MONDAY AND YESTERDAY, we began a countdown to the gigantic MISCmedia 15th Anniversary celebratory fete (June 2, all ages, mark your calendars now), with a glimpse of the art show that’ll be part of the festivity–randomly-ordered pix of every home yr. web-pal had lived in. Today, some more.
#13: NW 57th Street and 28th Ave. NW. A small, cruddy, windowless room built into the basement of a small, cruddy house in Ballard. Occupied November 1981-March 1982.
Following my Wallingford misadventure with hardcore punk-rock housemates (a story I’ll have to get into later), I needed a cheap and immediately available place.
It belonged to a single mom of a character type very familiar to me at the time, the square baby boomer. She wore large glasses and a dour disposition, liked Coors, and hated any music that was too “weird” (i.e., not boomer-blues or the Eagles). Her six-year-old son was smart and spunky, but was instructed by mom not to talk to me more than necessary.
The winter of ’81-’82 was one of my life’s nadir moments. I was too depressed to look even for temp jobs. I wrote nothing, created nothing. I had no amenities in that damp room but my TV, a percolator (which I used to make hot water for tea), and a tiny space heater. I’d stay up with KING-TV’s overnight movies, then half-sleep until noonish. I had only limited privileges in the house’s main floor–the bathroom, the kitchen (when mom wasn’t cooking), and the phone (brief calls only).
Finally, I found another cheap room in another basement to move into. That’s another story I’ll try to get to eventually.
NEXT: Still more of this.
ELSEWHERE:
