Before You Decide to Live in Seattle...

For those of you who would like to live in Seattle or are planning to move to Seattle soon...

I'm from New Mexico, and coming to Seattle has really rocked my little sub-urban reality. So here are some facts, tricks and tips that you might find useful if you're not from the Pacific North-West. 

-I would say around 98% of the time, it doesn't actually rain in Seattle. It just kind of constantly drizzles and makes everything moldy and more mossy than it already was.

-Your nice comfortable shoes will definitely smell like old garbage if you don't dry them out after a stroll in the city puddles and drizzle. (make sure they are as clean and dry as possible first, and then use wadded up newspaper and stuff it into the shoe. You CAN put it in the washing machine drier if you have patience. A blow-drier or just letting them sit out in the open for a while doesn't cut it.) 

-Wet socks are the worst. Just get some waterproof shoes. 

-Try to protect all paper you carry outside in the drizzle with some kind of plastic. If you use a paper bag to carry groceries, it will fall apart in no time. If your backpack or bag isn't waterproof, your important paper documents will get water damaged.

-Your food will mold and get disgusting here quicker than drier climates.

-Anything that is wet will mildew, and any standing puddle of water (seen or unseen) will mold and likely smell bad. 

-If you stay here during the winter, look forward to the sun setting at 3:30-4:00 pm. 

-If you stay in Seattle for the entire year or most of the year, be prepared to want to sleep too much because of the lack of sunlight in the fall and winter, and be prepared to still want to sleep too much when you get too much sunlight in the spring, summer, or on vacation. It's really a problem. Try to get ahold of some vitamin-D pills for the fall and winter months. 

-You actually don't need an umbrella (I've actually never used one in the two years I've been here) but I do believe it helps keep rain off of you, as long as the wind isn't blowing. In that case, your umbrella will be a hassle, as it will flip inside out when the wind catches it. 

-The air is more dense here because of the moisture, so the wind feels stronger and the temperature feels colder (if already cold) and warmer (if already warm) than it actually is. I think. 

-There are tent cities of homeless people under most highway bridges, and lots of homeless people in general. It is very sad and I wish I could feed and help all of them and their children & pets. 

-If you don't love coffee already, you probably will soon, because coffee shops are everywhere and you will probably want to try it out sometime. Especially if you want to fit in with the Seattlites. 

-There's tons of plants and wildlife (yes, this includes insects) you probably haven't seen in real life before, or can't identify.

-Go ahead and eat those blackberries off the bushes, if you even have time to stop. Just be sure they are actually blackberries. 

-There aren't just pigeons like in other major cities, but there are also seagulls and crows. All three types of birds will beg for and eat your food. There are also sometimes flocks of Canadian geese, don't be surprised when you see what a mess they've left for you to walk in.

-There's always something happening, I don't think you could ever dream of going to every event and protest held here. Some events can be dangerous, so be careful what you attend.

-Oh yeah, rent is really high. So is the minimum wage. But no one wants to pay $1,400 per month for an apartment. 

But yeah, overall, Seattle is such a lovely and quirky place. It has tons of diversity, endless shops and excellent food, opportunity and apparent misery. You'll get use to the city and come to love it, even if you hated it with all of your being when you first arrived. It will really teach you how important relaxation and indulgence is, because Seattle is a hard place to live and you'll need to escape from it sometimes. Good luck, I hope you can find some friends to keep your sanity out here!

Varför Lämnade jag Facebook?

Varför lämnade jag Facebook?
Varför börjar jag med en annan Blogger nu?

Jag känner att jag borde spara allt jag säger på Facebook till en dagbok. I synnerhet med några av svaren jag får där. Men problemet med det är... Mina tankar kan inte nå någon om de bara skrivs ner på papper, och sedan blir undangömda där ingen kan hitta dem.

För vissa problem är det bra. Ingen ser mina personliga tankarna eller mitt personliga liv. Men när jag har tankar som jag vill dela med andra personer, vad gör jag? Jag loggar in på Facebook och postar nervöst något därför att det är lämpligt att du postar ett dagboksinlägg på social media. Men när jag kollar på mina aviseringar på Facebook, hittar jag lite eller inget engagemang, eller elakartade och påstridiga engagemang. Det är som att ingen vill ge återkoppling såvida de inte om det.

Återkoppling på personliga tankar är bra, men ingen behöver en elakartad attack. Det gör inte endast personen upprörd, men person kommer att känna sig förirrad i slutänden. Att övertyga någon att tro annorlunda är i bästa fall nästan omöjlig, men som värst kan det såra någon och leda till missförstånd.

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Facebook är inte en plats där jag kan prata om saker jag pratar om, och jag tror att det är grunden till att jag inte vill använda Facebook längre. Det är nästan som att jag har använt Facebook för att fylla ett behov om jag inte borde fylla med Facebook, och jag vet att det inte är så kul, men jag älskar att skriva, jag vill hellre skriv ett långt inlägg om något jag gillar än att dela videor om mat eller inspirerande citat.

Det är nästan som att Facebook har blivit en plats där alla delar med sig av sina tankar. Men oftare delar jag foton eller citat för att ingen läser mina långa inlägg som passar min dagbok. Det känns fel när jag postar text på Facebook! Jag tror att det är för att alla tänker att det tar mycket tid att skriva, men faktiskt så tar Facebook mer tid!

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Annat språk: engelska

Why did I Leave Facebook?

Why did I Leave Facebook?
Why am I Starting Another Blogger?

I feel like I should save a lot of the things I say on Facebook for a diary. Especially with some of the reactions I receive there. But the problem with this is that... My thoughts cannot reach anyone if it is simply written down on paper, then tucked away where no one can find them.

For some issues, this is great. No one sees my personal thoughts, no one sees my personal life. But when I have thoughts that I want to share with others, what do I do? I go on Facebook, and post something nervously, as it isn't appropriate to write diary entries on a social media site. But when I check my notifications for my posts, I find either little to no engagement, or aggressive and overly opinionated engagement. It's as if no one is going to give feedback unless they strongly disagree with you, and I find that unsettling. 

It is good to have someone give you feedback on your thoughts, but no one needs an aggressive attack. Not only does it make the person upset, but leaves them feeling confused in the end. Convincing someone to believe differently can be almost impossible at best, but at worst, it can lead to a lot of hurt feelings and misunderstanding. 

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Facebook isn't a commonplace to talk about the things I talk about, and I think that's also part of why I don't want to be on it anymore. It's almost like I've been using Facebook to fill a need that shouldn't be filled on Facebook, and I know, it's totally uncool, but I love writing, I'd much rather write a long post about something I care about than share videos of food being made or even inspirational quotes. 

It's almost like Facebook has become this place everyone thinks is for everyone to share thoughts. Yet, more often, I share pictures and quotes, because no one likes my long posts fit for my diary. It feels so wrong to post writing on Facebook! I think part of it is that we think it takes time to write, so we don't, when really, Facebook is eating away much more time than a diary or a blog ever would.

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If you find that you want to listen in on my thoughts about writing, multilingualism, and intuitive practices/results, please take a moment and follow my blog here, and feel free to leave comments. Hopefully there will be material that is more engaging on here soon. 

Blogs are very difficult to gain engagement on, I would know from my first blogger (located here: Some Thoughts). But I am willing to try again with a different attitude. This blog should be what I am just dying to post on Facebook, because I just want everyone to know and hear me out, but feel is inappropriate to post. 

This blogger will be similar to my other blogger, yet different in the way that it will probably be less challenging to decode, and less like poetry (though maybe I will post things like that as well). But I hope that here, there is less room for interpretation, but still room works of art. Along with that, posts will be more frequent, that's what I am going for here.

Thank you for reading. 

Other versions of this text: svenska