— पांच हजार पांच सौ ग्यारह —
The biggest Hindu holiday of the year, Diwali, occurred over the weekend, and there was a Diwali Festival at Seattle Center, which Shobhit and I met up with Karen at on Saturday. Last night was the biggest celebration day of the five-day holiday, when lamps or candles are lit around the home, and Shobhit and I did that with a bunch of candles all around the condo—including with two literal clay lamps Shobhit bought at the festival on Saturday.
That's just a very, very brief synopsis of the holiday activities from the weekend. I actually wrote a
much longer post about it last night, thus covering all those details and sparing me the need to include them here.
Aside from the brief mention in yesterday's post of my movie night with Alexia Saturday night—thanks to getting home from the Diwali Festival plenty early enough, although Shobhit and I walked from Seattle Center to the QFC at Broadway Market and then home afterward, after having walked there beforehand as well, going through Pike Place Market downtown, just to allow him to get a bunch of steps in—that leaves only Friday and Sunday for me to cover now.
Friday evening was Happy Hour with Laney, this time at Saint John's Bar & Eatery, on Pike off of Harvard. We normally schedule our monthly "Happy Hours" during times that are not actual Happy Hours, on early Saturday afternoons. This had been no exception, until I suggested we switch to Friday this weekend, for two reasons: we could take advantage of really great
actual Happy Hour prices at Saint John's; and this would leave the entirety of Saturday open for the Diwali Festival. (In the end it just opend Saturday for a ton of walking there and back with Shobhit, as we barely spent more than an hour at the actual event.)
Laney and I had noticed Saint John's on our walk back up the hill after seeing
Killers of the Flower Moon on Sunday the previous weekend—more specifically, their sandwich board on the sidewalk advertising an open outdoor patio in the back. We went in to check it out, and were charmed by their
tableau of figurines behind the outdoor tables. There are no heaters back there, but we still decided we'd make that our spot for the November Happy Hour this past weekend.
I left work early on Friday and managed to get to Saint John's at 4:45, though, and it was quite chilly outside. With there being very few people inside, Laney asked if I wanted to sit inside. I said I would if she wanted to, and so we did. Since no one was sitting within 10 feet of our table, that made her feel better. (I opted not to mention what little difference it makes, if you really are vulnerable to covid infection, for someone to be 10 feet or closer in an unventilated indoor space for an extended period of time. Laney has never had covid but, as a senior who is immunocompromised, she gets every booster shot that comes along, and usually before most other people. She has her own layers of mitigation, and we'll call this another calculated risk—and honestly, with how few other patrons were in there, a pretty low risk as it was.)
Laney had not remembered that we had actually been to Saint John's once before, with Evan, for brunch over Pride Weekend
in 2015. Eight years ago! The decor then was wildly different, and the place now has a dinosaur theme, which both Laney and I found utterly charming.
In fact, when the bartender brought us our orders (we had to order at the bar), he revealed to us he runs the place, and said they changed the theme a couple of years after the 2015 photo, which I showed him on my phone. In fact he confirmed that in the 2015 photo, we are all sitting at a table that is where he currently has a TV monitor mounted, and no table over there. Back in 2015, it didn't register to any of us that there even was a back patio—but, of course, being five years before the pandemic, we would not generally have been inclined to consider that an important detail anyway.
Their Happy Hour is 4-6pm weekdays, with $7 "Happy Drinks" and discounted snacks. I had two drinks called "Cherry Glaze," which were delicious and with just the right amount of alcoholic strength. Laney had two beers, and we both ordered the same food dish: artichoke dip with potato chips, for $10. It was all such a fantastic value, we will definitely come back there for a for-real Happy Hour.
There was a bit of a minor health incident while we were there, though. Laney had chosen a small, two-person table in one of the two kind of "nook" spaces with windows on either side of the otherwise inset entry doorway, because it was adequately away from any other tables. And at one point she told me she was feeling really light headed. She closed her eyes, and seemed to be waiting for several seconds for it to pass.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah—no," she said. She kept her eyes closed, and for actually several minutes, she continued to wait for it to pass. She seemed otherwise lucid through all of it, and did not seem close to losing consciousness, but watching her, I was really afraid that she might, or that, say, standing up would make her pass out.
She did say "I'm waiting for it to pass," or something to that effect, a couple of times. I think I said one or two things, I can't remember what exactly, while she sat there with her eyes closed. At one point she even lowered her head toward the desk, not to rest it, but evidently to help wait out the light headedness.
For a moment, I felt almost out of my depth. At what point should I call for help? It was clear that Laney did not want that, and if she did she would have said so. If she said so, or if she did full-on faint, I would have called someone. I think I did ask her if this had ever happened before, and she said no.
Finally she said, "I think it's starting to go away." She kept her eyes shut for a minute or two more, and then she said, "Yeah I feel much better now." Shortly after that she said she needed to use the bathroom, and I said, "Just don't stand up too quickly." She said she wouldn't. And when she stood up, she was fine, and she came back from the bathroom seemingly totally back to normal, having even considered taking a photo of funny graffiti in her toilet stall. (I actually did take
several photos of the graffiti myself, when I went to use the bathroom.)
Laney theorized that her reaction had to do with how strict her diet
usually is, but tonight she had an insane amount of sodium: she had the plate of potato chips and artichoke dip, in addition to two beers. She was only halfway through her second beer, and took only a small drink more, and could tell it was not a good idea to finish it. So she didn't.
In any event, it was a scary moment, a kind of thing I have never experienced with her. I hope she mentions it the next time she's able to speak to a doctor.
By the time she was back from the bathroom, though, as I said, she seemed back to normal. We walked together back to Broadway, and—
— पांच हजार पांच सौ ग्यारह —
—oh! I nearly forgot! From there, I walked over to Stoup Brewing, at Broadway & Union, only a block south from there at Broadway & Pike. Shobhit was already over there, attending a post-election party with the King County Democrats, and he asked me to come join them, which I was happy to do, after a couple of hours hanging out with Laney.
Unlike the last forum event we went to there, pre-election, up on the upper level, this time it was just a group who met at a table area in the back of the ground floor level. It was pretty crowded. Shobhit kind of made the rounds, continuing the networking thing, and I did a little bit too by default, just tagging along with him, although a couple of times I wound up speaking to people independently. This was especially the case with a woman named Sun, who had just been elected to City Council in Newcastle, a small suburb south of Bellevue.
Shobhit and I also spoke at length, together, with a woman who had lost a race for Seattle School Board, and we found ourselves regretting that we had voted for her opponent—especially after discussing the undo influence
The Stranger has over local elections, and people don't realize how unfair they can be with unequal coverage of certain political candidates. (Shobhit learned this the hard way, being one of the two candidates, out of eight, for Seattle City Council District 3, who they didn't bother speaking to at all—and it was not for any lack of Shobhit trying; they basically ignored him when he reached out.)
Shobhit clearly had not been there long when I arrived, and so we went to the bar to get drinks. I had a pineapple hard cider that was delicious, but I really should not have had after already drinking the two cocktails with Laney earlier. I wouldn't go so far as to say I had a hangover Saturday morning, but I was definitely dehydrated, even after drinking two full glasses of water before bed: I woke up multiple times feeling not great, needing to drink even more water and even taking a couple of Aleve. I felt much better after having my breakfast Saturday morning.
— पांच हजार पांच सौ ग्यारह —
— पांच हजार पांच सौ ग्यारह —
Shobhit decided to make a Bloody Mary to go, for our walk downtown and then to Seattle Center on Saturday. Because of that influence, against my better judgment, I also made myself a drink: I had hot apple cider with two shots of apple cider whiskey added. It was super tasty and it didn't have any bad effects over the course of the day, but it also didn't help my weight maintenance much.
I did think about that, though, when I met up with Gabriel and Lea for drinks yesterday afternoon. They wanted a place with outdoor seating, which very few people are still using as we get deeper into the fall, and downtown itself has very limited options of that sort. I did wind up suggesting Poquitos, only to have them tell me they were not seating outside; I then went across the street on 10th to Lost Lake Diner, where they did allow us to sit outside. And there, sitting outside in the damp air—there had been scattered showers all day—I wanted a hot chocolate. Plus I just didn't think I needed yet another alcoholic beverage. In fact I had already taken a can of hard cider, a sample from work, with me to drink at the movie I rook myseflf to see early yesterday afternoon: the solid-B movie
The Marvels. (I also finished a bag of Wheat Thins as a snack with that drink.)
Things would likely have worked out far more smoothly with meeting up with them yesterday had I not gone to see the movie. But, on Saturday I had exchanged texts with Gabriel about the possibility of getting together Sunday, and he let me know they were actually going to be in Seattle because there was a wedding expo happening at the Convention Center. Although he did say they would aim to go toward the earlier end of the times the expo was happening than the later end, I let my assumptions based on honeststly increasingly ancient history between us get the best of me, and I thought: they're not going to get there early. I'll have time to go to a movie!
I really felt confident that seeing a movie at 12:30, which would let out around 2:30 (I was amazed to discover this movie had the shockingly reasonable runtime of an hour and 45 minutes), it would work out fine to meet up with them somewhere around 3:00.
Well, he texted me that they were done at about 1:30. They went up to Fremont to find a place for lunch. By 2:45, I had texted him and even tried to call, with no answer or response, so I texted again that I was headed back up the hill. When I was at Pine and Boren waiting to cross the street, I figured he'd probably call just as soon as I put my ear buds in to listen to music, and that's exactly what happened.
He made some crack insinuating that I had made no effort to find outdoor seating for us to meet at. I told him I actually spent a lot of time trying to find a place. I wasn't sure how close it should be to the Convention Center, and a hugely complicating factor was the scattered showers: outdoor seating that is also covered further limits the already limited options, especially downtown. (It did occur to me later that I could have suggested the Fog Room, which I think they would have enjoyed. Except! Literally as I was writing this, I looked it up and they are not open on Sundays until 5:00. That idea wouldn't have worked anyway!) I would have
loved to take them to the public terrace at Rainier Square, getting drinks from Fonté on the building's second floor, but that terrace is uncovered.
Capitol Hill has plenty of options, Poquitos's unused outdoor tables notwithstanding, and I probably should have just suggested somewhere up there to begin with. I was too focused on trying to find a place downtown. I keep forgetting they drive, and could easily just drive wherever, the challenges of parking notwithstanding. (I did just realize: Gabriel did
not engage in his usual practice of going on and on about how much he hates driving in Seattle. So that was nice. Credit to him for that!)
Lea had been excited by the prospect of Poquitos, and so had I. Chips with queso, yummy! She was looking forward to nachos. So much for any of those ideas. But then, she was nearly as happy with Los Lake, where she knew she could get extra crispy tater tots—she placed an order for the table shortly after they arrived, and Gabriel and I didn't have any but I sure did. They are both engaged in a weight loss regimen in the lead up to their wedding in May, and have both actually lost an impressive amount (more than 30 lbs for Lea, more than 40 lbs for Gabriel). It hit me this morning: that could finally be the effective motivating factor for
me to get my weight management back in order. I don't care if they're the people getting married, I don't want them both to be thinner than I am at their wedding! Fuck that! If it ever gets to a point that I weigh more than Gabriel (which probably won't happen, he's naturally so tall and large anyway), then there is something terribly wrong. With me, I mean. This is a wildly stupid thing for me to even half-worry about, I am fully aware, let's move on.
Lea also ordered hot chocolate, getting the idea from me. Gabriel was genuinely shocked, as evidently he can't remember her ever drinking hot chocolate. Hot chocolate is my jam, I have it fairly regularly, and love having it on hand at home. I do drink chai far more often, but hot chocolate is also a great option from time to time. But, as Lea noted, the Lost Lake hot chocolate was notably watered down. I bet they made it with Swiss Miss packets or some shit. Fewer calories, at least, Lea theorized. She knew how many calories are in each tater tot and how much she would need to exercise to make up for them. My Auntie Rose used to do that exact same thing, when she lost a bunch of weight around the time she turned 70 (in 2007). She'd eat a candy bar occasionally, but know based on the nutritional information how much more she'd need to work out when she next did it.
Anyway, we had a lovely visit. I was at Lost Lake first, Gabriel dropped off Lea before he went to find a parking spot, and he later came to our outdoor table to tell us about a bizarre fender bender he'd just witnessed in an alley. Sometimes I think chaos just naturally materializes in his wake, like Pig Pen's dust clouds in
Peanuts cartoons. On the upside, he shared a constructive conversation he recently had with Tess, which could definitely be called a win in the midst of the extensive challenges of raising a teenager. That was great to hear.
Lea became obsessed with visiting Elliott Bay Bookstore, just a couple doors down on that block. So when we were done, we all went over there, being among the very few people in there with masks on. I did see a few others, solitary examples here and there. I saw no other group together who were all wearing masks. You know what I think about this? It's been three years now, and with the exception of the one time (so far!) that I got covid—and the mercifully minor, three-day mild cold I got in Australia earlier this year—I
still haven't gotten sick. I am really hesitant to change any of my still-held habits and behaviors (masking in retail establishments and on all transit; washing my hands for 20 seconds every time I get home or arrive at work; taking every single booster shot available) because—well: I must be doing something right!
Layers of mitigation. Layers of mitigation. Layers of mitigation. These apply even when I take calculated risks: eating indoors at a restaurant, for example. I don't bother with a mask in those scenarios because any damange would be done while I was eatng anyway. I know how this shit works.
Lea took several photos of books she wants to find online later, I think for whatever she uses for audio books. Gabriel actually found a couple of books to read. We finally fished there, gave each other hugs and parted ways outside. Sometime soon I'm going to come over to their place so we can watch
Sideways, which I'm not sure I've watched since I went to see it (separately, once with Shobhit and once with Gabriel) the year it came out, in 2004. It's a great movie that I think we'd have a blast rewatching.
I walked home, baked pizza for dinner, wrote my movie review. Shobhit got home from work and we watched
The Gilded Age after we set up all the Diwali candles and I took pictures and video to post to my socials, as well as to the blog post from last night—most of which I had actually written up in the morning before going to the movie. I was just waiting to finish up and post until the evening's candles could get set out and photographed.
— पांच हजार पांच सौ ग्यारह —
[posted 12:35 pm]
