— पांच हजार आठ सौ तैंतीस —
Holy Christ, did I have a packed weekend! And I mean the kind with so much going on that, ideally, I could post about at least some of it before the weekend is over, to save me some time and effort in reviewing it all on Monday—but, I just never had the time for it this weekend.
What I really wanted to do, at the very least, was share a standalone post about
Georgetown Pride, the first Pride event I managed to get myself to in Seattle this year, because when Pride in the Park Happened, Shobhit and I were in Washington, D.C. watching the World Pride Parade (obviously a higher priority). In any case, I usually like to make Pride posts standalone posts, so that, for instance, if I ever clicked the "Seattle Pride 2025" tag (see tags at the bottom of this post), then all the posts would only be about this year's Pride events and not about other stuff. This is just my particular brand of OCD talking though, and sometimes, you can't get everything you want.
Also, I should note: Georgetown Pride, apparently only in its second year, did not have a lot going on anyway. This is a little unfair to the event, I should also note, because their
many events and venues were scheduled between 11am and, in some cases, 12:30am or just "late." The latter examples were part of 21+ events and did not even have listed start times until anywhere from 4pm to 9:30pm., and Shobhit and I were only in the Georgetown neighborhood for about an hour, from noon to 1pm or so.
But, I can still say we went! I probably would have gotten at least some better photos had we been able to go down there late afternoon or earlye evening, but we had other plans. I still wanted to go check it out, though, and this was our window in which to do it. Shobhit was also interested, and this made it an easier thing for us to go out and do before his stage reading than, for instance, what I had otherwise long thought I would be doing that day: the Fremont Solstice Parade and Fair. Once I learned about Georgetown Pride, though, I decided I could skip Fremont Solstice this year. Georgetown would be a lot easier to get to and back in the time frame we needed.
Plus! With two annual Pride events I am unable to attend this year, in both case due to travel (I was in D.C. when Pride in the Park happened; I'll be flying home from Minneapolis / Saint Paul the day of Alki Beach Pride), that's two fewer Pride Albums I can create this year—and I want to make up for them! So: Georgetown Pride can be one; another will likely be the Theater Puget Sound Pride After Party on the day of the Pride Parade on Sunday next weekend. (There are other events I went to last year that aren't even happening this year, so there's no way I'll match the
record 11 Seattle Pride photo albums I managed last year; I may, however, match the 8 albums I managed both the previous two years before that. Besides, honestly, eight is enough!)
Okay, back to the specifics of Georgetown Pride. I did consider taking the bus down there and back, before I knew Shobhit would be interested in going, but even though Georgetown is only five miles directly south of us, the neighborhood is neither anywhere near Light Rail nor a direct line for any more than one bus route (and in some cases transferring has an itinerary a few minutes shorter than that one!), and transit would take at minimum 45 minutes. That much time there and that much time back, with other plans in the afternoon, was just not feasible. Thankfully Shobhit was good with driving, and we predictably found easy free parking on side streets nearby.
Based on
the event map, I kind of expected a street fair covering several blocks. We parked near one of them marked on the map, and the "street fair" consisted of
about five booths at the end of one block, well away from anything else going on. I did get the fantastic shot of a skeleton selling lube out of it, though (see above). A lady at the booth said to me, "Her name is Anita Kegel!"
That bit of delightful camp felt promising to me, and after Shobhit consulted with one of the booth people, we used the map to find our way to other spots marked on it. "Georgetown Pride" wound up being a little more like a "Pride Spot Scavenger Hunt," with certain businesses simply having sandwich boards and rainbow balloons outside the entrance to indicate their participation—many of them had a deal of some kind going on, but a lot of them were bars that were part of the "21+" venues we were far too early for.
The one spot that truly felt like a kind of full-on "Pride Market" was "Georgetown Trailer Park Mall," which it turns out is a market they do every weekend anyway, little shops inside several little trailers
in a parking lot. Many of them had
a lot of Pride decorations, at least. I got a few decent photos in there.
The best part of our visit to Georgeown, in the end, was going to
Deep Sea Sugar & Salt, a bakery Gabby recommended when I told her during our Friday 1x1 that we were going to Georgetown. I'd say maybe 20 minutes of the hour we were in Georgetown was spent at this bakery. We split a lemon cupcake that was just okay—good icing, the cake part a little dry (cupcakes are always a real crapshoot on this front). But, we also bought a slice of "
9lb Chocolate Porter" cake to go, which we shared later in the evening while watching the requisite Saturday night reruns of
As Time Goes By on KCTS, and it was amazing.
We walked back to the car from Deep Sea Sugar & Salt, with Shobhit having taken their menu and asking me, as he keeps doing even though it's already a year away, what cake I'll want for my 50th birthday. I think he's leaning toward getting one from La Parisienne like we did for Sherri's 70th in 2022, even though that would be expensive, and I'm fine with that. I just don't feel a need to make a decision on that 10 months in advance. He likes to shop around. I told him it was very unlikely that we'd wind up getting it from this place, though, and he agreed.
Also on the walk back to the car, we passed by Oxbow Park, where I tookt the requisite photo of "
Hat n' Boots," which has been there over 20 years now and which Shobhit had never seen. The last time I had been to the park, and took photos of these "roadside attraction" landmarks, was in 2012, when I went with Gabriel, Kornelija and Tess to the
Museum of Flight, which is also in Georgetown.
I think I may make a note to look into going to Georgetown Pride again next year, later in the day and with Laney perhaps. On the other hand, if it is again on the same day as the Fremont Solstice Parade, I may choose instead to go back to that. If there's nothing else planned that day, theoretically I could do both—Fremont in the afternoon and Georgetown in the evening. They are roughly the same distance from home and it nearly opposite directions, however. So, we'll see. I'll still make a note of both of them!
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तैंतीस —
Shobhit wanted to get back home by 2pm, ideally evening by 1:30, which we did manage pretty easily. He had an earlier call time than I needed to be there, but he did get me a comp ticket to see him in the live stage reading of a play called
C[y]pher, part of a series this month called "
Unleashed: New Plays for a New World by Asian American playwrights. The reading began at 4pm.
Shobhit had decided to walk down there, and so did I, just at different times—the venue was Theatre Off Jackson. Shobhit didn't think he had ever been to that theater before. I have been there several times, a few of them for earlier years of
Hamm for the Holidays, when those were nearly annual and well before Peggy Platt passed away. (I really miss those shows, they were typically hilarious.) I know I've seen other stuff there over the years too.
Still, I did not expect to run into anyone I knew there, let alone two different people, totally unrelated to each other: the first was Agastya (pronounced "a gust-yuh"). He was standing at the entrance to the house when I was about to go in, and he said hi to me. "Agastya!" he said. This was the guy who taught the Hindi class I took in both 2005 and 2006, which was also where I first met Karen. "I wouldn't even have recognized you!" I said—I didn't say it was because he looked much older (as naturally, he would). His retort was, "You haven't changed a bit!"
After the show, Shobhit and Agastya exchanged numbers. It was through Shobhit that I had even known about the Hindi class; Agastya has long been involved in the local theater scene, especially in South Asian or even more broadly Asian contexts. The first play Shobhit was ever in here in Seattle was a Hindi language play that Agastya was involved with. He may even have been the director, but I can't remember for sure. When Agastya was talking to me before the show, he said, "I think it's been something like twenty years!" Close: for the three years between 2007 and 2009, Karen asked me to take photos for her at
NW iChild Heritage Day, an annual event for an organization Karen is part of for parents who have adopted South Asian children. In both 2007 and 2008, Shobhit performed in skits put on at these events—and Agastya was at the one in 2008. I suppose it's possible I saw him sometime after that, but maybe not—in which case, I last saw him 17 years ago (not quite 20). At the time his hair was still fully black, and when I saw him this past Saturday he had a lot of gray in it, which was part of what made me not recognize him at first.
The other person I saw was a guy named Gary, who used to live in the west building at the Braeburn Condominiums and who looked after Shanti and Guru a few times while I was traveling—I think while Shobhit lived in L.A., so I don't think Shobhit ever met him. Gary moved to someplace north of Seattle several years ago. He happened to be sitting at the opposite end of the section of seating I sat in: we were both next to aisles, all the seats empty between us. Shobhit seemed somewhat surprised I would sit five rows back from the front, but I told him later I didn't want to be a distraction.
As for the play itself? I was actually incredibly impressed. It took some time to hood me in the beginning, because I kept nodding off—no reflection of the play, this just happens to me mid-afternoon sometimes. It was also kind of hard to follow at times. But, once I finally locked into what was going on, even with it being merely a stage reading with everyone holding scripts in their hands, I was fully engaged and really impressed with the writing. (The playwright's name is Harold Taw, and that was why Gary was there, incidentally: apparently he knows Harold.)
The story is somewhat
Inception-eqsue (a comparison made during the post-performance Q&A with the writer and the director, whose name I forget and who is unfortunately not noted on the web page), except instead of dreams, characters infiltrate AI digital copies of other people's memories. There are four characters, two primary and two secondary. The main character is a 4th-grade teacher who had a distant relationship with her father who recently passed away, but she finds herself inside her father's AI memories. Shobhit plays the father, who does not get nearly as much stage time but who is deeply critical as the story revolves around him. And Shobhit did a great job, and I think he was perfectly cast in the part. I told him so later.
There is a scientist character who is a kind of maybe-potential boyfriend for the teacher character. Shobhit told me later he had initially been cast in that part, but they switched roles once rehearsals started. A smart move, I think. Shobhit is perfect for a father figure who is stubborn and stuck in his ways. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the play, which vastly exceeded my expectations. Live stag performances that are at this stage of development are not often this engaging, and I would be thrilled to see this get a full production somewhere. ("With me in it!" Shobhit added, when I later told him that. Yes, that too!)
Shobhit and I walked home together after the reading, then prepared dinner, and ate while watching
As Time Goes By. I had barely managed to edit and upload photos from Georgetown Pride before needing to leave for the play, and by the time we were watching TV at the end of the day, I wasn't even thinking about it. We watched the last available episode of
Poker Face; now we have to watch the final three as they are released week to week.
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तैंतीस —
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तैंतीस —
So that brings us to yesterday, which was even more jam packed than Saturday. Alexia came over for both brunch and a double feature; we went to Lowell's at the Market for brunch—Shobhit did not join us, but he did walk with us downtown, to get steps in.
Somehow the cost of eating out came up while we walked, and at one point Alexia said, "I can't deal with $20 for breakfast." I almost said: "Oh, well, that's what you're about to pay!" But then the conversation quickly pivoted. It came up again though, when we walked up to the menu boards at the restaurant. Then she ordered the Salmon Scramble.
I historically get the blueberry pancakes when I eat there, but when I saw they had Vanilla Cinnamon French Toast, I decided I wanted that. Those alone were $19.95—prices have definitely gone up significantly since I was last there (according to my Google Calendar: 2017, when Cyndi, my mom's biological sister, visited—I didn't even realize it was fully eight years ago!). The pancakes are $16.95, but with an additional $8.95(!) for fresh berries, which would make them total $25.90. Jesus Christ! The French toast felt like a steal. I will say this: they were really delicious.
One thing that really struck me, though, was how
not busy Lowell's was yesterday. In the past, there was a line well out the door. Alexia and I walked right up to the register to order, no one in line ahead of us at all! We got up to the third floor and found a table next to the windows immediately. What I can't figure out is if this is because people don't want to pay those prices or if it's a lack of bouncing back after the way covid hit most restaurants. Maybe a mixture of both. But at those prices, I can only hope they stay in business—I'm sure as shit not inclined to go back any time soon to pay that much again. I budgeted $30 for that breakfast—and paid $32.53. I always like to get an orange juice there too. I probably should have stuck with water.
Alexia and I walked back to my building together, and there we watched the next double feature in our Batman Movies Marathon:
Batman Begins and
The Dark Knight, these both being among the best ever made. I just watched the Christopher Nolan trilogy in February last year, but it was Alexia's idea to do this marathon, and I am happy to do it!
We got started a bit ahead of schedule, and were done around a quarter after 4:00—she had met at my place at 9:00 before we walked downtown, and it was probably close to 11:30 when we got the first movie started. Thankfully the theater bulb, which has had to be replaced
three times so far this year, was working, after its malfunction the week before last had the Action Movie Night shift up to Tony and Sarah's condo.
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तैंतीस —
After Alexia and I said our goodbyes, I went out to the p-patch to see Shobhit and Gina from the 6th floor, just getting onto the final stretch of building the new shed—the old one had fully collapsed, and after some time and effort, Shobhit got the Board to buy a new one. This thing clearly came as only boards and screws, though. I guess Sarah had helped some when they got started, having scheduled the start at 1:00 although Shobhit went down at 12:30. There was another person already in the p-patch, I forget the name (it was someone I had never heard of), who helped a bit as well, particularly with organizing parts and hauling away the old shed. But, the core "group" was just Shobhit and Gina, and they finished close to 6:00—they worked on building that thing for a solid five hours. Naturally I took
some photos, which Shobhit wanted as well. Although I was the one who said, "Can I be corny and get a picture of both of you with it?" Not wanting to just throw these shots into my "Misc 2025" photo album, I decided to include them in the "
Braeburn Building Repair Project 2024-2025" album.
Shobhit then invited Gina to come over for dinner, and she accepted. We decided she'd come by after 20 minutes, so Shobhit could take a quick shower and then add one more dish to the dinner since we'd be having a guest: he had already made a taro root dish; we had leftovers of Saturday's bell pepper dish; and he added a dish of canned "three-bean blend" (by Field Day, bought at PCC!) to which he added fried onions and some spices. We also made rice to have with all of the above, and Shobhit made several parathas from scratch.
It was nice having her over, and I did
sneak an awkward shot of the dinner table, so I could add that to my "
Hosted Dinners 2025" photo album. I learned a lot about Gina that I never knew before—both personal and professional; she's involved in a
lot of stuff and does a lot of volunteering—and it was lovely having her over.
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तैंतीस —
I was only slightly concerned about the last thing I still wanted to do: the first-ever
Seattle Center Hot Air Balloon Glow-Up. I only knew about it because I am on the Seattle Center mailing list, and they sent an email out about it. I thought it sounded super cool—the hot air balloons would not be lauched, but they are still real, with hot air and baskets and everything; they would be
blown up at 9 p.m. and would do some cynchronized lighting.
When I got up and started taking dishes to the kitchen, I meant it as a subtle signal, and it worked. Gina said her goodbyes, and soon enough, Shobhit and I were taking the two-mile walk to Seattle Center. We went straight down Pine and then up 4th Avenue. We got there at about 8:45; we were there about forty minutes; I got
30-shot photo album (six of then video clips) out of it.
We might even have stayed longer, if not for it being a Sunday night—I have no idea why they chose a Sunday for this. But the event was scheduled for dusk, and dusk in Seattle in June is well after 9:00. We were going to take the bus home, and I didn't want to get home too late, so even though I'd have liked to get photos after it got darker, it got dim enough for good photos before I decided it best to start heading back. This was smart also just in terms of transit: we walked over to Queen Anne Avenue to get on the bus, and tons of other people got on at stops after us, after the #8 we managed to catch was going up Denny. Shobhit thought the 8 might be really delayed, but it stayed pretty well on track even with all the people that got on.
It was close to 10:00 by the time we got home. I barely managed to get the photos uploaded to Flickr before I really needed to get into bed. I'm really glad we went down there, though. It was really cool.
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तैंतीस —
Oh! And finally, I'll mention Friday: I went to see
Elio, the new Pixar film. It was okay. The B-minus I gave it might be the worst I have ever given a Pixar film, and Laney didn't miss out on too much by not making it. She had to cancel in the afternoon due to a stomach bug. Thankfully she felt back to normal by Saturday so our Happy Hour planned for after work tonight is still on.
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तैंतीस —
[posted 12:32pm]
