Astronomy: Planetarium Show , June 21st, $2. Seems that Bellevue Community College has this super-duper new digital star projector that they're just aching to show off, so they're putting it to use with a 12-minute demonstration, followed by a 20-minute astronomy show, "Wonders of the Universe." At these shows, when you start to grasp just how immense the universe is, you start feeling that you and your puny problems are little less significant.
Singles: Singles Auction , June 21st, $50. Get your date the old-fashioned way - buy one. It takes guts to be one of the singles being auctioned off, imagining the worst case of dying on stage while trying to get that first bid. Actually, the draw of this event isn't so much the opportunity to bid on a date package, but to go to an event with other interested single people. You can ask somebody out the other old-fashioned way and get a date, without spending any money.
Animal: Animal Workshops, starting June 21st, $125 - $325, including FUNdamentals of Animal Massage, Greening Your Pet, Animal Communication, and Introduction to Aromatherapy for Animals . Not sure about the animal massage class - it'd be great that, after feeding, housing, and taking care of the animal, you could teach it to give you a massage instead, just to show a little gratitude for your efforts. Anyway, for those families where the pet is elevated to member-of-household status, then learn how to provide top-notch care to improve health and lengthen life span.
Japanese: Japanese Society Meet-And-Greet , June 19th, $20. This is a low-key event, of everyone just getting together in the same room and networking, without an agenda or speeches. This group, and others like it, are really great ambassadors for our area, creating that vital person-to-person connection between cultures.
Community: Chili Palooza , June 22nd, of a community fair wrapped around a chili cook-off competition. They have a pretty good mix of activities at this one. For the kids, they have Treasure Bag Weaving, Sculpture Exploration, Music Exploration, and Home Depot Kid's Workshop. There's a line-up of pro storytellers, spinning a good yarn, including American Legends in Story and Song and Back to the Fur Trade . There's also a full schedule of music, which includes a 1926 Theatre Pipe Organ Recital.
Health: Stroller Strides , with a free class on July 10th. The main objective here is to get mothers together to work out, to get back down to their pre-pregnancy weight. Then, there's a bunch of auxiliary benefits to these mutually supportive mothers, such as play dates and babysitters.
Books: Meet the Author, Jennifer Worick, of Backcountry Betty: Roughing It In Style, June 23rd, free. This is sort of the chick's guide to the wilderness, using humor to cover fleece, adding zest to camp food, how to pack a backpack, entertaining in the wilderness, and facing those pleasant hygiene issues. This author may be better known from her other book, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Dating & Sex.
Sexuality: Strap-on Class, June 22nd, $30. Wow, strap one on, literally, at this class. The imagery is pretty vibrant here. Learn how to pick the right equipment, and use it like a pro. * Also, Queer Flirt Night , June 26th, free. Apparently, they have a pretty wide definition of flirting, because the class description also includes instructions on specific sexual techniques. If that's what they call flirting, then&like&what are the saving for the main event?
Organization: DOCOMOWENA , to preserve, document, and share passion for Northwest Modernism. Wouldn't think this group would be busting at the seams with members, but then again, we could be wrong. This group is concerned about the architectural style of Modernism in the Northwest, which was an optimistic belief that science and new technologies would produce a genuine modern age of architecture.
