I can't stand that some people drive over the plants in the traffic-calming thingys. When we lived on the westside, I would walk to work up (and down) the hill by the old St. Pete's hospital. It seemed that someone would always plow through those traffic calming devices, wrecking the beautiful plants and landscaping put in by the city. No sooner were they replaced then they would be run over again.

Now that we live on the Eastside, I notice that someone keeps running over the young trees planted on the corner of 4th and Puget (across from the fire station) in front of that big old house turned offices. It makes me sad because every time one is replanted, another one is run over.

 That drum circle that sets up percival landing.  No skill, just an annoying throbbing noise.  Especially if I have partied the night before.  :-)

I was blown away by the amount of artistic talent in Olympia. As a resident I am constantly blown away by the lack of community across the artistic divides.

An example would probably make this a bit more clear: I am a poet. Typically this means you go to readings, send in your stuff for *hoped for* publication, work your day job, reconsider Grad school, wax, know that you're misunderstood, commiserate with other poets about the crap getting published over yours, obsess over the sounds of language, etc. In practice what this usually means is that you coop yourself up to write and rarely socialize outside of your art. This seems to be a shared characteristic with a lot of the other arts. In Olympia it seems to be particularly bad and I think it's because we have the arts population of a metropolis all crammed together in a small city, so no matter your art you'll always be able to find fellow practitioners with whom to socialize instead of finding folks in other areas. As a result I see a lot of scrambling for crumbs instead of helping each other out to make a pie.

"In principle, I am an anarchist. Kurt Vonnegut once said he was an agnostic who respects Jesus Christ. I am an anarchist who loves democracy." - Kenzaburo Oe

But if they're paying for their recent remodeling by denying us the way-too-many fries we've come to expect...well then...by God I'll write a blog about it. That'll show them!

After a lifetime of some benefit to himself and inconvenience to others, Crowley passed away in 1947
Former Olympian Paul Shrug

...it's way too crowded. I can't wait until they figure out where they're gonna put the new one.

I also hate the Port of Olympia properties. Very ugly.

Although I love downtown, I hate to see empty storefronts and burned out buildings.

Finally, I hate our artesian well. I love the water and I love the idea of an artesian well and I'm pretty used to getting water out of a parking lot but come on! Compared to other artesian wells in other towns, ours sucks.

Don't eat meat, ride a bike...that's how you can brake global warming, the head of the United Nation's Nobel Prize-winning scientific panel on climate change said...

I wish there was another performing arts center.  The Washington Center just isn't feasable for many community groups to use ~ such as OCS~  yet they are the only other place that can hold  our audience at the size it's at now.   

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. ~Ludwig van Beethoven

...I'd rather have a no-car-zone downtown, and have two-way streets that circle around downtown.

I also am bugg'd by the lack of a public plaza with a rail link to Seattle-Tacoma & Portland, OR.

...but I sure don't "hate" anything in Oly =)

There are too many crazy bicyclists in Oly. Sane ones are ok, but I'm seeing more and more crazy bicyclists. I hate driving, and having to be overly cautious because I have no idea if the guy on the bicycle is actually going to follow the traffic law. Sure, I could feel this way with another car, but if 2 cars collide at 20mph I'm sure we'll both walk away, if I collide with a bike at 20mph....well I'd rather not think of the circumstances.

There isn't a REALLY good chinese restaurant in town. There are 1 or 2 ok places, but no REALLY good places....I miss that.

I despise all of the graffiti, seriously taggers, could you just find a better venue? It was intriguing for about 20 minutes, but you truly make Olympia ugly. This comment is meant to be outside of the freewall.

I'd like our indoor firing range back. I guess Puyallup or Tacoma isn't that far away, but it's nowhere near as friendly as the old OPD firing range.

I wish we had a cooler commuter setup. It would be cool to have a little train setup that travelled in a circle (of sorts) to all of the biggest employers in the tri-city area.

No offense to the anarchists on the board, but what is with all the anti-establishment bullshit in Oly? I feel like I'm back in high school with some of this stuff. If you want to hate on the president, I can see that, but hating on all authority whatsoever? Ridiculous.

Ok, off my soapbox.

It seems lately like everytime there's a protest, someone (or some group) has to break something. For pete's sake, just freakin' quit it! Why can't people get their message across without trashing something? When will they learn that IT'S NOT EFFECTIVE AND JUST MAKES OLYMPIA LOOK LIKE S$%T!!

I supported the Port protests, I support the May Day celebration, but I'm tired of defending the ideas because of the actions of some misguided protesters.  They're making it really hard for me to care anymore, I just spend more time shaking my head in disgust.  

Maybe what it takes is for people to "police" each other. I had a vision of being at the MayDay parade yesterday and stopping that person in black who started the rock-throwing. How would they take it if I (or someone else) gently put their arm on theirs and asked them to please refrain from such degrading behavior? Would they pause and think? Would it be enough to actually stop them? Would I ever really have the guts to do that?

It's our community, we should take more responsibility for it. Maybe that means participating in more of these events in order to act as a positive force in case someting negative arises. If it cuts out the police actions and possibly cuts out the negative attention it draws, then it must be worth a shot!