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Yesterday I left work at 4:00 to meet up with Laney at the AMC Pacific Place, and we saw
The Drama. We both really liked it a lot; I was a little trepidacious due to a pretty mixed MetaScore rating of 59. But, to us, this was a movie whose detractors didn't get it; they missed the point. Laney and I both thought it was very well done.
She had walked there from home and I walked over from the office; we rode the bus back up the hill together, and after I spent the requisite hour or so writing up the review, Shobhit and I watched an episode of
Deadloch before I turned in for the night.
There had been a tentative plan for me to go meet Shobhit in Pioneer Square after the movie for First Thursday Art Walk. He actually did walk down there and was already there, but by the time my movie was ending, he said he felt like just heading home. It doesn't sound like he spent a lot of time there. So, I just headed home with Laney as well.
There are
two Art Walks we could theoretically have interest in on First Fridays, which is tonight: Bremerton, which we could take the Fast Ferry to from the Seattle waterfront; and Mercer Island, which we could take Light Rail to now, and all the venues are right by the station. But, we need to do some shopping and Shobhit still needs to finish our taxes, so we decided to skip the Art Walks tonight. First Friday is during my Birth Week next month so both are relatively unlikely, but Friday June 5 could be in play.
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In other news, we are officially now inside the month in which I turn 50. We have been for three days actually. Anyway, I wrote up and sent out the Facebook invite for the party at Dad and Sherri's house in Olympia on Saturday, May 2. I sent it out this morning. My intent had always been to send it out about a month early, and it hit me in bed last night: May 2 is exactly one month away! I even sent myself an email at work reminding myself to do it.
The invite itself has 24 people on the invite list. There are spouses or partners in some cases, and not in other cases; it depends on who actually has their own Facebook account and whether I am actually Facebook friends with them—I sent two invites to family members I am not connected with on Facebook: Angel's youngest, my newphew Alex; and Gina's son, my nephew David, is not on Facebook but his wife Jackie is, so I sent it to her. They live in Vancouver, Washington and we are far from close so I'll honestly be shocked if they come, but I did not want any family among Dad and Sherri and their descendants not to be invited—anyone invited to either Angel's 50th birthday party in 2019, or Gina's 50th birthday party in 2021, should also be invited to this.
In addition to them, I am inviting the four close friends I have known for 25 years or more: Danielle; Gabriel (who I assume will bring Lea); Barbara (who I'm flying out from Louisville); and Laney (I also told her daughter Jessica she's welcone to come, as I did not want Laney to have to travel there alone). I suppose it's worth noting that Lynn is actually my second-oldest friend and we've known each other 33 years, but we were never especially close. And I didn't want to overwhelm Dad and Sherri with guests, which was why I thought of it this way: all the other 50th birthday parties with my siblings were family parties; Gina did invite a few friends, and so am I—the ones I have been close enough with for long enough that I also think of them as family.
Beyond that, the regulars I hang out with during my Birth Week can just hang out with me another day that week like usual. I think Shobhit spent a lot of time assuming I would invite all of them, particularly people like Alexia or Ivan if he happened to be around, which has made for a couple of awkward moments. It's just not feasible to invite that many people, so I used "family" as the dividing line for the guest list. Most of the friends I long called "The Untouchables" have some measure of history with my family anyway, particularly Barbara, and for at least a few years after she first moved to Seattle, Danielle. Even Gabriel has met them several times, though it's probably been since Shobhit's and my wedding in 2013 that he was in the same room as my parents. I have, however, also invited Jennifer and Valerie, neither of whom are direct descendants of Dad and Sherri (Valerie is Dad's first cousin and Jennifer is Dad's niece, and
my first cousin), but they're certainly family. And they do both participate in my Birth Week every year (Valerie picking up where her mom, the late great Auntie Rose, left off after passing away). So Dad, Jennifer, and Valerie will be the three family members who get their own dedicated Birth Week day
and are expected to be at the party.
I'm looking forward to it, anyway. Even though there is always a major downside to being the guest of honor at a party, in that you can't get quality time with any individual guests, at least not for very long. But that's why my Birth Week exists! Because I
will get individual quality time with them on another day during the week. Well, some of them, anyway: I haven't scheduled another day with either Gabriel or Danielle, and the party might just have to be their "Birth Week day" this year. But I suppose we'll see.
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[posted 12:31pm]
