the weeds and grilled cheese

06132026-50

— छह हज़ार पैंतालीस —

I'm going to get into the weeds about how I have organized my photos from Whistler last weekend. Just because I feel like it.

First of all, every one of the photos from this trip are in at least two different photo albums. They are either in the single album covering the entire trip, containing 241 shots total; or in one of the collection of eight separate albums organized by points of interest: Whistler Village; Train Wreck Trail; the Sundial Hotel; Blackcomb Gondola; Peak 2 Peak Gondola; Cloudraker Skybridge; Whistler Village Gondola; and Waterfall Parks on the Sea to Sky Highway.

The single album covering the entire trip is itself in five different album collections:

1. Whistler, which includes this album plus the one of photos Shobhit took when he went on a Microsoft work trip there in 2008

2. Weekend Getaways in the Northwest, a huge collection where I put all short trips I take in the Washington / Oregon / British Columbia / Idaho region

3. Trips to Canada (all); this actually marked my 25th trip to anywhere in Canada

4. Travels, 2026, a collection that won't be finished until all the year's trips are done

5. 2026, which I have under All Albums by Year, which makes it easier for me to find albums in a chronological context should I ever need to

Then, there are certain albums from the collection of separated sets that are also in other collections. Beyond them all also being in the All Albums in 2026 collection, for example, the three separate gondola albums are now in the "Gondolas & Aerial Trams" collection, which went from 8 albums to 11 with the additon of these three albums for separate gondolas from this trip alone.

Being alble to organize and cross reference my photos and albums in this way just really scratches an itch for me. It's this kind of shit that gives me life.

— छह हज़ार पैंतालीस —

06142026-054

— छह हज़ार पैंतालीस —

As for last night, I met up with Laney to see Disclosure Day—my second time seeing it, and Laney's first. I loved this movie, and Laney was clearly even more into it than I was. She really loved it. She even had a lot of counterarguments to a lot of my nitpicks. (I get that the aliens were clearly designed to look like our classic idea of "little green men." I still thought they looked dumb.)

I tend to see movies in the theater a second time only two or three times a year on average, but I always really enjoy it because it's a rare instance of seeing a movie in the theater and not having any obligation to write a review, because I've already written it. That was the best thing about seeing the movie last night.

To that end, instead of going home to write a review, Laney and I walked over to the Starbucks to get drinks and a bite to eat, and then walk over to the newly renovated Westlake Park to visit and debrief about the movie. She got a mocha and I got a hot chocolate, but we both bought a grilled cheese sandwich we had them heat for us (and the barista was a young woman with excellent customer service), and we both thought it was quite tasty for a pre-made sandwich they just reheated.

I had already taken 10 photos of the new Westlake Park on June 10, and I kind of figured I might take one or two more last night, but I never did. I could have; they had new inflated soccer balls, two of them, now tied to a couple of sort of pedestals, for the World Cup. (They had also opened up several old, previously closed store units on the second floor of Pacific Place, now with several pop-up bars serving the seating area they had set up for World Cup match viewing parties on that huge three-story screen they installed in the atrium. I finally realized the World Cup was probably the reason they installed that giant thing in the first place.)

Anyway, we had already chatted a ton about the movie already, walking from Pacific Place to Starbucks and then to Westlake Park. We found a small table to sit at and we talked about plenty of other things too, including how my pain is now (still there a bit, but far more manageable; I'm still taking Extra Strength Tylenol but less of it). The weather was way more pleasant than the stifling heat here yesterday, now in the low 70s, and getting slightly cooler over the course of our time at the park.

I didn't get home until about 9:30, and this was after the movie let out at about 7:30. I'd have been home half an hour earlier than that, but for two things: first, Laney needed to go back into Pacific Place to use the bathroom; second, once we got over to Pike, she needed to wait specifically for the #10 bus because that's the only one that turns up 15th and would take her up to where her van, which she officially lives in again as of the 15th, is currently parked by Volunteer Park. I could have gotten on the #12 that came in 6 minutes, but because it was starting to get dark, Laney asked me to wait with her until the #10 came. So, I did.

I didn't wear a jacket yesterday, and it was starting to get breezy and chilly. She insisted she would not be cold if she let me wear the black hoodie she had on, which she said she was only wearing so she wouldn't have to carry it. "I'm going to smell like a lesbian!" I joked. (She laughed.) It made a huge difference, and evidently we were both very comfortable once I put the hoodie on and we waited for the bus.

I had told Shobhit I would likely not be home until after 9:00. Still, I was on the bus when he texted me Are you okay? at exactly 9:30. I was literally like two blocks from my stop by that point, though. I was home within a couple of minutes. Shobhit and I shared the two dessert pastries we still had left from "Pure Bread," where we bought several things at Whistler Village before leaving for home yesterday morning.

— छह हज़ार पैंतालीस —

06142026-076

[posted 12:46pm]

Coming Back

06132026-03

— छह हज़ार चवालीस —

I wrote up almost the entirey of my Whistler email travelogue on the drive home yesterday—it makes such a huge difference being able to use my phone as a wifi hotspot, which therefore allows me to work on my laptop and connect to the Internet. I didn't create the converted travelogue blog post that I shared last night until after we got home, but still: this involved a lot of work, and I love how this allows me to be effecient about it. I don't know when the hell I would have found the time to work on it otherwise, I have so much other shit going on this week.

I started thinking about this yesterday, though. I have really leaned into figure out ways like this to be efficient with my time. It occurred to me that it may be good to remind myself of something: maximizing efficiency for time management is not necessarily the same as maximizing efficiency for my health. I might need to consider building in some breathing room as well. Otherwise I'm just do-do-doing one thing or another every second of every day. I suppose you could say the times I sit down to watch TV is some relax-time, although I don't watch a ton of TV.

— छह हज़ार चवालीस —

06132026-17

— छह हज़ार चवालीस —

Anyway, if you plug into Google Maps the drive from Sundial Hotel in Whistler to our home in Seattle, it says the drive time is 4 hours and 20 minutes. We took something closer to 7 hours to take the full journey, but only because of all the stops we made:

1) Brandywine Falls Park
2) Shannon Falls Park
3) One viewoint pull-off
4) The Duty Free Shop at the border, where Shobhit bought nine bottles of liquor, necessitating another detour to the "Secondary Inspection" area
5) Bellingham Costco, for both gas and some grocery shoppingtes
6) Lenny's Produce in Seattle, for more grocery shopping

We did at least the last two stops on the way home also in the name of efficiency, having no time for it the rest of the week and needing to stock up on food at home, and not wanting to go out again after finally getting home.

Except, we did walk to the Central District PCC for just a bit more produce shopping, so we could use my $5 off $15 in Produce member coupon before it expires at the end of the day today. Shobhit got a bunch of stuff he intends to use for his first participation in a Seattle Men in Leather chili feed (I think it may be a contest?) this weekend.

We walked back from that, and had some dinner, and barely had enough time to watch Last Week Tonight with John Oliver before I finished unpacking and went to bed.

— छह हज़ार चवालीस —

06142026-021

[posted 12:33pm]