The trip was turning into a disaster: we got lost at every turn, the food made us barf, the sites were disappointingly normal and the boisterous flow of life that had seemed so appealing when we first started teasing out the details of what a mutually enjoyable vacation would look like, all of a sudden reminded us of the very place we were trying to escape.

Today's excursion hit the last patience nerve left.

"I have to leave this place. I want my life back", I thought to myself on the bus ride back to the hell hole that sounded so retro-sexy-cool when I was reading the web copy back home in Cascadia.

And then I saw him, right as the sun hit my eye, blinding my cognition from wrapping my mind around exactly what it was. And just like that it made sense: I may be folk in a coat, b