The North Left Coast

Well, once again, Nicky arrives late to the party. I get that from my mother. When I was little, I don't remember ever seeing the beginning of a Mass. But, I'm not writing about religion. * It seems now, the theme is Nationality. Let me borrow some information from my blog bio, since in addition to habitual tardiness, I'm also sort of lazy. * My father is African-American and Greek. My mother is African-American and French. And everywhere I go people tell me I have an accent. * I'm not quite hip-hop. I'm too American to be completely Eurotrash. And I'm too ethnic to be an A & F boy. * Do you remember that scene in Airplane where the stewardess needed someone who spoke jive. I don't speak that. I may occassionally say a'ight. But, I don't speak fluent Ghetto. I don't speak very good French either. So, there you go. * I don't live in New York. I'd like to, but I don't. I vacation there. I read the Sunday New York Times. And I like the New York Yankees. I know I mentioned that yesterday. But, I can't stress my love of the Yankees enough. * I live in Seattle. Yes, it does rain a lot. Pedestrians here wait for the traffic signal before crossing the street. Everywhere you look there are either hills or water. There's not a good public transportation system. There are no circuit parties. And everybody has a library card. * I'm told that Seattle has an extremely high suicide rate, that we drink a lot of coffee, and that we're polite but not friendly. I don't think that last part's true. We're friendly. * But, for God's sake if you come to visit learn the language. * Yes, I know it's confusing. Lattes have steamed milk. Mochas have chocolate. Talls are smalls. The size in the middle is a Grande [Gran-day]. And the big ones are Ventis [Vin] like Vin Diesel [Tee's] like you know T-shirts. And tea is now Chai. No, I don't know why, it just is. * Of course, if you were to ask for a regular coffee, I'd understand you. * But, I wouldn't expect everybody too.