Opening Day

[nwhiker]

It was Opening Day in Seattle today, the traditional start of the boating season. We usually go, of course, since we usually have at least one kid rowing. That was Perry today, in a four -so sweeping, something he doesn't do much- in the Men's Open 4 with two UW boats and Seattle University.

The plan had been for all of us to take light rail into Seattle. See after the races (which cumulate in UW boats taking on some of the best teams in the world, this year GB and Canada for the women and GB and Northeastern University for the men) the yachts go through the Montlake Cut into Lake Washington, and the bridge is open from noon to 3pm. So light rail. Perry left early and found out that, despite advertising all over about all these events you could get to without driving... they had decided to shut down the light rail, or rather a segment of it, with no information available anywhere in an easy manner. There was supposed to be a shuttle that bridged the gap. Perry and a bunch of people took it, got off at the next station to find... that the station was closed. Note that the idiotic shuttle driver let everyone off his bus and left them at a fucking closed station. By then, Perry was veering on late and there was no info on, well, anything. So he called for an Uber, something we all hate doing, and it cost $30 to get him to UW. We realized that we were going to be caught in this light rail mess as well, so drove into UW. This just pissed me off. I mean, if you are going to advertise that these events are accessible via Sound Transit... they need to be accessible. The real reason we were hoping to take light rail is that getting out of the U District after the races is a pain and can take an hour, just to get the mile or so to the freeway. So grr.

But we got there, found Anne-Chloe and started watching the racing, cheering on various teams.

We almost missed Perry! The wind was picking up so they shorted the centers and he came down the course 5 minutes before he was supposed to have started, and the announcers were taking about a women's race, it was only when we realized that the boat in front of us was not a woman's boat that we paid better attention! The announcers seemed pretty confused as well when they noticed. Anyhow, they came in second, beating a UW boat, which is always a bit deal. They looked good together and Perry is quite pleased with the results. So ya.

Then the row back when all the boats row back through the cut and you get to cheer them one more time as they paddle by.

NExt up... the yacht parade. Normally we stay to watch the Virginia V and the boats with the Husky Marching Band. And we did. Except... Except.

One of the first boats through the Cut had people dancing and drinking and I was filled with such rage. All I could think of is that I wished I'd thought to paint a big banner with a guillotine to display. What had been a fun tradition just made me sick.

We lost the voting rights act. All R states that can -and that's most of them- are scrounging for more seats.

We lost the Boundary Waters. They will be a polluted mess that zillions of taxpayer dollars will never be able to clean up.

We lost access to mifepristone by mail. That's a lot of choice removed for women.

We lost our soul, as the Democratic party nominates a Nazi (*) in Maine, and we will never live that down. Every single D candidate with be tarred by the Nazi brush and will be held responsible for this. This is not going to help in November. Also misogynistic rape apologist and racist. Bernie sure picked a good one here.

And the rich get richer and are plundering the country.

I just can't any longer. Eat the fucking rich. Next year, I'll make the banner.