2026.2.1. REI run club - party pace

2/1, Sunday. Drizzle. I signed up REI's weekly >party pace run at 10am. The main reason is that this partical event promises a brunch and a documentary film The Life We Have after the run. Also, I could get out of bed at a reasonable hour and get some excercise, when the weather is lousy for a hike.

I arrived on time, a lot of people already. This series of event is capped at 99. But no one is checking registration. Need to sign a waiver (but no one is checking), and they want your birthday (no idea why, so I told them that I put down a fake birthday). A table from Brooks Running (see photo), we were encouraged to try their running shoes. So I put one pair on, and left mine on Brooks' shelf. There's another table recruting members. I forgot which organization it is. Julia told us the route, and we were supposed to turn around at Julie's Landing, and the screening will start at 11am. She and a few others in REI labeled running vests were employees who would herd us. We were not given any label. All kinds of people, including parents pushing strollers with baby onboard. It was in a party mood.

We started running. The Brooks shoes feel very good running (very cushy), but a bit strange standing and walking (the thick sole thins out towards the toes, so I feel that I'm wearing a wide platform heel). Once on WestLake ave, I was lagging behind. On streets with traffic lights, I could catch up with the front, where they waited for red light. Soon, I took off my shell. It was still drizzling, but I was generating more steam than the sky. Walking at times, running at times. I realized that I'm really out of shape. At some point, seeing runners running towards me (turned around), but I never saw where Julie's Landing was. There were still runner going forward, so I followed. All the way wondering where is my turn-around point. But my phone is in my shell pocket, now in my backpack (under a rain cover), so I didn't check sooner. I ran over Fremont Bridge, and down to the north side of Lake Union. There, I think I definitely ran too far. Got out my phone to check where Julie's Landing is. By then, I probably already did 5K one way. I really didn't expect so many runners out on a drizzling day. Yes, all along, both directions, I saw runners.

I returned to REI at 11:20pm. The guy from Brooks was packing up. I asked him for my shoes, and he said he gave them to REI. So someone knows one person is missing. Do they think I stole the shoes? We both went into the stores and inquire about my shoes. No one knew about it. We went to the classroom where the movie was screening, and dragged an employee out. He went to some employee-only area, and I waited. The Brooks guy returned to his shoes. He and Julia showed up with my shoes. Julia didn't seem to care, didn't say anything at all. The guy commented that I did a good run. Now that I put on my own shoes, I could feel that Brooks shoes had a lot more support. Returned the shoes to the Brooks guy. He was so apologetic. It was 11:30 now, and the store feels too hot, especially the screening classroom (full of people). No more food.

Some take-aways:

• I need to track my location always, cannot depend on the organizers. They may not care, and it's difficult for them to tell which runners are in their group, which ones are not, without giving us labels.
• I may need to run more to get in shape. I will try my new On shoes: bought over a year ago but never used. Now that I know their 5k route, I may join again, or I can just run in the gym of my building (which I never went in).
• Hikers/runners eat a lot. If you are late, there'll be no food left.

2026.1.31. Ideation with Abigail Platters + The Wild Party - a musical

1/31, Saturday. The 3rd art workshop this week at Art Love Salon. Abrigail Platters prepared a presentation. However, it took half an hour to get her laptop probably projected to this large display. She recommended a few books on illustration. Commented on a solo exhibition of hers and how she developed her paintings.

Our first excercise is come up with 25 compositions, 1 minute each. So fast, that our brains haven't get to the criticising stage. Some of those minutes, she would have suggestions: imaging you are view from low, draw in Van Gogh's style, then Picasso's style, stormy weather, ...

2nd excercise is mark 4 favorite out of these 25, and discuss with her. Then we pick one, and make more compositions using this idea. I picked the camp fire with a hiker. Moved the subject from center to lower left, and then, move the fire out way out, added a mug for the hiker. She also recommended looking at Morgan Weistling's painting with lights. If I were to elaborate this painting, will be adding fireflies and maybe glowing mushrooms as fire ember. Maybe a bit of silouette to hint the distant mountains.

The Wild Party is a musical by Andrew Lippa (both lyrics and music, and I like both, what a talent!). The plot is simple, a estranged couple throws a party. Guests arrive, they flirt. Jealousy. Finally a gun fired. It's in the 20s, all jazz and big bang swing - my favorite.

No stage, excellent acting, good singing and fun orchestra. I very much enjoyed it. I especially like An Old-Fashioned Love Story by Madelaine the lesbian. Super funny, great acting. This is my first time attending Sound Theatre Company. I may go to their shows in the future, if they play in a theatre that I can walk to.

2026.1.29. Blindfold sculpting with Garima Tripathi + Seattle Times Pictures of 2025.

1/29, Thursday. A short workshop at Art Love Salon. This one is very fun. Our teacher today is Garima Tripathi. She prepared clay, sponge, towel and even an apron for everyone. Most importantly an eye mask. We put on the mask, followed her instructions: eye sockets in the middle of the face, now the nose, ... She walked around and pointing our mistakes: for example, my right eye was too low. We didn't take off the mask until the whole face was made. Then, we got to look at our own creation. Last, we put on eye mask again to add hair, or whatever. I put on a mustache to fill the space between the nose and upper lip. Otherwise, it looked unnatural. I also put a hat on my head. Didn't get to take my clay head home. We dumped all our heads into a plastic bag, which she'll kneel them together for her next blindfold class.

At 7pm, Seattle Times hosts "Pictures of the Year" at the central library. A large turn-out. Very nice photos. 4 people talked. 2 are editors, 2 are reporters. It also celebrated one lady who's retiring soon. She's been with the Times for 28 years! And during these years, she has documented many local events. The teardown of Kingdom is a sight to behold. Another interesting photo she showed was Jeff Bezos lying on a book shelf full of books! A junior reporter (only 2 years young at the Times) talked about her journey. An editor talked about the effort to cover the flooding end of 2025. Q&A afterwards, and 2 photos in nice print were given away as a surprise. I really enjoyed the talks and the photos. I don't even read Seattle Times. Maybe I should!

2026.1.29. Coffee tasting at Amazon

1/29, Thursday. Just by chance, I walked by Amazon HQ on my way home from Wholefoods. Saw this new painting on their stairs.

Just across the 7th ave, saw a queue and a few pop-up canopies. It turns out it's coffee tasting. The line in front of Caffe Vita is the longest, because it's made to order with 7 options. I tried their Cardi Rose Late (cardimon and rose water, with non-dairy milk). It was tasty. Another station is dishing out mango tea, and coffee. Cold though. One station has hot brew from 3 different origins: Mexico, Quatemala, Africa. I didn't visit them all. My tolerance of caffeine is quite low.

2026.1.28. Watercolor Illustration with Brandon Vosika

1/28, Wednesday. Another workshop at Art Love Salon. This time is illustration, ink and paint with Brandon Vosika. We were to draw outlines using ink, then fill in some space with watercolor. He encourages us to exaggerate and insert multiple elements into a design.

Here's what I made, using his toy Mickey Mouse, a snoopy from an old magazine and some Google searched images. I didn't plan this when I started drawing Mickey. Brandon also showed us some zines that he made. One is on mustard, one is horses, one on Jazz musicians, and a larger one of more complicated images.

It happens that the following event is their weekly Salon Social, with food and music. As we were cleaning our tables, the staff was setting up flowers and appetizers. So I stayed on, as well as a few others. The lady in this photo is one of the students of today's workshop. She bought the horse zine from Brandon. It's the cutest. More people filed in as time goes on.