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Between Thursday and Saturday this past weekend, Laney and I saw a movie together three days in a row. I
already posted about seeing
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale on Thursday with both Laney and Shobhit; now I guess I'll note that, on Friday, I left work early to see a 4:20pm showing of
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. I thought it was all right; it very much seemed like Laney liked it more than I did. She took the bus home, which I kind of expected; I rode my bike to work that day partly due to that expectation. This was the first time I rode my bike directly to Pacific Place before riding the rest of the way home after a movie since the office move, but this time I had only to ride about four blocks from work.
And then, on Saturday, when we already had plans for a Happy Hour, because Laney caught wind of good reviews, we decided that beforehand we would go see
The Long Walk, which I think kind of disappointed both of us. I left the movie at first thinking the movie was kind of fine, but after writing the review I thought: it wasn't that good. It still had very good performances though, so I stuck with the overall grade of B-minus.
After the movie, we walked together to Captain Blacks for a late lunch (or was it an early dinner?) and drinks. The plan had originally been to go to the rooftop bar at Fogo de Chao, which is at Rainier Square in the 10-story 400 University building next door to the PCC Corner Market store, but Laney called them up yesterday and found out the rooftop bar is
still not open. They had told me in August that it was expected to open in September; now they're telling Laney it's opening in October. Is this damned rooftop bar ever actually going to open? Anyway, Laney then kind of made an executive decision and decided we should go to Captain Blacks because they also have an outdoor deck, with a bit of a skyline view. To be fair, she was open to considering another place I mentioned on Olive Way which was on the way when we walked there from the movie.
But, in the end we went to Captain Blacks, where they don't have Happy Hour on the weekend. But, we both ordered the quesadilla which was only eight bucks; I did have one $15 Mai Tai cocktail, and then just to save a few dollars I made my second cocktail a rum and coke which cost $9; I budgeted $50 for this and wound up spending $39.26. Woohoo!
Laney and I walked together as far as Broadway after that, and then I walked the rest of the way home and spent some time writing my third movie review in as many days. Shobhit was already gone for a monthly event he goes to on the second Saturday of the month, but he was back later in the evening.
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As for yesterday, Shobhit had an audition at 1:30 and I got ready a bit later than usual, but we had just enough time to walk to the Capitol Hill Farmers Market, which was smaller than it's been since before the summer started. And then, even though we were kind of tight on time, while we were there he suggested we walk up to
Mintish Coffee House, the Palestinian-owned "Levantine" coffee shop that opened just this past week. Shobhit happened to be passing by on one of his walks a few weeks ago when they were first setting up the place; he chatted with them, and we even stopped by and chatted briefly on a walk together before they opened. They had a "soft opening" maybe the week before last, and Shobhit went to that too, and texted me the grilled cheese and coffee had had while I was at work. It looked delicious and the dishes were very pretty.
Yesterday's visit was slightly more of a mixed bag. We both really want them to succeed, but this place is clearly in need of getting into a groove, particularly logistically. They had a line out the door, thankfully mostly after we arrived, when we got in line just
inside the door. Shobhit ordered an espresso and I ordered a hot chocolate, which was decent but nowhere near as good as the
expensive but delicious hot chocolate I had at Mirabelle by Orphee in Pioneer Square early last month. Shobhit also ordered a sandwich, which I'm sure would have been delicious, but this was the problem element: we waited a solid forty minutes for that sandwich, and never did get it.
It was about half an hour when one of the two best friends running the place assured Shobhit that the sandwich would come soon and it was next. But then we kept waiting, and Shobhit was going to be late for his audition. Shobhit finally went to ask at the register, and that was when they figured out that the sandwich had been set out but apparently someone else picked it up. Neither of us ever heard Shobhit's name get called out, and we think they probably didn't say it loud enough and whoever set it out—they eventually had five staff working—probably mispronounced it.
Well, whatever. The co-owner (at least I think he co-owns it) was very apologetic and went to refund Shobhit as quickly as he could. He said it would only take five minutes to re-make the sandwich, but Shobhit was already running late. The guy then refunded Shobhit his entire order! Shobhit said, "Don't do that," but the guy insisted.
And then we walked back to the condo so fast that it was like a speed-walking marathon, and I was seriously out of breath by the time we got there. I felt like I was walking as fast as I possibly could without actually running, and how Shobhit could still walk faster without even looking like he was trying that hard to is still a mystery to me.
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The other news from yesterday is that I not only got my covid booster shot for the year, but I managed to make a same-day appointment. I hadn't managed that last year, but I think the current administration's idiotic discouragement of getting vaccines is having the intended effect—that is, combined with probably fewer people even bothering anyway, as has been the case every year, now five years past the pandemic (though four and a half years after the first vaccines). Much has been made of Washington, Oregon and California joining forces in making vaccines more available, but it still gave me pause when I first went to make a vaccine appointment at Walgreens and they had "eligibility" standards that were more strict than in the past: recommended only for people 65 years or older, or with chronic health conditions, that kind of thing.
Laney made the point yesterday that herpes counts as an immuno-compromising health condition. I thought: that's true! Not that it mattered. As I
noted on my socials, I had only to click the button saying I was eligible; and I got there and got my shot with no challenge or issue. The only questions I got were things like whether I had a covid shot recently (nope; I had my last one in September of last year).
I had to wait like twenty minutes past my actual 2:50 pm appointment, but, whatever. I finally got the shot—my seventh to date—and I was out of their, without so much as a copay, within minutes after that. Shobhit was back from his audition when I got home, I helped him make dinner, and we spent the evening watching the Emmy Awards and then this week's episode of
Task on HBO.
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I had a late arrival at the office this morning—my first one of
those at the new office location; tomorrow will make two weeks now. But, I had a dentist appointment, my third for the year because they recommend a cleaning every four months—and insurance only fully covers two. It was a cleaning only, though, and not a checkup. But, I rode my bike to the Cabrini Center building. I can't stop taking photos out the 19th floor window when you come out of the elevator there. I'll have to check and see whether any of the shots I took today are exactly the same as some already taken. I'm pretty sure I got at least a couple new angles.
Anyway, I then rode my bike from there to work. I do love how much closer to home work is now. The difference in time it takes going home isn't as dramatic because it's still climbing up Capitol Hill, but going down in the morning is noticeably different. I got to work at about 9:15 probably; I already had one meeting; I have a stupid amount of emails just from over the weekend. Fucking emails! I guess I'll get back to them now.
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[posted 12:33pm]
