itineraries

— छह हज़ार अट्ठानवे — Shobhit texted me yesterday to ask what my plans for the evening were, as he frequently does, and I just responded: Ted Lasso. With this current month's subscription to Apple TV+, we're caught up on Slow Horses (two episodes so far), and we watched the entire season of Widow's Bay, and next we're binging season four of Ted Lasso. I remember a lot of people kind of criticizing season 3 as being not as good, and can't even really remember how I felt about it; I was surprised, however, to see that on MetaCritic season 3 has a score of 73—which is two higher than the 71 for season one, with season two getting a stunning 85. And season four? 62! What the shit? And I am really enjoying it—I even wiped away a few tears during the couple of episodes we watched last night. We didn't even get to it for a bit, as Shobhit made parathas to have with our leftover dinner last night, along with an okra dish he made for himself that I won't touch. He also loves to watch or listen to his MSNOW news programs, and asked to wait to start the show until he was done with Rachel Maddow. Fine. In the meantime, I finished up this list I made, breaking down how many photos I took in The Netherlands as well as in each city of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague; and also Brussels—and then, just as I did for the World Pride trip to Washington, D.C. last year, a breakdown of how many photos I took each day of the trip. Here's the top 5: 1. Monday, July 27 / Day Two in Amsterdam / Day One of IAmsterdam City Card: 292 photos
2. Thursday, July 30 / Day Five in The Netherlands / Day trip to Rotterdam: 249 photos
3. Saturday, August 1 / Day Seven in The Netherlands / Pride Amsterdam Canal Parade & World Pride Street Party: 196 photos
4. Tuesday, July 28 / Day Three in Amsterdam / Day Two of IAmsterdam City Card: 185 photos
5. Tuesday, August 4 / Day Two in Brussels: 158 photos I took only 7 shots on July 25, but that was because that was the day we left Seattle, in the evening, so it fairly quickly became the next day; then, I took only 9 shots on Friday, August 7, which was the first of only a couple of days in which we had no major sightseeing or events to attend to. The other was Monday, August 10, but that day I managed 23 shots. — छह हज़ार अट्ठानवे — — छह हज़ार अट्ठानवे — I do also have a ton planned this weekend in Albuquerque as well, of course. Given a choice, I'd rather be more casual about it, but so many things I wanted to do requried timed booking. I ran it all by Jennifer, though, and she was on board with it all. So, assuming there are no high winds that delay or cancel the Mass Ascension (which apparently did happen last year), this is the plan: Friday, October 2: Arrival; nothing specific planned. Hopefully to bed early. Saturday, October 3: Drone Light Show, 5:45 a.m. in Balloon Fiesta Park. Opening Ceremonies & Mass Ascension 7 a.m. Harvest Festival at Biopark Botanic Garden, noon. High Tea at St. James Tea Room, 6:30 p.m. Sunday, October 4: Find a vineyard somewhere, afternoon (the one thing Jennifer requested). "Balloon Glow," Balloon Fiesta Park, 6:30 p.m. Drone Light Show, 7:45 p.m. AfterGlow Fireworks, 8 p.m. Monday, October 5, day trip to Santa Fe: self-guided New Mexico State Capitol tour, 10:45 a.m.ish. Meow Wolf House of Eternal Return immersive art experience, 12:20 p.m. Sometime, hopefully, panoramic city view from Cross of the Martyrs. Then, back in Albuquerque: Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway, 6 p.m.ish. Tuesday, October 6: Return trip home. A couple of days ago I ordered two head lamps for Shobhit and me to wear when we go into the Balloon Fiesta Park well before sunrise on Saturday, as I read it can be very dark. We also learned that there are shuttles from our hotel, but we deliberately booked a place only a mile away and we may decide just to walk anyway, as I have also read traffic gets nuts—I don't want to wind up stuck in a van or bus in traffic when we could just be walking ahead. The hotel does also have a swimming pool, though, so I should remember to bring swim trunks. I read the mass ascension is good to go as long as winds are under 10 mph, and right now the wind forecast for Saturday morning is well under that, thankfully. — छह हज़ार अट्ठानवे — It's a little drizzly today, which meant not spending my lunch break out on the Rainier Square terrace—I ate my protein bar and read my ebook while sitting in the lovely Rainier Square lobby, which I have not done since spring. Unfortunately I was once again near the guy who also eats his lunch up there and constantly eats with his mouth open, the sound of his smacking penetrating overhead music and any distance between us (in this case, about ten feet maybe). I need to find a different spot to sit than the one I prefer, I guess. I cannot continue enduring that god-awful mouth smacking. — छह हज़ार अट्ठानवे — [posted 12:34pm]

you had to be ... in federal way

— छह हज़ार सत्तानवे — I think we are safely within the confines of autumn here in Seattle. I rode my bike to work this morning in 44° weather—totally dry, only mostly cloudy, but cold enough for me to have to wear my fingerless gloves and zip my jacked up to the top of my neck. We're definitely getting close to when I will need to retire my bike for the fall and winter. It's entirely possible that today will indeed be my last bike commute of the year. Maybe not, but possibly. Looking at the current weather forecast, I'm seeing pretty good chances of rain every other day this week except for Wednesday—so, maybe I'll bike to work that day, when the forecast low is a bit higher, at 50°, a much more manageable temperature. I tell people all the time that I have no interest in riding either in the rain or in the cold. And we leave for Albuquerque on Friday. Back on Tuesday. The forecast right now for Wednesday next week is a quite-comfortable 68° with a low of 50°, and sunny—but, we all know how reliable Seattle forecasts are ten days out. We may be back on Tuesday but I long planned a PTO buffer day on Wednesday, so I won't be riding to work that day anyway. So, we'll see what Thursday and Friday next week bring. — छह हज़ार सत्तानवे — I saw two movies over the weekend: right after work on Friday I went to see Primetime, which was well-made and very well-acted but kind of fell short of justifying its own existence in my opinion; and yesterday I went to see the documentary with the ridiculously long, 30-word title, You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (in a Canadian Kind of Way). And that one was wonderful; I left the theater feeling unusually uplifted. Shobhit and I did take a walk together before I went to the movie yesterday. My movie was at 12:55 and he needed to be at his rehearsal in Belltown at 1:00, and we left home around maybe 11:40 or so. We walked to the Capitol Hill Farmers Market at Cal Anderson park; from there downto Summit Ave; back over to Pine St and then all the way downtown to Pike Place Market. It was there that we parted ways, when I still had about half an hour to kill before my movie. I just walked there and read my library e-book on my phone for a bit. — छह हज़ार सत्तानवे — — छह हज़ार सत्तानवे — It was Saturday when I went down to Federal Way to visit Laney in her brand new apartment for the first time. She's been in it for about two weeks, but she wanted to be settled in before I visited. When we first made the plan, it was also tentative because she's still recovering from her back injury so I really didn't know for sure if she'd even be up for visitors. It turned out she absolutely was, and we probably hung out for close to four hours—as was often fairly standard for previous Happy Hours. Laney had texted me last week to ask if I was going to bring a cocktail, and I hadn't even thought about it. So, I did: I brought a large tumbler filled with raspberry lemonade and tequila (two shots); a small clear cup; a straw; and margarita salt that I am still trying to burn through. (I can't even remember how, when, or why we got that margarita salt. We've had it for years. I used it once when Laney and I met for BYOB Happy Hour at a park during covid, and we'd had it for years then.) Shobhit had made scrambled eggs for breakfast, after I had already had cereal, and I brought a plastic container full of that as well, just so I wouldn't end up drinking on an empty stomach. I nuked it in the tiny microwave that came with Laney's apartment, and she also offered me some blue corn tortilla chips to have with it. Laney had a bit of food as well, I forget what (except I think she also had some tortilla chips), and some watered-down wine, which I about all the alcohol she's drinking anymore. She had already had a pretty strict diet for a while, but it's even more strict now, nothing but anti-inflammatory foods, ever since her apparently long-existant sciatica was exacerbated by a camping trip in July. This is why she and I haven't seen a movie together since we saw Disclosure Day on June 16; and why this was our first time hanging out in-person since our Happy Hour with Jessica and Mike on July 12. So, aside from a bit of time catching up over Facebook Messenger Video on August 30, this was Laney's and my first hangout in well over two months. For us, that's kind of an eternity. She's doing regular physical therapy and has drastically improved over that time, though, so we have a new vision for eventually getting together probably at least twice a month, once she's recovered enough to start venturing out for longer stretches. This is not likely to happen until well after the new year. I am only just now realizing this means she probably won't be able to come to the Gingerbread Village with me during the holiday season as she usually does. Oh well; her recovery is also a lot more important. Also who knows? The week of Christmas is still three months away. She's kind of taking it day by day, I think. She apparently can't sit in an upright position for very long, so she has a kind of transformable recliner chair she can sit in, and with the use of a pillow and foot rest, she can recline at differing angles. She was still pretty mobile, though, and she takes regular walks even though she has to bring a walker, mostly because the sciatica also has the effect of making her feet feel numb. On my way back to the Light Rail Station, which is only about a third of a mile from her apartment (the only thing that made her open to moving to Federal Way), I went with her on her daily walk, over to a near by park, which we walked the foot path around. It's called Town Square Park and is just under 4 acres. Laney told me while we walked around it that her physical therapist is so happy that she actually does the exercises he recommends—apparently most people say they will and then don't—that he said he wanted to put a poster of her up in his office. I totally get it, though. Once I saw a physical therapist after the nerve pain in my right arm was identified as a spine issue, I was given several stretches to do, which I still do religiously every other evening—a solid two years now since that one physical therapy appointment I went to. And guess what? I've never had the nerve pain again! The reason why would be because I keep up with the recommended stretches. Okay, I have felt it a couple of times, but it was always very mild and far more short-lived—I am certain it would have been far worse if not for the stretches. And I'm deeply grateful for this; there were repeated stretches where it was increasingly excruciating just to hold my arm up in a particular position to put on my eye makeup, and that part has never happened again at all. In any event, my point is, Laney and I are on the same page when it comes to sticking with recommended physical therapy exercises. They make all the difference in the world. And that about covers the weekend, I think, aside from lots of TV Shobhit and I watched over the weekend, particularly on Apple TV+: Widow's Bay and season four of Ted Lasso (which is even cornier than I remember previous seasons being but still very entertaining and funny); and then the requisite Sunday evening episodes of Lanterns, Youth, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. As I already noted, next weekend will be our trip to the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. I looked it up and last year the Mass Ascensions on both Opening Day and Closing Day were canceled due to high winds. I'm worried about that happening during our stay that is only four nights, but I did check the wind forecast and, for now at least, the forecast for Saturday is well under the 8 mph winds that might delay or cancel a Mass Ascension. — छह हज़ार सत्तानवे — [posted 12:33pm]