So this was my Black Friday. Shobhit worked until 10 p.m. that night—precisely because it was Black Friday—and I watched a movie for review, the second of "five films" by Steve McQueen being released weekly on Prime Video: Lovers Rock, which I gave a solid B.

But! Before that, I walked to the office—briefly stopping along the way at Westlake Park, the location of the traditional Lighting of the Tree Ceremony, which I go to every year, even if sometimes I have to go by myself.

This year, however, the event quite predictably went virtual, with live coverage of it available on KIRO 7. And honestly, I might have gotten some screenshots I really liked had I actually downloaded the KIRO app to watch along on my cell phone, but, I didn't. As such, even though I was actually at Westlake Park on Black Friday just as I always am, I was not actually there at the moment when the Holiday Tree lit up.

I still got several very cool pictures (and one cool video—the above offering a quick glimpse of the still-unlit Holiday Tree in the distance at the end) at Westlake Park, though, mostly because of the Holiday Light Sculptures, a new feature this year. And As of December 4, the park will offer QR codes used to participate in "augmented reality" on our phones, so I will definitely be going back for that, and happy to have another new thing to add a photo album to this year's Christmas collection, considering several other traditional indoor things won't be possible this year. I'm hoping maybe I can convince Danielle to come up and join me for that.

Now, consider one of the shots I took last year: the crowds at this event are usually so massive that many people wouldn't fathom coming to see it in person even when things are normal. The crowd was truly nothing like that on Friday this year, but there still was a bit of a crowd—especially right by the tree in front of Westlake Center, where there is no chance of six feet of space between anyone. Even there it was nothing like a normal year, but that's beside the point; it was still too crowded.

Across the street on Pine from there, however, in Westlake Park where the light sculptures are, there was plenty of space to keep distanced from people. Nevertheless, even as I considered waiting another fifteen minutes or so before I presumed the tree would finally light up (as well as the "Seattle Star" on the old Macy's / old Bon Marché building, and the fireworks atop that building), once I got about 10 photos (part of my "The Holiday Season Begins" photo album for 2020) both at the park and a few on my walk down there, I decided to move on to Target as my next stop. It occurred to me that as long as I was there, seeing really too many people gathering even under these circumstances, I was part of the problem. So I got my photos and got out of there.

I picked up a few necessities at Target. I got a few photos walking through Pike Place Market. And then I walked the rest of the way to the office to swap out paperwork. There was only a single receiver report waiting for me, which was a little annoying and almost certainly just the result of how many people in Accounting did not bother to work the day after Thanksgiving. This means I'll have that many more to pick up when I go back on Tuesday, but, maybe Thanksgiving being one of the two days all year that we close not just the office but all stores company-wide, that might think the stack just slightly.

I then rode the bus back home and barely had the time to watch and review Lovers Rock, thanks in large part to it being all of 68 minutes long.

And that brings us to yesterday, a day I already expected to be quite eventful but then it turned out to be even more so.

First, I needed to get my Christmas decorations up. Ideally I like to do this on Black Friday itself, but anymore what with working that day and then going to the Tree Lighting ceremony—and, this year, also watching and reviewing a movie—there's rarely time for it on that day, so I do it on Saturday. Thus, late yesterday morning, I went down to the storage unit to fetch the three boxes, one with the tree in it and two with lights and ornaments.

I really hoped to do something not just different this year, but kind of radically different: I had a vision of setting up the tree out on the balcony for the first time ever, surrounded with more lights along the balcony and guest room window borders. This was not feasible with the tree being directly exposed to the elements, though, and after searching online for clear tarps that were far too expensive (as in, usually more than a hundred bucks), Shobhit and I happened to go into Pacific Supply Co on 12th Avenue last week, and we found a clear tarp-like sheet for all of about five bucks. It was not quite as completely translucent as I wanted, but it was close enough. I figured I would hang it from beneath the balcony above us, and seal off the space all around with duct tape, creating a clear(ish) wall.

Well, when I took out the plastic sheet yesterday and put a chair out on the balcony to attempt this, I discovered the balcony above us is too far for me to reach even while standing on my desk chair. I had nothing higher to stand on that could possibly be safe, and I did not think this idea was quite worth falling over and to my death on the sidewalk four stories below. So, so much for that.

I put up the tree and lights in the living room as usual. But, I did do one thing different: I centered the tree, still at its usual perch atop one of the end tables, in the middle of the bay windows, instead of centering it in front of the southwest facing window as I have always done in the past. This actually makes it easier to see from a bit closer outside, rather than my rationalization in the past, which was to make it more visible further down Pine Street to the west. I did have to cram the love seat rather tightly between the couch and the aforementioned end table, mostly blocking the door to the balcony, but, whatever. I like how it looks this year.

So, I was in the middle of all this, the requisite Christmas music playing on the living room stereo (mirrored from the iMac in the bedroom via the Apple TV box), when I received an unexpected text from Lea, to both Mandy and myself: a Zoom invite, "Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting."

Huh?

I was slightly confused as our video chats, especially group ones, are usually scheduled beforehand. But instead of questioning it much, I went ahead and clicked through, and found myself on a Zoom call with Gabriel and Lea—and, briefly, Tess—all of them in the hot tub a ttheir new house, which apparently Gabriel spends a lot of time in. Gabriel explained that they were supposed to have their monthly Zoom call with Lea's friends, Darren and Josh as well as Julie and Ryan, and they all evidently flaked. So, Gabriel said, "Let's just invite my friends!" So here we were, and within a few minutes Many joined as well. A little bit later Janine even joined, although she never turned on he video "because I'm still in my curlers." Who the hell does she need to wear curlers for, anyway? Her mother, the only person living with her?

Well, anyway. Social Review points all around! Well maybe not for Tess; she got out of the hot tub within seconds of my joining the call, and I never saw her again.

This was easy for me to hang out with, though, as I just continued decorating my tree, and by the end of that Zoom call I think my tree got complimented by at least three different people.

So both Janine and Mandy got off the call after a few minutes, though Mandy was on long enough for us all to see the newborn baby she and David are fostering, whose name hilariously is Chloe and that just by coincidence happens to be also one of her dogs' names. For just a few minutes it was just my feed and Lea and Gabriel's feed on the call, but then Lea's friend Julie, who had missed the scheduled call because she had slept in so late (Darren and Josh were apparently out getting a kitten), finally joined the call, wearing a wonderfully festive holiday sweater with a cat print. And then for quite some time, probably even longer than the call had lasted previously up to that point, I mostly just hung out in silence while Julie and Ryan chatted with Gabriel and Lea, about things like the Star Wars props Ryan makes himself as a hobby, or I think at one point they veered into something sports related. But it was fine, as I just kept on decorating my tree (which Julie also complimented).

I finished with the tree during this call, and even heated up and ate Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch while it went on. It was only at this point that I took my iPad down from its perch on the entertainment center, aimed at me by the tree, and set it on the coffee table where I sat to eat. I had nothing else pressing just yet to tear me away, so I just hung out until Lea actually ended the call as the host. I did participate in the conversation here and there; I wasn't completely silent. Gabriel was amused that I had just sat down to eat, which no one else was doing.

I'm glad I got the invite to join the call, though. It was nice to talk and hang out with them all.

Shobhit only worked four hours at Total Wine & More yesterday, since he took the day off at Big 5 so we could both go to ZooLights at Point Defiance Zoo last night. He worked 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and I left shortly after he got home, to walk down to the Central Library and pick up a CD so I could re-rip it after all its tracks disappeared from my computer in my recent Music Library troubles. I had been wearing my new eggnog earrings for December, which I had even shown off on the Zoom call just prior, and discovered only a few blocks away from the library that one of them had fallen out. Fuck! On the upside, the Etsy seller has already told me she'll send me a single replacement. Yay! I only just saw that reply from her though, so yesterday I actually walked back home exactly the way I came, trying to scan the sidewalk for a fallen earring—but of course, never finding it.

By the time I got back, we had less than two hours before it was time for us to head out. Last night's outing was actually my idea, which I posted to the "Grandma and Papa's Vovid Page" Facebook group in mid-October, when I found out Point Defiance Zoo was going ahead with their annual ZooLights displays, only this year with timed, limited entry for social distancing, masks required—and anyone who wanted to go should definitely get tickets early before they inevitably sold out. Timed entry was an idea I noted would be nice even in normal years; even Gina commented that she had sworn off ever doing it again after the last time she went, because it was so crowded. And now it wouldn't be. Side note: after actually going, it occurred to me the much smaller crowds also made it far easier to get good photos without too many people ruining shots.

As I said in my post to the page at the time, this was a great thing we could do as a family for the holidays and still be socially distanced and exclusively outside. Dad actually commented last night how the weather was perfect. Shobhit and I both dressed in layers so we weren't too cold, but it wasn't totally freezing anyway, and it was dry. In any case, this was going to be the single opportunity for out family to gather in any real capacity during the holidays this year, so I was all about this idea once it occurred to me. I was even kind of surprised that Shobhit was interested in going, so I purchased tickets for him and myself as soon as we all agreed on a date. Dad and Sherri did the same, and so did Gina and Beth, and not long after, Brandi did too.

Unfortunately, many others waited too long to get tickets and found them sold out, so in the end it was just 11 of us, coutning the four kids Brandi brought, but without Nick: Ricky and Rachael couldn't make it, but their son Raiden wanted to come and so Brandi brought him with her and her three kids. Angel did not have a ticket and would never have been able to use it, as she only just got home from the hospital after a bout of sepsis in her leg, apparently beause she wasn't cleaning off the area of her leg before giving hersef injections for he arthritis.

Speaking of the general health of the family, no one's battling COVID—not yet anyway, knock-wood—but Sherri is now walking with a cane, to help with support for athritis she also has in her feet, which I had no idea about. Dad still seems basically fine, but still, it's starting to really sink in this year how my parents have kind of definitively turned a corner into "old." I don't suppose that should come as any real shock given that my mother literally died this year, but frankly she still went earlier than she should have, at all of 68 years old, broadly speaking a as a result of her lifetime of unhealthy living. Something else did occur to me specifically about Mom recently, though: she absolutely lived her life the way she wanted, no matter how others felt about it. That much, at least, I can respect.

I still have two parents left though, and I'd rather they lasted another good while longer. I also have to face some facts, such as how Grandma passed away nine years ago, precisely half the age she was when she had her first child (and Aunt Raenae, for her part, is now 72 years old). At least Dad was the youngest and remains fairly healthy. When we were leaving last night, he even suggested that if the weather is good ebough on Christmas Day when we come down (but won't be going inside the house), perhaps we can go for a walk, along a new bike path just finishing construction. I thought that was a fantastic idea, as it will keep us from feeling like we have to rush right back home too quickly after going down to Olympia.

Anyway, family has been meeting for ZooLights here and there over the years kind of all along, but I was just the first to suggest we go ahead with it this year—in the past, they tended to go on a weekday that made it practically impossible for me to be able to join. I hadn't gone, it turns out, since 2004. That was the year Shobhit and I got together, so he also went that year and hasn't been since. Sixteen years. Prior to that, Danielle joined me to meet with family during the holidays in 1999. Me being the one to bring it up this year, I was more easily able to nudge the date into a weekend.

An event like this is best gone to every several years anyway. They don't change the displays much year to year, but plenty does change in sixteen years. My digital camera in 2004 was truly primitive by comparison, and luckily thanks to my insistence on upgrating in time for the trip to Australia earlier this year, I now have an iPhone that takes very nice nighttime pictures. I got a good 62 photos just at the zoo last night. (The photo album has 64 photos and videos, but one is of the Tacoma skyline from the freeway, and one shot is swiped from Brandi, the family group shot she took—all of us masked, for the record. Not socially distanced, obviously, but outside and brief, both key elements. And yes, yes, nothing is zero-risk, but if we don't operate on probabilities rather than absolutes, there's no point in living at all. The most important thing is not to spend extended time indoors with anyone outside your household, and I have stuck to that quite religiously.)

We all spent close to exactly one hour inside the zoo, me taking countless photos and videos (I took more than I saved). The drive there and back was about fifty minutes, which meant we spent twice as much time traveling there and back as we spent at ZooLights, but that's okay. I'm still really, really glad we did it. We parted ways, everyone else driving back to Olympia (a 40-minute drive) and Shobhit and me back to Seattle. Then we spent the rest of the evening eating dinner and watching several episodes of season 5 of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

[posted 11:55 am]