Rhapsodies

Well this was all a very interesting weekend. Much more interesting than I had expected.

I had been invited to my friend and colleague, Mark Monlux‘s 50th birthday party. Unfortunately he lives in Tacoma and I am a bicyclist and metro rider. I did the research and on the bus a trip would have been been a five hour round trip costing a lot. So I had been accepting the fact that there was no way I could make it and at the same time since I owe Mark tons I was feeling really guilty about it and trying plans to make it up to him.

Fortunately all of this changed when I went to that Saturday’s Cartoonist Northwest meeting when I was able to get a ride from my friends Scott and Georgia Ball, who were also going after the meeting, at the very last minute… and by last minute I mean only five minutes to find a place to stow my bicycle in the U-District overnight. I’ve always been paranoid about leaving my bike anywhere for long periods of time ever since I got both of my wheels stolen one memorial day weekend in downtown Providence Rhode Island and while I know there’s nothing in Seattle that comes close to being like the mean streets of Providence, the University District is not exactly what anyone would call a crime free neighborhood.

Anyway the party was great, and it was great to finally meet all of the Tacoma cartoonists from the Cartoonist’s League of Absurd Washingtonians I’d heard so much about.

The next day I had to walk back to the U-District to pick up my bike. It was raining and I forgot to pack my helmet. I confess I was still worried whether my bike would be there in tact. I was comfortably sure it would still be there but I have a bad tendency to obsess about the five percent odds no matter how ridiculous they are.

Fortunately, the bike was there exactly where and how I had left it. In fact the only downside to all of this is it’s been a while since I’ve done the five and a half miles on foot and it involves a completely different set of muscles than the peddling. So here I am the next day stiff as a board.