A Little Bleasure

"Read. Find out what you truly believe. Get away from the familiar. Every writer, I told him, will offer you thoughts about writing that are different, but these are three I trust."
- Barry Lopez, About This Life

My girlfriend and I traveled to Seattle for a few days; a little business, a little pleasure - a bleasure trip. We had lunch at the Athenian Inn, where several scenes from Sleepless in Seattle were filmed. Our waiter's name was Cloud; we asked and that isn't his real name, but his stage name. There was a sign on the wall beside us showing two steins of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer: two heads are better than one.

As we walked the downtown streets, the cherry trees were in bloom. Simply brilliant. The tulips were just on the verge of a lush unfolding.

We went up in the Space Needle, up to the observation deck at 520 feet. As we came down in the elevator, a little boy started jumping up and down. The ele-attendant, a young girl who rattled off stats robot-like, said, "No, please don't jump." She was suddenly non-robot-like. This statement did not instill confidence in me, but then again, it did.

Later that evening, in our hotel room, we watched The Reader, the film for which Kate Winslet won an Oscar. It's about the illiteracy of future generations in regard to the Holocaust.

The air in downtown Seattle is filled with the cries of gulls.

We visited Mars Hill Graduate School, a place in the history of several of our friends. The helpful lady at the front desk asked, "Now you're not looking for Mark Driscoll's church, that Mars Hill?" I said, "No, we're not." Back at the hotel, I had looked up the school's website and read a blog post where Dan Allender noted he did not like the word "impact." I share his distaste for this word. It seems I am surrounded by believers wanting to make an "impact" on this world. I prefer to walk softly on the earth...