the cut, the meet

— पांच हजार आठ सौ पांच — I got my semiannual haircut yesterday. I haven't taken any photos yet, but I will. My appointment was at the Rudy's Barbershop on 12th & Pike at 5:15. I barely made it. I might have been a few minutes early, but I have so much shit to do this week at work before my Birth Week vacation next week, I needed to finish up a report I needed to send to Noah and Frank, and didn't get out until 4:38. Shobhit texted me at 4:31 that Rudy's didn't have amu wait right now and they would take me early. I had to text at 4:38: Just leaving work now. I was on my bike and the ride home takes at least half an hour. I got my bike locked up at 5:09, and quickly walked the barely more than two blocks over there and walked in right at about 5:15. My hairdresser later said while she was cutting my hair, "Your husband was in earlier." I had kind of inferred that. I walked with the hairdresser a lot more than usual this time around. A big part of it was the inevitable topic of my Birth Week, and the massive amount of stuff I have planned, and the this year's theme (Observation Decks and Viewpoints). This took a lot of time in conversation. As did the topic of taking trips, when she asked me if I had ever gone overseas. I got to talking about the two previous trips to Australia, in 2020 and 2023, the first one just barely finishing before everything went to shit with covid. Then I had to mention that the 2023 trip including Sydney when they hosted World Pride; Shobhit's and my impending trip to World Pride D.C. in June of this year; and our aim to attend World Pride Amsterdam in 2026—and then our third trip to Australia, with the goal of that happening at the end of 2027. By the time that third trip to Australia (hopefully) happens, it'll be just two months shy of five years since the last time we went. If money were no object, I'd aim for consistency of three years between visits and go in 2026. But, we are prioritizing World Pride in both D.C. and in Amsterdam first. Plus, instead of going at the time of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, this time we want to experience Sydney on New Year's Eve. I figure before that we can go to Adelaide and spend Christmas with Uncle David and Mary Ann just that once. Anyway, once my hair was done, Shobhit and I went out to run errands: Costco, Amazon Fresh. When we got home he spent a good amount of time showing me all this projected retirement data he was able to put together on his Fidelity account. He actually met up with a Fidelity guy a couple of times recently. He's all over that shit. I have difficulty mustering real interest in it, but the more I think about it, the more I appreciate his investment in it. He's got that stuff more organized than I could ever hope to. We also logged into our Social Security accounts—as if we can have true faith that things will stay the same with that the rest of our lives, post-President Fuckwit—and we could see estimated monthly Social Security payments if we retire early; if we retire at 67; or if we retire at 70. Shobhit said, "I would recommend you retire at 70, but you'll do what you want." Indeed I will! Right now I'm actually leaning toward 70, truth be told. But, I also feel like it's way too early to say. How the fuck am I going to know how I feel about anything twenty years from now? Get real. — पांच हजार आठ सौ पांच — — पांच हजार आठ सौ पांच — In other news, most of my work day today has been spent at the Bothell PCC store—a rare thing indeed. But, thanks to Gabby's deeply organized efforts, we now have an in-person POS meeting once a month, meeting at a different store each time. Today was the April meeting, and it was held at Bothell. Cathryn came into the office an extra day this week. She usually only comes in on Wednesdays, and works from home on Bainbridge Island the rest of the week. She offered me a ride, just as she did last month for the meeting at the Bellevue store. We left at 9:00, to get there in time for a meeting scheduled from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. I rode back to the office again with her, and here we are: the reason today's Daily Lunch Update (DLU) is getting posted so much later than usual. There was a kind of astonishing amount of traffic on the way home. Cathryn's mistake of merging onto I-5 north instead of I-5 south from I-405 didn't really help, but it's all good. I still got back to the office by 3:20. Ish. The meeting went well, anyway. Gabby has organized and introduced efficiencies with the POS group in a way no one else ever has. She also had the woman who owns the small business of one of our pasta brands (Wildly Beloved Foods) come in and do a cooking demo for our lunch. It was delicious. As was the homemade brownie Gabbie had her husband Nick bake for the group as a dessert. Gabby's on top of all this shit. There's plenty more I could say about the meeting but who cares? Not you! I have only an hour left to work today, had ninety minutes to work this morning, and that's all I got today outside of that POS meeting and the drive to and from it. I need to try and get some shit done today. — पांच हजार आठ सौ पांच — [posted 3:28pm]

diversions

— पांच हजार आठ सौ चार — I went to see Sinners with both Shobhit and Laney after work yesterday. Shobhit decided to join when we figured out that with both discount Tuesday tickets at AMC and a $5 reward I had on my account, I could get his ticket for $2.10. The three of us had a pretty varied response to the film. I felt like Shobhit thought it was just okay. I thought it had something profound going on but was imperfect, most notably with its visual effects, which when not great always takes me out of the movie. Laney thought it was amazing. We all got there independently. I rode my bike from work, and both Laney and Shobhit walked—technically between Broadway and downtown to the route is the same, but Shobhit's all about getting his steps in and he would have left much earlier to take a more roundabout route. When I got there, Shobhit was waiting outside the theater on the fourth floor of Pacific Place, and I thought we had both beat Laney there. In the end she was already inside. A group of women, one of whom used to be active in Trikone-NW (the local queer South Asian group), were waiting outside the theater, about to go see The Wedding Banquet. I guess I was stereotyping them by figuring they might be there to see A Nice Indian Boy—but, they had already seen that one. The woman from Trikone-NW, whose name neither Shobhit nor I could remember, didn't like it that much. She noted that she had other friends who really liked it, and we could have a discussion about it (when and where, I'm not sure). I did have to compliment her on her shirt, though: it was solid pink, with uneven lettering across the chest that simply read LADY PARTS. — पांच हजार आठ सौ चार — — पांच हजार आठ सौ चार — Laney took the bus home, as she had done on Monday. I knew Shobhit would want to walk, and even though I had my bike, he just walked with me down to the garage to get my bike and I walked the bike the rest of the way so we could walk together. My back tire was getting slightly deflated anyway. I pumped it up when we got home and it was better to ride on this morning on my way back to work. The pinched nerve pain in my arm persists, but isn't agonizing. Whether it will get that way remains to be seen. Anyway, it was a bit after 8:00 by the time we got home, and I wasn't finished and posting my review until about 9:30. I did dishes after that, including those I used for the rice and vegetables dish Shobhit had made for dinner. That pretty much got me to bedtime. — पांच हजार आठ सौ चार — In other news, Laney has decided to cancel coming to Victoria for the overnight trip in December that we've had planned since January. We even had the Victoria Clipper booked, and the hotel booked, in the latter case with me booking it through Hotels.com, paying for it and having Laney Venmo me the money; this morning I canceled the reservation and the process will have to be reversed. Laney wants to keep these dates open in case she needs them for celebrating Christmas with Jessica. I totally get that being the priority, and certainly don't dispute anything about it—it just also doesn't diminish my disappointment, which can't be helped, and I now rather wish the plan had never been made to begin with. I fully intend to go regardless: I have no desire to cancel Shobhit's and my Clipper tickets (we also have a hotel reservation, but that I booked so that I pay at the property). I have a feeling Shobhit would be totally fine with canceling it all, just for the sake of saving the money. I was looking forward to it too much, though, and really want to see the holiday light displays at Butchart Gardens. Plus, this trip having been planned was the whole reason I told Gina we could not join them for their trip to Victoria for Dad and Sherri's anniversary trip last month, as I saw no sense in going there twice in one year. The late notice of that particular plan was also a factor, but I'd have much more strongly considered it had there not already been another Victoria trip planned this year. The question I am debating now is whether to just stick with making it a trip for Shobhit and me, or if I should see if another friend wants to go. I seem to go back and forth on this by the hour, but as I write this I lean toward it being just the two of us. Clearly it's simpler that way. — पांच हजार आठ सौ चार — [posted 1:09pm]