Riding the SLUT

Above: Islands Of Influence

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So this week I started working at our new location in Seattle, which happens to still be walking distance from home (just in the opposite direction) and has a view of equal--but different--quality as the last. The most notable thing about the new neighborhood however is the S.L.U.T. (South Lake Union Trolley). This thing is a streetcar, which goes between whats becoming Seattle's mini research triangle that was previously known for abandoned warehouses, prostitutes, and lots of litter (usually condoms, or condom wrappers) and downtown, which is known for, well much of the same.

So the other day I decided I would ride the trolley downtown for shits and giggles and because, well, I needed to get downtown. The first thing worth noting is that nobody knows how to pay for it, and thus everybody just kinda gets on, and--apparently--doesn't pay. I have a pass that is supposed to work with the slut, but when I get on the slut nobody asks to see it, and there doesn't appear to be an obvious place to insert it. There are slut machines that accept money but don't appear to give anything in return except for a little blinking light that might indicate that you've "been served". Not sure what that means... but hey, its the slut.

So while riding the slut I encountered the usual technicians and research associates you would expect in a biotech neighborhood and I sat down next to one. I ask the guy I sit next to how to pay, and he just shrugs his shoulder and says "I just wave my thing around so folks now I'm not getting a free ride" while pointing to the same pass I have hanging around my neck.

Then totally unprompted he says to me: "This thing cost like a million a mile, that's 5 million on this stupid thing."

To which I replied "Oh, I thought it only ran like one and a hlaf miles?".

"Yeah, it goes both ways."

That prompted a blank stare. The guy was clearly some professional, and had some accounting shit open in Excel on his laptop. Last time I checked, 2 + 2 was 4. But hey, what the fuck... it was the slut.

Cheers.

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