront, which if it's a vengeful God could have made matters worse." --The West Wing

On Sunday, halfway through the Josh Ritter concert, I realized that my car, in addition to a burnt-out headlight, was expired. So as I got into my car, I said a little "Mary, full of grace" which is all I know of the Hail Mary prayer. I did end up taking a bit of a detour through downtown which I was trying to avoid, but I made it home safe and sound without getting pulled over. I thought that was very successful.

I'm still working on my car. I finally replaced the headlight today, an ordeal that nearly resulted in multiple breakdowns. Firstly, the old light would not come out of the spring clip, so I finally decided to unscrew this screw and then the whole clip popped out. Not awesome. However, the light came out very easily at this point. Then I tried to screw the clip back in, but I have very large, shaky hands which are not ideal for working in small, hard to reach places. I also lost the head of a screwdriver into the bowels of my car, so I'm just hoping that it's adding structural integrity wherever it's currently lodged.

At this point, it was time to take a break, and buy the replacement bulb. Today I decided to try again, and I did get the clip screwed in! However, at some point during the tug-of-war, I guess I broke the itty-bitty thing the clip hooks into. Still I was able to jam the light in, albeit crookedly, and replace the dust cover. The light works. I said another Mary, full of grace in the hopes that it will continue to work, and that I didn't break anything else.

I still need to register my car in the state of Washington so it will be legal and everything which means I need to find the title of ownership. My parents don't have it, and it wasn't in the usual places where I would probably keep such an important document (I really should have one, centralized location, but I don't). This means I will need to comb through my room which I have not done since I moved in way back in September. The prospects look bleak. And the replacement title from the Utah DMV, like all important legal documents, makes me feel a little bit nauseous (which, by the way, is an acceptable usage of that word).

The job hunt is bleak, as always. I don't really know where to begin, though I somehow managed to send out my resume to five places today, so I guess that's something. I'm not really sure how I've landed any of the jobs I've previously had--I've probably blocked out those memories, so I'm always at a loss as how to proceed. I was contacted by the one job I did want, but they were interviewing while I was in SLC, so that didn't happen. Le sigh.

Well, enough moaning, let's move on to happier thoughts, shall we?

I have now been to more concerts in Seattle (in less than a year) than I have in my entire life. Concerts are fun, but they can also be tedious and expensive, and unless I know and love the artist, I have little interest in going. Hey Marseilles gave a free lunchtime concert downtown as part of a summer series. Lillian and I went, and it was awesome: free, no waiting, and I love Hey Marseilles. Lillian and I grabbed lunch at Pike's Place and hiked up and down Post Alley.

On Sunday, as I've mentioned, I went to see Josh Ritter at the ShowBox and it was great. I have to say that Josh Ritter is a bit more awkward looking than he appears in photos, still he was infectious jumping up and down the stage grinning like a Cheshire cat. The enthusiasm of the musicians and the audience was excellent. I think Ritter's true gift is for songwriting, but he still gives a great live performance. Zacharia Hickman, on the electric bass, looked very retro-cool in a bespoke plaid suit with a pocket square, in addition to horn-rimmed glasses and a perfectly groomed handlebar mustache. One day, I want to be half as cool.

The drinking adventures of Meagan and Greg have been temporarily postponed seeing as how I currently have no money. Still, we've already had a decent start. During finals week we started out with a bang celebrating Susan's birthday, Heidi's farewell, and the start of our drinking. Chloe gave each of us dark chocolate candies made with sea salt--delicious! We started out at Zayda Buddy's Minnesotan pizza house (Minnesota pizza is loaded with meat and cut into squares) where I learned that I really don't like wheat ales, but fried cheese curds are delicious. We then went to King's Hardware we we drank cheap beer (Hamm's; it's gross) and I had not-nearly-salty-enough chips and salsa. Here is the group of intrepid librarians.

(Or rather this is where the picture would be if Blogger wasn't stupid.)

We finished the night at Tahiku where we all had specially infused cocktails that are supposedly aphrodisiacs: limit one per customer! I had the Manhattan but I didn't feel particularly drunk or aroused so whatever. Cadi and I drove to Dick's on our way home. Cheap, greasy food is essential after long bouts of drinking.

Last Friday, a group of us went to The Zig Zag Cafe, a swanky cocktail lounge at Pike's Place. I had the Alaska (gin) and Champs Elysees (brandy) cocktails, and then, finally, The Last Word, which is why we went in the first place. The Last Word is a Prohibition-era cocktail made with equal parts of gin, lime juice, green Chartreuse, and Maraschino liqueur. It is awesome. If I had money, I would consider investing in Chartreuse and Maraschino just to make this drink. We first heard about the drink at a pub trivia night. The question was to name the four equal ingredients of The Last Word, a favorite cocktail of Hemingway's (supposedly). I think we choose gin, rum, lime, and whiskey (hey, it's Hemingway!) which would surely be disgusting. We ended the night at McDonald's for our cheap, greasy food fix.

As I've mentioned, my summer reading list is falling by the wayside. I did finish Lowcountry Summer which, well... So I've been disappointed a lot lately by contemporary fiction in general--maybe the novel really is over--but this tripe is one the worst books I have ever read in my life. The story is neither funny nor poignant. The characters are one-dimensional, and the protagonist is shallow and annoying. The prose is limp and uninspired. I only finished it out of some perverse masochism. I'm thinking I should pick up Amusing Ourselves to Death since my TV habits have gotten out of hand and maybe The Magicians which is a contemporary novel, but Rae and Mary have recommended it, so I feel safe. I'm still wading through The Iliad.

I was going to post my summer playlist, but I'm still working on it and this post is long enough already. Besides, it still doesn't feel like summer here yet. I know last year Seattle had a heat wave where it broke 100, but usually the summers here don't get past the 80s, so it might never feel like summer. I can't believe it's already July.