Breaking My Seattle Freeze

Seattle a couple of weeks ago.
I miss the fall colors already!

The Seattle Freeze is how people refer to the fact that it's really hard to make friends as a newcomer in Seattle. And it's definitely true. But I've also been freezing out the blog since I moved here, so I decided I'd catch y'all up and try to get back on track. I've been telling myself that I've been too busy to write, but that's not exactly true.

I have been somewhat busy. I've started an editorial internship with Seattle Met magazine, which means that I'm waking up at 5:50 a.m. and feeling angry about life until about 7:30 a.m., when I catch the bus. But the bus isn't what cheers me up—it's the walk to the bus (I actually seem to enjoy colder weather a little bit more now that I'm outside in it all the time; when you're walking everywhere and creating your own heat it's not so bad) and the fact that I'm usually listening to Dan Savage's podcast for my walk and my bus ride. But working at the magazine is great. I spend more time talking on the phone than I'd like, but I enjoy fact-checking, proofreading, and blogging, and I'm doing all of that and more. I even got to write a blog post on a musical, just because I asked why it wasn't on the magazine's calendar. So I'm having a good time.

Along with the internship, I'm doing freelance editing and tutoring work. (By the way, does anyone have a copy of Catcher in the Rye? I'm not saying I didn't read in high school when I was supposed to. I am saying that the girl I'm tutoring needs to read it and I could probably stand to...look it over.) So I'm staring at a computer a lot and trying to remember things about high school English and history.

So those are things that actually keep me somewhat busy. But the truth is that there have been several times when I thought, "I should write a blog post." But then I thought, "Or I could read. I could read that young adult novel I got from the library. Or I could watch episodes of Scandal. Or I could cook some dinner and eat. I could eat while watching episodes of Scandal." It's hard to get blogging done when you're thinking like that. And it's dark outside at 4 pm.

Aaron singing Frank Sinatra at karaoke.
Even has the whiskey drink in his hand.

We have done some cool things in Seattle, though. We went to see Margaret Atwood read and speak in October. We saw The Leftover Cuties play for free. Aaron sang 4 songs at a karaoke night we stumbled onto. And for our anniversary last week, we went to the Seattle International Comedy Competition and saw 16 of 32 contestants perform.

But I've also watched a lot of Scandal. And read a lot of young adult fiction. (You should read Graceling and Shatter Me. And maybe Under the Never Sky—I'm starting it tonight so I'll let you know.) And I'm not necessarily going to stop. Well I'm all caught up with Scandal so I can't binge watch it anymore, but I'm sure I'll find something new. And I have my books.

I'm actually going to work on some creative writing. Not ready to say what or anything, who knows what it will turn into, but it's exciting to have a creative and personal project to work on. And I'm going to do my best to keep all the darkness from getting me down. A friend told me that there are alarm clocks you can get that brighten the room before they start making noise. This sounds incredible! It would certainly make 5:50 a.m. a little more pleasant.

So there you have it. Caught up on the past couple of months of my life. I promise not to keep freezing y'all out.