— चार हजार आठ सौ छ्यासी —

Alexia and I went on our second neighborhood "Holiday Lights Tour" last night, this time walking northward through Capitol Hill via 17th Avenue, through many of the same houses we passed on Halloween, and then back southward along 14th Avenue. We didn't see quite as many elaborately decorated houses as I'd hoped, but still more than we did on our walk in the other direction on Thursday last week; I got another 14 photos last night, nearly doubling the size of the photo album. I'm hoping to add a few more after tonight: I'm going to take the bus to meet Shobhit when he gets off work at 8:00, so we can then stop by the so-called "Candy Cane Lane" in Ravenna, which is roughly on the way home from there, instead of having him drive all the way home just to backtrack.

Anyway, Alexia was uncertain at first whether she would be available for the walk, due to being very busy with work. But then she changed her mind: "I am rapidly losing interest in work," she texted me. So we wound up leaving at around a quarter after 5:00, and we got back right around 7:00.

I went ahead and watched a movie for review right after that: the George Clooney-directed (and starring him as well) The Midnight Sky. It wasn't great. And not just because, honestly, 2020 is not the best year for apocalyptic films. Real life is grim enough.

Not that my own life is all that grim. Things like losing my mother, and even that phone call with Bill the other night, notwithstanding, I've done a pretty damned good job this year of making the most of what I've got to work with. I mentioned that to Alexia last night while we were walking and she agreed that I was successful at doing that.

Speaking of Bill, he called me yet again yesterday—this time while I was working. Does he never look at clocks? "I was just making sure you weren't asleep this time," he said. I suppose that's fair. I had sent him a photo of Mom that morning via email, and I guess he was calling to ask if I had any more. Of course I do, and more will be forthcoming; why would he not realize that? I know he misses Mom and I get that, but that call yesterday—this time successfully via Skype, so we could actually see each other—really reminded me of how typical it is for him to be the recipient of some kind of generosity, and his instinct is just to ask for more. He's long been such a self-involved guy, he puts me to shame in that department. I'm honestly hoping this isn't the start of him suddenly calling me way too often, and at inopportune times.

I guess Tristen had mentioned to him that I had been crying, after seeing my Facebook post about that first late-night call. Bill was like, "I'm sorry about that." And there was no need to apologize; "It's not your fault," I said, and I did mean that.

I had emailed him one photo yesterday morning. Today I emailed him four, all of the decent shots with Mom in them from the photos I took during my first Christmastime visit to Wallace, in 2009.

— चार हजार आठ सौ छ्यासी —

— चार हजार आठ सौ छ्यासी —

I just had my biweekly FaceTime lunch with Karen. She told me yesterday she is indeed taking today off of work but was still happy to have the lunch as scheduled by default on our calendars. If this were a normal year, I'd probably have already rescheduled, with the expectation that I would be heading down to Olympia.

Speaking of it being Christmas Eve, we were actually informed via email at work yesterday that the office ("including your home offices!") will close at 3 p.m. both today and on New Year's Eve. Works for me! So I guess I'll be closing up shop today at 3 p.m., even though I am working today, for the first time working Christmas Eve in many, many years.

Anyway, Karen sat in a different position than usual today, and I could see the beautiful blue sky out her back kitchen windows, which was cool. We showed each other our Christmas Trees, we talked about our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day plans, and we talked a lot about TV and movies, and the future of cinema. I wanted to recommend the HBO Max miniseries The Flight Attendant to her, and although she's never had HBO before, apparently Anita just recently signed up for HBO Max and this weekend she is going to set up their TV so they can access her account.

And! Now I have two and a half hours to work a bit more, and all my major deadlines are already met, so it should be a relatively leisurely affair. This year has had many disappointments, altered plans not least among them, and yet I remain in a state of looking forward to this holiday, as always regardless.

— चार हजार आठ सौ छ्यासी —

[posted 1:07 pm]