poked and prodded

so i just got a piercing, and i am riding the resultant giddy wave. i needed to do SOMETHING. 2 piercings, one captive-bead ring, halfway up my right ear. it looks pretty nifty, if i do say so. it was a very impulsive move. i was walking down broadway and saw an open sign alit.
what did i do in the dusky hours prior? drove around whilst blaring "it's a rainy day, sunshine girl" (i need to rotate the music in my car), read the new issue of people magazine (i mean, a dense and provocative work of literature...), and was witness to something very surreal: traffic around 'fraternity row' in the u-district was horrible, and i was immediately grouchy because i was stuck on a hill with a stick shift, but then! the din of many merry voices rang forth, and suddenly there were about one hundred people carrying bass drums, tubas, and other cumbersome instruments running across the road, congregating on the side street, and jumping into a very commendable version of 'louie louie', complete with synchronized bows and dips. it made me smile. actually, it put me in a really good mood.
i have been struggling with the admitted stupidity of living here. i keep thinking "seattle, prove yourself! justify your exhorbinant (misspelled) rent, your horrible traffic, the soul-sucking commute, your lack of indoor smoking, the nine months of no local soul mates with propensity for fuckable music, varied cuisine, grassy lounging, and pop-culture obsessiveness..." and then i see things like tonight and i exhale langorously and think "okay. okay, seattle, you wily maiden... that was pretty good."