Lime Rescue
Recent changes to Lime Bike's bike share program have rather chapped my hide: from the change to their previous flat $1 per-30-minute rate that is now $1 to unlock and then 5 cents per minute (this means what used to cost $1 for half an hour now costs $2.50); to the over-prevalance of their newer e-bikes, which have an even higher rate (still $1 to unlock, but then 15 cents per minute). But, I have to had it to them: they saved my ass last night.
So this was how it went. I had a 5:15 showing of Captain Marvel to see at the AMC 10 in the U District last night. I left work at 4:20 so I could take half an hour to walk up Denny Way to the bus stop at Fairview, because I could never trust the reliability of the #8 busing me that far. Within a few minutes, the #64 express came to that stop, and my plan was to get off at the stop at NE 45th St. This is a stop that many express buses, including the #64, just gets off the freeway briefly to stop at.
I could have sworn I saw someone else had pulled the cord for the bus to stop there. Maybe someone did, maybe someone didn't. All I know is I did not pull the cord, because I was so sure someone else had. Another young woman had even walked to the back door when the bus pulled up to the stop. But the bus hardly stopped; no one was there to get on; and the bus just moved on without opening the doors. What the fuck? Even the other woman at the door looked around confused.
It was far too late before it even registered the bus was not going to stop, though -- the bus was halfway along the on-ramp back onto I-5, so there was not much sense in causing a ruckus about it. I was just like, Fuck, and saw that the digital reader at the front of the bus said the next stop was 64th St.
That's 19 blocks.
Well? Lime Bike to the rescue! Given the use of my own bike, I quite rarely use the bike shares, but I sure am glad I have an account (and I'm also glad I had a Lime account before Spin Cycle packed up and skipped town). I opened the app and saw that there was an e-bike available all of three blocks south of the stop. I was even glad it was an e-bike, which I usually try to avoid even when I do use Lime -- which is increasingly difficult because it seems now like only 10% of the bikes are regular bikes anymore -- because those make it easier to ride up hills and I was in a hurry.
I never would have made it before the movie began had I tried walking that entire way. I probably still would have gone, since I had already made the ticket reservation on the AMC app, but I would have had to miss the first few minutes of the movie. As it was, that LimeBike got me there in six minutes, and I still saw several trailers before the movie even began. (Those six minutes, incidentally, for a 0.6 mile ride, cost me $1.90. My app "wallet" balance is now five cents. I should add another five bucks or so soon just to be ready in case of another sudden pressing need like this one.)
So what of the movie then? It was pretty good; solid B -- I enjoyed myself, honestly mostly because of the cat, although I did also like Brie Larson's performance. I honestly felt like that post-credits scene was worth the price of admission all on its own. (Granted, my "price of admission" is just my monthly AMC subscription that allows me to see as many as 12 movies at their theatres for little more than twenty bucks.)
I told Noah this morning that I had seen that movie last night and he was genuinely surprised -- after all the derisive comments he's heard me make about superhero movies, he was amazed I have seen so many in such a short period of time. Actually, the only ones I saw in the theatre last year were Black Panther (which I went to see three times) and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (which I went to see twice, the second time on January 14) -- but, I have talked up both of them a lot in the intervening time, probably making him think I watched them more recently. Also, to be fair, even the fact that I've gone to see three separate superhero movies (well, four if you count Incredibles 2, but that's Pixar which is a class of its own, even if its characters are superheroes) in the theatre within the past 13 months is pretty unusual for me. I should also point out, though, that there were still five live-action superhero movies released in 2018 that I did not go see (though I later watched a couple of them at home), and of the ten or so superhero movies slated to release in 2019, Captain Marvel might very well be the single one of them I see in the theatre. I might see Joker if the reviews are good enough (they almost certainly won't be), just because Marc Maron has a part in it. (I won't fault Marc Maron for taking the part even if the movie is shit: why wouldn't he jump at a chance to work with Robert DeNiro?)
So, anyway. I had a full evening even after getting home from the movie, because I decided I'd finally use one last cup of the milk Shobhit left behind that had a sell-by date of like a week ago, to use for the dozen quiche muffins I decided to make, which burned through 10 of the many eggs I still had in the refrigerator (I still have more than a dozen even after this). Getting the damned muffins out of the muffin tin is always a pain in the ass, and the tin is still soaking in soapy water at home even as I type this, but they sure were tasty. I ate two for a really rather late dinner last night, and then packaged two each for five leftover light meals in containers.
The quiche muffins baked for 55 minutes, and I wrote the movie review while the baking was happening. By the time I was done eating my two muffins, it was time to start getting ready for bed.
I should note, those quiche muffins are a rare meal in that they are genuinely delicious and have virtually no carbs. How many such things do I ever eat at all? I'm deciding to credit that dinner with my weight being down another pound or so this morning -- a good development after all the drinking I did over the weekend. Ironically, the recipe for those quiche muffins originally came from Susan Dennis, and I always retrieve it by Googling her name and "quiche muffins," thereby getting a later-version of the recipe in the comment thread on this 2014 post on her LiveJournal. I don't have any Bisquick so I looked up a do-it-yourself recipe for that; and I also added chopped mushroom, bell pepper and veggie sausage. The cheese I used was one of the last two from the fancy Whole Foods "12 Days of Cheeses" promotions still leftover from December. And the result was great. Anyway, the irony is that Susan could not possibly give less of a shit about food being low carb, but that is still her bonus gift to me this week!
[posted 12:20 pm]