A Year (or so) In Pictures, post #2

The view from my apartment balcony. Kept waiting for Edward Cullen to spider-monkey his way into my home.

Site of much blood, sweat and tears (or, sweat, tears and swearing) - the Tech Center. Home away from home away from home.

The student center - I only went there to pick up Financial Aid checks. Oh, and that one memorable time Brian and I went on a massive junk food run during the last days of our course. (Brian's a big dude, so we just carried tons of truffles, gummis, Swedish fish, etc. up to the counter - $26 worth. Crikey.) I love the building because inside it looks so much like the Great Northern Lodge - yes, the one from Twin Peaks, which itself wasn't shot so very far away.

The gnome cottage on campus. Because even gnomes need higher learning. Or something. (No, I have no idea what it REALLY is, but I think my notion's pretty fab.)

First snow day, outside of the Tech Center. So, even though I have lived almost my entire life in Florida, I HAVE seen snow...but never any accumulation in a place I was actually living, so this was a big deal for me.

Same day, on the trail to the back 40 parking lots. I tried to leave once they canceled classes, but quit early on. There was an accident at the main entrance and people couldn't get out of the parking lot for over an hour or something. I finally made it out, and home, recovered my senses and watched all the poor bastards stuck on I-5 for the rest of the night. And then was "iced in" to my apartment all Thanksgiving weekend.

My First Snowman. With crumbled up chocolate wrapper for a nose, push pins for eyes and a pine cone for a hat. Again, FROM FLORIDA.

Kubota Japanese Gardens outside of Seattle.

I really don't know if it's true at ALL, but I'm going with the idea that this might be fairly representative of Christmas window displays in Capital Hill, Seattle.

One view of the Capital Hill neighborhood off the roof of Uncle Jeff's condo.

Space Needle (on a stick) from a park in Queen Anne.

Sun over the Sound, from the park in Queen Anne.

We were driving around Queen Anne and the U District, showing the sights (to me, my mom, and sister...and only one of us wasn't "local" at this point, so...sad), when we spotted the rainbow. That day we had sun, rain, sleet, snow and a friggin' rainbow. Kinda rad.

Me and the sister unit at the Sing-a-Long Sound of Music at the 5th Avenue theatre. Man, that was the BEST.

It was bright and CLEAR the next morning, so I was able to get a really nice shot of the Needle and the Olympics on the walk back up the Hill to my car.

This was the last day it snowed while I was in Washington. Pictorial evidence that I could indeed survive snow and cold. However, the less said about the terror of the journey home an hour or so later, the better.

What passed for sidewalk designation on campus.

Only one of the many examples of our general Hello Kitty related insanity. Bless.

The sign from the outside door to our lab.

The view of Rainier from my apartment...or really, the main street leading up to it. There's the whole joke about, "Is the Mountain out today?" and it's TRUE. It's a ninja stratovolcano, and will only appear when it damn well pleases.

Upon reflection (or, that this post is long enough already), the Last Goonie Weekend retrospective will get its own post.