a beach in september

— छह हज़ार तिरानवे — On Friday Shobhit and I did a new thing, albeit very much an extension of the First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square: when we had stopped in at N°85 gallery, they told us the artist being featured there this month, Kathryn Bilharz Gabriel, would be there in person for an artist's talk on the 18th. So, we signed up for it. I really expected a much more packed event, but aside from the artist, her family (a husband and two preteen or teen daughters), and two staff from the gallery—that alone made six people—I would guess Shobhit and I were among six people who actually showed up. I want to say one of the women from the gallery said this was their first artist showcase like this at the gallery, so maybe future ones will have more? I don't know. Nor do I know if this was just normal for this sort of event. No one there gave any indication of any kind of disappointment in the turnout, though I certainly wondered how much would have been invested in shipping all the art (not in frames, but still) from Upstate New York, and whether the gallery sprung for the family's plane tickets or if they flew themselves out. Either way, the paintings and drawings are quite expensive, so I suppose if she sells even one or two then any investment might be worth it. None of the pieces were marked as having been sold, but they are very cool, and it was even cooler to hear the artist herself talk about her process and what things from her life and background are referenced in them. The pieces are very abstract, with flowing lines integrated into very angular sections that look like diagrams of a sort, very much integrating her family lineage of engineers. I was really glad we went, as it was super interesting. Of course we didn't buy any of the art, so we just added to the small number in attendance and drank some of their sparkling wine. When the artist was done with her talk, which was very informal, Shobhit and I were the only ones who asked any questions—Shobhit by far the most. Shobhit asks a lot of questions that kind of reveal his ignorance of the process of making art, but that's not a bad thing. As with any subject, the more questions you ask, the more you'll learn. — छह हज़ार तिरानवे — — छह हज़ार तिरानवे — Shobhit had his play rehearsals from 1:00 to 5:00 both Saturday and Sunday, and I spent even more time than that on Saturday hanging out with Tracy. She suggested we get lunch at this vegan takeout place called Quickie Too, and then eat at Own Beach at Point Defiance Park. I was down with that, and I caught the #594 bus down at 9th and Stewart in Seattle at 11:41, and was at the Commerce Street Station in downtown Tacoma at 12:45. Tracy picked me up there. That takout place won't accept online orders until their operating hours have started at noon, and their website notes that it will take about an hour to prepare, "and often sooner." Maybe they get a rush of orders at noon or something, because I got my order confirmation at 12:06, and then the order was ready for pickup at 1:13. And we got to the restaurant at maybe ten till 1:00; we stood at the window and after a while a lady came, and when Tracy said, "I haven't gotten another email yet—" the lady said, "Because it's not ready?" She wasn't a bitch about it, I should stress. The website makes it look like it's just run by these two Black women. They have tables and chairs inside but the door is closed with a sign saying they are takeout only. I can only surmise that they are still easing in and probably are not yet ready to hire the added staff they would need if they opened the dining area. Who knows? We finally got our food, and then drove to Owen Beach, which was a roughly 20-minute drive—a bit too long, as it turned out: I had a burger and Tracy had a club sandwich; we both got fries, and all of it was pretty cold by the time we actually sat down at a table to eat. It was still good, though. I just have a feeling I'd have liked it a lot better had I been able to eat it while it was still warm. That said, both my burger and Tracy's sandwich were huge, easily fell apart, and made for pretty messy eating. Also, the fries are on the menu as "spicy fries" and they aren't spicy at all. They're very well seasoned and flavorful, but not spicy. I was fine with it, but someone like Shobhit would have been very disappointed. Once we were done eating, Tracy and I walked along the shore from Owen Beach down to the Point Defiance Marina, a bit past Anthony's Restaurant and back—we barley stopped short of the "Shoots & Ladders" that I went down when she and I hung out on Dune Peninsula, which was right across a bit of water from where we walked to Saturday, back in April. We even went into the Boat House Bait & Tackle Shop, which doubles as a gift shop, where I bought myself a hot chocolate, and my new favorite sticker. Four dollars is way too much for a little sticker, but whatever; I really wanted it. It's a fantastic mashup of two things I love: the Pacific Northwest and the movie Jaws. I brought it to work today and put it on my laptop, alongside many other stickers that are now on it. We walked back again, and then sat on logs for a while as the day turned from cloudy with a bit of fog on the water to quite nice and sunny. We saw a seal swim by. I saw a hunky shirtless guy walk by carrying a boat. We saw two women in strange hats actually get in the water and swim, which was bonkers. Another woman wearing a lot of gear carried a scuba diving propeller out of the water. There was a lot going on. I haven't even mentioned the two different anniversary special event gatherings happening there. According to the time stamps on my photos, we were there about three hours. Then Tracy drove me back to the bus stop, where I barely missed the northbound bus so had to wait another 20 minutes, which we killed by going into her friend's local store of vintage furniture and knick knacks. I always forget the woman's name, but I really clocked this time how she talks in a very similar way to Tracy. I wondered: do all of her friends talk like this? Maybe it's a Puyallup thing. — छह हज़ार तिरानवे — The rest of my weekend has been mostly catching up on TV, and yesterday while Shobhit was at rehearsal I took myself to see Resident Evil, which, to me, really did not live up to the hype, and certainly not to the standards set by Sach Cregger's previous films. Lots of people disagree with me and that's fine. It was still plenty entertaining and gave me something to do that was not a waste of time. — छह हज़ार तिरानवे — [posted 12:33pm]

the fruitcake enterprises social review—summer 2026

In the summer of 2026, I engaged in in-person or face-to-face virtual social interaction with the following people on the indicated number of days: 1. Shobhit—49 *
2. Laney—7
3. Alexia—6
4. Tracy—4
5. Karen—4
6. Ivan—3
7. Jennifer—2
8. Cathryn—3
9. Matthew—2
10. Tony—2 *
11. Jake—2 *
12. Hope—2
13. Chase—2
14. Ian—2
15. Gabby—2 **
16. Brandy—2 **
17. Danielle—1
18. Gabriel—1
19. Lea—1
20. Tess—1
21. Jessica—1
22. Berkley—1
23. Mandy—1
24. Amanda—1
25. David—1
26. Mike—1
27. Ryan—1
28. Leon—1 **
29. Noah—1 **
30. Mackenzie—2 **
31. Chris—2 *
32. Ryan—2 *
33. Daniel—2 *
34. Nicholai—2 *
35. Dave—1 **
36. Tristan—1 **
37. Ben—1 *
38. Derek—1 *
39. Andrew—1 *
40. Amy—1 **
41. Kevin—1 **
42. Anna—1 **
43. Benny—1 **
44. Tina—1 ***
45. Mere—1 ***
46. Dylan—1 *** * Action Movie Night regulars ** At Merchandising Rainier Square Terrace Party [NOTE: Benny was at this party but not given a point for it, as I had no interaction at all with him there; but, I did go out for lunch once with him, Cathryn and Amanda] *** PCC POS Admins I ate lunch with during an in-person POS meeting
Total days in the fall with social interaction: 59 (64.3%, a -0.9 percentage point change from spring)
. . . And of course there are two pretty glaringly obvious differences this quarter, even though in the end it did not change their usual respective chart positions: Shobhit has way more points than usual; Laney has way less. Shobhit's numbers were significantly bumped by the trip to the Netherlands and Belgium over the summer, 18 consecutive days that therefore gave him 18 points from that trip alone. Laney, sadly, hurt her back, and a result we haven't been able to hang out since mid-July (she did get one more point via a Facebook Video hangout a few weekends ago). That said, looking at the spring numbers, neither of them are that different this time around. Okay, Shobhit at 49 points up from 35 last time is a pretty hefty jump, a forty percent increase—so, that still amounts to a huge change; it's just that he's always stratospherically ahead of anyone else regardless. Even in the winter he had 32 points, and Laney had 19. But, in the spring Laney dropped down to 9 points, a dramatic change, but not far out of line with the 7 points she got here—and she ranked #4 in the spring with 9 points and yet snagged the #2 spot with 7 points, barely putting Alexia's 6 points into third place. (Alexia ranked third in the spring as well, with 9 points; it was Ivan who came in third, also with 9 points—and this time he ranks sixth, with 3 points.) I nearly forgot what accounted for Laney's dramatic drop between winter and spring, and it was her tightened budget in the lead-up to moving out of her apartment: she canceled her AMC membership so we saw far fewer movies together; and she cut back on our Happy Hours as well. If it hadn't been for her back injury this time around, she almost certainly would have upticked this time. So much for that! I have a feeling this number will be steady for the foreseeable future, with her new apartment now in Federal Way. That's also a dramatic change from when she lived only six blocks away for two and a half years. Tracy and Karen are pretty typically ranked; Karen often gets more than 4 points given our ostensibly biweekly Zoom lunches, but scheduling conflicts kind of regularly force her to cancel as well. And then Jennifer, who simply gets two points due to the two consecutive days we hung out due to her staying the night, sneaks into the #7 position. Her boyfriend Matthew gets into the top 10 for the same reason. And Cathryn is only ranked a bit lower than other 2-pointers with her 3 points because she barely qualified for a third with her brief appearance at the Merchandising Terrace Party. The other pretty radical change from the usual is that any of the regulars at Action Movie Night, aside from Shobhit, got no more than two points this time around: because Action Movie Night only happened this time around. The projector broke down in late June, and Action Movie Night was saved by mid-September only thanks to Andrew buying a portable projector. And that became the only reason I would ever have watched The Will Kill You a second time. Anyway, now for the who did what with whom where and when! (Side note on the Europe trip dates between July 25 and August 11: these include a lot of links to specific sections of blog posts about the activities, as well as Flickr photo albums and occasionally Bluesky posts. This took me some real time and effort to complete. I just hope someone appreciates it! Well, future me will, in any case.) Sunday, June 21: with Shobhit and Ivan, chili for lunch at our place Sunday, June 21: with Shobhit, Seattle Leather Daddy's Chili Cookoff at CC's Tuesday, June 23: with Laney, and briefly with Shobhit, Happy Hour at The Tilted Table Wednesday, June 24: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Ryan, Ben, Chris B, Daniel, and Nicholai, Action Movie Night Operation Condor Friday, June 26: with Shobhit and Laney, Trans Pride Seattle Friday, June 26: with Shobhit, World Cup "Pride Match" at the Pioneer Square Pedestrian Zone Saturday, June 27: with Shobhit and Laney, PrideFest Capitol Hill Saturday, June 27: with Shobhit, Indigiqueer Festival Seattle Saturday, June 27: with Shobhit, Gabriel, Lea, Tess, Berkley, Janine, Mandy, David, Ryan, and more, Tess's Graduation Party Sunday, June 28: with Shobhit, Laney, and Ivan, Seattle Pride Parade Sunday, June 28: with Shobhit, TPS Pride After Party and PrideFest Seattle Center Wednesday, July 1: with Shobhit, walking with me from work to 20/20 Cycle and then home Thursday, July 2: with Shobhit, First Thursday Art Walk, plus Seattle Art Museum, in Pioneer Square Friday, July 3: with Karen and Shobhit, lunch over Zoom Friday, July 3: with Laney, BYOB Happy Hour at Myrtle Edwards Park Friday, July 3: with Shobhit and Laney, sharing a cardamom knot at Cafe Hagen at Myrtle Edwards Park Saturday, July 4: with Shobhit, 4th of July fireworks at South Lake Union Park Sunday, July 5: with Alexia and later Shobhit, double feature at our place (Edge of Tomorrow and Palm Springs) Monday, July 6: with Shobhit, out for a walk around Capitol Hill Tuesday, July 7: with Shobhit, out for a walk to Broadway and back Saturday, July 11: with Tracy, Tacoma Pride Festival, and out for dinner (The Matador) Sunday, July 12: with Laney, Jessica and Mike, Happy Hour at Pono Ranch, then out for more drinks at Lock & Keel Wednesday, July 15: with Shobhit, out for a walk to the Central Library, PCC Office, and back Thursday, July 16: with Cathryn, Amanda, and Benny, out for lunch (Community Grocery & Teriyaki) Friday, July 17: with Karen, lunch over Zoom Saturday, July 18: with Tracy, to a movie (The Odyssey) Thursday, July 23: with Amy, Tina, Mere, and Dylan, eating lunch on the Rainier Square Lower Terrace Saturday, July 25: with Shobhit, hanging out at The Club SEA at SeaTac Airport; travel to layover in Iceland Sunday, July 26: with Shobhit, flying to Amsterdam   Monday, July 27: with Shobhit, first stop at De Laatste Kruimel; Van Gogh Museum; Stedelijk Museum; Moco Museum; Rijksmuseum; Cuypers Library; Royal Palace of Amsterdam; bike garage at Amsterdam Centraal Station; A'dam Lookout observation deck; Luminair rooftop bar at the Doubletree by Hilton Amsterdam; Red Light District Tuesday, July 28: with Shobhit, National Holocaust Names Monument; Hortus Botanicus; NEMO Museum Rooftop Square; Hotel Jakarta lobby and sharing cake at Westers Bakery; OBA Oosterdok - Public Library; sharing frites at We Are EDN at the Doubletree by Hilton Amsterdam; Mokumboot Canal Tour; W Lounge rooftop bar (just walking around); Naked Night at Spijkerbar Wednesday, July 29: with Shobhit, Waterlooplein Market; Rembrandt House Museum; Museum of the Canals; cruising at De Oeverlanden Park; Homomonument monument Thursday, July 30: with Shobhit, day trip to Rotterdam: Euromast observation tower; Spido Harbour Tour; Fenix Museum and Erasmusbrug; lunch at Tofu Heaven in Markthal (Market Hall); Cube House Museum; Rotterdam Central Library Friday, July 31: with Shobhit, day trip to the Hague: Royal Library of the Netherlands; Peace Palace; lunch at Zebedeüs; touring Den Haagse Toren (The Hague Tower) at St. James Church. Back in Amsterdam: Tony's Chocolonely Super Store Saturday, August 1: with Shobhit, Gaap, Daniel, and Darius, World Pride Canal Parade Sunday, August 2: with Shobhit, pastry at De Laatste Kruimel second location so we could use the bathroom; Anne Frank House Museum; Dam Square Main Stage World Pride Street Party; Trans Made Market; return to Dam Square Street party; walking through street of gay clubs on Reguliersdwarsstraat Monday, August 3: with Shobhit, EuroStar train ride to Brussels; walking tour of Brussels; browsing chocolate shops in Brussels Tuesday, August 4: with Shobhit, The Atomium; Royal Palace of Brussels; St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral; sharing frites at Fritland; The Beerlab Rooftop above the Belgian Beer World Experience; Belgian waffle at Maison des Gaufes; shopping chocolate shops Wednesday, August 5: with Shobhit, Palace of Justice; touring European Parliament Hemicycle; Royal Library of Belgium and KBR Museum; hot chocolate at Laurent Gerbaud Chocolatier; shoppin for chocolates; Muntpunt Library; walk around Brussels Thursday, August 6: with Shobhit, EuroStar train ride back to Amsterdam; World Pride Village; dinner at Choux Friday, August 7: with Shobhit, stroopwafels from Stroopwafel World; hanging out in Amsterdam Saturday, August 8: with Shobhit, breakfast at De Laatste Kruimel; Heineken Experience gift shop; long walk to the World Pride March; dinner at Demetra (dine in); walking canals of Jordaan neighborhood; second dinner at La Zoccola del Pacioccone (takeout) Sunday, August 9: with Shobhit, another walk through Red Light District Monday, August 10: with Shobhit, lunch at Zero Zero; stroopwafel from Hans Egstorf; sharing frites at De Bijenkorf cafeteria; dinner at Terrazen Centre; Dutch pancake from Dutch Pancake Masters Tuesday, August 11: with Shobhit, apple turnover from Hans Egstorf; hanging out at airport lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport; flying home to Seattle Wednesday, August 12: with Shobhit, Freedom Plane: Documents That Forged a Nation exhibit at MOHAI; out for lunch at Mayuri in South Lake Union Saturday, August 15: with Shobhit, Alki Beach Pride Monday, August 17: with Karen, lunch over Zoom Thursday, August 20: with Gabby, Cathryn, Kevin, Brandy, and Mackenzie, team Happy Hour at The Nest Saturday, August 22: with Shobhit, Jennifer, Matthew, Hope, Chase, and Ian, Jennifer & family weekend visit; and out for dinner (Tutta Bella) Sunday, August 23: with Shobhit, Jennifer, Matthew, Hope, Chase, and Ian, pancake breakfast and Trivial Pursuit in the Braeburn kitchen; and Afternoon Tea at the Queen Mary Tea Room Monday, August 24: with Shobhit and Alexia, out for dinner (Coconut Thai in Issaquah) Sunday, August 30: with Laney, catching up on Messenger Video Sunday, August 30: with Tracy, Art in the Dahlias at Bainbridge Island Farm, and out for dinner at Veggie Grill Wednesday, September 2: with Shobhit, to a movie (The Odyssey) Thursday, September 3: with Shobhit, First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square Saturday, September 5: with Shobhit, out for a walk to Pike Place Market and back Sunday, September 6: with Shobhit, out for a walk through Capitol Hill and to Lower Queen Anne Monday, September 7: with Alexia, lunch and puzzling at my place Monday, September 7: with Shobhit and Alexia, more lunch, watching Europe trip slideshow, and touring renovated Braeburn terraces Monday, September 7: with Shobhit, out for a walk up 15th and back on Broadway Thursday, September 10: with Shobhit, Capitol Hill Art Walk Friday, September 11: with Karen, lunch over Zoom Friday, September 11: with Shobhit, out for dinner (Shake Shack) Saturday, September 12: with Alexia, out for breakfast (Mirabelle by Orphée) and Architecture Tour ("The City & the Sound: Seattle's Waterfront") Saturday, September 12: with Danielle, out for dinner and hanging out at her place Sunday, September 13: with Shobhit and Alexia, movie watch at our place (Practical Magic) Sunday, September 13: with Alexia, to a movie (Practical Magic 2) Sunday, September 13: with Shobhit, Alexia, and Ivan, brief hangout with Ivan at our place Tuesday, September 15: with Shobhit, to a movie (The Cycle of Love) Wednesday, September 16: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Ryan, Chris B, Derek, Andrew, Daniel, and Nicholai, Action Movie Night (They Will Kill You) Thursday, September 17: with Gabby, Cathryn, Amy, Anna, Brandy, Mackenzie, Noah, Leon, Dave, Tristan, and more, Merchandising Terrace Party Friday, September 18: with Shobhit, Artist Talk with Kathryn Bilharz Gabriel at N°85 Gallery Saturday, September 19: with Tracy, takeout lunch at Owen Beach, Point Defiance Park