Forty Is the New Thirty-Nine
So yeah, I turned 40 on July 20th. Didn't do anything too special, just went down to Shorty's on that Saturday, rented one of my favorite movies, THE RIGHT STUFF, and on Sunday (my birthday proper) I went to Tacoma, took my mother and my crazy roommate out to dinner at The Keg, had prime rib. Turning 40 is supposed to be all about getting old and mid-life crisis and all that, but not for me, I guess. Maybe it's because I never liked being young, I always wanted to mature. Well, it's happened. Can I stop getting carded now?
Best birthday present I could've asked for, though: I got a job! Yes, I joined Sound Transit's legal department, where I'd been temping on and off for the last two years. I am now a legal assistant, supporting the paralegal. Mostly I'm responsible for the invoices the department receives from outside law firms: auditing, routing them for approval by the attorneys, coding them for accounts payable...pushing paper, for the most part. In addition to that, I assist in public disclosure requests, and there are a lot of those. What with a rampant interest in public transportation improvements, the tightening economy, and the fact that Seattle has a lot of taxes as it is and Sound Transit has a proposition on the November ballot that seeks a .5% increase, a lot of people are very interested in what the agency is doing and how all the money is being spent. All in all, it's a good job, not a lot of stress, pays about what Marathon was giving me when I left, and has an excellent benefits package (government jobs are apparently the only ones left that have decent health coverage anymore). Also, I get a FlexPass, good for all the buses and trains in four counties, so I'm not driving as much as I used to.
Which is good, since my car has been in the shop. I had a new carburetor put in a few months ago, and it's been running fairly well, but stalls when it hasn't warmed up. I took it in for the needed emissions test when I renewed my tabs--and it failed. That's a first. So I took it back to Walt's on Aurora, and they worked on it. Passed emissions (they'd had the car for almost two weeks), was running good. Then, on Monday, I was taking my mother out to dinner in Federal Way when the car gave out. We were in the parking lot of the Sea-Tac Mall, and the car wouldn't start. Spent Wednesday morning rescuing the car, getting it towed back to Walt's. They're pretty good, actually, done a lot of good work on my car, so I'm optimistic. See what comes of this.
Another nice thing about Sound Transit: I got into Bumbershoot for free, and saw my heroes, Stone Temple Pilots. Email went around a few weeks before, asking for volunteers to staff the Sound Transit information booth on the midway. Volunteers get a pass for the day, so before or after your shift you get full access to the festival. I quickly jumped on the first shift for Sunday, when STP were playing the Main Stage (after Black Keys), at 9:15. All I had to do was sit in a booth for four hours starting at 11:00am, and answer questions for folks. How hard could that be?
I'll admit, I didn't read the Essential Knowledge For Event Booths packet til I got on the bus going downtown that morning, having dragged my overindulgent ass to bed somewhere around 4:00am, after a Saturday night of much Red Hook and pinball and general knocking around Belltown. I soon realized that I was way out of my depth, should anyone ask anything detailed on any of the rail projects, or the provisions of Proposition 1. Fortunately, there were two full-time event workers along with another Sound Transit volunteer on the same shift, so there was enough cover. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend a late summer afternoon.
The view from the booth.
Knocked off at 3:30pm, got the bus home to shower off, change into my rockshow clothing (denim shorts, Iron Maiden shirt, sneakers with thin socks--laced tight and triple-knotted, lanyard holding my glasses on snugly, flannel shirt tied at the waist, all loose pocket items--watch, phone, money, ear plugs, ID, ATM card, car key, chewing gum--in a small Ziploc bag in my right hip pocket), get a bite to eat, a Red Hook jump start, and get back down to Seattle Center to hit a few beer gardens before the show. It wasn't as crowded as I'd thought: I'd heard that if you wanted to get in, you had to be there well in advance of the crowds. I went in around 7:30pm, and wasn't too intimidated. So I went over to Michaelangelo's at the Center House, eased into things. Was in a much better mood when I returned just before 9:00pm, got at the back of the floor crowd.
I saw Iron Maiden in July down at the White River Amphitheater, courtesy of my friend Aeryk the Hippie and his wife. The tickets were for the second level, however, so it was more of a spectator evening: I was up in the stands, spectating, when I really wanted to be down rushing the stage. No going between sections at that one, though, so I got to watch most of it on the Jumbotron screen on my left.
Watching Iron Maiden on TV, while at the show.
This show would be different. The floor was open, not seated like at most of these pathetic venues. A rockshow is supposed to be visceral, a heaving, mindless mass of fanatic musical transport, not some regimented, orderly procession. If Pearl Jam wants to play Benroya Hall, that's beautiful, but I'm not buying a ticket. It's been a long time, I guess, since Eddie Vedder took that stage dive in their "Evenflow" video, taped at the Moore Theater. I wanted that experience again.
And I wasn't to be disappointed this time around. They started the show with "Big Empty", which wasn't exactly kicking things off with a bang. Very unusual choice, letting the crowd go wild to a slow number, gave things a nostalgic feel, 'we're glad to be back' kind of thing. The crowd was genial, for the most part younger than me. And here I was, at 40, ready to rush the stage.
The view from the back.
Notice how each of these shots will get progressively closer. One of the cool things about being a six-foot, 225 lb. American Indian who never smiles is that if I want to get to the front of the crowd, it happens. Chief Bromden never had it so good.
Going into some Zeppelin-like freeform during "Creep".
One of my favorites: "Lounge Fly".
By this point I'm in the pit, for real. And not only was I holding my own, I could still thrash with the rest of them. It was liberating. "Crackerman" and "Trippin' On a Hole In a Paper Heart" had me moshing around in a mid- '90s frenzy. Here's the last shot I got before they launched into "Sex Type Thing", at which point I was close enough to the stage that, at the end when Scott Weiland leaned out into the crowd with his bullhorn to the microphone, I was just out of arm's length. That was a mad crush.
Right after an encore, of "Dead and Bloated".
I was practically at the rail at this point. But I'd had to work for it: I got a good pummeling in the process, and I was sore in a few places for days--though, oddly enough, I didn't bruise at all. I came home Sunday night limping, wondering if I'd broken a few toes (I hadn't, but they were crushed). Ribs, arms, legs, my left foot...even my jaw. My chest, too, though that may have been from that one guy, right when we were near the stage at the end: guess he thought I was being too pushy or something, he turned around and punched me square in the sternum. Not too hard, more of a back-the-fuck-off kind of hit. I didn't even feel it, it bounced right off. I just shrugged at him: "What? It's a mosh pit, c'mon...." You generally don't want to start a mosh fight, those can get violent. Not that this was too hardcore a scene, and he seemed like he was satisfied he made his point. Comes with the territory.
Got home in a total adrenaline buzz. Chilled in a cool bath for a while with a Red Hook to bring myself down, then watched Comedy Central for a few hours before finally relaxing enough to go to bed.
Now that's a fuckin' rockshow.
Best birthday present I could've asked for, though: I got a job! Yes, I joined Sound Transit's legal department, where I'd been temping on and off for the last two years. I am now a legal assistant, supporting the paralegal. Mostly I'm responsible for the invoices the department receives from outside law firms: auditing, routing them for approval by the attorneys, coding them for accounts payable...pushing paper, for the most part. In addition to that, I assist in public disclosure requests, and there are a lot of those. What with a rampant interest in public transportation improvements, the tightening economy, and the fact that Seattle has a lot of taxes as it is and Sound Transit has a proposition on the November ballot that seeks a .5% increase, a lot of people are very interested in what the agency is doing and how all the money is being spent. All in all, it's a good job, not a lot of stress, pays about what Marathon was giving me when I left, and has an excellent benefits package (government jobs are apparently the only ones left that have decent health coverage anymore). Also, I get a FlexPass, good for all the buses and trains in four counties, so I'm not driving as much as I used to.
Which is good, since my car has been in the shop. I had a new carburetor put in a few months ago, and it's been running fairly well, but stalls when it hasn't warmed up. I took it in for the needed emissions test when I renewed my tabs--and it failed. That's a first. So I took it back to Walt's on Aurora, and they worked on it. Passed emissions (they'd had the car for almost two weeks), was running good. Then, on Monday, I was taking my mother out to dinner in Federal Way when the car gave out. We were in the parking lot of the Sea-Tac Mall, and the car wouldn't start. Spent Wednesday morning rescuing the car, getting it towed back to Walt's. They're pretty good, actually, done a lot of good work on my car, so I'm optimistic. See what comes of this.
Another nice thing about Sound Transit: I got into Bumbershoot for free, and saw my heroes, Stone Temple Pilots. Email went around a few weeks before, asking for volunteers to staff the Sound Transit information booth on the midway. Volunteers get a pass for the day, so before or after your shift you get full access to the festival. I quickly jumped on the first shift for Sunday, when STP were playing the Main Stage (after Black Keys), at 9:15. All I had to do was sit in a booth for four hours starting at 11:00am, and answer questions for folks. How hard could that be?
I'll admit, I didn't read the Essential Knowledge For Event Booths packet til I got on the bus going downtown that morning, having dragged my overindulgent ass to bed somewhere around 4:00am, after a Saturday night of much Red Hook and pinball and general knocking around Belltown. I soon realized that I was way out of my depth, should anyone ask anything detailed on any of the rail projects, or the provisions of Proposition 1. Fortunately, there were two full-time event workers along with another Sound Transit volunteer on the same shift, so there was enough cover. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend a late summer afternoon.
The view from the booth.
Knocked off at 3:30pm, got the bus home to shower off, change into my rockshow clothing (denim shorts, Iron Maiden shirt, sneakers with thin socks--laced tight and triple-knotted, lanyard holding my glasses on snugly, flannel shirt tied at the waist, all loose pocket items--watch, phone, money, ear plugs, ID, ATM card, car key, chewing gum--in a small Ziploc bag in my right hip pocket), get a bite to eat, a Red Hook jump start, and get back down to Seattle Center to hit a few beer gardens before the show. It wasn't as crowded as I'd thought: I'd heard that if you wanted to get in, you had to be there well in advance of the crowds. I went in around 7:30pm, and wasn't too intimidated. So I went over to Michaelangelo's at the Center House, eased into things. Was in a much better mood when I returned just before 9:00pm, got at the back of the floor crowd.
I saw Iron Maiden in July down at the White River Amphitheater, courtesy of my friend Aeryk the Hippie and his wife. The tickets were for the second level, however, so it was more of a spectator evening: I was up in the stands, spectating, when I really wanted to be down rushing the stage. No going between sections at that one, though, so I got to watch most of it on the Jumbotron screen on my left.
Watching Iron Maiden on TV, while at the show.
This show would be different. The floor was open, not seated like at most of these pathetic venues. A rockshow is supposed to be visceral, a heaving, mindless mass of fanatic musical transport, not some regimented, orderly procession. If Pearl Jam wants to play Benroya Hall, that's beautiful, but I'm not buying a ticket. It's been a long time, I guess, since Eddie Vedder took that stage dive in their "Evenflow" video, taped at the Moore Theater. I wanted that experience again.
And I wasn't to be disappointed this time around. They started the show with "Big Empty", which wasn't exactly kicking things off with a bang. Very unusual choice, letting the crowd go wild to a slow number, gave things a nostalgic feel, 'we're glad to be back' kind of thing. The crowd was genial, for the most part younger than me. And here I was, at 40, ready to rush the stage.
The view from the back.
Notice how each of these shots will get progressively closer. One of the cool things about being a six-foot, 225 lb. American Indian who never smiles is that if I want to get to the front of the crowd, it happens. Chief Bromden never had it so good.
Going into some Zeppelin-like freeform during "Creep".
One of my favorites: "Lounge Fly".
By this point I'm in the pit, for real. And not only was I holding my own, I could still thrash with the rest of them. It was liberating. "Crackerman" and "Trippin' On a Hole In a Paper Heart" had me moshing around in a mid- '90s frenzy. Here's the last shot I got before they launched into "Sex Type Thing", at which point I was close enough to the stage that, at the end when Scott Weiland leaned out into the crowd with his bullhorn to the microphone, I was just out of arm's length. That was a mad crush.
Right after an encore, of "Dead and Bloated".
I was practically at the rail at this point. But I'd had to work for it: I got a good pummeling in the process, and I was sore in a few places for days--though, oddly enough, I didn't bruise at all. I came home Sunday night limping, wondering if I'd broken a few toes (I hadn't, but they were crushed). Ribs, arms, legs, my left foot...even my jaw. My chest, too, though that may have been from that one guy, right when we were near the stage at the end: guess he thought I was being too pushy or something, he turned around and punched me square in the sternum. Not too hard, more of a back-the-fuck-off kind of hit. I didn't even feel it, it bounced right off. I just shrugged at him: "What? It's a mosh pit, c'mon...." You generally don't want to start a mosh fight, those can get violent. Not that this was too hardcore a scene, and he seemed like he was satisfied he made his point. Comes with the territory.
Got home in a total adrenaline buzz. Chilled in a cool bath for a while with a Red Hook to bring myself down, then watched Comedy Central for a few hours before finally relaxing enough to go to bed.
Now that's a fuckin' rockshow.
posted by Russ the Librarian at 10:15 PM
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