calculated risks, for fun
Nothing of note to update you on today . . . I guess I could mention I got a phone call from Gabriel, receiving it while walking home from work when I was all of three blocks away. He was driving home from an eye specialist appointment in Bellevue. When I answered and asked, "What's up?" he was like, "Just making my weekly call to say hi to my friend." Funny he should say that, because when we spent a Merchandising meeting last month watching a TED Talk video about happiness, and one of the things the speaker stressed the most about what translates into greater happiness for people was having a strong support system and regular contact with close friends and family in your life. It made me think maybe I should make more of an effort to call people like Gabriel and Danielle at least once a week . . . and I have kind of failed miserably at that goal, so far. Well, enter Gabriel, doing the work for me! Damn, I have a lot of people in my life who just make my life easier than I would otherwise have to make an effort to do myself.
We weren't on the phone particularly long—nineteen minutes, according to my iPhone records—but it was still nice to hear from him. He mentioned my trip to Las Vegas, which I had deliberately avoided discussing with him, fearing it might trigger him to some degree; he's far from a comfort level that would allow him to take a trip of even that magnitude while COVID transmission rates remain high, vaccinations-plus-booster notwithstanding. To his credit, he's not at all judgmental about my decisions—not openly, anyway—and even referred to himself as "still clutching his pearls" about a lot of this stuff. The way I see it, I am adequately informed, I follow vaccine and mask wearing guidance, and I take calculated risks, which remain relatively low. I don't consider myself impervious to COVID by any means, but neither am I to other risks, and just as an example, I still get into a car and drive in traffic. Speaking of which, I wonder how those odds compare? Say, getting in a car accident versus getting a COVID-19 infection, at least within the CDC-guidance precautions I do still follow? I'm thinking about how some people have far deeper fears of flying on a plane than driving a car even though flying is actually far safer. (That example is outside of COVID precautions, mind you; flying clearly has greater COVID risk than driving. I'm talking about risks of crashing.)
Anyway. It's all about relative risk. It always has been, but getting vaccinated dramatically changed the game, which was why I refused to return to movie theaters until I was fully vaccinated, and I still wear a mask when I go, even now that they require proof of vaccination, a movie I have been openly in support of from day one. I rather wish flying required proof of vaccination, honestly, and it's kind of bonkers that it doesn't—but, presumably, in the absence of a federal requirement (and mask wearing on planes and in airports is federally required, as we were reminded frequently from intercom recordings at both SeaTac and Las Vegas airports), that has to do with the movement between states that each have their own rules.
Okay, back to Las Vegas. I had thought maybe Gabriel had seen my blog post about it, which was just mostly a recreation of the travelogue email I had already sent out (but had not sent to Gabriel). He said no; he merely saw some of my posts on social media throughout the trip. Given how he might have been triggered by any depictions of crowds we did indeed walk through while there, that was probably for the best, a minimal exposure. Even under normal circumstances I don't think he'd ever have the attention span or interest to read that unusually long email anyway.
I made pasta for dinner, while Shobhit was on the virtual call for the Braeburn Condos board meeting. I deliberately shifted the movie I was going to see last night to tonight, for this very reason, so I could cook while Shobhit was busy. I even used the elbows pasta Shobhit said he likes. Unfortunately, think I burned the sauce packed with sauteed vegetables a bit, which gave it what Shobhit described as a "smoky" flavor. And he does not like smoky flavor. Crap. I actually kind of felt bad about that. But what can I do now? Eat most of the leftovers myself for lunches, I guess. That tends to be what happens with pasta leftovers anyway. I just kind of wish now I had used a different type of pasta than the elbows. Oh well.
After that, I never watched any TV, but rather spent more time working on photos for this year's calendars. Now that I finally got started on that large project, as is typical for me in such scenarios, I am kind of locked in and don't want to stop until I am done. I'm quite happy with what I've got done so far. The theme I came up with for Dad and Sherri's side of the family won't translate to Christopher's side, so I came up with a separate one for them, which I will also send to Uncle David and Mary Ann in Australia. As always, there is a separate theme for Shobhit, and I am making a fourth one specifically for Ivan. Whenever Ivan is around, I like to get him something for Christmas, but he can be a real challenge to come up with ideas for. But, he loves cats and he has sent me photos of stray cats from all over the world now, from Morocco to New Zealand to Pennsylvania to Berkeley, so I think making him an "Ivan's Cats of the World Calendar" was pretty ingenious. It might be the one gift I am more confident he will actually appreciate than any other I've ever given him. I do usually like to make one for Jennifer as well, but none of the themes I have this year really translate for her, so either I'll have to come up with a different idea for her or just not get her anything this year. We'll see.
[posted 12:28 pm]