chlamydiarama ii: transit ion
Not a ton to tell you about today. Last night I went to the AMC Seattle 10 (formerly Sundance Cinemas, formerly Landmark Metro Cinemas) in the U District for the 5:30 pm showing of The Old man & the Gun, reportedly Robert Redford's final role before deciding to retire from acting. He's 82 years old now so I guess he can do that. When I looked up his resume on IMDb.com, I was actually kind of surprised to realize how often I have gone to see his most recent movies -- of the eight movies he's been in over the past five years (after having taken a five-year break before that), I saw five of them in the theatre. I saw maybe that same number of movies from his entire career prior to that, including a few of his most famous (All the President's Men, Ordinary People, and I'm pretty sure long ago I saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, although I don't really remember it now). What's kept drawing me back into his films these last five years, I wonder? Interesting concepts, I guess: a single actor in a movie with no dialogue about being hopelessly lost at sea on a wrecked boat; two old men getting lost in the woods; an old man who robs banks.
Anyway. Not at all related to any of that, I did figure out a heretofore unrealized fail-safe way to get to the AMC in the U District on time for shows at least as early as 5:30 using the bus, which used to be much dicier, if I tried getting on a #8 first, as those rarely move at all much up Denny Way. But it turns out, I can walk roughly half an hour to Denny and Fairview, and then catch an express #63 or #64 which goes up Fairview to get on the freeway express lanes at Mercer, and then off the freeway as soon as it gets to the U District. I did make the smart decision of getting off on the first stop at 7th and 42nd, instead of waiting until it gets to the I-5 station at 45th. That intersection gets easily clogged by vehicles getting off the freeway at the 45th St exit, to which cars coming up 7th Avenue have to yield, which means particularly at rush hour it takes an eternity to drive up that street to 45th. I got off at 42nd and walked to 45th, even waited for a red light and crossed the street, in shorter time than it took for the bus to get there.
In any case, I now know how to be efficient about this on the rare occasions I see a movie in the U District during the winter, and I am not riding my bike.
I walked to the #49 bus stop on Roosevelt near the old PCC office location after the movie, getting a picture of the interior of our old office space along the way. Even two years later, it all looks rather makeshift in there, like it's very temporary. I think I did hear there was plan to redevelop the spot, but I have no idea exactly how imminent that is.
Shobhit and I had omelets and bread when I got home, splitting the bake-at-home Essential Bakery loaf we had left, and this meant I ate way too much for dinner. I was back up a little in my weight this morning and that was no surprise at all.
The results of my STD tests came back yesterday. Bad news: I have chlamydia again. I was mystified as to how this could happen at first but after some thought, I probably got it in Vancouver. There are clearly ways I need to be more careful and consistent going forward. I managed to avoid this for eight years, and now have had it twice in three months, which I clearly need to turn around. I have found online that local infection rates have increased for pretty much all STDs except for HIV. Those were King County stats, but I suppose Vancouver B.C. is close enough. This time I'm going on an antibiotic regimen that will go on for a week, rather than the one-time dose of two pills of a different medicine I took in July. It's clearly very improbable, but I do still wonder if there's any chance that one simply did not fully take care of it.
I nearly did not mention this at all today. But, it was my mentioning it in this blog the first time that made it easiest for me to figure out exactly when that was. So I decided I would still mention it, both because I share pretty much everything (in varying degrees of detail), and for the sake of possible future reference.
I just got back from lunch with Karen at Six-Seven Restaurant at the Edgewater Hotel. No bike today; it was even raining slightly and I took my umbrella. I even changed from my white jeans to my blue jeans this morning when I was nearly out the door looking at the forecast and seeing it was supposed to rain.
We now split the gyro sandwich pretty much every time. It's literally half the cost of what the truffle macaroni and cheese used to be. It's not much less delicious, though, which honestly makes it a far better value. We're such regulars now that they always bring our two halves on separate plates, and we each get a side of potato chips that's no smaller than a single side would be if we hadn't split it. It's fun how generous certain places become when you become an established, longtime regular.
I don't have much to report on our conversation, lively as it was, as usual. We touched on politics and the media, mostly. Social media too. She showed me an Instagram photo of a pet bed someone had made out of an old sweater.
Then I walked back so I can post this and get back to work. Actually I need to fill out my self-evaluation to send back to Scott. In the past I have tended to rate myself lower than my boss does. Let's see if I can rate myself higher than my boss will this time!
[posted 1:21 pm]