Photo Week 34: Denny Creek

Hiked a little ways up the Denny Creek trail today with a few friends. We only made it about two miles in, but did get to this fun little creek which used to be a river. We climbed up the rocky ex-river a few thousand feet before realizing the trail didn't go the way we were heading. We climbed up the side of a waterfall and saw kids trying to slide down the smooth wet rock on their keesters, which looked a bit painful.

Photo Week 33: Image Lake

Photo Week 32: Image Lake Precursor

Heading to Image Lake with pops amidst a five night backpacking adventure! Hope to duplicate or surpass this photo!

True Character Quiz

This thought just popped into my head:

How would your exes describe you?

Dating exes or marriage exes, either works. It seems hard to paint a pretty picture, doesn't it? This seems to get at the core of who you are, not just in the good times, but also the bad.

I think some of my different exes probably have very different impressions of me, maybe because I was too young, immature and inexperienced when I met them. My more recent exes I'm curious about, but my best guess is that they think:

I'm smart and have the occasional witty funny line.
I play too many video games.
I'm not the best at romance (been a long time since I bought anyone flowers!).
I like cats.
I can be confusing and am often confused.
I over-think things.

Photo Week 31: Bill's Beer Coasters

Bill, pictured above, is on my ultimate frisbee team and also a part of the newbie bridge night group. A large portion of Bill's job working for the city of Seattle is to inform residents on how they can keep Seattle clean and also improve the health of the city. He did some brainstorming and realized a cheap (and fun!) way to reach a lot of people would be to advertise on beer coasters. He got a grant to print 30,000 beer coasters, and the grand kick off was last Thursday. For $10 I got the same T-shirt Bill is wearing in the above picture, a beer, and a beer coaster. Pretty sweet deal!

I believe he printed out four different beer coasters, but I nabbed the above one because it is my favorite. If you can't make it out in the picture, the dog is saying/thinking: "I poop. You pick up. Any questions?" Below the picture, the factoid reads, "Rain washes bacteria from pet waste into storm drains, streams and ultimately into Puget Sound. Use a bag to pick up dog poop and put it in the trash."

Great idea! But I am a bit wary of beer coaster advertising if corporations in certain lines of work get in on the action. I don't want to see any male enhancement ads on my beer coaster thankyouverymuch.

Relationshit Interlude

This photo challenge has morphed my blog from writing to pictures, which I'm not entirely sure I like or dislike. On the one hand, most of these pictures instantly remind me of so many aspects of that particular week or trip. On the other hand, one purpose for this blog is to practice my writing and to become a better writer, and I'm not sure pictures are going to accomplish these goals.

Not being sure of things has been a common theme over the years for me, and this week was no different. I've had an amazing time with Caitie over the past six or seven weeks, we've done a ton of awesome things together and made a bunch of friends. We share more similarities than any of my past girlfriends. We met playing frisbee, we've been on a few hikes, we like to read the same books, listen to similar music, share the same humor... it was easy.

But something was missing. I'm not really sure what to call it, I guess a "spark" is the closest I have come. There wasn't much of a spark in the relationship for me, and it started to nag at me. Here I am, with a cute, smart, funny and athletic woman... the woman I thought would be perfect for me... and she wasn't. She's probably perfect for the rest of the guys in the world, but for some reason I'm missing something, and I don't really know what that thing is.

Being so comfortable with someone seems to sap the excitement out of a relationship for me. Having this happen less than two months into the relationship scared me enough to think getting out now is the best idea. Eerily similar to one of my first girlfriends, but opposite roles. We hadn't had a single fight, then one night she says she doesn't think it is going to work out. I was not angry that she didn't like me (she did), or angry because I really liked her, I think I was angry because it came out of nowhere and I really had no control. I was sad that she didn't think it would work, especially when I thought it did. I still like Caitie, but I figure being truthful about my feelings is the best option, because I really do not want to hurt her any more than I already have, later down the line.

It hurts now. I haven't been able to think straight. I don't like seeing people hurt, especially not when I'm the one inflicting the pain. I don't regret anything, I'm glad we spent the time together that we did, and I'm glad I was able to tell her how I felt this afternoon. I think I made the right decision, however much it sucks for now, but I'm not really sure.

Photo Week 30: Sea Kayaking!

Sea kayaking in the San Juans. Trespassing.