ochay by me.

Ocho Ballard
9/10 on my bangin' scale

Despite the fact that I've been living in Seattle for 7 months now, I realize that I don't have many bars to compare this one to. I'd have to say this one is way better than any U-district favorites (like Big Time Brewery, Finn MacCool's, or even, that hella sweet Korean bar).

Why is that?
1. It's in super hip Ballard, where all the real people go out to have fun
2. The drinks are really strong, and quite tasty (I had a white sangria and tasted a margarita and a sangria familia)
3. The tapas dishes are cheap, and absolutely delicious.

Now, I can't say I know what constitutes an authentic tapas bar, so I'm just going to have to say it was friggin' jawsome to the max. We essentially got everything that wasn't over $4 on the menu (and a couple that were). It was all good, but my personal favorite dishes were the blue cheese stuffed dates with a delicious, sweet sauce and the white bean portobello stew. Unfortunately, their website does not list all that they have on their menu... I think they rotate their dishes a bit.

The possibly bad: Now I know you might initially freak out when you see that their most popular drink is a $10 margarita, but then you order it anyway and realize that it's the equivalent of two drinks anywhere else. Another possibly bad thing: the place is tiny (aka only seats 18 ish people), so don't go with large groups (unless you get there at 5pm on a Sunday!!! holler!). For me, I'd say this is a good thing since I'm generally scared of the masses.

I'll leave you with a tip: try your best not to embarrass yourself in front of all the cool Ballard-ites when you spill your drink all over the floor because you are tipsy off of one of their cocktails.

What do you think about these glasses?

Because I love them. They're hilarious. Bayohnse is clearly just one-upping Kanye. I seriously hope she wears them in Seattle when she kicks off her I Am... tour in the US. You know, since I'll be there and all.

Looking for an apartment?

One block up from where I live, there's a new apartment complex called "Tetres." Are they ripping off my favorite game Tetris? Judge for yourself.


Despite its outward appearance, the apartments are spacious and rather fancy. If you want to move to Seattle, check it out. It would be maaad cheap if you got 6 people to live in the 3-br, 2.5 bath, fireplace, deck, 1300 sq foot apartment.


I hope you're all singing that Russian folk song.

Dow Closes Lower than Yesterday

Fear. Pain. Horror. (The kind GW invested in)

Seriously, that would be more informative than things like

Dow Falls Below 6,800; Lowest Close Since '97.

I mean, come on, was '97 so bad? Those were the golden Clinton years. Just a couple days ago we heard,

Dow Hits 12-Year Low; Bank Stocks Pounded.

Clearly scarier now that we're worse off than a couple days ago.

What would be your headline?

Royal Paintings

This weekend I got to take a break from studying and head on over to the Seattle Asian Art Museum. Without knowing what we were getting into, we entered the special exhibition, "Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur".

Overview:

These crazy paintings that've been locked up in the maharajah's palace for like... ever... are touring for the first time in the good ol' U.S. of A. The paintings are mad detailed, about old maharajahs ballin' lifestyles, and religion and shit.

One of the maharajah's apparently wanted to document how much he liked women. Seriously. If this dude were alive today, he'd be a rapper because... You may have alotta bitches but he got much more. (umm so I don't feel like editing the photo, so you can just click it.)


There's basically a whole room of this dude ballin' it. Ho's in the water, ho's in the tent. Ho's behind screens, ho's dancing for him. Even the Washington Post told us about it:

Maharajah Bakhat Singh (1706-1752) reminds me of Hugh Hefner. He was mighty as a warrior and ruthless as a son (Bakhat became king after murdering his father), but you wouldn't know this from the art he commissioned. He doesn't ride or hunt. What Bakhat does is party, party all the time.

There were four or five other rooms, but I'd have to say they weren't as hilarious, so I'm not going to talk about them.

People say this exhibit is good, and I'd have to agree with them. I mean, everything's really, really detailed. Like, each one of those hundreds of girls' skirts has a different pattern on them. And they have gold paint all over the place. Grillz, old school style.

But if you want the $40 exhibition book from the gift store, you'll have to wait til next week. They sold out in one day... Dayamnnn.

Stata

Thanks to Luis and "chubby_bro.jpg".

49, A true story

Two young women, who look approximately 16 (although they are, in fact, several years older), board the 49 bus at the front. After waving their bus passes at the Indian, doo-ragged bus driver, they make their way to the closest available seats. A drunken, chubby man sings in an unrecognizable language to a non-responsive, bearded hobo.

Girl 1: The 49 is always full of crazies. Me and the 49 go way back.

Girl 2 looks out the window as snow continues to fall from the sky. The bus stops again, and a toothless, but clean beggar enters the bus. He seats himself across from the two girls.

Toothless man: Can you help me out for a hamburger? I'm so hungry, I just want a hamburger.

The girls offer him some sweet and sour chicken, which he takes with pleasure. The drunken, chubby man is now on the floor at the front of the bus. The bus driver shakes the slumbering man.

Driver: If you don't sit in your chair, you have to leave the bus.

The drunken man, still on the floor howls at the driver. Eventually, he sits in his chair, but continues shouting.

Drunken man: You mother fucking Indian! Mother fucker. MOTHER! FUCKER! INDIAN!

The driver telephones the police. Several new characters enter the bus. A girl with a black dog, some hipsters, a dirty looking boy with dreadlocks and a guitar. A man with a carry cage. Everyone starts to get angry as they wait for the police to arrive. Finally, two police cars swerve around the corner. A murmur of satisfaction comes from the bus, until they realize the cars are turning in the wrong direction.

Girl 1 turns around to see, to her surprise, that the man with the carry cage has removed a gray rabbit from the cage and is now evilly stroking it. The rabbit is poking its head out from the neck of the man's hoodie.

Rabbit man: They went the wrong way! They must be Republican!

The driver gets off the bus to find the police.

Rabbit man: They must be Republican!

A police officer and the Sheriff enter the scene. They seem confused about who is causing the trouble. One man with very crooked teeth stands up and points in the drunken man's direction.

Crooked Teeth man: That's him! That's him, officer!

The police officers take the drunken man away. The boy with the guitar starts playing a song in celebration. The bus does not move for several more minutes since the driver has to file a report with the police. In the meantime, another 49 passes without picking up any additional passengers. The passengers are angry.

Crooked Teeth man: Are you a natural blonde?

Blonde girl (with very visible dark brown roots): No, I dye it.

Crooked Teeth man: Why do you do that?

Blonde girl: I like it like that.

The bus begins to move. The world is back to its normal state of affairs.

Girl 1: Do you know all the state capitals?

Girl 2: No, do you?

Girl 1: No.