Top 10 Surreal Moments of My Life

Now, before I start, I must say there are some exciting stories, and there are some sad stories, and there are some scary ones. All in all, in my life, these are the 10 most surreal moments.

Without further ado, here they are:

10. Seeing a coyote

Now this doesn’t sound so surreal, but it was to me. Anyway, I was riding home on the bus one day from college, and this was about 1 in the afternoon mind you. As I’m going through Bellevue and the Microsoft area there (just north of Crossroads Mall), I see a coyote on the grass near some trees. At first I thought it was a dog, but no, a real live coyote. Now you see why this is only #10. I just thought it was neat seeing a coyote in the broad daylight. I thought they were nocturnal like owls or rats or raccoons.

9. Waking up to a beetle

This is probably the scariest item on my list. At least the one that made me scream the loudest.

I was waking up one morning, and I heard this clicking noise. I didn’t recognize it. I reached my hand over to the edge of my pillow where I heard the noise, and felt something small and bumpy. For some reason, I didn’t freak out at this point.

However, as I turned on my light to get a look at the thing, I saw what it was. Some brownish, flying (I just know these things can fly) beetle. Right on my pillow. It was right then I let out the loudest scream of my life, waking up my sister. My mom came rushing in. We took care of the beetle.

But ever since then, my bedroom has had bug problems. I have found dead wasps on my floor. I’ve had a moth in my room. I’ve had flies. And just recently I encountered the VERY same beetle that was on my pillow that one morning. Scared me half to death yet again, but this time, I had no mercy. I killed it when I saw it on the corner of my bed.

I am tired of bugs in my room. I want to move.

8. Walking into the Kingdome for the first time

The year was around 1998. Perhaps 1997. I can’t remember. It was my first sporting event since I was a toddler. I was about 8 or 9 years old. The Mariners were playing the Yankees in the Kingdome. The first steps I took into the seating area and my first glimpse of the playing field were so magical. I had seen the Kingdome so many times on TV during Mariner and Seahawk games. The Mariners ended up losing, but I had a blast.

7. Kittens being born

In 1996, the family cat Tobi, who was almost 2, got pregnant via a neighbor’s cat. One night my dad and I were watching television in the rec room when Tobi, who BTW was very pregnant, comes in and is all of a sudden the nicest cat in the world. She is giving me love more than she ever has. She is usually skiddish around my dad, but in this instance she was giving him love too.

After I went to bed, my mom woke me up because Tobi was giving birth. I watched as she gave birth to three kittens. The first was a spotted black and white cat—I think we called her Minnie. The next was orange, white, and black—I can’t remember the name we had for that one. The last one was a black and white tuxedo cat, just like his father.

For some reason, I remember some slimy yellow stuff on top of the third cat’s head. I don’t know what it was or why I remember it. Anyway, that third cat was the only one that survived and is the family cat we have today, and his name is Blackjack.

6. Seeing Nate Burleson, Bryce Fisher, Deion Branch, and Kelly Jennings in Safeway

Now, I work at Safeway currently as a Checker/Cashier. But I used to be a Courtesy Clerk, or what is informally known as a bagger.

Over my time there, I saw former Seahawk Bryce Fisher, now-former Seahawk Nate Burleson, Deion Branch, and Kelly Jennings. I never actually bagged for any of them. Bryce, Nate and Deion all went through a different checkstand than the one I was bagging at. And Kelly went through an express checkstand where there are no baggers. But I definitely recognized each, and felt surreal in the moments during.

5. Bagging for Nicole Zaloumis

You probably don’t know who Nicole Zaloumis is. Let me explain. She is a former reporter for FSN Northwest, primarily covering Mariners games. Anyway, I was working late one night at Safeway as a bagger and wouldn’t you know it, she comes through my line.

Now Nicole is no ordinary woman. There is a reason she is nicknamed Nicole “Bazoombas”. Or at least that’s the nickname I have for her. She is drop-dead gorgeous with a great…hem hem…. Body.

Anyway, I bagged for her. I can’t remember the items she purchased. Nothing that stood out. No condoms. Oh well. What I do remember is that she was on her cell phone the entire time, which, from a former courtesy clerk and current cashier’s perspective, is kinda rude.

However, I wished her a good night, and she was kind enough to hear me and wish me the same. And now, she is no longer working for FSN and my chances of ever seeing her again have really dwindled. Oh well.

4. 9/11 attacks

We all remember where we were when we found out about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. I was getting ready for school when my mom called me, and told me to turn on the TV to the news.

I saw both of the Trade Center buildings smoking. I found out the 2^nd plane crashed into the 2^nd tower just before I turned on the TV. They, much to my sadness, kept replaying the plane flying into the tower.

As I went to school that day, it was all people could talk about. There was a moment of silence for the victim’s during the morning’s announcements. And I still remember it like it was yesterday.

3. Tobi dying

For some reason, the most I’ve cried for someone or something dying was for my cat, Tobi. I figure that’s because I’ve been lucky enough to have her being the closest thing to me that’s died.

Anyway, the story starts out like this. On September 10, 2002, I wake up and continue my regular routine. I find out Tobi has not been inside all morning, but that’s not unusual as she often stays out there late hunting.

I go to school, get home, everything normal. After dinner, I go downstairs to watch TV while my dad does yard work. I distinctly remember that I was watching “Smart Guy” on the Disney Channel, starring Tahj Mowery. My dad comes in to the rec room and says “Brian, come here”, and he says it in a tone I’ve rarely, if ever, heard him use.

I follow him outside to the front yard, then he leads me to the side of the house where I see my mom choking up, and I see Tobi lying to the side of our house, unmoving, with blood around her neck.

My hearts sinks faster than it’s ever sunk in my life. Tobi, DEAD? I go over and look closer and see she is not breathing. It starts hitting me. I start crying. My mom consoles me.

Eventually, they bring my sister out after she just finishes her shower and upon seeing Tobi she instantly becomes 10x more miserable than I was.

We determine her cause of death was probably her collar catching on the top of the fence, strangling her. She probably tried to wriggle herself free, but by the time she got free of the fence she had done too much damage to her neck.

We decide to bury her right where we found her. Before we do so, however, we bring her son, Blackjack out to see her. He sniffs around her body, and I can just tell he realizes his mother his dead.

The next day, it is really hard to hold back tears for the pet at the time I had had the longest. However, since it was the one-year anniversary of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, I was partly crying for that. One of the saddest moments in my life.

2. Nisqually Earthquake

On February 28, 2001, I experienced the first (and so far only) major earthquake in my life. It was the magnitude 6.8 (some sources say 7.0) Nisqually Earthquake.

I was in 6^th grade and I was on the computer. And that’s when it hit. Instinctively, I get under the desk quickly and cover my neck. I feel the ground moving. To me, it felt like the school was on a giant raft on the ocean and we had some big waves.

It was all anyone in Seattle could talk about for a week. And because it’s the only earthquake I have ever felt, it is truly a surreal moment for me.

1. Meeting my girlfriend

My most surreal moment happens to be the moment I met my girlfriend. What makes it surreal is that I met her online. We started talking through an instant messaging service and eventually started communicated using webcam. We communicated over webcam for 8 months before deciding to meet each other. We knew we both had a deep likeness for each other and wanted to meet each other in person.

The day was August 20, 2009. This moment actually happens to be triply surreal, because of not only meeting my girlfriend, not only was it my first flight ever, but it was my first time going to California.

I flew from Seattle to Sacramento. The flight was perfect. No turbulence. As I landed and started walking through the gate, I realized. I’M IN CALIFORNIA. It was surreal. I saw a sports shop with gear for the UCLA Bruins, LA Lakers, Oakland Raiders, and USC Trojans. No Seahawks or Mariners or Huskies, which I was so accustomed to seeing.

I texted my girlfriend to let her know I was there and asked her where she was. She replied back “By the escalator you are coming down on.”

I saw the escalator. I knew she was at the bottom, with her mom and best friend, waiting for me.

I got to the top of the escalator, and looked down. I saw her mom, with a camera pointed at me. I saw my girlfriend’s best friend waiting anxiously. And then I saw my girlfriend. I was blown away.

As I got off the escalator, I did what I told her I was going to do. I lifted her off her feet and spun her around.

After I set her down, she replied that she had to pee. Lovely. We got my bags, then headed to In-N-Out for lunch (a place I had never been to, but what I found out to be one of the best burger places ever).

What made this even more surreal was the fact that my girlfriend was wearing more makeup then she ever had on webcam. She had her hair done like I had never seen it. She was almost unrecognizable to me. But I just was able to recognize her, and she was gorgeous, and I fell in love.