— छह हज़ार एक सौ बाईस —
I just realized that although we all went to the Diwali: Lights of India celebration at Seattle Center's Armory building on Saturday (which I
already posted about separately), yesterday was the main day of Diwali, and normally Shobhit would light a bunch of candles, including
diyas or clay lamps, all over the condo to commemorate it. Neither of us even thought about it last night, though, which was almost certainly because Shobhit spent most of the evening performing in
The Jury Experience: Seattle. He didn't even text me he was headed home until nearly 9:00, and when I texted back to ask if he was walking he said,
Yes. Unless you wanna drive and pick me up. I said I could do that, and I went ahead and picked him up walking east on Denny Way, near Dexter. By the time we got home he still had to dish himself some leftovers to eat dinner, and we barely had an hour to watch this week's
The Gilded Age on HBO before I went to bed. There was no longer any bandwidth between either of us to even think about Diwali.
He did call several family members to wish them a Happy Diwali earlier in the day. I think most of those calls may have been on Saturday evening, actually—India is 13.5 hours ahead of Seattle; Singapore, where Shobhit's sister lives, is 16 hours ahead; and Sydney, where his nephew is going to college, is 19 hours ahead. Shobhit made calls to all places.
It sounds like the thinking, at least on Shobhit's part (I have no idea how seriously the others are about this), is that once Shatak, his nephew, graduates from college, the rest of his family can move to Australia via his sponsorship. But, assuming that does not happen before Christmas of next year, and assuming Shobhit's brother-in-law's job is still keeping the rest of that family in Singapore, that is why we plan to make a stop there, along with Hong Kong, on our next trip to Australia. I'll be thrilled to visit both cities either way, and knock off a new continent visited. Once Asia gets checked off, we'll still have Africa left, which will get taken care of with World Pride Cape Town in October 2028, after which, setting aside Antarctica (which I honestly don't care about visiting), I'll just have South America left and have all the inhabited continents visited. I have no reason to have that continent on my working five-year plan of travels, however, so that one may take a while.
— छह हज़ार एक सौ बाईस —
— छह हज़ार एक सौ बाईस —
Anyway! Yesterday was my second time seeing Shobhit in
The Jury Experience: Seattle (
Death on the Port Side). This time, I went with Alexia—and Gabby and Nick happened to be at the same show as well.
It sounds like Shobhit could have gotten a comp for Alexia as well. The problem is that he doesn't know until the week or so before the showtime, and Alexia wanted to be sure to get a seat. When she finally booked a ticket, Section B, which was where my comp past month had placed me, was already sold out; I had to ask Shobhit to get my comp in section C so I could sit with her. I led us to the front row of section C, which was row 10 I think, but it was still plenty close. Anyway Danielle may go to the show next month, and I suppose I could go with her, but how many times do I have to go to this show?
It's certainly fascinating to see how different audiences vary, although all the decisions at this show were the same as they had been at the 4:00 show last month. Even the guilty verdict at the end was nearly identical; around 57% majority decision. The audience erupted in exactly the same way when the verdict was announced.
The five of us gathered for some time after the show in the lobby. Before Shobhit came out, I introduced Alexia to Gabby and Nick. When Shobhit came, he brought a cast member—the woman who plays the senator; I forget her name—and Shobhit introduced Gabby to her as "Maddy." He later referred to her as Maddy after we got home and I was like, "Her name is Gabby. You introduced her earlier as Maddy too." Then, deeply embarrassed, he started to spiral a bit: "Fuck fuck fuck!" he said, more than once. I was like: "Calm down, it's not that big a deal!" He wants me to apologize profusely to her for me, and even worried this might affect my job! I said, "Not in a million years would Gabby be that petty." He felt bad given that we've had them over for dinner and they've also had us over, so he probably should have remembered her name, but also he hasn't seen her
that many times; it's still a fairly honest mistake.
Anyway when Gabby and Nick first came out, she showed us her lidded cup of wine she had bought, which was nearly empty but they sold it to her nearly full! "So I'm feeling good," she said. They also sold her peanut m&m's but said she could not take that into the auditorium. They did allow the wine though, which none of us could understand. Lidded or not, wine would be far more difficult a spill than m&m's.
Nick, who works at a law firm, told us he said to them, "What if I promise you that I won't eat the m&m's?" That left Gabby open for the legality of eating them—which she did. They joked that make the next case they present is about her eating the peanut m&m's.
Gabby and Nick had stayed in the auditorium longer than expected; they paid attention to stuff on the screen on the wall way more than I had. Apparently they show interesting information about the same show in other places. Apparently audiences is New York tend to find the defendant guilty! This was the third show so far, and all three of them had found her Not Guilty by roughly the same margin: 56-57%. When I went to pick up Shobhit after the second show, though, I asked how it went, and he told me they had found her Guilty—by 56.4%! I was genuinely stunned. That was a shit jury, I have to say; you need to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and this case doesn't come close. The defendant was super suspicious, absolutely, but the evidence was all circumstantial. That jury was voting with their hearts and not their heads, which is often a problem with juries.
I immediately had to text both Alexia and Gabby when I got home that the 7:00 show had found her Guilty. They both responded with the "!!" reaction.
Alexia actually drove us there, to catch up on time lost that, in different ways, was both our faults. She had agreed she would arrive at 3:00, but she took a nap and lost track of time, heading out about 10 minutes late. And then I was out on 15th Avenue waiting to let her into the garage, and not until she went to turn around toward our parking spot did I realize I had completely forgotten to actually move our car! What an idiot. But, it was a Sunday and parking is free, so after I briefly suggested she wait so I could move the car, she suggested I just get in and she drive us there.
She found an easy parking spot just a few blocks from Seattle Center, and we got to the theater entrance on Mercer right around 3:30, when the doors opened. There was a surprisingly long line down the sidewalk, and people were even being asked to walk through a metal detector—all quite different from when I arrived for the 4:00 show last month. The line was only up to the top of the stairs just inside the entrance at that time, and I did not have to go through a metal detector. I wonder, why the change?
They also had two people scanning tickets this time. This show was much fuller than the 4:00 show was last month, and I thought briefly it might even be sold out. But, later I saw some empty seats. I think it was probably still somewhere between 85% and 90% full. Just like last month, though, the crowd for the 7:00 show was much smaller. When we chatted as a group, we all talked about how different actors in the parts, as well as the demographic makeup of the "jury" audience, could influence the voting outcomes. I was more stunned than anything by the different verdict at the second show yesterday.
After chatting with the group for quite some time after the show, during which Shobhit asked if I wanted a photo and I hadn't even thought of it, but I did take a group selfie (which I have not yet uploaded to Flickr; I completely spaced it, just like Diwali), Alexia and I walked back to her car and she drove me home. I suppose the next thing she and I have planned currently will be the kickoff to our holiday season events, Seattle Christmas Market, which Shobhit and Alexia and I will all go to right after I get off work on Friday November 20, the first day of the Market.
I then spent time working on locating and cropping grid photos for next year's Family Calendars. I realized recently this is the 20th one I have made! I'm a little behind on the project, compared to other years, but it'll be fine.
— छह हज़ार एक सौ बाईस —
[posted 12:31pm]
