So this is my final day in Seattle. I’m heading back to the East Coast for a while to “work on my game” with a friend of mine who is a professional strategist. It’s been amazing and everyone I met here is totally awesome. I’ll be back in some form or another (with bells on) in a while - probably not to live, but at least to hang out and re-live the glory days of our time spent together.

In any event, at one of our house shows the other night, a young runaway (friends with a time-traveler, no less) used the term “flophouse” which I liked at the time, but liked even more when I looked it up on Wikipedia last night. It begins:

A flophouse (English: doss-house or dosshouse) is a place that offers very cheap lodging, generally by providing only minimal services. Occupants of flophouses generally share bathroom facilities and reside in very cramped quarters. The people who make use of these places are often transients, although some people will stay in flophouses for long periods of time—years or decades. Some people who live in flophouses may be just a step above homelessness. In the late 20th century, typical cost might be about US $6 per night. A typical flophouse might advertise its services with a sign such as “Hotel for Men; Transients Welcome”.

We are, unfortunately, (maybe) losing control of our little corner of quasi-flophouse heaven due to some shady landlord dealings, so the dream is may be over as far as the 414 House/Orphanage goes, except for that shard of it which we carry in our hearts. Good luck and godspeed you Seattle. May we meet again when soldiers of the New World Order patrol your streets openly! (Just kidding… or am I?)