— छह हज़ार चौंसठ —
What can I tell you today? Between meetings this morning and the fact that I went out for lunch, I have so little time!
Oh! I rode my bike to 20/20 Cycle after work yesterday. I really thought I would have to leave my bike there again, but the guy replaced the cassette right there and then, which was great. I don't think it took him much more than 15 minutes. Between the part and the labor, though, that cost me another $53. So with the $257 that makes a total of $310 for all of the recent improvements done to this 18-year-old bicycle.
Shobhit was thinking this was now more than he paid for the bike new in 2008 when he bought it for me for my birthday, but I was remembering wrong—even though I was still thinking he had spent $350 or something like that. I
found it in a caption under a photo from my Birth Week in 2008, though: Shobhit bought that bike for $450. And that was 2008, mind you. I looked it up, and you know how much that is in 2026 dollars? $711! Jesus.
That caption also noted that, while Shobhit paid for the bike, I spent $40 myself for the helmet (which I threw away after my crash this year; I had a spare, though I can't remember where I got that one) and $37 for the bike lock. I found the exact same locks at 20/20 Cycle yesterday and they were retailing for $72. Damn. I'm glad I don't need to replace that as well.
Anyway. The cassette is replaced, and I was able to ride the bike home—and to work again this morning—with it finally functioning as normal again, no skipping while I pedal at all. All is right with the world again!
— छह हज़ार चौंसठ —
I made chai; Shobhit and I had dinner; we walked to Trader Joe's for a couple of things. We watched
In Bruges, which I'm not sure I adored quite as much as the last two times I saw it, but I still think it's excellent—it just has a bit more of the unchallenged homophobic dialogue than I would prefer. I'm still glad I watched it again before we go to Belgium.
After the movie I went for a walk with Shobhit. At first I suggested we walk down Pine to the freeway and then back up Pike, but then I remembered some frozen veggie chicken nuggets I kept forgetting to take home from the pantry freezer at work. Shobhit suggested we return the DVD to the library while we were at it. So that's what we did: we walked all the way down Pine to 4th, walked down 4th to the library to return the DVD at the drop box, then turned around and back up 4th to Rainier Square, where I got into the lobby much later than ever before but the doors were still open, and I got not only the veggie nuggets but a couple boxes of veggie burger patties as well. We then walked home mostly on Pike Street.
— छह हज़ार चौंसठ —
— छह हज़ार चौंसठ —
I just went to lunch with Cathryn, Amanda, and Benny—typically it's just Cathryn and Amanda and me and we call it our "Super Users Lunch," because we are the three primary "super users" of HQ, the item maintenance system that is the work environment for most of our jobs. Benny isn't that far behind, I suppose, and Cathryn suggested we invite him, which was fine by me; he's cool.
We went to a grocery/deli down the block and a block over I didn't even know existed. It's called "
Community Grocery & Teriyaki." The food was fine; I gave a $2 tip and it cost me $19.41. I budgeted $20 for this so that worked out.
Anyway, holy shit did we laugh a lot! Benny must not be much of a cry-laugher, even though he did also crack up a lot, but he was literally the only one of us
not wiping away tears. I wore my blue mascara today which is not water proof so I got a little self-conscious about that; Amanda actually had my back and directed me where to wipe away any apparently pretty small smears of makeup at the corners of my eyes.
Every one of us said several things that were very funny but the one I remember the most is when I was telling them, after Amanda threw out the question of how we approach food on our plates, about how Grandpa McQuilkin would take a bite from the outside of his plate, turn it slightly, take another bit, and turn again, until he spiraled to the center of the plate—no matter what was on it. Cathryn asked if he turned it clockwise our counterclockwise, and Benny immediately said, "It depends on which hemisphere he's in."
The conversation also took a turn when I told them all about how Gabriel got me to remember the phrase "nutritional yeast," which I would constantly forget back when Stephanie
loved to put that shit on poporn, by throwing out the phrase "vagina powder." Amanda was like, "There's also 'scrotum powder,' I'll have you know."
Okay, well. All that was the tip of the iceberg. I can't remember the last time I had such an uproarious lunch with coworkers. It was a blast. Now I need to get some actual work done.
— छह हज़ार चौंसठ —
[posted 1:08pm]
