Saint Nicolas Cage Day 2024

I never thought to ask Claudia if she intends to make this "Saint Nicolas Cage Day" party an annual event. I kind of hope she does.  I was thinking today about how easy it is to judge a person's character by the friends they keep. I think Claudia is a standout on this front. I always enjoy the other people who come to their parties. And not just because I found one particular guy really cute. (Strangely, he was almost bald, something I don't usually find attractive. But his face made up for it.) I couldn't tell you how many people made it to her and Dylan's party today. I was first to arrive, a few minutes before the shared start time of 1:00 p.m. This was because my Fast Ferry departure options were either 11:30 a.m., which got me to Claudia's door at about 12:45; or 12:50, which would not have gotten me to Claudia's door until about 2:15. I took the earlier option, which included 15-minute wait at the Bremerton Ferry Terminal until I could catch the 12-minute foot ferry across Sinclair Inlet to Port Orchard, followed by the walk to Claudia's house roughly a mile away. Had I taken the next ferry, which didn't even leave Seattle's Pier 50 until only 10 minutes before the party was to begin, I'd have had a 25-minute wait at the Bremerton Ferry Terminal before I could catch the Foot Ferry across to Port Orchard. Okay I'll be a bit clearer about how these passenger-only ferries work. Seattle-Bremerton Fast Ferry: 30 minute crossing (this is half the time it takes the vehicle ferries operated by Washington State Ferries)Bremerton Ferry Terminal: 15-25 minute "layover," depending on schedulesBremerton-Port Orchard Foot Ferry: 12 minute crossingPort Orchard ferry dock to Claudia's: 18 minute walk This isn't even accounting the time it takes to get from home down to Pier 50 to begin with. This morning, I left at roughly 10:30 so I would get to the dock comfortably early, what with there not being another ferry after that for 80 minutes. Shobhit walked with me, at my suggestion. His first Social Review point for winter! Getting a jump on that before he leaves for India on Christmas Day. We both walked the whole way—1.7 miles—with our umbrellas. It rained lightly the whole way, I really need to buy a new pair of shoes. Currently they are fine if I am out in rain briefly, but even in light rain, a 45-minute walk results in the soles of my shoes sucking up the rain water enough that my socks start to get damp. I might have still been fine, except that when I got off the ferry at the Port Orchard dock, the rain suddenly really dumped down. My shoes were completely soaked through by the time I was even halfway to Claudia's. She did text to ask if I wanted her to come pick me up, but I was a couple of blocks from her house by the time I noticed the text. I was at Claudia's today for roughly three hours, and the entire time I had my shoes, with the socks draped over them, in front of her fireplace in an effort to warm them up and dry them out. I hadn't even stepped in any rain puddles or anything. It was just raining so heavily that, between the rain itself and the heavy drips coming down from the edges of my umbrella, my socks got soaked through the tops of my shoes faster now than they did even through their soles.  Anyway. Three hours. I could have been there another couple of hours relatively comfortably, but when the time of the 4:30 ferry approached, I decided kind of at the last minute to pull on my socks and my shoes and head out. I think it kind of struck Claudia as abrupt, and she said, "You do you!" And I was like, "I will!"  I have to say, by the time I got home, in no longer soaked but still damp shoes and socks, and only my pea coat when by then it would have been better to have a hoodie underneath to layer and get warmer, I was really grateful I did not put off when I could be home and changed into my comfy flannel pajama bottoms. Plus, I found I had a lot of stuff to do, beyond just processing the day's photos—even as I write this, I still haven't put away yesterday's laundry—and I would have felt even more rushed had I not gotten home clear until 7:30 rather than around 6:00.  I did catch a RapidRide G line home from downtown after getting back to Seattle on the Fast Ferry from Bremerton. Still, door to door, it took me 10 minutes shy of two hours to get home. This would be why so many people don't even consider using public transit to go routes like this. But, to me, it's just a matter of smart planning. That said, I spent more cumulative time getting there and back than I actually spent at the party. I suppose that might have made for an argument to stay a couple hours longer. I'm sure the party went on quite strong longer even than that. Had the weather been different, I also might have been more inclined.  I still had a good time, even though there was some amusing irony in the idea of Claudia and Dylan playing Nicolas Cage movies in multiple rooms in the house, and nearly everyone still gathered and socialized in their very large kitchen and dining room. The dining room stretches into a sort of den area, and that's where the fireplace is. They have a cute, small artificial Christmas Tree on the mantel. Both Dylan and Claudia went all out with their Nicolas Cage Character costumes: Dylan from The Wicker Man—complete with a netting around his head with cute little bees hanging inside it—and Claudia from Raising Arizona, easily my favorite Nicolas Cage movie. She even put that one on first, on the TV in the living room. I tried to watch it for a while, first with Dylan's brother and his fiance, then with Claudia's friend Rachael (I have no idea if that's how she spells it) and her husband Steve. I got real chatty with the latter couple, but in both cases people eventually got up and meandered back into the kitchen where everyone else was.  At least two or three other people came in Nicolas Cage costumes, but they were references to movies I did not recognize. I was exchanging texts with Laney on the Fast Ferry to Bremerton, and she asked if I was wearing my snowflake earrings because Nicolas Cage was in a movie called The Frozen Ground, and as it happened, I was! I told both her and Claudia separately that if I had plastic vampire teeth I could have brought those and said I was from Vampire's Kiss, but alas, I do not. There's always next year! If they do this again next year anyway. I did not bring anything to this party. There was no ask for people to, although many people did anyway. This gave me plenty of junk to eat. There was a very good, homemade olive focaccia bread. A bunch of chips. A hot sauce I unfortunately mistook for salsa. Sliced bread with a cheese spread made with jalapeños and "hot honey," but it was sweeter than it was spicy. Someone brought Lindt chocolates and mini peanut butter cups. I had one cocktail, an Orange Crush with Tito's vodka, which gave me a weird quasi-headache, which Tito's does almost every time. I really need to decline vodka any time it's Tito's. Anyway, if I had stayed another two hours, I would have just grazed far more than I should have. And as the party crowd got larger, I kind of became more of a wallflower. All elements came together to tell me: okay, I might as well go home now. Tracy did suggest not long ago that she and I got visit Claudia together sometime. I prefer visits that are not parties anyway. I'm hoping to make that happen next month. I've already got shit planned every single weekend Shobhit will be in India, and even the weekend after. It almost feels like the holiday season is stretching through the next month, with all the shit I'm still planning. Sheesh! For now, I guess I'll post this and actually get to putting away the laundry.Oh! Except, one last thing: Shobhit and I had gone over together to visit back in August, and we went to the farmers market there on the Port Orchard waterfront before we went the rest of the way up to Claudia and Dyan's house. I had my Star Wars tote bag, and we packed it with stuff that was too heavy, and it ripped. I was really bummed by that, but Claudia said she would mend it for me if I left it with her. I only ever see her every few months at best, but she was true to her word: she had the mended tote bag mended and ready for me today! I had actually forgotten about it, so this was a delightful surprise. Tied up with it inside a ribbon was a Christmas Card, inside of which she noted that it had come from the free bins at PCC, which really cracked me up. She left PCC a few years ago now.I'm just so happy to have my favorite tote bag back! [posted 9:10 pm]

the fruitcake enterprises social review—fall 2024

In the fall of 2024, I engaged in in-person or face-to-face virtual social interaction with the following people on the indicated number of days:
1. Shobhit—31
2. Laney—27
3. Alexia—12
4. Karen—6
5. Scott—3
6. Tracy—3
7. Gabby—3 ***
8. Amy—3 ***
9. Danielle—2
10. Lea—2
11. Linda—2
12. Tony—5 *
13. Jake—4 *
14. Ben—4 *
15. Ryan—4 *
16. Gabriel—1
17. Gina—1
18. Beth—1
19. Tess—1
20. Janine—1
21. Daniel—4 *
22. Derek—4 *
23. Chris—3 *
24,. Chris—3 *
25. Kevin—3 *
26. Nick—2
27. Andy—2 *
28. Tom—2 *
29. Ellen—1
30. Arthur—1
31. Noah—1 ***
32. Frank—1 ***
33. Cathryn—1 ***
34,. Sara—1 ***
35,. Benny—1 ***
36. Thao—1 ***
37. Justine—1 ***
38. Tracy—1 ***
39. Kevin—1 ***
40. Deborah—1 **
41. Deanna—1 **
42. Rebecca—1 **
43. Justin—1 **
44. Andrew—1 **
45. Peter—1 ***
46. Beth—1 ***
47. Mackenzie–1 ***
48. Emma—1 ***
49. Leon—1 ***
50. Jaycee—1 
51. Crystal—1 **
52. Joe—1 *
53. Sean—1 *
54. Eric—1 *
55. Greg—1 *
56. Dan—1 *
* Regular attendee at Action Movie Night ** At Gregory A. Falls Reception party ** Work social(s) Total days in the spring with social interaction: 62 (68.1%, a -6.9 percentage point change from sumer)
No great insights on this season/quarter's list. It was a bit of a nail biter as to whether Shobhit would make it to #1, with him and Laney being neck and neck for the top position for most of it—even after Shobhit and I took a four-day trip to Phoenix in November (which, incidentally, is the reason for Scott's return to the Social Review, for the first time since the Fall Social Review last year, putting him at #5 with 3 points). For about a week there, it looked like Laney would finish at #2 but only one point sky of tying Shobhit, but then the plan for us to see a movie yesterday fell apart when I discovered The Brutalist was not yet opening locally. Then, Shobhit and Danielle and I went to that "Gingerbread Mania" popup on Thursday, and Shobhit and I went to Candy Cane Lane last night, giving him another two extra points. My suggestion that we go to Candy Cane Lane was more so I'd have some holiday activity to do on my second day of pre-Christmas PTO than anything else; the extra point for Shobhit was just an extra bit of motivator for him. Getting him to stay at #1 over the winter may be more of a challenge. He leaves or India on Christmas Day and isn't back until January 19, taking him out of commission for the Social Review for three and a half weeks. Earlier this month, Laney texted me after I mentioned Shobhit's obsession with this (again): I think you should stop giving me social review points because I think it tortures Shobhit and I honestly don't give a shit if I have social review points or not. I replied: That's not how this works! To be fair, I do have a slightly messy approach to the rankings now, where I consistently rank Action Movie Night attendees lower than closer friends and family with fewer "points." But, this is a way to account for how little direct interaction I have with a fair majority of the Action Movie Night people, and thus I am actually spending more time—particularly quality time—with people with whom I have had social engagements on a smaller number of days. The rest of the top 5 are the usual suspects, with Alexia at #3 with 12 points, honestly heartenin that we still spend that much time together even though she's lived in Issaquah now since May. It would seem I've had fewer lunch cancellations than usual with Karen, who is at #4 with 6 points. And that's even accounting for one lunch she did have to cancel, which would have taken her to 7 points but would not have changed her ranked position. Tracy comes in at #6 with 3 points, actually a bit up for her lately; Gabby and Amy, from work, both also have 3 points and that also slots them in the top 10, at #s 7 and 8 respectively. Danielle managed to eek into the top 10 at #9 with 2 points, and here's something very new: Lea has more Social Review points than Gabriel does! It's because she came with Laney and Alexia and me to see Wicked and Gabriel did not. Even though, to my astonishment, Gabriel did go see it later, I'm pretty sure with Lea happily seeing it again, My total ranked names come to 56 this quarter, which is actually seven fewer than summer, but still that many only because of multiple parties with many present that I counted because of my socializing with them on some level.  So, with all that yammering done, let's get on with the who did what with whom where and when . . .
Monday, September 24: with Laney and Shobhit, Happy Hour at Smith Tuesday, September 25: with Laney, to a movie (The Substance) Friday, September 27: with Karen, lunch over Zoom Friday, September 27: with Shobhit, to a play (Guards at the Taj) and out for dessert (A La Mode Pie) Saturday, September 28: with Laney, to a movie (The Wild Robot) Saturday, September 28: with Gabriel, Lea, and Tess, Movie Night at the Braeburn Condos theater (Paris Is Burning) Sunday, September 29: with Shobhit and Alexia, lunch and a movie at Alexia's place (The Age of Adaline) Monday, September 30: with Shobhit, podcast kickoff party for The Future of Our Former Democracy, at Stoup Brewing Wednesday, October 2: with Tony, Jake, Ben, Ryan, Chris B, Tom, Joe, Derek, and Andy, Action Movie Night (10 Cloverfield Lane) Friday, October 4: with Jennifer and Matthew, out for dinner (Ox Burger), out for dessert (Coché Valley), and staying the night at our place Saturday, October 5: with Jennifer and Matthew, out for breakfast (The Crumpet Shop), and to the Northwest Chocolate Festival Sunday, October 6: with Shobhit and Alexia, Issaquah Salmon Days festival Tuesday, October 8: with Laney, to a movie (The Outrun) Friday, October 11: with Karen, lunch over Zoom Saturday, October 12: with Shobhit and Laney, day drinking Happy Hour at Overlook Walk Saturday, October 12: with Alexia, movie night at the Braeburn Condos theater (Blade Runner 2049) Sunday, October 13: with Laney and Alexia, to a movie (Saturday Night) Wednesday, October 16: with Gabby and Amy, out for lunch (Moto Pizza) Wednesday, October 16: with Tony, Jake, Ben, Ryan, Chris G, Derek, Kevin, Daniel, and a new guy, Action Movie Night (Airplane!) Thursday, October 17: with Shobhit, Tasveer Film Festival Opening Night (Loop Line and Wakhri) Saturday, October 19: with Laney, to a movie (We Live in Time) Saturday, October 19: with Shobhit, to a movie at the Tasveer Film Festival (Katlaa Curry) Sunday, October 20: with Laney, Braeburn Condos theater double feature (The End We Start From and I'll Be Right There) Monday, October 21: with Shobhit, The Gregory Awards ceremony at Center Theater, Seattle Center Friday, October 25: with Karen, lunch over Zoom Friday, October 25: with Laney, Pumpkin Carving Party 2024 Saturday, October 26: with Shobhit and Tracy, Día de Muertos Festival 2024 Sunday, October 27: with Shobhit, West Seattle Harvest Fest 2024 Sunday, October 27: with Tracy, Once Upon a Halloween Triple Feature Pizza Party at The Grand Illusion Cinema Monday, October 28: with Laney, Happy Hour at Donna's Tuesday, October 29: with Laney, to a movie (Conclave) Wednesday, October 30: with Shobhit, joining him for Weight Watchers meeting, then out for birthday pastries at Zylberschtein's Wednesday, October 30: with Shobhit, Tony, Ben, Ryan, Derek, Chris B, Andy, Tom, Sean, Eric, and Daniel, Action Movie Night (Alien Romulus) Thursday, October 31: with Shobhit and Alexia, Capitol Hill Halloween Walk Thursday, October 31: with Shobhit, out for Diwali dinner at Tandoori Flame & Indian Grill Friday, November 1: with Laney, to a movie (Godzilla Minus One) Saturday, November 2: with Laney, Happy Hour at Bar Vacilando Thursday, November 7: with Laney, to a movie (Anora) Friday, November 8: with Karen, lunch over Zoom Friday, November 8: with Laney, to a movie (Blitz) Sunday, November 10: with Shobhit, Scott and Linda, Burton Barr Central Library; out for dinner (Velvet Taco); Canal Convergence in Scottsdale; out for dessert (Jeni's Ice Cream); and staying overnight at Scott and Linda's place in Peoria Monday, November 11: with Shobhit and Scott, day trip to Sedona: out for lunch (Cress on Oak Creek at L'Auberge de Sedona); hike around Bell Rock Monday, November 11: with Shobhit, Scott and Linda, walk to Agua Fria Trail to view the sunset; out for dinner (Tum Yum Thai) Tuesday, November 12: with Shobhit and Scott, touring the Arizona State Capitol Complex; out for brunch (Matt's Big Breakfast); and Desert Botanical Garden Tuesday, November 12: with Shobhit, out for dinner (Centrico Cocina Mexicana); self-guided walking tour of downtown Phoenix Wednesday, November 13: with Shobhit, continental breakfast at SureStay by Best Western Phoenix Airport; travel home from Phoenix Friday, November 15: with Laney, to a movie (A Real Pain) Saturday, November 16: with Laney and Alexia, Braeburn Condos theater double feature (Gladiator and The Wizard of Oz) Tuesday, November 19: with Laney, to a movie (Red One) Thursday, November 21: with Laney, Alexia, and Lea, out for dinner (Nordstrom Cafe) Thursday, November 21: with Laney, Alexia, Lea, and Janine, to a movie (Wicked: Part I) Friday, November 22: with Alexia, Seattle Christmas Market 2024 Saturday, November 23: with Shobhit, out for a walk to Volunteer Park and back Saturday, November 23: with Shobhit, Laney, and Alexia, to a movie (Gladiator II) Saturday, November 23: with Shobhit and Alexia, Seattle Festival of Trees 2024 Sunday, November 24: with Shobhit and Tracy, bowling at West Seattle Bowl Monday, November 25: with Shobhit and Laney, Happy Hour at The Pine Box Tuesday, November 26: with Danielle, out for lunch at then Seattle Festival of Trees at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel Wednesday, November 27: with Gina, Beth, and Jaycee, touring the UW campus and Suzzallo Library Wednesday, November 27: with Tony, Greg, Jake, Chris G, Chris B, Joe, Andrew, and Daniel, Action Movie Night (The Return of the Living Dead) Friday, November 29: with Laney, Teddy Bear Suite and then hot chocolates at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel Friday, November 29: with Shobhit and Alexia, Lighting of the Tree Celebration at Westlake Center, and Gingerbread Village at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel Saturday, November 30: with Shobhit, Ellen and Arthur, dinner at our place Monday, December 2: with Shobhit, out for a walk up 19th Avenue and back Wednesday, December 4: with Gabby, Amy, Cathryn, Sara J, Thao, Emma, Leon, and more, PCC Foraged Feast 2024 Wednesday, December 4: with Noah, Frank, Gabby, Amy, Justine, Tracy, Cathryn, Kevin, Peter, Leon, Beth, Mackenzie, and more, Seattle Art Museum Wednesday, December 4: with Gabby, Amy, Benny, Nick, and more, Happy Hour at Fonté Bar, Rainier Square Thursday, December 5: with Alexia, WildLanterns at Woodland Park Zoo Friday, December 6: with Karen, lunch over Zoom Friday, December 6: with Laney, to a movie (Queer) Saturday, December 7: with Alexia, The Great Figgy Pudding Caroling Competition at Pike Place Market, out for lunch at Asean Streat, and Dina Martina Christmas Show at Act Theatre Saturday, December 7: with Shobhit, to a chorus concert (Noël sans frontières at Prospect Congregational United Church of Christ) Sunday, December 8: with Laney, to a movie (Flow) Tuesday, December 10: with Laney, to a movie (Y2K), and out for dessert at Voodoo Doughnut Wednesday, December 11: with Tony, Jake, Ryan, Kevin, Ben, Chris G, Derek, Andrew, Daniel, Dan, and Shobht, Action Movie Night (Gremlins) Thursday, December 12: with Shobhit, out for dessert (sharing a sugar cookie at Greenlake Village PCC) Friday, December 13: with Shobhit and Laney, dinner and a movie at our place (The Holdovers) Saturday, December 14: with Shobhit, walking to Occidental Park Holiday Lights & Delights Sunday, December 15: with Shobhit, walking to Louisa Boren Lookout and back Sunday, December 15: with Laney, to a movie (The End), Happy Hour at Bombo Italian Kitchen, and to the selfie spots for Holiday Lights & Delights at Westlake Park Monday, December 16: with Shobhit, Deborah, Deanna, Rebecca, Justin, Andrew, Crystal and more, Gregory A. Falls Reception at the Escala building Wednesday, December 18: with Gabby and Amy, Miracle on 2nd at Rob Roy Wednesday, December 18: with Gabby and Nick, checking out Nick's office view on the 42nd floor of the U.S. Bank Center building Thursday, December 19: with Shobhit and Danielle, Gingerbread Mania at Frosty Barrel in Newcastle, and Clam Lights at Gene Coulon Park Friday, December 20: with Karen, lunch at her place Friday, December 20: with Shobhit, Candy Cane Lane in Ravenna