the fruitcake enterprises social review -- fall 2018
In the fall of 2018, I engaged in in-person social interaction with the following people on the indicated number of days:
1. Shobhit -- 34
2. Laney -- 9
3. Karen -- 5
4. Alicia -- [5]
5. Claudia -- 4
6. Ivan -- 3
7. Danielle -- 3
8. Vinaya -- 3
9. Mom -- 2
10. Jennifer -- 2
11. Eric -- 2
12. Christopher -- 2
13. Tristen -- 2
14. Abhishek -- 2
15. Anubhab -- 2
16. Sachin -- 2
17. Dylan -- 2
18. Gabriel -- 1
19. Mimi -- 1
20. Elise -- 1
21. Dad -- 1
22. Sherri -- 1
23. Nikki -- 1
24. Scott -- 1
25. Noah -- 1
26. Evan -- 1
27. Elden -- 1
28. Linda -- 1
29. Renee -- 1
30. TJ -- 1
31. Cheyanna -- 1
32. Bill -- 1
33. Mary -- [1]
34. Amanda -- 1
35. Aunt Raenae -- 1
36. Toni -- 1
37. James -- 1
38. Aimée -- 1
39. Marianne -- 1
40. Kate -- 1
41. Steven -- 1
42. Matt -- 1
43. Brenna -- 1
44. Elizabeth -- 1
45. Hope -- 1
46. Chase -- 1
47. Ian -- 1
48. Nikita -- 1
49. Ishita -- 1
50. Lynne -- 1
51. Jamie -- 1
52. Jess -- 1
53. Rosie -- 1
54. Lamai -- 1
55. Audra -- 1
56. Carolyn -- 1
57. Ashley -- 1
58. Hunter -- 1
59. Sachin's mom -- 1
60. Jordan -- 1
61. Daniel -- 1
62. Travis -- 1 Total days in the summer with in-person social interaction: 57 (62.6%, a +8.3 percentage point change from summer)
. . . Okay well, I'm forced to do something new and unprecedented this quarter, quantifying the Social Review points in an altered manner. And whose fault is this? Alicia's! I've ranked her #4 here, even though if I still took the traditional criteria -- number of days with in-person social interaction -- she would have ranked #2, with 12 points. The problem with that is how misleading it is, the regularity of my "loop walks," each of which only last about 20 minutes, giving her an unfair advantage in the standings. I have literally never spent more than 25 minutes at most, usually closer to 20, on any given day with her. The idea of ranking her above Laney, with whom I spend at minimum of two and a half hours any time I see her, and usually many more, is preposterous. Even in comparison to Karen, with whom I also have regularity built in, ranking Alicia higher than her doesn't make sense. At first I was thinking I would simply give Alicia half a point for every time I saw her. But, that still would have given her six points -- and there is no doubt, also, that I spent far more cumulative time with Karen. My average time with Karen is a bit more than an hour. Thus, to get things closer to an even playing field, for these "loop walks" I have assigned 1/3 a point. With eleven such walks in the past three months, that accumulates to 3 and 2/3 points. The one event I spent social time with her that was not a loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park was the PCC Holiday Cookie Exchange, and even though my direct interaction with her there was limited, that was not a regular event that would give anyone an unfair advantage just by virtue of scheduling, and for that I would always assign a full point. That takes her up to 4 and 2/3 points, which thus rounds up to 5. I don't want to start incorporating fractions or decimals into the official point counts here. In any case, this is why Alicia's point count is in brackets: [5], and also why she's ranked #4. I mean, 5 points is technically tied with Karen's count, but I think it's pretty obvious why Karen should still be ranked higher -- the cumulative time with her is still undeniably larger. It's also why Mary's point count, even at 1 is in brackets: [1] -- because she joined Alicia and me twice on Loop Walks, and if I'm giving Alicia only 1/3 a point for Loop Walks, then that's what anyone else should get for them to. And of course, 2/3 of a point rounds up to a full point. Granted, she'd still get a point if she only came once. But! If she'd come four times, and thus accumulated 1 and 1/3 points, her official point count would still be one. I have to be fair! Or, fair as I see it, anyway. I totally get how this new approach kind of underscores how arbitrary these rankings can seem (something I feel rather irks Gabriel a lot of time, when it comes to his perception of logical approaches to data gathering). I fully admit that a lot of it is just based on gut feeling -- particularly in the case of, say, the 43 people who all have only one point, and how I should rank them. When people have the same number of points, many factors come into play as to how I rank them: if I know I spent a lot more time with one person one day than I did with another person on another day, then the person I spent the most time with gets ranked higher. Easy. If, as far as I can remember, the amount of time was comparable, I will rank someone higher based on factors like how important they are to my life, and how well I know them. Thus, the people at the bottom of the rankings tend to be those with whom I engaged directly enough at a party or event to warrant their inclusion, but who I was meeting for the first time, or don't know well at all. Those last three people in this quarter's rankings -- Jordan, Daniel, Travis -- were all people I chatted with at relative length at the party Sachin had at his condo, but probably even a month from now, I won't remember who the hell they were at all. Getting only one point certainly doesn't render someone unimportant, though -- not at all. Gabriel actually shot up to #3 with six points last quarter, and plummets to #18 now because I saw him only once in the past three months. I still ranked him highest among everyone with only one point, however, because a) he's one of my best friends; and b) I spent the entire evening with him, until quite late, amounting to several hours. And that was one-on-one time, giving him a leg up on, say, Dad or Sherri, whose one point each only came from our being at Jennifer and Eric's Halloween party together, where the socializing had to be spread around. Speaking of parties, that would also account for the typical Spring and Fall increase in number of people in the rankings. At 60 people, this is actually fewer than the 62 ranked for Spring 2018 or the 63 for Fall of last year, but it's quite a bit more than the 32 ranked for last (summer) quarter. The parties contributing to the numbers of ranked individuals this time out would include Sachin's aforementioned party; Jennifer and Eric's aforementioned Halloween party; Claudia's birthday "Cage-Fest" Nicholas Cage movie marathon; the impromptu Black Friday weekend get-togethers with Shobhit's cousins (including Anubhab, visiting from India); and two holiday events at work: the "Holiday Potluck" in November and the "Holiday Cookie Exchange" in December. This made for many occasions for me to be the social butterfly that, years ago, I would have considered myself incapable ever of being. So, what other details can I comment on? Shobhit's always #1, but his 34 points this time out are quite a shot up from last quarter's 26, but still 4 points shy of the 38 he managed last spring (something made easier for him to manage by both my Birth Week and our trip to Yellowstone National Park). Laney holds steady at #2 as always, with pretty consistent point numbers; and even though Gabriel knocked Karen out of the #3 spot last time, her being #3 now is much more typical as well. It's elsewhere in the top ten that we find a few minor anomalies. Claudia ranks #5 with 4 points, which is unusually high for her -- more typically she averages two points at most. But, she was at (or hosted) a couple of the aforementioned recent parties. I do love that Ivan, so far, holds pretty steady with at least three points -- really thanks to him coming to visit for at least one three-day visit per quarter in which to amass Social Review points (they increased over Summer due to my own visit to see him in Vancouver before he moved back to Washington and going to Bellingham). It's a comfort to me that this keeps up even though he officially moved out nearly a year ago now. And then there's Vinaya, who, for the first time ever, ranks higher than her husband Abhishek, who is Shobhit's cousin (or first cousin once removed, if you want to get specific, which you probably don't but I just can't help myself). This is thanks to the extra day on which we hung out over chai when I went to return a glove Anubhab had left in our backseat -- and it may happen yet again, as she suggested we get together like that more often, given her work is literally right on my route home from my work. She already had two points due to the two days the previous weekend we hung out with their entire family, but that extra added evening over chai bumped her into the top ten. Anyway! I've babbled on way longer than I even usually do for this, so let's get on with the who did what with whom where and when . . .
Saturday, September 22: with Shobhit and Danielle, breakfast at Danielle's place; Museum of Glass in Tacoma; Tacoma Farmers Market; Indian grocery shopping; and out for dinner (Pizzeria Pulcinella)
1. Shobhit -- 34
2. Laney -- 9
3. Karen -- 5
4. Alicia -- [5]
5. Claudia -- 4
6. Ivan -- 3
7. Danielle -- 3
8. Vinaya -- 3
9. Mom -- 2
10. Jennifer -- 2
11. Eric -- 2
12. Christopher -- 2
13. Tristen -- 2
14. Abhishek -- 2
15. Anubhab -- 2
16. Sachin -- 2
17. Dylan -- 2
18. Gabriel -- 1
19. Mimi -- 1
20. Elise -- 1
21. Dad -- 1
22. Sherri -- 1
23. Nikki -- 1
24. Scott -- 1
25. Noah -- 1
26. Evan -- 1
27. Elden -- 1
28. Linda -- 1
29. Renee -- 1
30. TJ -- 1
31. Cheyanna -- 1
32. Bill -- 1
33. Mary -- [1]
34. Amanda -- 1
35. Aunt Raenae -- 1
36. Toni -- 1
37. James -- 1
38. Aimée -- 1
39. Marianne -- 1
40. Kate -- 1
41. Steven -- 1
42. Matt -- 1
43. Brenna -- 1
44. Elizabeth -- 1
45. Hope -- 1
46. Chase -- 1
47. Ian -- 1
48. Nikita -- 1
49. Ishita -- 1
50. Lynne -- 1
51. Jamie -- 1
52. Jess -- 1
53. Rosie -- 1
54. Lamai -- 1
55. Audra -- 1
56. Carolyn -- 1
57. Ashley -- 1
58. Hunter -- 1
59. Sachin's mom -- 1
60. Jordan -- 1
61. Daniel -- 1
62. Travis -- 1 Total days in the summer with in-person social interaction: 57 (62.6%, a +8.3 percentage point change from summer)
. . . Okay well, I'm forced to do something new and unprecedented this quarter, quantifying the Social Review points in an altered manner. And whose fault is this? Alicia's! I've ranked her #4 here, even though if I still took the traditional criteria -- number of days with in-person social interaction -- she would have ranked #2, with 12 points. The problem with that is how misleading it is, the regularity of my "loop walks," each of which only last about 20 minutes, giving her an unfair advantage in the standings. I have literally never spent more than 25 minutes at most, usually closer to 20, on any given day with her. The idea of ranking her above Laney, with whom I spend at minimum of two and a half hours any time I see her, and usually many more, is preposterous. Even in comparison to Karen, with whom I also have regularity built in, ranking Alicia higher than her doesn't make sense. At first I was thinking I would simply give Alicia half a point for every time I saw her. But, that still would have given her six points -- and there is no doubt, also, that I spent far more cumulative time with Karen. My average time with Karen is a bit more than an hour. Thus, to get things closer to an even playing field, for these "loop walks" I have assigned 1/3 a point. With eleven such walks in the past three months, that accumulates to 3 and 2/3 points. The one event I spent social time with her that was not a loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park was the PCC Holiday Cookie Exchange, and even though my direct interaction with her there was limited, that was not a regular event that would give anyone an unfair advantage just by virtue of scheduling, and for that I would always assign a full point. That takes her up to 4 and 2/3 points, which thus rounds up to 5. I don't want to start incorporating fractions or decimals into the official point counts here. In any case, this is why Alicia's point count is in brackets: [5], and also why she's ranked #4. I mean, 5 points is technically tied with Karen's count, but I think it's pretty obvious why Karen should still be ranked higher -- the cumulative time with her is still undeniably larger. It's also why Mary's point count, even at 1 is in brackets: [1] -- because she joined Alicia and me twice on Loop Walks, and if I'm giving Alicia only 1/3 a point for Loop Walks, then that's what anyone else should get for them to. And of course, 2/3 of a point rounds up to a full point. Granted, she'd still get a point if she only came once. But! If she'd come four times, and thus accumulated 1 and 1/3 points, her official point count would still be one. I have to be fair! Or, fair as I see it, anyway. I totally get how this new approach kind of underscores how arbitrary these rankings can seem (something I feel rather irks Gabriel a lot of time, when it comes to his perception of logical approaches to data gathering). I fully admit that a lot of it is just based on gut feeling -- particularly in the case of, say, the 43 people who all have only one point, and how I should rank them. When people have the same number of points, many factors come into play as to how I rank them: if I know I spent a lot more time with one person one day than I did with another person on another day, then the person I spent the most time with gets ranked higher. Easy. If, as far as I can remember, the amount of time was comparable, I will rank someone higher based on factors like how important they are to my life, and how well I know them. Thus, the people at the bottom of the rankings tend to be those with whom I engaged directly enough at a party or event to warrant their inclusion, but who I was meeting for the first time, or don't know well at all. Those last three people in this quarter's rankings -- Jordan, Daniel, Travis -- were all people I chatted with at relative length at the party Sachin had at his condo, but probably even a month from now, I won't remember who the hell they were at all. Getting only one point certainly doesn't render someone unimportant, though -- not at all. Gabriel actually shot up to #3 with six points last quarter, and plummets to #18 now because I saw him only once in the past three months. I still ranked him highest among everyone with only one point, however, because a) he's one of my best friends; and b) I spent the entire evening with him, until quite late, amounting to several hours. And that was one-on-one time, giving him a leg up on, say, Dad or Sherri, whose one point each only came from our being at Jennifer and Eric's Halloween party together, where the socializing had to be spread around. Speaking of parties, that would also account for the typical Spring and Fall increase in number of people in the rankings. At 60 people, this is actually fewer than the 62 ranked for Spring 2018 or the 63 for Fall of last year, but it's quite a bit more than the 32 ranked for last (summer) quarter. The parties contributing to the numbers of ranked individuals this time out would include Sachin's aforementioned party; Jennifer and Eric's aforementioned Halloween party; Claudia's birthday "Cage-Fest" Nicholas Cage movie marathon; the impromptu Black Friday weekend get-togethers with Shobhit's cousins (including Anubhab, visiting from India); and two holiday events at work: the "Holiday Potluck" in November and the "Holiday Cookie Exchange" in December. This made for many occasions for me to be the social butterfly that, years ago, I would have considered myself incapable ever of being. So, what other details can I comment on? Shobhit's always #1, but his 34 points this time out are quite a shot up from last quarter's 26, but still 4 points shy of the 38 he managed last spring (something made easier for him to manage by both my Birth Week and our trip to Yellowstone National Park). Laney holds steady at #2 as always, with pretty consistent point numbers; and even though Gabriel knocked Karen out of the #3 spot last time, her being #3 now is much more typical as well. It's elsewhere in the top ten that we find a few minor anomalies. Claudia ranks #5 with 4 points, which is unusually high for her -- more typically she averages two points at most. But, she was at (or hosted) a couple of the aforementioned recent parties. I do love that Ivan, so far, holds pretty steady with at least three points -- really thanks to him coming to visit for at least one three-day visit per quarter in which to amass Social Review points (they increased over Summer due to my own visit to see him in Vancouver before he moved back to Washington and going to Bellingham). It's a comfort to me that this keeps up even though he officially moved out nearly a year ago now. And then there's Vinaya, who, for the first time ever, ranks higher than her husband Abhishek, who is Shobhit's cousin (or first cousin once removed, if you want to get specific, which you probably don't but I just can't help myself). This is thanks to the extra day on which we hung out over chai when I went to return a glove Anubhab had left in our backseat -- and it may happen yet again, as she suggested we get together like that more often, given her work is literally right on my route home from my work. She already had two points due to the two days the previous weekend we hung out with their entire family, but that extra added evening over chai bumped her into the top ten. Anyway! I've babbled on way longer than I even usually do for this, so let's get on with the who did what with whom where and when . . .
Saturday, September 22: with Shobhit and Danielle, breakfast at Danielle's place; Museum of Glass in Tacoma; Tacoma Farmers Market; Indian grocery shopping; and out for dinner (Pizzeria Pulcinella)
Sunday, September 23: with Shobhit, to a movie (The House with a Clock in Its Walls)
Tuesday, Septemeber 25: with Alicia, loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park
Thursday, Septemeber 27: with Alicia, loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park
Friday, September 28: with Shobhit and Laney, Happy Hour and dinner at Rumba
Saturday, September 29: with Shobhit, out for brunch (Silence Heart Nest)
Saturday, September 29: with Shobhit, Sachin, Sachin's mom, Jordan, Daniel, Travis and more, party at Sachin's place
Sunday, September 30: with Shobhit, out to lunch (Grand Central Bakery Cafe)
Monday, October 1: with Karen, out to lunch (Six-Seven at the Edgewater Hotel)
Monday, October 1: with Alicia and Mary, loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park
Wednesday, October 3: with Shobhit, to a movie (A Star Is Born)
Thursday, October 4: with Alicia and Mary, loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park
Saturday, October 6: with Mimi, bike ride at Marymoor Park
Saturday, October 6: with Shobhit, “Seattle Leather Daddy & Daddy’s Boy” contest at The Cuff
Sunday, October 7: with Shobhit, Claudia and Dylan, plum crumble brunch at their place
Thursday, October 11: with Karen, out to lunch (Six-Seven at the Edgewater Hotel)
Friday, October 12: with Laney, Happy Hour dinner (Mexico Cantina Y Cocina) and to a movie (A Star Is Born)
Saturday, October 13: with Gabriel, out for dinner (Stack 571) and to a movie (First Man)
Sunday, October 14: with Laney, Braeburn Condos double feature (Cool Hand Luke and The Shawshank Redemption)
Monday, October 15: with Shobhit, to a movie (Bad Times at the El Royale)
Wednesday, October 17: with Alicia, loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park
Saturday, October 20: with Shobhit, out for brunch (Glo's)
Saturday, October 20: with Jennifer, Eric, Dad, Sherri, Hope, Chase, Ian, Aunt Raenae, Toni, James, Amanda, Audra, Carolyn, Ashley and more, Jennifer and Eric's Halloween Party
Sunday, October 21: with Jennifer and Eric, out for breakfast (Blondie's at the Shelton Inn)
Sunday, October 21: with Shobhit, out to lunch (PCC Columbia City)
Monday, October 22: with Alicia, loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park
Wednesday, October 24: with Alicia, loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park
Thursday, October 25: with Karen, out to lunch (Six-Seven at the Edgewater Hotel)
Friday, October 26: with Shobhit and Sachin, dinner and drinks at our place
Saturday, October 27: with Shobhit, Scott, Linda, Noah, Renee and Hunter, dinner at our place
Monday, October 29: with Alicia, loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park
Wednesday, October 31: with Shobhit and Ivan, Ivan staying the night
Wednesday, October 31: with Shobhit, Halloween evening walk on Capitol Hill
Thursday, November 1: with Ivan, Neko Cat Cafe
Thursday, November 1: with Shobhit and Ivan, Ivan staying the night
Friday, November 2: with Ivan, out for dinner (Marrakesh Moroccan Food) and to a movie (Suspiria)
Friday, November 2: with Shobhit and Ivan, Ivan staying the night
Saturday, November 3: with Danielle and Elise, Amazon Spheres tour, out to lunch (Shake Shack), Theo Chocolates Factory Tour, chrysanthemum show at Volunteer Park Conservatory, and drinks and voting at my place
Sunday, November 4: with Laney, to a movie (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Friday, November 9: with Claudia, Marianne, Kate P, Aiméee and more, PCC Holiday Potluck 2018
Friday, November 9: with Laney, Happy Hour at Bill's Off Broadway and to a movie (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Saturday, November 10: with Laney, Braeburn Condos Double Feature (The Poseidon Adventure and Titanic)
Saturday, November 10: with Shobhit, out for dinner (Columbia City PCC Deli)
Sunday, November 11: with Shobhit, Northwest Chocolate Festival
Monday, November 12: with Karen, out to lunch (Six-Seven at the Edgewater Hotel)
Wednesday, November 14: with Shobhit, Vegetarians of Washington Thanksgiving Feast at The Upper Crust Catering Co.
Saturday, November 17: with Shobhit, Claudia, Dylan, Jamie, Jess and more, Claudia's birthday "Cage-Fest" Nichola Cage movie marathon
Tuesday, November 20: with Alicia, loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park
Friday, November 23: with Shobhit, Vinaya, Nikita and Anubhab, Holiday Tree Lighting Celebration at Westlake Center, then hanging out at Il Fornaio Coffee
Friday, November 23: with Shobhit, Abhishek, Vinaya, Nikita, Ishita and Anubhab, out for dinner (Hamanasu)
Saturday, November 24: with Shobhit and Anubhab, Snoqualmie Pass, Snoqualmie Falls, and out to lunch (Caadxi Oaxaca)
Saturday, November 24: with Shobhit, Abhishek, Vinaya, Nikita, Ishita and Anubhab, hanging out and watching a movie at Abhishek and Vinaya's (Incredibles 2)
Sunday, November 25: with Shobhit and Laney, to a movie (Widows)
Monday, November 26: with Karen, out to lunch (Six-Seven at the Edgewater Hotel)
Wednesday, November 28: with Vinaya, brief visit over chai
Saturday, December 1: with Shobhit and Danielle. Amazon Spheres after dark, and out for dinner (Cherry Street Thai)
Sunday, December 2: with Shobhit, Seattle Center Winterfest, including french fries for lunch (Cool Guy's Fry Bar)
Monday, December 3: with Steven, Matt, Brenna, Elizabeth and more, Joe's 30th anniversary lunch
Tuesday, December 4: with Alicia, loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park
Friday, December 7: with Alicia, loop walk through Myrtle Edwards Park
Friday, December 7: with Shobhit, out for dinner (La Cocina Mexican Kitchen)
Sunday, December 9: with Shobhit, out for brunch (Hudson)
Sunday, December 9: with Laney, Braeburn Condos Double Feature (Funny Girl and What's Up, Doc?)
Monday, December 10: with Shobhit, SAG-AFTTRA local annual holiday party (Naked City Brewery & Taphouse)
Wednesday, December 12: with Evan and Elden, Dina Martina Christmas Show at ACT Theatre
Thursday, December 13: with Shobhit, Holiday in the Park at Volunteer Park
Friday, December 14: with Lynne, Claudia, Rosie, Lamai, Alicia and more: PCC Holiday Cookie Exchange & Holiday Sweaters
Friday, December 14: with Shobhit and Laney, Happy Hour at Bill's Off Broadway
Friday, December 14: with Laney, to a movie (The Favourite)
Saturday, December 15: with Shobhit, Mom, Bill, Christopher and Tristen, pizza and cookies at their house
Sunday, December 16: with Shobhit, Mom, Christopher, Tristen, Nikki, TJ and Cheyanna, lunch and games in our room at Hercules Inn
Monday, December 17: with Shobhit, to a movie (Mary Poppins Returns)
Wednesday, December 19: with Shobhit, Vegetarians of Washintgon Holiday Feast at The Upper Crust Catering Co.