Gin Runner 2018
I totally forgot to mention in yesterday's entry that at our dinner on Saturday evening, Scott brought us a full bottle of gin. I forget the brand; I'm sure it was a good one. I won't be drinking any of it because I fucking hate gin. Actually I take that back; once in a blue moon I'll make myself a Long Island Iced Yea or an AMF, and those each use gin -- along with a plethora of other liquors. It's entirely plausible that Shobhit will drink it all before I get to that again, though; he likes gin a lot and likes to drink it with tonic water.
Anyway, this was a very generous gesture that was totally unnecessary. But, as I told Scott on Friday at work, I totally get his not wanting to come empty handed, although we really had no need whatsoever for anything to be brought. Noah and Renee, incidentally, came with nothing at all -- not even the containers for leftovers I told them all to bring. And I actually rather like that; I don't mention it to put them down at all. I made it clear we would be providing all that any of us would need, and took me at my word.
That said, I have no qualms with Scott still insisting on bringing something -- I won't turn down free booze under any circumstance, not even if it's one of my least favorite ones. When Scott presented it to me right after coming in the door, he said, "I don't know if you like gin..." I replied, "I don't, but Shobhit does!" I keep sort of going back and forth on my response, in retrospect. I suppose that could be construed as really rude. Thankfully, Scott did not appear to take it as such, and is maybe used to my typically brutal honesty. And "brutal" is maybe a strong word in this context.
I did go out of my way to text him later in the evening after everyone left: Thank you again for the gin, it was unnecessarily generous 🙏 🍸 😵
And he texted back, My pleasure! Easily one of the best meals we have had in a long time! Thank you both
Between that and Noah telling me yesterday that their daughter "devoured" the leftover four samosas as soon as she got home from her Halloween party that night, I would say the day was an unmitigated success. Even when I arrived at work this morning, Scott looked back at me and said, "Guess what day it is? It's leftovers for lunch day!" He said he was having the garbanzo beans he had taken home from the dinner on Saturday.
There's not a whole lot to update you on since yesterday's DLU, but there is a couple of things.
I went on a last-minute loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park with Alicia yesterday afternoon. I took my umbrella and she did not take one; it rained slightly through maybe half the walk and I was rather glad I had it. It seems that nine times out of ten, Alicia and I are the only ones who walk, in spite of ostensibly having formed "Walking Club" with fifteen supposedly potential other people. When I was on my way to the bathroom before leaving with Alicia yesterday afternoon, I happened to walk past Sara from HR, and I said to her, "I'm about to go on the walk you never go on!" She just said, "I know . . ." in a half-whiny, apologetic tone.
Alicia and I spent the majority of our twenty-minute walk talking about the dinner Shobhit and I hosted on Saturday, since she asked me if I had done anything fun or special over the weekend. Indeed I had! She then told me, "Well, I made waffles."
And as for last night, it was a rare one indeed: spent at home alone the entire evening, as Shobhit had one of his now-rare swing shifts and did not get off work in Northgate until 9:45. I actually killed three of those hours re-watching Blade Runner 2049 on HBO. I wondered if it would hold up as well on the small screen, this being the third time I have watched it (I saw it in the theatre twice) -- and it absolutely does, maybe even better. I went back and re-read the review I wrote, and found myself rather impressed with myself and the job I did on that. It's odd how I can never tell how good my writing is while I'm writing it, but almost without fail, I tend to think it's pretty damn good when I read it again later. (Renee told me at Saturday's dinner that Noah has forwarded her a few of my movie reviews, and she was very complimentary as well. "Your personality really comes through," she said, which was . . . interesting.)
I was rather struck by my closing sentence in the review: It can't possibly live up to what came before it, but it is still filled with riches that are their own reward, which likely increase with repeat viewings. Only time could tell if that prediction would prove to be true -- and, so far, it seems indeed to be the case. That movie is very evenly, some might say even slowly, paced, but even upon the third viewing, I was just as completely absorbed by its entire 164-minute run time as I had been either of the first two viewings in the theatre. The cinematography alone makes it worth watching, and I especially love the sequence in an abandoned, orange-haze Las Vegas.
I posted that review on October 8 of last year, by the way. I did not realize it has already been a year since that movie's release. Watching it last night, I realized it's likely to be a movie that I keep coming back to time and again in the coming years. Given how seldom I re-watch movies, in spite of this film's minor pitfalls, that says a lot.
[posted 12:17 pm]