The Needle and the damage done

I took this photo from the O Deck of the Space Needle about three weeks ago. It was fairly cold up there -- the top of the Needle being in Space and all -- but the skyward trip was worth it. That $25 annual pass to the O Deck has proven a shrewd investment indeed; cliched though it may sound, I benefit from the perspective that comes from leaving street level. I'm able to look down at the Seattle Times' 1000 Denny building, a tiny square on the map (not pictured in this photo), and to imagine myself into the even smaller space I occupied inside of it. That was my entire world for six years; for all that time I literally did all my creative thinking inside that box.

Today, almost a year after I was laid off in the Great (and continuing) Media Apocalpyse, the entire world is my entire world. I may be dirt-broke and scrambling, but I'm using my skills to pay the requisite bills. It's tough to get that into my head sometimes without the occasional trip into the Touristsphere.