— चार हजार नौ सौ तिरपन —

Yesterday Shobhit had a shift at Total Wine & More, and it was only from 9 am to 3 pm, so he was home before I even finished working—a relatively rare occurrence on days he actually works. He set right to cooking dinner once he got home, and then I fried up the last of our frozen paratha packets to eat with it.

And then we watched a movie together: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, a solid-B, fun sort of gonzo comedy co-starring and co-written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. It was actually finally released on VOD in February, but it stayed at $19.99, a price I will not pay for any movie (especially VOD), for a good two months. It finally went down in price so, after hearing a fair amount about its pretty mixed reactions, I wanted to see it for myself. I honestly enjoyed it about as much as I expected, just not necessarily for the reasons I expected. I think whether or not it comes recommended has a lot to do with what type of humor you have patience for.

I had no idea whether Shobhit would enjoy it. But, the movie had two big points in its favor: the presence of Jamie Dornan, who had been in the Fifty Shades of Grey movies; and a dance club sequence featuring a remix of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On." The movie has a lot of humor about the sensibilities of middle-aged women, most of which was quite on point. So, although I think Shobhit sort of approached it somewhat apprehensively at the start, not sure whether he could give himself over to it, by about a third of the way through he was into it and cracking up regularly.

I'm glad I finally got to see it, anyway. It was worth the six bucks I paid for it.

We didn't watch anything together after that, as I then went to the bedroom to spend the better part of an hour writing a review. But! Then we did a bit of online research together, until I finally booked a car rental for a week, Friday to Friday, of my Birth Week. Shobhit is worried about my taking his car on a long trip anywhere because his "check engine" light keeps coming on. I got a nice AAA discount anyway, and this way he won't have to take the bus to work while I'm away with his car. And I only just learned that the weekend that ends my Birth Week, he has those days off anyway.

So: my overnight trips, first to Shelton to stay the night the first Saturday with Jennifer before taking a day trip up to Port Townsend to see Valerie, and then to Long Beach for the bike ride with Dad to Cape Disappointment on Wednesday, will be in a rental car. I'll have a fair amount of gas to pay for; I should probably make an estimate of that and plug it into my budgeting, now that I think about it. Anyway, on Monday I'll ride together with Danielle in her car to Deception Pass, but that will likely be the only day during the rental car reservation that I do not drive the rental car.

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— चार हजार नौ सौ तिरपन —

I just finished with Office Lunch Meetup #36, and it was back up to six participants, with a fun new mix of people! There were the regulars, Rebecca, Noah, Adrienne and myself—but, then two more people who joined for only the second time: Rachel (who previously joined on February 24), and Tracy (who previously joined two weeks ago). Tracy kind of cracked me up, talking about how the pandemic has "turned her into an introvert," all the while largely dominating the conversation. I'm not sure I see much in the way of introversion there, Tracy!

We talked a lot about trashy TV shows and about movies. A little bit about work. In fact, Tracy asked for a brief meeting with just Noah and me after the meeting ended, and she was right in her assumption that a brief verbal conversation about what she wanted to discuss would be much better than bringing it up over email.

Just another example of how much I can't wait to get back to working in the office. Right now, I need to get back to working from home.

— चार हजार नौ सौ तिरपन —

[posted 1:13 pm]