— पांच हजार आठ सौ तिरपन —
Ivan left yesterday, and especially after being slightly disappointed when he kind of bailed on plans on Friday, the rest of his weekend visit rather exceeded my expectations. I had a truly lovely time with him here. I was pleasantly surprised to have him join Laney and me for the first movie of our Braeburn Condos double feature on Saturday; we took a long walk together to Lake Washington and back on Sunday, with a particularly delightful detour on a swingset in Leschi Park; we went out for dinner at Tandoori Flame Indian Grill on Sunday evening; yesterday morning he and I walked to Seattle's new Voodoo Doughnut and back; and just before we said our final goodbyes, Ivan actually joined Shobhit and me for a long walk to Pioneer Square and then back northward along the Seattle Waterfront—in the end, allowing him to see the new Pier 58 whose grand opening he had missed on Friday!
Shobhit had actually suggested Ivan and I go to Voodoo Doughnut, as I still had two coupons for a free doughnut left, which had been in my wallet for months. A lady had given multiples of them to Laney and me when we went there right after they opened last year, and Laney gave me hers. I'm good with having two fewer cards inside my wallet, at least.
I suppose ideally the doughnut would have been my breakfast, in terms of calorie count, but I knew I would not feel well if a doughnut was all I ate until meeting up with Laney for our afternoon Happy Hour at Rainier Square. So, I still had a bowl of cereal for breakfast right after waking up. Call the doughnut my second breakfast.
Ivan had commented multiple times on the fat administrators he often works with at nursing homes who spend a lot of their time eating doughnuts. But, he declared "one doughnut won't make me 300 lbs." Shobhit and I decided we would leave for our walk to the waterfront, from which we would go straight to our therapy appointment, at 11:00 a.m. I was a little afraid this might make an earlier trek to Voodoo Doughnut with Ivan too early, but in the end he was up and ready to go, and he texted me while I was getting ready that 9:45 would work fine with him.
Lots of people love to say Voodoo Doughnut is overrated, but I think they actually have excellent doughnuts. Not quite as good as General Porpoise, but also not quite as expensive, so there's that. Anyway, I have recently decided their simpler flavors are better than the wild and complex flavors for which they are more known. I ordered myself a "
Mango Tango," which was indeed delicious. Ivan ordered an "Old Dirty Bastard," which he clearly loved saying out loud, and which features a chocolate frosting, Oreo crumbles and a peanut butter drizzle. He also declared it delicious.
We ate our doughnuts while walking back home, stopping briefly to look at the cats through the half-basement windows at Neko Cat Cafe.
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तिरपन —
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तिरपन —
Once back home, I snuck
one last photo of Ivan, in the dining table chair he has always sat at when staying with us, thinking it would be the last shot I got of him this visit. Once 11 a.m. rolled around, we even gave each other hugs goodbye. He said, "Enjoy your therapy session!" I noted that we were taking a long walk first, headed to the waterfront. And he said, "Oh, well I'll go with you then! I have nothing else to do before I go."
So, that's what we did. We followed a route Shobhit apparently often takes when walking the long way to meet me for therapy, in the building that is actually right next door to the building I work in. We walked south on 15th Avenue E first, down to Jackson. We turned right on Jackson and walked that street down to the waterfront, then turning right and northward on Alaskan Way.
This had been my idea from the start, because I had discovered the bike path along the Seattle Waterfront had finally been finished, and now I could get a full set of photos for the
Waterfront Park Promenade + Bike Path. Just this morning I also created one more photo album dedicated to the Colman Dock (Seattle ferry terminal) renovation, which now puts
thirteen albums in my "Seattle Waterfront Revitalization" collection, which includes six albums dedicated just to the demolition of the infamous Alaskan Way Viaduct and the construction of its replacement tunnel, which then gave way to this waterfront revitalization. It's taken six years. There is now only one album left to add to this collection, when I plan to attend the official opening of the new Waterfront Park (which technically spans the length of the waterfront), on September 6. Then it'll have fourteen albums.
Anyway. When Ivan and I walked on Sunday, to Lake Washington, we would spend extended periods of time walking in silence. It made me think of Gabriel, who would hate that; he'd want to be chatting the entire time. Either way is fine, for the record! Just different personality types at work, that's all. Ivan was largely silent while we walked yesterday morning as well, but with Shobhit there, there was more chatting with him because Shobhit also likes to talk constantly.
Ivan didn't do any oohing or ahhing about the waterfront, but only because that's not something he is prone to doing. I still went out of my way to point out key locations: the
Pioneer Square Habitat Beach (which Laney and I have now gone to for BYOB Happy Hours multiple times); the
chair swings;
Pier 58, and of course
Pier 62. The final thing for him to see was the Overlook Walk, which we suggested he walk up to Pike Place Market; we didn't have time to join him. So, we then made our final-for-real goodbyes, I have Ivan one last hug, and he headed up the steps while Shobhit and I walked further north along Alaskan Way.
I was happy to see the bike path finally finished that entire way. I should have ridden down to ride my bike up that way this morning, but I totally spaced it. Shobhit and I walked the rest of the way to our therapy appointment, and that was . . . okay. I have some slight ambivalence about our therapist, but it could be way worse and just having a neutral third party to talk things through has been helfpul. I don't know if Shobhit would agree (he certainly didn't say so when Ivan asked how therapy is going), but whatever. It's making me feel better.
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तिरपन —
Since I had taken the day off and we'd be walking back downtown after our therapy appointment ended at 2:00, Laney and I slighly altered our Happy Hour plans, pushing it up from the originally scheduled 5:30 to 2:30. Shobhit came with to meet Laney at the PCC Corner Market Store, which Laney and I had both decided to buy our lunch from rather than Fonté Bar on level 2 as originally planned, since it would save us a significant amount of money. Ditto bringing our own cocktails rather than buying them.
Shobhit bought some Deli items too, so we could combine all three of our products and then I could use me $5 off $20 PCC Deli coupon. Shobhit decided to take his lunch home and not join us for Happy Hour. Which is kind of too bad, because I had brought my ping pong balls and paddles to use specifically at the tables on the Lower Terrace there, and I could have played with Shobhit—Laney is set to go camping with Jessica today, and expected to be paddling in a boat, and didn't want to strain her arms early. She asked if I was horribly disappointed, and I said it was fine, which it was. I should still find someone else who can actually play with me, though. Maybe I should just bring those paddles to work after we move the office to that same block in about a month, and I can find someone at work to play with me. I should think about that.
I had made my cocktail before we left for our walk: a Zevia Orange Soda with three shots of vodka added. I don't know if this had to do with what else I had consumed yesterday or what—maybe the combo with all that sugar in the doughnut?—but by the time I got home after Happy Hour, I had a splitting headache. I took a couple of Aleve, and it was mostly better within an hour or so. At least the headache didn't start while Laney and I sat on
the lovely furniture there; we hung out for three solid hours and it was a lovely visit as always. And nice to see her once more, as she's busy with her daughter and then her visiting sister for the next solid week.
I did walk Laney through the Skinner Hall pedestrian tunnel when we left, which she had never gone through before. We took the elevator down to the ground level, walked past the back entrance to PCC Corner Market, and then into the tunnel. That leads to escalators up to the lobby of 2 Union Square, then a short stint across Freeway Park to the Convention Center—a good four blocks without ever having to walk at street level, most of it indoors. We then waited for a bus on Pike Street at the Convention Center, to take back up to our respective homes on Capitol Hill.
Shobhit and I drove to PCC Central District and the Broadway Market QFC for some light grocery shopping. I made myself an almond butter banana sandwich for dinner, as Shobhit keeps nagging me to burn through the multiple bottles of nut butters I brought home as work samples ages ago. We watched a couple of episodes of season 2 of
Foundation on Apple TV, and that concluded my very lovely three-day weekend (not a holiday, but just because I took yesterday off to burn through PTO—which, in the end, also allowed me to spend some extra time with Ivan that I would not have been able to otherwise). On to the next day!
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तिरपन —
[posted 12:30pm]
