Out There

A lighter look at the news

Most of you never got to know Olympian graphic artist Chris OBrion. You only knew that someone -- pixies, perhaps? -- provided those nifty maps every day, showing where South Sound's news was happening.

It is a shame because there probably never was a person who appreciated this town quite like Chris did.

So when he packed up last week to follow his wife to her new job in Virginia, those of us at OutThere, and at The Olympian in general, were pretty darn sad -- at least until we opened our e-mail and found this:

THE TOP THINGS I'LL MISS ABOUT OLYMPIA, courtesy of Mr. OBrion. So, of course, we're sharing (most of) it with you. Here goes:

- Northwesterners' reflex for abbreviation. Here, you can get a statement like this: "I was at the Leg building in Oly yesterday admiring the rhodies and Doug firs, when I remembered I needed to pick up my son at Saint Mike's. I ran into a friend I hadn't seen since last year's UDub-Wazzu game!!"

- The fact that my wife orders a "double short nonfat decaf cappuccino dry" and clerks just nod.

- The fact that pajamas and/or blue nylon tarps would be considered acceptable dress for almost all of Olympia's restaurants. (The rest generally require men to upgrade with an army jacket.)

- The opportunity to use "skook," "chuck," "sn" and "qu" when describing how to get around. Example: "You're trying to get to Snoskookum State Park? OK, go south on Chuckaquom Road, left at Niskook Point and it's right there on the Snaquookachuck River." (I may try to impose this on Virginia and see if it takes: "You're trying to get to Richmondchuck? OK, take Snojefferson Davis Highway north past Skookumpetersburg and it's on the Jamesqualmie River.")

- Giant papier-mache orca street whales gyrating in the rain, while state workers dressed as wolves howl at a big yellow moon on a stick.

- The fact that when the big press conference was held to announce the new Fourth Avenue bridge, most of the talk was about salmon and eagles and very little was about the actual bridge.

- Meteorologists who struggle to find new ways to say, "water will fall on you from sky."

- Watching the people of Washington slowly come to the realization: "You mean you CAN'T eliminate the funding mechanisms for government and still have nice parks and libraries and roads and stuff? Well this is certainly news to US. This is NOT what we were led to believe AT ALL."

- (Deep breath) Orca Books, the San Francisco Street Bakery, The Spar, the Capitol Theater, the artesian well, Wind Up Here, that great Vegetable Statue thing in the traffic circle at the Farmers Market, mist in the Black Hills, trails at Saint Martin's, and graffiti that starts off, "Free your mind!"

Send mail to OutThere, P.O. Box 1219, Olympia, WA 98507.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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