Longtime readers of my LiveJournal may remember Other Danielle from two years ago, when I went with her and her other friend, Andrea, to the Madonna concert in Vancouver in 2015. It was in mid-October that year, so barely more than two years ago.

The above photo, taken last night outside the entrance to the Braeburn Condos, was one of the photos I had imagined I would be taking in Vancouver. I even told them at the time: "I want to get a picture of myself inside a Danielle sandwich!" But, when Danielle's dad passed away that very same week, it just wasn't meant to be.

But, soon after Andrea left last night, the Danielles, who had carpooled together up from the neighborhood they both live in in Renton, waited out by the condo complex's fountain. I thought I was meeting them at their car, because Danielle had some ghost pepper salsa that was too spicy for her and so she wanted to give it to Shobhit. But, after I returned some glasses from the community kitchen that I we had brought up to the condo (I'll get to that momentarily), they were waiting by the fountain. And Other Danielle said, "You want a Danielle Sandwich?" They were both giggling. Danielle and I had both had two stiff margaritas. Other Danielle, who would be driving, had only had one, and it had been a while since she finished it, so don't worry -- she was sober. But, still giggling.

I actually would have liked to get a photo of all four of us, but just never got around to it before Andrea left. I hadn't seen or spoken to either Andrea or Other Danielle since the two-day trip to Vancouver two years ago. But, at least I got this shot, which is pretty great.

Madonna released the DVD of her Rebel Heart Tour just a couple of months ago, and I proposed that we all get together to watch it -- so Other Danielle, Andrea and I could relive it; and so Danielle could see what she missed out on. Danielle was a little afraid it would take her back to the sadness of that week again, and it actually did a little bit, but for the most part she just hung out and had a good time. There were also some complications both in getting us all four coordinated to availability on the same day and on a day I could reserve the theatre room, but we pulled off a minor miracle and made it happen. For a bit there I even wondered if Danielle herself would make it, but she did.

The thing that sucked was, the theatre projector would not play the DVD properly. This stupid theatre has a long history of performance problems, but this was new. Not just the typical blank screen with sound on, but also moments of video running with no sound. And the screen kept flickering, and going to white snow. It even did this after I took the DVD disc out of the player, which indicated my DVD was not the problem. We had to give up and just go up to the condo to watch it. Other Danielle was perfectly happy with this though because she loved meeting the cats. Apparently, her own cat never gets into her lap. Guru did.

I had made a pitcher of margaritas, and used the glasses from the kitchen -- that's why we took them all upstairs. Watching the DVD was pretty fun, although I found it relied far too heavily on rapid-fire editing, which made it very little like actually watching a concert. It obscured a lot of the choreography, much of which was spectacular. The overall evening was more fun just hanging out with the three of them.

We ordered pizza, which only the Danielles and I shared; Andrea said she never eats after 6 p.m. for some reason. She didn't have a drink either. It was just as well we went to the condo, beause my phone was not reliably picking up signals in the theatre room. When Andrea arrived, just before 7:00, I just happened to be standing out in the lobby and see her. The Danielles were a different story: Danielle texted me that she was almost there, and then I got radio silence for the longest time.

Or so I thought. In the end, my spotty signal made me receive literally 15 texts all at once, at 7:21, even though the first of them had come at 7:08 -- realy right after Andrea arrived. But someone let them in (actually against the rules), and they went into the East Building, where my condo is, and not the West Building, where the theatre room is. So then I got bunch of texts from Danielle, like,
Where are you
W're here
Hello!!
Answer your phone
Did you die?
Hello
I'm at your apartment door
Did you leave
Did you change plans?
Did you drink all the margaritas?
Did you pass out?
Did you die?
and the like.

It was pretty amusing, once it all came through, and kind of a bummer that they'd been there for some fifteen minutes or so. But, then we ordered the "Agog" pizza with tons of garlic that Danielle loves from Pagliacci Pizza, and it all worked out in the end. I sent money via VenMo for the first time, to pay my $12 share of the pizza for which Danielle used her credit card.

The Danielles left at maybe a quarter till 11:00, which is normally when Ivan gets home from work. Had he arrived then, I might have been able to stay up to watch an episode of Stranger Things with him. But, he wasn't even on the bus that came at 11:10, so there was just no way. I went to bed.

But, then I pretty much spent the entire day with him today, after I went to PCC to do a very small bit of needed shopping, I still have so much at home, before Ivan got out of bed around 11 a.m. I had gone shopping and even gone to pick up dry cleaning before then.

But, yesterday I had made a proposition to him, if he had no other plans today: try and watch the final six episodes of Stranger Things 2 today. I don't think he was all that gung-ho on actually planning to watch six episodes of television in one day, but he became more receptive when I said we could just play it by ear -- and break for lunch. He was all about that, and we wound up watching all six episodes in the end anyway.

We started not long after 11 a.m., and watched two episodes, before Ivan suggested we go get lunch. He already suggested yesterday that we go to Honeyhole for sandwiches, and I was all about that, even though we always wind up waiting a long time for our sandwiches. I don't think it was quite as long as usual today, but it was still pretty long.

He orered the "Emelio Pestovez" sandwich, which I decided to try too. It was okay; I know next time and forevermore to stick with the "El Guapo," which I find to be a truly delicious sandwich. As often happens when he and I go out to eat, we sit in silence most of the time, only chatting occasionally. He spends a lot of time looking at his phone. But, we do live together and thus spend more time together than I do on average with anyone besides Shobhit, so, there's only so much to talk about, right? I don't mind it.

It was rather cold today, and slightly wet when we walked down there. I was freezing to death even in my pea coat, and he's out there in sweat pants and his track jacket. I don't know how people can do that when it's 37° outside. I had to put my gloves on.

We came back, and after he said he was going to "pig out on some ice cream," I decided I wanted some too, so I quickly went over to Old School Frozen Custard for a cup, which I brought back. Then, Ivan never had any ice cream. What the hell!

We proceeded to go on with Stranger Things I didn't expect him to stick around for another four episodes in a row, which I've never seen him do, but he did. He did sit for four hours at a time the time we worked through all the Extended Editions of the Lord of the Rings movies, though, so I guess there sort of is precedent. Except today, even though we did break for lunch, we did watch six hours of TV together in one day. That was definitely a first. And not likely to be repeated again.

And, although Ivan apparently loved the first season, he really wasn't into this one. He spent far more time looking at his phone than at the TV, for all that time. Occasionally he'd ask a question, and I'd be like, "For fuck's sake, Ivan. You'd know if you were paying attention." Then he'd just giggle and say, "I was paying close attention!"

When it was finally all done, I said it goes without saying the first season was better, but I didn't hate this one. He admitted, "I just wasn't feeling it." Then he added, "Like bad sex. You just keep going out of a sense of obligation." Ha! Well, okay, whatever. At least he kept me company all day while I watched this TV show that ultimately disappointed him.

He's now gone for a walk, and I'm going to get back to my library book for a bit before making soup for dinner. I want something hot.

[posted 6:53 pm]

[older Madonna concert posts]