the fruitcake enterprises social review—fall 2025

In the fall of 2025, I engaged in in-person or face-to-face virtual social interaction with the following people on the indicated number of days: 1. Shobhit—38
2. Laney—23
3. Alexia—4
4. Karen—4
5. Gabby—3
6. Sachin—3
7. Tony—5 *
8. Jake—5 *
9. Tracy—2
10. Cathryn—2 **
11. Amanda—2 **
12. Amy—2 **
13. Brandy—2 **
14. Sara—2 **
15. Lori—2 **
16. Lexis—2 **
17. Grant—2 **
18. Anita—2
19. Danielle—1
20. Gina—1
21. Daniel—5 *
22. Chris—4 *
23. Derek—4 *
24. Ryan—4 *
25. Alice—1
26. Diane—1
27. Charlotte—1
28. Sanjay—1
29. Cheryl—1
30. Dorie—1 **
31. Ben—2
32. Dave—2
33. Steven—1 **
34. Sue—1 **
35. Mackenzie—1 **
36. Roxanne—1 **
37. Katherine—1 **
38. Jack—1 **
39. Marissa—1 **
40. Cat—1 **
41. Amelia—1
42. Shelton—1
43. Andy—1 *
44. Greg—1 *
45. Damon—1 *
* Regular attendee at Action Movie Night ** Coworker get-togethers Total days in the fall with social interaction: 61 (67%, a -8 percentage point change from summer)
Just a few things to note for this edition: Shobhit and Laney hold their typical positions at #1 and #2, respectively, though Shobhit's points are down 4 from summer, and Laney's are up 3. Ivan actually returned to take up the #3 spot with 6 points last time, but is absent yet again here; he won't appear again until he visits Seattle again, which could be anywhere from one to three years from now. The other notable absence is Gabriel, who usually has one to three points on these Social Reviews, but there's a slew of potential reasons for his absence here. (To be fair, Danielle was totally absent from the Summer review, and I can't remember that ever even happening before; we managed to hang out just once over the fall. Sometimes people just get busy.) No one besides Shobhit and Laney dominated my social calendar this year really, though: even Alexia only got 4 points, as did Karen, although in both cases we managed some pretty significant time together on the days we did hang out. Gabby cracked the top 5 with only 3 points, and although I have others with 5 points, because they are regulars at things like Action Movie Night in which I have comparatively very little direct interaction, I rank them lower. Still, Tony and Jake crack the top 10 for this reason; Sachin visited twice and that's how he wound up with 3 points this season. Tracy came in at #9 just under the wire, after we hung out a second time over the fall just yesterday. I have a lot of other stuff left to do this evening, though, and I usually have these Social Reviews posted in the morning. So let's get to the who did with whom where and when! Monday, September 22: with Shobhit, out for a walk to downtown and back Tuesday, Seotember 23: with Shobhit, out for a walk to the Tuesday Capitol Hill Farmers Market and back Thursday, September 25: with Laney, Happy Hour at Pinoyshki Bakery and then Happy Hour at Saint John's Friday, September 26: with Laney, to a movie (One Battle After Another) Sunday, September 28: with Shobhit and Laney, walking downtown Sunday, September 28: with Laney, to a movie (Eleanor the Great) Saturday, October 4: with Shobhit, hiking Discovery Park Sunday, October 5: with Shobhit, walk to Volunteer Park and back Tuesday, October 7: with Shobhit, walking Marsh Island at Washington Park Arboretum Thursday, October 9: with Gabby, Amy, and Cathryn, out for drinks at Fireside Burien Thursday, October 9: with Shobhit, Tasveer Film Festival Opening Night Gala Saturday, October 11: with Laney, Happy Hours at The Cheese Room and Saint John's Bar & Eatery Saturday, October 11: with Shobhit, out for a walk up Broadway and back on 15th Sunday, October 12: with Laney, to a movie (Roofman) Monday, October 13: with Karen, lunch at her place in Magnolia Wednesday, October 15: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Chris B, Derek, Daniel, and Damon, Action Movie Night (Under Siege) Thursday, October 16: with Shobhit, PacSci Practice Day at Pacific Science Center, Seattle Center Saturday, October 18: with Shobhit, Diwali Festival at Seattle Center; and No Kings Mass Protest - Seattle Rally & March Saturday, October 18: with Laney, to a movie (Good Fortune) Sunday, October 19: with Alexia, Braeburn Condos double feature (Death Becomes Her and Something's Gotta Give) Tuesday, October 21: with Shobhit, walking to Twice Sold Tales and Elliott Bay Books Wednesday, October 22: with Sara, Lori, Lexis, and Grant, Office Relocation Team Happy Hour at Yard House Wednesday, October 22: with Shobhit and Sachin, Sachin arrives / dinner at our place Friday, October 24: with Shobhit and Sachin, dinner and drinks at our place Saturday, October 25: with Laney, to a movie (Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere) Monday, October 27: with Shobhit, The Gregory Awards at Town Hall Seattle Tuesday, October 28: with Laney, watching a movie in the Braeburn Condos theater (A House of Dynamite) Wednesday, October 29: with Tony, Jake, Ryan, Ben, Chris B, Greg, and Daniel, Action Movie Night (Pan's Labyrinth) Thursday, October 30: with Shobhit and Sachin, out for Shobhit's birthday dinner (Ramen Danbo), then pre-Halloween Capitol Hill Walk Friday, October 31: with Shobhit, Supplemental North Capitol Hill Walk Saturday, November 1: with Shobhit, Dia de Muertos Festival at Seattle Center Sunday, November 2: with Laney, to a movie (Bugonia) Monday, November 3: with Laney, Happy Hour at Lost Lake Café & Lounge Thursday, Novemner 6: with Laney, Seattle Art Museum Thursday, November 6: with Shobhit, Pioneer Square First Thursday Art Walk Saturday, November 8: with Shobhit and Laney, walking downtown, after walking for an hour with just Shobhit Saturday, Novemner 8: with Laney, to a movie (Die My Love), and then Happy Hour at The Wash Sunday, November 9: with Shobhit, out for a walk to Pike Place Market Monday, November 10: with Danielle, out for hot drinks at The French Guys Monday, November 10: with Shobhit and Danielle, drinks and hanging out at our place Wednesday, November 12: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Ryan, Chris B, Derek, Andy, and Daniel, Action Movie Night (The Transformers: The Movie) Thursday, November 13: with Laney, to a movie (The Running Man) Friday, November 14: with Shobhit and Alexia, "It's About DAMN Time" show at Theatre4, Armory, Seattle Center Saturday, November 15: with Laney, Braeburn Condos theater movie (Avatar) Sunday, November 16: with Shobhit, out for a walk to Capitol Hill Farmers Market and Broadway Thursday, Novemner 20: with Laney and Alexia, to a movie (Wicked: For Good) Friday, November 21: with Shobhit, out dancing at The Cuff Sunday, November 23: with Tracy, to a movie (Sentimental Value), out for dinner (Shake Shack) and hanging out at Southcenter Mall Monday, November 24: with Laney, Happy Hour at Gemini Room Tuesday, Novemner 25: with Laney, Seattle Festival of Trees, and BYOB Happy Hour at Café Hitchcock Wednesday, Novemner 26: with Shobhit, out for a walk to Volunteer Park and back Wednesday, Novemner 26: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Ryan, Chris B, Derek, Derek's visiting brother-in-law who was also named Tony, and Daniel, Action Movie Night (Attack the Block) Thursday, Novemner 27: with Shobhit, Karen, Dave, Anita, Alice, Diane, Charlotte, Sanjay, Cheryl, Amelia, and Shelton, Thanksgiving dinner at Karen and Dave's house in Tulalip Thursday, November 27: with Shobhit, Tulalip Lights & Ice at Tulalip Resort Casino Friday, Novemner 28: with Shobhit, Gingerbread Village at the Sheraton Hotel, Lighting of the Tree< Celebration at Westlake Center, and Seattle Festival of Trees at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel Saturday, November 29: with Laney, to a movie (Hamnet) Saturday, November 29: with Shobhit, Naked Night at CC's Seattle Sunday, November 30: with Gina, Gingerbread Village at the Sheraton Hotel, chai at Rainier Square, Seattle Festival of Trees at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, doughnuts at Pike Place Market, lunch at Copacabana Pike Place, and Seattle Center Winterfest Sunday, November 30: with Shobhit, to a play (Elf the Musical at The 5th Avenue Theatre) Monday, December 1: with Laney, to a movie (Rental Family) Wednesday, December 3: with Amanda, Dorie, Sara, Roxanne, Lori, Katherine, and more, Dori's Retirement Party at PCC Greenlake Thursday, December 4: with Shobhit, Holiday in the Park at Volunteer Park Friday, December 5: with Shobhit, to a play (A Klingon Christmas Carol at Center Theatre) Saturday, December 6: with Shobhit, The Great Figgy Pudding Caroling Competition at Pike Place Market Saturday, December 6: with Laney, Federal Way Link Extension Sunday, December 7: with Laney, Braeburn Condos theater movie (Avatar: The Way of Water) Monday, December 8: with Shobhit, out for a walk to Belltown and Pike Place Wednesday, December 10: with Grant, Lexis, Sue, Jack, Marissa, Cat, and more, PCC Foraged Feast 2025 Wednesday, December 10: with Gabby and Brandy, Christmas Dive Bar Wednesday, December 10: with Tony, Jake, Ryan, Ben, Derek, Daniel, and Shobhit, Action Movie Night (Blue Ruin) Thursday, December 11: with Shobhit, "Revelry! A Night Of Drag And Other Shenanigans" at Theatre Off Jackson Saturday, December 13: with Laney, Happy Hour at The Pine Box Sunday, December 14: with Alexia, Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad's Christmas with the Clauses Wednesday, December 17: with Amanda, Steven, Cathryn, and Mackenzie, Celebrating Amanda's 15th PCC anniversary at Maiz Molino Wednesday, December 17: with Gabby, Amy, Cathryn, Brandy and more, Merchandising Holiday Social at Métier Brewing Co Cherry St Friday, December 19: with Karen, Anita, and Dave, lunch at their house in Magnolia Friday, December 19: with Laney, Christmas Dive Bar Saturday, December 20: with Tracy, Holiday Magic at the Fair, Puyallup

Holiday Magic at the Fair

Once again in the interest of time, I'll be mostly adapting today's post from the last photos and captions from the "Christmastime in the Northwest (PART TWO)" travelogue email I just sent out . . . Between the two of us, Tracy and I took a lot of selfies of ourselves together at Holiday Magic at the Fair last night—seven of them, in fact. We even took one in front of an even better Holiday Magic sign backdrop, but I thought this one was a better photo of the two of us. I went to a holiday event at the Washington State Fairgrounds once before, with Alexia back in 2021, and that was "A Victorian Country Christmas." Here I was just thinking "Holiday Magic" was the same event, just expanded and renamed, because like an idiot I had taken Google AI Overview's word for it, because when I Googled "difference between victorian country christmas and holiday magic at the fair," it said this: Victorian Country Christmas was the for the holiday event at the Puyallup Fairgrounds, which is now called Holiday Magic at the Fair, essentially the same event with a fresh, broader name focusing on lights, Santa, ice skating, and a holiday market, while retaining Victorian-themed vendor booths and festive cheer, offering a more expansive modern winter wonderland feel. Turns out, this was largely correct, except for a key element: the "original name" part. AI Overview is dumb. I said something to Tracy to the effect of it being the same event renamed, and she was like: "I just went to Country Christmas a couple of weeks ago." She went with her sister and cousin and aunt. As it happens, what is now called the Victorian Christmas Festival (they've just removed the "Country" part) still lives—it's just a shorter event at the Fairgrounds earlier in the season (December 4-7), followed by Holiday Magic (December 5-23, so they do have three days of overlap; I should have gone then!). The earlier event is just a Christmas Market, and Holiday Magic focuses much more on light displays, with some market elements. What delighted me most about Holiday Magic was that, unlike during the Washington State Fair in September, rides are free with admission. This meant we spent more than the first hour just waiting in line for two rides, the first of which was the carousel. This one, thankfully, we got on almost immediately—and then we waited several minutes sitting on the horses, way longer than the duration of the ride itself, before it even started. I should note that not all the rides run during Holiday Magic; the only ones I noticed, in fact, were the carousel and the Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel was by far the longest time commitment, both because by the time we got off the carousel the Ferris wheel line was relatively long, and because they were only filling four of the gondolas at a time. We were very mystified by this, and as we inched closer to the front of the line, at least two groups ahead of us bailed because of sounds the Ferris wheel was making. People were convinced the wheel was not working or was skipping the track somehow. None of this was correct, and staff eventually assured us the wheel was working properly. The issue was the rain, which made the tracks too wet against the smaller wheels that roll against it to make it spin around. This made them slip, and the filling of only four gondolas at a time was about weight: the wheel simply would not lift people to spin all the way around if more than four gondolas were weighted down. They even loaded Tracy and me into a gondola briefly, then had us get out for a few minutes so they could unload another one first. After that, we re-loaded and the wheel then spun around. Much more quickly than Ferris wheels usually do, in fact. Or maybe it just felt that way at night, I don't know. You can watch the above video clip and judge for yourself, I guess. In it you can also hear some of the clanging noises the wheel was making that was making some of the people in line nervous. I was just glad to finally get on it; we felt we had gotten way too close to bail. And I wanted my photo of the Fairgrounds from the top, goddammit! When we got off and headed for some food, the line was at least three times as long as when we first got in it. I was like: these people have no idea. Side note: we entered the Fairgrounds at about 4:50, and we got off the Ferris wheel, having merely gone to two rides by that point, at about 6:15. Totally worth it! Well, this year, anyway. Holiday Magic was . . . fine. But it's another thing I won't be doing every year. Here's Tracy at what they called The Yeti Bar. We snagged these seats just as another group was leaving; shortly after, while Tracy left to get us food and I saved our seats, still another group came and filled up the other seats around this warm fire. Tracy doesn't drink but I had brought my own hot buttered rum; when she came back with our pizza and soft pretzel ("Bread and cheese!" she said, more than once), she also brought me back a hot chocolate. Tracy doesn't drink, but she had thought I merely brought a flask that I I could pour into the hot chocolate. Instead, I drank down the hot buttered rum a bit, which was already fairly watered down (it was just two shots of rum and a spoonful of buttered rum batter; the rest was merely hot water), and I poured the hot chocolate in there. I never did that before, but it actually worked out relatively well—it cut down the richness of the hot chocolate but slightly added richness to the buttered rum. Also I couldn't easily walk around with that hot chocolate on its own after leaving it next to the fire started to melt the lid. Anyway, I had initially made plans to take the Sound Transit Express 578 bus that arrived in Puyallup at around 1:00, but then Tracy got her ticket reminder email, which also reminded her that the doors did not open until 4:30. So then I pivoted to the bus that was scheduled to arrive at 4:11, which was just as well as it gave me time to get my laundry done. That bus, by the way, left 9th & Stewart at 2:47 (actually 2:49; it was two minutes delayed), which means it's a bus ride that takes 74 minutes, at least when it runs on schedule. The bus took longer getting back for some reason; I caught the 8:01 bus back from Puyallup Station and it left on time, but was 10 minutes delayed by the time it got back to 9th and Howell. I walked home from there, and I spent the rest of the evening uploading my photos and watching Elf on my computer in the bedroom, as Shobhit was already watching something else in the living room, Just one more thing I want to mention about the Fair: while we were in line for the Ferris wheel, a middle-aged woman in line ahead of us asked how our Saturday had been. I said I did laundry. She told us she'd had a great day, volunteering at a place right by the Fairgrounds, called the transparent closet, which accepts donations for clothing to give to trans people looking for a safe place for clothing needs. Given the even more heinous news than usual over the past week, it was pretty heartwarming to encounter that. She told us she had a trans daughter; she and a few of her friends were riding the carousel while she held the line for the Ferris wheel. The kids eventually came back, and they were the first of the two groups to bail because they didn't like the sound it was making. That just got us closer to the front of the line! Anyway, it's always nice to see parents that cool, especially out in places like Puyallup.