many happy returns
It finally happened! Happy Hour with Laney—our first one, of any sort, since April 2, which had to be via phone because she wasn't near any wifi signal in Port Aransas, Texas. Thus, last night was our first one in which we could actually see each other since March 12, when she was still in New Orleans.
Much more significantly, last night was our first in-person Happy Hour since October—nine months ago—because, by the time it was November, it was too cold outside and social distancing precluded us from being indoors together anywhere. We did "virtual Happy Hours" both that November and December, as we had actually from March through July last year, effectively becoming a dry run for what we had already long been discussing: that we would do this while she was traveling as a retiree after the New Year in 2021.
And, we did manage that for a while, January through April. The problem as of May was that she was in areas of the country, mostly Utah and Nevada, where the free public lands campgrounds she was staying at simply had not only no wifi signal, but not even a reliable phone signal. As such, we have agreed to schedule extra Happy Hours each month of the three she intends to be in Western Washington over this summer: July, August, September. She is currently scheduled to go back to traveling cross-country in early October. We haven't done that scheduling, though; I emailed her some detailed options this morning and she will get back to me within the next few days.
I am a little concerned about her safety as she goes back to traveling, and how long she can keep it sustainable. Not in terms of her dealing with other people, which thus far has generally been totally fine. I'm actually talking about her age, and how easily she seems to crack or sprain things already. She's not super old (she's 62), but it kind of feels like this is becoming an increasingly common concern. She slipped on a rock hiking not long ago and her knee is still sore from it, several days later. And somehow, apparently, just last night when she was getting out of her van, she twisted in just the right way to make her hip pop, which had her a little worried. She was supposed to go to a going-away party for a friend today and now she'll be skipping it; in her brief email reply this morning she said she was in a lot of pain, although "I'm okay as long as I'm not trying to walk LOL." She had said last night that if she was worse off when she woke up this morning then, rather than going to that party, she would be icing both her knee and her hip.
Anyway, for now at least, that's just a minor concern (and does keep me mentally prepared for her having to cancel some of the other plans we make over this summer, which I can live with). It was just really awesome to get to see her in person again after so long—it's a great week for such things, in fact: I get to see Ivan for the first time in two years this weekend. And although I have already hung out with Gabriel a couple of times over the past year, I'm also excited that tomorrow we finally get to step foot inside their new house they've actually been in for 13 months. When it comes to those sorts of things, this is a watershed week.
We met at one of our favorite places, La Cocina Oaxaqueña, this being the tenth time we went there for Happy Hour since we started doing this monthly in 2014 (okay, nine and a half: last summer I got takeout from there before meeting her at Cal Anderson Park). It's by far the most times we've done Happy Hour at any one place—and we both love their Quesadillas Fritas so much that we agreed to go back there again before this summer is over.
I did also have two margaritas, and I have to say, maybe next time I need to order one of the slightly more expensive margaritas with higher quality tequila rather than their House Margarita. I'm fine as I write this now, but I woke up this morning feeling a little blah, and after a minor moment of panic afraid I might be getting sick, I realized it was just the two margaritas. Thank god I drank two full glasses of water before bed.
Honestly, I only even had the second margarita so I wouldn't feel like we were loitering when we closed out the place. We met up at 6:30, and did not leave until they closed at 9:00. I do love the photo I took of us at the entrance to the place right as we were leaving. She went back to her van in a parking lot half a block away, and I walked the three quarters of a mile or so home.
So, two and a half hours: not bad. Not quite the three to four hours we've hung out just talking in the past, but more than the single hour Shobhit probably would have wanted to limit it to had he joined us. I still would have liked him being able to join us—as would Laney—but, he had his class. And, this allowed for a lot of freedom of discussion between Laney and me, not so much because any specific person wasn’t there but just because it was only the two of us.
So, although I did ride my bike home from work beforehand—an hour later than usual, as I attended the virtual PCC Board Meet and Greet on Zoom from my work desk between 4:30 and 5:30, and did some work at the same time—I was only home very briefly before I headed back out to meet Laney, and then by the time I was back home for the evening it was about a quarter after 9:00. Practically the moment I walked in the door, Shobhit said, "I ate too much." Twice. Well, I guess I made the right decision in not ordering anything for him from the restaurant, then. He had suggested before I left the first time that I might, qualifying with an "up to you," but after I emailed him the menu he never responded so I didn't order anything.
What did I do for the next hour or so before bed, then? I can't remember! Well, I did my every-other-day push-ups. And spent time just getting ready for bed. That kind of stuff can suck up a good part of an hour, anyway.
This was fun: I ate my lunch outside on the patio at work today (today being, incidentally, the end of two full weeks back at the office now), and when I came back inside to my desk, Tracy had this odd question ready and waiting for me: "How many shots does it take before you're fine and then you're drunk?" I'm paraphrasing for brevity, but that was the gist of it. I still haven't figured out how that even came up to begin with. I even asked her, and she was like, "You know, I don't remember."
I told her that at my current age, if they are single or double shot cocktails, I cannot do any more than two cocktails, if I don't want to be feeling like shit the next day. I don't even have to have gotten drunk for that to be a concern anymore. Sometimes I'll make just one cocktail with a fuckton of shots, like three or four. That way I can get a nice buzz going, but after a drink like that I cut myself off after just the one. Which in terms of shots is three or four.
Anyway I'm really getting off on tangents now and I need to get back to work.
[posted 12:40 pm]