The Returns

12122025-24

— पांच हजार नौ सौ पचपन —

I spent basically all evening last night at Steamworks. You don't need to know the details, except that it was spectacular. Every time I think I'm getting too old, some hot young guy comes along to validate me. I met a young man named Tyler who gave me an experience for the ages. I guess I'll leave it at that.

Should I include him on the next Social Review? Hmm. We spent a lot of time together so I think I will.

There's not much else to share about the past 24 hours. I got home later than I expected or intended, but not by much: it was around 10:00, maybe shortly before. I set about getting ready for bed as soon as I got home, although this included taking the sheets out of the dryer and putting them on back on the bed. I decided Shobhit could have freshly laundered sheets when he comes home tonight.

His flight is scheduled to land at 5:05. I'll be leaving work maybe an hour early, so I can get home and get in the car to drive down and pick him up. I just looked it up and it appears to be within minutes of being right on schedule: currently slated to land at 5:07.

— पांच हजार नौ सौ पचपन —

12122025-21

— पांच हजार नौ सौ पचपन —

I just had my biweekly Zoom lunch with Karen. As usual, I took my lunch and my laptop, and my "seattle fog" tea latte, into a phone room.

We had a lot to catch up on: her pending work trip to Brussels; the increasing complexity of the process of offering shareholder positions to two of her seven staff; the wound on my back now being more of a sort of scrape than an actual hole (thank god); my promotion and raise. Even Karen reacted with a stunned facial expression when I told her I was given a 12.3% raise.

She had just had a doctor's appointment at the Virginia Mason clinic at University Village, which apparently ran long. She didn't have time to drive home in time, so she got on Zoom with me on her phone while eating a kids' meal quesadilla from Chipotle. She found it really spicy and thought it was odd that a kids' meal would be spicy. That seems kind of odd to me too.

Anyway. Speaking of my raise, it was in effect as of the 1st, so my paycheck today is a hybrid of the old and new wages. My take-home pay today was roughly $157 more than my paychecks used to be, which conveniently was right about the amount I was over budget before knowing what today's paycheck would look like. It's all working out in the end! In a lot of cases you can rely on that fact if you just wait long enough. Until you're on your death bed, I suppose.

— पांच हजार नौ सौ पचपन —

12122025-22

[posted 1:09pm]

My Bluesky posts

  • Thu, 08:26: Holy shit. I had no idea the Varsity had been in business since 1940! This bums me out more than most news about closures do. But of course, that's just because I love cinema—but, I should also confess that I can't even remember the last time I saw a movie at the Varsity: I see all my movies Downtown, and back when I did go to the U District, it was to go to the AMC 10 (that used to be Sundance Cinemas which used to be The Metro) which itself closed a year ago this month. It sucks to be a movie lover in the U District, I guess.

    Eons ago, I used to go to the Varsity regularly, back when Landmark Theaters was running it, as well as the Neptune (closed as a cinema 2011, now a live theater) and the Seven Gables Theater (closed 2017) and even the Guild 45th over in Wallingford (also closed in 2017). Us movie lovers have been fighting a losing battle to preserve theatrical movie-going since well before the pandemic just turbocharged the inevitable. ☹️

    Historic Varsity Theater in Seattle's University District to close after 8 decades