thin line between love and crime and all is fair in love and war (averted)
Things seem to be getting better between India and Pakistan, at least for now. It can be interesting how headlines for the same article can change over the course of one day. As I write this, the headline is, Meet the pilot who may have averted an India-Pakistan war. When it came in a news digest email from the Washington Post, the linked headline read, Indian fighter pilot captured by Pakistan is handed back to his country as tensions de-escalate.
It was those two final words that I found especially comforting, given that Shobhit's flight from London to Delhi is tomorrow: tensions de-escalate.
It's looking at the moment like the most dramatic influence on Shobhit's travel this weekend remains the same: according to this CNBC article, the closure of Pakistani airspace will end . . . on Monday. This means Shobhit's London to Delhi flight will have to be re-routed so it flies around the southern border of Pakistan instead of straight over the middle of the country as is standard. It's going to delay Shobhit's arrival time in Delhi by two to two and a half hours, he says.
There's another complication with Shobhit's travels, though. It seems we had a theft of packages from our building Wednesday night -- and included among those packages was Shobhit's prescription supply for the month of Truvada. It's been a bit of a saga since then, Shobhit aiming misplaced frustrations in turn at Aetna Specialty Pharmacy and then UPS; he took a while to believe the lady from UPS who struggled to be patient with him over the phone as she insisted the package had been delivered on Wednesday at 8:36 p.m.
I ran into Alan, the building manager, one of the three times I went downstairs to check and see if Shobhit's package would be delivered yesterday; Alan told me that a lot of times even when a package is listed as "delivered" that only means it has arrived in town and it doesn't come again until the next day. But, after my third trip downstairs to check for packages last night, there was finally a small group of packages, showing UPS had come by -- and Shobhit's package was not among them.
Shobhit went to Alan's office this morning and had him look up security footage we thankfully now have in the building. A theft was confirmed to have occurred at 3:05 early Thursday morning, five packages in all. Somehow they figured out the thief had a mail carrier key, and Alan told Shobhit that means the guy therefore has access citywide and it's a federal crime. How the fuck did this guy get his hands on a mail carrier key, I wonder? It doesn't seem like that would be that easy to do.
In any case, Shobhit is just out his Truvada supply for the month. He did have like 16 pills left, but still. As usual, he had declined requiring a signature for delivery, which we perhaps might want to start doing; when declining that, you waive Aetna responsibility for the cost, and any replacement has to be paid for in full. Incredibly, even though Aetna covers this medication 100%, the market value of thirty of these pills is $1700. That's how much Shobhit would have to pay to re-order it; not that it matters since it would not get here until tomorrow at the soonest, and Shobhit will be long gone for the next three and a half weeks by then.
My cousin Jennifer works for the postal service in Shelton so I thought I'd ask her what she thinks. She responded, Those keys are signed out to us so it might be a postal employee stealing shit
Hmm . . .
I did get a new update shortly after where Alan said the thief, wearing gloves -- the consummate professional, apparently -- broke into "the call box and gained access to the postal lock." Does that mean there is a building key inside the call box? Or maybe a keyhole of some kind inside the call box? These were things Jennifer did not know, since she works in tiny little Shelton, WA and doesn't deal with things of this nature there.
Speaking of Jennifer, she informed me yesterday she and Eric are separating. I guess he's moving into an apartment and she is staying in the house, so according to her, this should have no effect on plans already made: my staying the night there after Dad and Sherri's 35th anniversary dinner next Saturday (this does, though, explain why two different times Eric has changed his Facebook Event RSVP from "going" to "maybe" and back again); her coming to stay with me in Seattle the Saturday night after that. Will Eric stay with the kids in the house that night, I wonder?
They got married in 2010. This is Jennifer's third marriage and by far the longest. Jennifer has yet to provide me with much in the way of detail, which I have no reason to share here anyway. She said she wants to give me the whole story in person rather than over texts. I guess I can understand that. I did find this comment of hers somewhat telling: "According to him it's temporary." I always liked Eric and this makes me sad, but I won't fault Jennifer for doing what she feels she needs. I'm not the one married to him.
In any case, the next two weekends with Jennifer might prove to be more interesting than initially anticipated. It's too bad there has to be any marital drama even peripherally connected to Dad and Sherri's anniversary dinner (Jennifer: "I don't care if he goes to the thing or not"), but whatever. I'm sure it will be fine. I actually hope he does come; I think both Dad and Sherri would want him there. And if it's their dinner, that's what matters!
I did ask Jennifer if it would be easier for me to stay the night with Gina and Beth after all, but she said I could still stay at her house. Eric just won't be there. We kind of tend to want people out of our hair when we're hanging out together anyway. And hey, now we have even more of an excuse to get wasted! That's a joke, kind of.
Anyway! Should I even bother telling you anything about last night? I suppose I will. Shobhit and I watched the last two episodes of American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. That season was . . . okay. I did laundry. Shobhit packed for his travels. We made dinner out of the last of the cabbage and the carrots because Shobhit rightly knew they would go bad otherwise since I'd never make anything out of them. We added veggie chili and beans and rice and tofu and it turned into a pretty tasty dinner, actually.
His flight to London leaves at 5:55. He should therefore probably get to the airport no later than 3:55. I'm guessing that means he'll be heading out to the Capitol Hill Light Rail Station little more than an a couple hours from now.
And then we get our own three and a half-week break. I'm kind of into getting a break, to be perfectly honest. The difference is that I will miss him and I will actually be happy to have him back when he returns.
[posted 12:49 pm]