I was walking towards pioneer square this afternoon (a sort of largish piazza in the middle of downtown) because they were having an italian food and wine festival and I wanted to swing through and load up on carbs and alcohol before I went home. Several blocks before I got there I started hearing sirens. At first it was sort of subconciously, the way you hear sirens but don't really pay them heed when you're in a city setting. But then, I realized that they hadn't passed, they had stopped down the street from me, and there were more and more of them gathering with every passing minute. Finally a block before the square, I was able to make out the flashing lights of ten or so police cars, firetrucks, and other emergency vehicles blocking out three quarters of incoming traffic into the square, I guess for some sort of passenger emergency on the MAX. But the creepiest part was that in addition to the bright lights and cacophany of alarms and sirens, the festival was going on as usual, and over all that I could hear the amplified voice of an opera singer who I assume had been hired out for the occasion. And I don't know what it was, but the combination of sirens and opera in open air in the middle of the city had the creepiest effect on me. I mean, I had to stop and collect myself and wait for the hair on my arms to go back down. I felt like I was suddenly in a scene from Mulholland Drive or Donnie Darko or something. I could not get out of there fast enough.