settling plans
Yesterday after work I watched and reviewed the movie Shiva Baby on VOD, and I really enjoyed it. It's quite unusually short (77 minutes) which in the past has note boded well for a movie in my opinion, but this one is really good. I found it really funny.
Maybe a month or more ago, I started sorting the 2021 movie releases on MetaCritic by their MetaScore, and then finding which of the highest rated films were available streaming or on VOD. Shiva Baby was always high up on the list, but, until recently, was not yet available to watch at home. I was pleased to find it finally available this week, and at the particularly reasonable price of $3.99.
I still took a break about two thirds of the way through to make myself a sandwich for dinner, and I had to spend the time afterward writing the review, so even with the movie being short, all this took the bulk of my evening. Shobhit worked until 8:30 last night, and I had been scrolling through TikTok for just a little while once he got home. He then used the mix packet he's had for ages to make gulab jamun for dessert, which I honestly hope he doesn't buy again; it was nowhere near as good as the ready-made frozen ones we found at an Eastside Costco a week or two ago, which only needed reheating.
Let's see, what else? Oh, I don't think I've mentioned this yet: we actually booked our two nights in a hotel in Portland for our anniversary weekend next month. Also, Shobhit's preferences for these sorts of things really seem to change with the wind: when we booked a hotel last year (before it had to be canceled due to COVID), we booked one well outside of downtown as a means of saving money and to find a place that had free parking. This time, even though we'll be driving—unlike our list time down there when we took the train—we still booked a hotel downtown where we will not be parking, as their only option is valet parking for $45 a night. Fuck that! Instead, we'll pay for overnight public parking elsewhere nearby, whose price now feels reasonable compared to that ridiculous $45.
The hotel we settled on, which I was also able to get a $125 discount on the total price thanks to a reward at Hotels.com, is called Royal Sonesta Portland Downtown, and they have what looks like a very colorful, very cool interior design, somewhat similar to the hotel we had stayed at in Melbourne last year. I feel like I'll get some nice photos just in the hotel alone, so I'm looking forward to that. (Oh, and side note on the cost: the discount is one thing, but I also have far more "vacation spending" saved up this year than I did last year—for obvious reasons; large trips could not be taken for most of 2020—which probably also makes a difference to Shobhit's change in attitude about where we stay.)
I'll be going to Wallace, Idaho the very next weekend, which is Father's Day weekend. I got the unfortunate news just yesterday that Becca and Tyler won't be able to go after all. I had high hopes of getting all of Christopher's kids together at once, but, I also knew there was a pretty high chance that Becca would be the one who didn't make it. I want to get a photo of all of us together, with Dad and Sherri (who are visiting at the same time as me for the first time ever), and maybe we can just have people hold up photos of them and say they're with us in spirit. I'll have to do the same with Shobhit, as he won't have days off that weekend; he took PTO for my birthday and four our anniversary.
In any case, I have a fun June to look forward to, I think. It's still a bummer that Pride will be virtual, but then, I thought of this recently: the parade may still not happen, but with recent easing of restrictions, I bet several bars on Capitol Hill will have the outdoor events they also had prohibited last year, so I think the neighborhood will still have far more of a semblance of Pride than it did last year.
[posted 12:34 pm]