— पांच हजार सैंतीस —

So I spent the evening last night with Tracy. I rode my bike home first, and was home about half an hour befor leaving again. I actually looked up the #11 bus on One Bus Away as I considered taking the bus back downtown, but decided I'd probably best not wait until the bus that would be getting me to Pacific Place by right around 6:00 when I was set to meet Tracy for dinner, because of the risk of that bus being delayed. I figured, I should catch the previous bus. But then I discared that idea because that meant leaving at 5:27 and what the hell, in that case I might as well walk! So, I walked. I also got a few more pages read of my library book, finally.

We met at a place called Thai Ginger on the fourth floor of Pacific Place. It's one of, say, maybe three restaurants currently operating up there—the only one that has stayed the same for years and years is Johnny Rockets, the fifties style burger joint neither of us had any interest in (and which would have very little, if anything, to offer me). Mexico Cantina? Gordon Biersch? These restaurants that had been mainstays for about two decades—they're gone; in both those specific cases currently still just closed up. In fact, when you include all floors, the Pacific Place website currently lists a whopping five dining establishments total there. There used to be a lot more, mostly concentrated on the top/fourth floor and the basement level, but even now there's at least one on the third floor.

Anyway! Tracy commented on how empty the mall seems to be right now, but I explained this is actually two-fold. It's not just COVID, although that is likely still by far the biggest factor. It is also the fact that Pacific Place began undergoing a renovation more massive than any they'd had since the building first opened in 1998, back in 2019. A ton of stores and restaurants closed, at the time "temporarily" or at least with the expection of new and different replacements once renovations were done. So, Pacific Place had lots of closed-up shops due to the renovations before the pandemic even hit.

But, then the pandemic did hit. Currently, I would guess that a good three quarters, minimum, of the storefronts in there are closed. Truly the only things in there that remain the same as they were in the early days are the AMC Theaters on the fourth floor; Johnny Rockets; and the third-floor skywalk over to Nordstrom across the street. Virtually everything else is either different or closed up.

I'm not positive, but I want to say Thai Ginger is a holdover from before the renovation (and it must be said: the whole mall looks way better now; it's very nice—it just sucks that so few stores are open). Even if it is, it's still one of the newer places up there, I think; I want to say it used to be something else not that long ago.

The only place I truly miss is Mexico Cantina, which had good food and good margaritas. Meeting for dinner up there, that was always the go-to place. I'm not that sad that Gordon Biersch closed, as they have very few vegetarian offerings—although they did have a spinach ravioli I always liked. I do have a very specific memory associated with that place, as it was the one time I accidentally stood up Auntie Rose. Like, completely: my hairdresser kind of set me up on a date with an 18-year-old guy when I was 22, and I only realized in the middle of the date that I stood up Auntie Rose. The guy later told me "You're very dramatic" as a reaso he didn't want to have any more dates—clearly because I had suddenly freaked out, kicking myself for doing something so horrible to my great aunt. Auntie Rose was very forgiving, although I felt so bad about how she had worried because I was always so reliable and this was so out of character for me. I was never even late for anything she and I met up for again.

Speaking of Auntie Rose, her memorial servicie is finally happening later this month, scheduled for Saturday the 28th at her church in Port Townsend. I am relieved to learn it will be an outdoor service. When Valerie emailed me with the confirmation, she emailed both Sherri and me together, and asked if we would say a few words about her at the ceremony. And of course, I will. I think I will even prepare what I have to say, so it's not as spontaneous and unorganized as I felt when I spoke briefly at Grandma McQuilkin's memorial in 2011. Hmm, I'm thinking maybe now I will make a video tribute to her, even though I didn't bother to after she died last year. I kind of felt like, she had such a presence in my video tribute to Grandma McQuilkin that I made in 2011, that works for Auntie Rose too still. But, maybe that doesn't give Auntie Rose the due credit she deserves as her own distinct entity. I'm leaning toward the latter at the moment, especially since I have so many more photos, and a couple video clips, from the eight and a half years she lived after Grandma died.

Okay, I'm digressing. I was kind of impressed with Tracy's COVID precautions, which exceeded mine and were greater than I might have expected. We are both vaccinated, but until we were actually eating, she was double masked, and she used hand sanitizer as soon as the food arrived. I merely wore my one cloth mask until the food arrived.

— पांच हजार सैंतीस —

— पांच हजार सैंतीस —

Then, as 7:00 approached, we walked right over to Pacific Place, where we went to see The Suicide Squad, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. Tracy told me this was her first time going to a movie theater since before the pandemic! How many times is it for me, now? Twelve!

Here is where I would say I was a bit more conscientious than her when it came to mask-wearing, though: she still wanted popcorn and a drink, which meant she spent a lot of the movie unmasked. I removed my mask in there for maybe two minutes to eat a little of the popcorn, but that's it. Otherwise I was masked up for the entire duration of the movie—which was more than I could say for easily 90% of the other people in there, who took their masks off whether they were eating or not. The house was far from packed (this movie is also available streaming on HBO Max, after all), but I kept thinking about prolonged exposure to COVID in the event that even one of those people were shedding a viral load. We know very well right now that even against the Delta variant, at best about one in ten vaccinated people who are exposed even get infected, but still, the more time you spend with exposure, the higher the risk of infection. I was glad I at the very least had the added protection of my mask, something way too many people, even vaccinated people, don't quite seem to be getting right now.

I spoke to Dad briefly yesterday afternoon to wish him a happy birthday; I actually should have presumed already that they would be staying someplace out of town, as they are wont to do for either of their birthdays anymore. (Next year will be different for Sherri, I'm sure: it will be her 70th, and it also falls on Easter Sunday.) Still, family gatherings came up, and I was actually thinking ahead to the holidays in the fall and winter—but Dad brought up Gina's 50th birthday party, which will be Saturday the 4th of September. I had been envisioning the party in her and Beth's new backyard all this time, but Dad says now that they don't know for sure if the new house will be ready by then, and if it isn't, then the party will be at Dad and Sherri's house.

And this is where it will get tricky. I guarantee you, there will be family there who have steadfastly refused to get vaccinated. I do not plan to spend a bunch of time indoors with those people. I think we can fairly safely assume the day will be nice, in which case I can spend the majority of my time outside on the back patio or in the yard. If we're there long enough for the party to dwindle down to just a few people, only then might I spend any real time inside—just as how it played out for Easter this year. Delta was not a local concern at Easter this year, however, and it sounds like Dad has not thought a lot very specifically about this. He did sort of float the idea that people wear masks inside the house if they are unvaccinated, but I don't have any idea whether he'll decide to be very strict about that.

I guess I'll worry more about this when we get to it. I won't miss Gina's 50th birthday party. But, it also won't be within the most ideal of circumstances either. The most infuriating part of this is, it likely could have been, if more people had gotten vaccinated earlier. I have too many people in my family still taking all their cues from completely unqualified sources on fucking Facebook.

Anyway, Tracy gave me a ride home after the movie, which was nice of her. She'll be doing the same tonight after we attend Claudia's going-away party, her official last day at PCC being Wednesday next week. It was nearly 10:00 by then, and I needed to spend the next roughly one hour writing my review. Shobhit, been a sweetie pie, spent that time deep frying some more samosas, so I could bring some to work today: two for myself for lunch; one for Steven since I was unable to bring him some on Tuesday; and another six I plan to give to Claudia at tonight's party so she can take them home and share with her husband and son, Dylan and Jasper. Steven was quite excited when I slipped his, freshly reheated in the office kitchen toaster oven, onto his desk this morning.

— पांच हजार सैंतीस —

[posted 12:40 pm]