first thing we made breakfast of grits & fake sausage, then headed out to the space needle to see a group called UMO perform.

our old friend brad from NC is one of the UMO performers, and jonathan does their web site, so we had free tickets. we went up to the very tippy top of the needle and were greeted by an amazing outlay of food, fresh fruit and yogurt and pastries. "What were we thinking?!?" making breakfast. oh well.

the idea of the show is that the UMO people are aliens who have landed and are in the space needle. an announcer gave a silly, dramatic little speech, "This is not a test! This is not a test!". soon brad and a female performer appeared in bright alien green spandex bodysuits decorated with scales and fins, with rock climbing harnesses cleverly incorporated.

they worked the crowd inside the ring for a few moments, then escaped down a hatch, appearing soon after on the outer rim of the space needle, which is a two foot wide, sloping ledge with no railing. they wore tethers, and grippy shoes, but were otherwise moving freely on the ledge, fully in character as rather goofy aliens, making a variety of acrobatic poses.

another pair of performers appeared inside the ring, and interacted with the crowd in what jonathan called their "buffoon" personalities, something the UMO folks use at fundraisers and other events where they are trying to charm the general public.

i kind of went nuts with the picture taking. the pairs switched locations after a while, and before long brad approached me-- still completely in character-- fondled my camera after letting me get a few really nice shots right in his face, then said, "All Pods Go Roswell??" our first meeting in several years :)

we met some other folks involved with UMO, and brad's uncle who was visiting, then after the performance brad found us outside, looking like his normal self again.

we headed off then to archie mcphee, then had lunch including some excellent batter wedge fries at a pub, and then home for a quiet afternoon.

for dinner, jonathan made wasabi potato salad, the recipie for which should be appearing on the potatogrrls web site before long. fabulous.

in the evening we visited jason and alexa; jason was someone we knew in college, in fact for a brief time jason and i had been housemates. jason and jonathan talked a lot about the IMC (independent media center-- indymedia.org), since they are both very involved in it.

jason's a good example of how the dotcom bust has been a boon to organizations like the IMC; he has video and web skills, was laid off about six months ago, and has devoted a lot of time to the IMC during his search for another job (which he started today).

tomorrow i start heading east again, through idaho, montana, idaho, wyoming, nebraska, south dakota. (yes, idaho is in there twice on purpose.) i will be on my own during this time, with no more planned stops until chicago. it's a little scary, but i am looking forward to it.