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I'm posting the DLU early today. I worked from home this morning, having a much easier time of it than the day I worked from home before my Thanksgiving break thanks to having the wherewithal to bring my external keyboard along—I need ten-key typing!—and need to leave for the Central District store at 11:45 to make it to my four-hour "Holiday Helper" shift before a smaller break for Christmas.
Getting all of my shit home from work last night was a little bit of a production, both because I had to carry stuff in two bags on transit, and because I went straight to see a movie first. I took a bus from a couple blocks away from the office to downtown, and went to Pacific Place to see the 4:45 showing of
The Matrix Resurrections. I have to say, I was notably disappointed in it. C+ movie. Gabriel complains endlessly about how my reviews often spend more time complaining about movies than one might expect given the grade I gave it; during our last conversation he said he wants to see me give a movie a D. (Get real. Any movie
that bad I'm going to see a mile away and not bother watching to begin with. I've only been that mistaken and given a grade that low maybe two or three times in the 17 years I've been writing reviews.) So, even though this C+ is by my standards a pretty low grade, I'm sure it won't satisfy him. But I stand by it! The movie was of average entertainment value, until it wasn't, and I grew legitimately bored of it. I thought it might even wind up on my five-worst list of the year but that’s unlikely; I actually gave a few solid Cs to movies this year.
Anyway. I had my laptop in my shoulder bag, and the keyboard, mouse and headset all in a tote bag alongside some stocking stuffers I was able to grab from work. It was supposed to rain—although it didn't, really; it was just damp—so I covered the exposed end of the keyboard with another tote. I had that bag on the floor in front of me and the tote bag under my seat at the movie theater.
The theater was not very full. Nevertheless, these two assholes who came to the movie together, even though they clearly would have seen the seat I was in was booked, booked their seats
right next to me. I normally wouldn't care so much, but these are pandemic times. The guy in the seat right next to me even had his fucking face mask pulled below his chin through most of the previews, and I was ready to get up and move to another seat once the movie started. But, then he put his mask on properly and kept it that way through the rest of the movie, so I stayed where I was.
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I got a phone call during the movie, and I had a sneaking suspicion it was Dad, to talk about Christmas. When the movie got out, I had that confirmed. The #11 bus was not coming for nearly twenty minutes so I went down to catch Light Rail, then walk home from Capitol Hill Station—still a bit of a walk but that half mile at least cut the mile walk I'd otherwise have in half. I called Dad as soon as I got out of the station.
A while back, I had asked if we wanted to return to our Christmas Eve tradition of
eating out at Emperor's Palace with Jennifer and her family. Dad was open to this idea, but I had started to think about it, especially in the face of Omicron, and when we talked last night Dad and I both agreed going to Jennifer and her family was probably not the best idea under the current circumstances—Jennifer and Chase are vaccinated, but the majority of their household is not: Matthew, Hope and Ian have all not been vaccinated, at least last I heard. I'm still going to bus down on my own tomorrow to spend Christmas Eve with Dad and Sherri, and it's looking like we may still go to dinner just the three of us (all of whom are both vaccinated and boostered; Dad and Sherri even just got tested yesterday as a precaution, which I was very happy to hear).
Shobhit had been getting rather annoyed at the idea that we might go out with Jennifer and her unvaccinated family, but that's not happening now, at least. He's also not looking forward to spending time at Gina and Beth's on Christmas when they have promised to open windows to ventilate the house, and we've all been advised to dress in layers. I'm sure they'll also crank up their heat so, while it won't be ideal, I actually don't think it will be terrible. I don't expect a huge number of people given the circumstances, and if it gets too crowded we can either go outside or leave, or go back to Dad and Sherri's, or whatever.
I just couldn't stomach the idea of a family Christmas being canceled outright, a second year in a row. We did go down and see Dad and Sherri last year, but only for a few hours on their back porch and it was just the two of them. I want to see the rest of the family. And by and large, we're all being as precautious as we can be, short of actually canceling any kind of gathering at all. Even in the face of Omicron, it'll make a huge difference that we're vaccinated. Hell, even the vocally anti-vax Brandi, my eldest nice, got vaccinated last month. I haven't gotten confirmation that Angel has been vaccinated; she told us several months ago she intended to and was waiting for the FDA approval, which has now happened. So if she is, then anyone I expect to see there should indeed be vaccinated.
Anyway. Off to end my work week by pretending I'm a store worker!
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[posted 11:32 am]
