Well I was born in a small town...

This weekend was the UBER-ORGANIZING weekend. And I was repeatedly reminded how small a town Seattle is.

Friday: Blue Scholars concert!!! Though my sister and new bro-in-law bailed, I was able to give their tickets away to a coworker. And at a sold-out concert, I ran into ... count 'em... four people I know.

Saturday: Seattle reception for sister's wedding. The wedding itself, in LA three weeks ago, was largely Latino. Yesterday was pretty much split, half Asian and half WASP. Yay, multicultural families with segregated celebrations. Good fun, just like the wedding. The WASPy side of the family drank, but nobody else did. So now I have tons of wine leftover, and an excuse to throw a party again.

I was in charge of catering and decorations. It turns out the caterer I chose (word of mouth from an allied organization) used to be the minister at the church down the street from my mom's church. For various cultural reasons, she also did not give me a definite price for the bill (she said "Oh, somewhere between these [$100-apart] prices is fine." It was a learning experience for me, given my OCD-plus-part-Northern-European background, which demands precision in order to be mentally okay. )

Today, Sunday: Seattle Pride Parade. I had to organize the contingent for work. (One of the first things that happened after checking in with the organizing committee: being recognized by one of the security company/crowd control staff as an old high school classmate.)
Despite all the various normal organizing challenges for large events (with local politics thrown in), the event went well. It always does. Afterwards, I needed to chill in a friendly, low-key environment, so I went to Kozak's for dinner. There, after empty-bar chit-chat with one of the other regulars, I discovered the guy went to middle and high school with my uncle. (Aside: my landlord's brother was my mother's classmate. Apparently Catholic families, whether Irish or Filipino, tend to send their kids to Catholic schools, which I guess also tend to be tight-knit communities.) This is the same bar, I hasten to add, where a friend from high school dated a waitress and another friend from high school is the Tuesday night karaoke host.

Oh my God. I'm such a townie. Although I get the feeling other locals don't have these weird small-town experiences.