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Back to socializing yesterday! I mean, sort of. It was just a walk . . . albeit a long one: my neighbor Alexia and I, both with masks on and maintaining several feet distance between us at all times, walked down to the office and back after finishing work, so I could swap out receiver paperwork. Between the time it takes to get there and back, the time it took me while there, and the couple mini detours we took while walking, two and a half hours had gone by once we finally got home again. Shobhit had probably already been home half an hour by then, as yesterday he actually got off work at 6:30.

Anyway. We took an alternate route this time, cutting through Cal Anderson Park and then going mostly straight down Denny Way. On the way back, we walked through the block-sized Denny Park just because it was lush and pretty and had some illuminated strings of lights down its pedestrian paths; and then we also stopped to check out the Denny Substation, which I had already walked by many times but had never stopped to get a good look all around. I saw the north side of the structure for the first time, and had Alexia take a pretty great photo of me standing in front of the huge letters spelling out "LIGHT" at the closed main entrance. We didn't even have to get close to each other to do it; she took photos with her phone and then texted them to me.

I did wear a mask the entire time outside, except for this moment; I took the mask off for the picture. For this walk I wore one of the five thinner black cloth masks that finally arrived from Amazon. I much prefer the ear hook straps of these over the tie-straps on the otherwise much better and sturdier masks Karen made; on the other hand, this one was not quite snug enough and I had to adjust it frequently. At least I never touched anything while I was outside. Well, except for these posts as part of the overall very cool design of the substation, which had signage on them saying they would illuminate if you pressed your hands on them. Nothing happened, and I figure it's just because stuff like that is turned off right now.

Also, we both brought umbrellas. It started drizzling very lightly on the way down to my office, and relatively heavily on the way back. I was very glad I brought mine. It was way cooler yesterday—high in the seventies—than the upper-eighties temperatures of the weekend and it was a welcome relief; by evening the temperature was dropping pretty steadily. Alexia actually removed her jacket briefly on the way down, but I kept mine on the whole way there and back.

Alexia has now walked with me to my office three times. We're planning another walk for Thursday, but that day we're finally walking in the opposite direction and going east, to Lake Washington. That's actually a bit shorter of a walk, though it still takes at least forty minutes to get there. Also it will be almost exclusively through residential areas, which will make it a lot quieter and easier for us to hear each other talk, especially through masks.

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— चार हजार सात सौ छत्तीस —

So then, once I was back home again, I helped Shobhit make bhaturas, a deep fried Indian flatbread, which we ate with a very simple dish Shobhit cooked in a pressure cooker: canned garbanzo beans with chopped onion and tomatoes and almost shockingly sparse seasoning. The garbanzo beans were fine; the bhaturas fantastic. I limited myself to two only because if left unchecked I could eat, like, fifty. And I was back down more than a full pound this morning! Hooray!

I didn't choose anything for us to watch yesterday. Shobhit just played his MSNBC news programs all evening. I saw way too many clips of President Fuckwit running like a coward out of his sham of a press briefing after two women journalists asked him perfectly legitimate and challenging questions. I've been stunned by the number of people I have found on Twitter today who say "good for him!" and actually think that was a display of strength. Holy fuck, this country is full of morons. It's genuinely dispiriting.

If that man wins the election this year, I truly and honestly don't know what I will do. I genuinely don't know if I can take another four years of that shit in this country. I can see myself considering life choices I previously never thought possible. Hopefully he gets trounced and these considerations will be rendered moot. Still, the prospect scares the shit out of me. I truly believe American democracy hangs in the balance, and unlike four years ago, I no longer regard that as hyperbole.

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[posted 5:31 pm]