Knuckles Dawson

So, Saturday there was a Tae Kwon Do Tourney for someone in my --- extended family, I guess would be the best way to put it --- in Lynnwood, WA. This makes it the second time I've gone to the States in the same year, the first being of course, PAX '06, and this won't be the last, either, as I'll be in the Seattle area again in late November. People on my friends list who actually talk to me know what for, but I'll fill in the rest of you sometime when things are a little more concrete.

But, back to the story at hand. So, we drove down to Lynnwood, and went to the rather large Alderwood Mall, which is far more enthralling than watching bad Martial Arts. They had a lot of stores, but not much to look at, the only things of interest was an EB Games, a Gamestop (which isn't in Canada, or at least my area), Sharper Image, the food court and the Apple Store (can be found in far Eastern region of Canada, and only 4 of them too).


The Food Court had an Orange Julius, and at the time was thinking "It's no Jamba Juice, but it'll have to do." About an hour later I found that a Jamba Juice was there, outside, not 30 feet from the Julius. Oops. In Canada, we have Booster Juice, which if you compare notes, has a strikingly similar logo (at least the "tornado" bit).

With still plenty of time on our hands before the TDK was done with, so we went to see Gridiron Gang, which was really good. The first 20 minutes reminded me of gang gameplay found in GTA:SA and Saints Row. It was actually kinda, eye-opening, to see that. I mean, for me at least, seeing a drive-by in either of those games is one thing, but seeing "real people" get shot down and run over in a movie? It feels completely different. But, to say the least, it got my attention, and the movie, again, was really good, and apparently, according to the documentary-style footage shown during the credits, is actually quite true to source material.

On the way back to the Great White North, eh, we stopped at the Seattle Premium Outlets, where I picked up some more shirts. After that we saw a place called The Fudgery, where they make a show out of making their fudge. On duty, by chance, was a fellow in his late teens by the name of Patrick. He was very entertaining and outgoing, and was readily able to laugh at himself for the crowd. His sobriety at the time came into question for others watching, but I just felt he had a similar personality that I do: Outspoken, Outgoing, Outrageous. Or something.

In any case, I was participating with the show, in true KD style and kept him on his toes, cracking him up and leaving him speechless/without a retort a few times. After his show, he and I chatted a bit, and hung out for about 10 minutes in the parking lot, looking at his car, talking about games, his grappling hook that he found and finally telling him about my little streak thing. Rather than give him my MSN, I gave him this URL and he posted up a comment a few entries back. I'm sure he'll have something unique to say about this one.

Anyway, we went home with little hickups, and watched some movies. Still, a cool day, and it sure beat staying at home doing jack squat.