Saturday expedition

[annathepiper]

solarbird and I just got back from an expedition down to MurkSouth to fetch my bike, run a couple of small purchasing errands, and hang out with the fabulous mamishka!


Bit of a long journey. We had to take the bus down to the U-district, and since the 372 does not run on Saturdays, this meant we had to catch the 522, wait about 25 minutes on Lake City Way, then pick up the 72 to head into the U-district. All told, about an hour's transit time, plus the 25 minutes it took me to walk down to the bus stop in the mistaken assumption I'd have time to stop at the bank before it was time for the bus. Wound up using that 25-minute wait to go to the bank just off Lake City Way instead.

Once we got to MurkSouth, I loaned Mimi my copy of the Writer's Market (though it is a copy targeted for novels and short stories), in the hopes that she might find references to magazines she might use for possible sources of reviews of her Firefly book when it comes out. Then we wandered down to the Ave, which was fun, since we had not done that in some time.



Our adventure on the Ave featured:

* Realizing the Wing Dome was no longer there. Sadness. They had really good chicken wings.

* Getting bubble tea at Yunnie's. Yum!

* Going into the Zanadu comic book place, where Mimi got several fun things and Dara got herself the latest Megatokyo manga.

* Hitting the Soap Box for the bubble bath refills and bath salts I wanted to get. They didn't have two of the particular flavors of scented goop I liked for bubble bath combinations; they were all out of both vanilla and sandalwood. So I tried a couple of new combinations: "Mist" and "La Mer", which smells all fresh and kind of ocean-y, and blackberry and sage. The third was a combination I'd had recommended to me the last time I'd gone to that shop, and which I decided to try again: pomegranate and plumeria.

* Hitting the University Bookstore, despite just having bought books yesterday, on the grounds that I was still well within my book budget for the last couple of months. Wound up buying Anne Perry's A Dangerous Mourning (the second William Monk book) and Hannah March's The Devil's Highway (which is actually the second of her series about Robert Fairfax, but I can't find the first one for the life of me); Dara wanted Detection by Gaslight, a collection of 14 Victorian detective stories, which she figured I'd like, too. And when I say Victorian detective stories, I mean detective stories actually written in the Victorian period. :) So that ought to be fun. She also got a thing called Selected Federalist Papers, featuring stuff written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, and lastly, she grabbed a free copy of somebody's little fanzine called "It Was All a Dream". And also, I grabbed a copy of something called Bad Cat, a book with humor photos of kitties. We'd giggled over this last Christmas, so I figured what the heck, and bought it now. :)

* Discovering, while at the bookstore, that I'd left my debit card at the Soap Box. Oops. Just barely caught the woman who'd rung up my purchase leaving the shop--having closed it up--but she let me back in so I could get my card back. Whew.



Then we headed back to MurkSouth so I could get my bike, and then set off onto the Burke-Gilman trail to make it back to MurkNorth. Brr, it's chilly biking in February, especially by the lake. But it was a good ride. I had to stop to rest just once, and we saw a whole passle of sailboats out on Lake Washington while we were heading along the stretch of trail close to the lake shore. We didn't know what they were doing out there, though, as it's way too early to be prepping for Opening Day in May.

Also, I discovered that my cheap three-dollar purple gloves were not meant for bike riding use, as they started shedding little purple fluff bits all over me as I was gripping the handlebars. Foo. So I had to take them off, which meant my hands got really cold.

We stopped at the Starbuck's in Lake Forest Park Town Centre for hot chocolate and snackies, which was good for cold hands and also for fueling up for the last leg of the bike ride. Unfortunately the last leg of the bike ride involved hills, and I wound up walking my bike for about half of the distance between the Town Centre and home. But we got here!


What with today's expedition and yesterday's walking, I have practically doubled my last recorded Miles to Rivendell distance. And if I don't sleep well tonight, especially after having some of the Melatonex, I shall be quite, quite vexed.

Miles yesterday: 2.0 (walk to Lake Forest Park Town Centre and back)
Miles today: 9.7 (1 mile walk to Lake Forest Park, 1.5 miles walking between MurkSouth and the Ave, 7.2 on bike back to Kenmore)
Miles on the journey: 25.06
Miles to Rivendell: 432.94

Comments

[apel.livejournal.com]

I love Anne Perry. Particularly the Monk books. Very atmospheric. Of course it's a bonus that I know some of the places she's talking about. Just last week for instance, I was recommended a restaurant in Shadwell, for instance. It's Pakistani, so I doubt it was there when Monk was hunting for killers. But it's still not an area I care to hang out in, particularly after dark.

I've been reading about your insomnia and feeling for you. Insomnia is something I've dealt with too and it's amazing how something as simple as sleep, or the lack of it, can cast a pall over your whole experience of life.

From your posts I've gotten the impression that it's a result of the increased energy levels you're having from your new exercise regime. If that's the case, your body should adjust within a few weeks or so. In the meantime, the earlier in the day you exercise the better your chances of sleeping well.

[annathepiper]

I do find it particularly fun when a book talks about places I've been. :) There's a bit at the beginning of an old Elizabeth Peters novel, Legend in Green Velvet, that talks about the center of town in Edinburgh--and I was able to recognize some of what was talked about, since I've been there!

Thank you kindly for the sympathies! And yeah, mizkit shares your theory that the insomnia has come from my recent upsurge in exercise. I've also had morning exercise recommended to me, though I'm already getting up as early as I can generally manage, and that gives me just enough time to get dressed, get my stuff together, and head on out to work. That does at least also mean that I get in a half mile's walk in the morning, though. So my morning isn't entirely without exercise.

On the weekends, though, I do try to get in my exercise early. :)