— पांच हजार एक सौ बारह —
I'm still thinking about maybe returning to a movie theater sometime soon, even though I probably shouldn't. But, I think I'll only consider it if it's at a screening where few to no other people have booked a ticket, and I'd be careful to wear an N95 mask. I haven't done it yet, and I still don't know for sure if and when I will. The latest official daily case count, as reported by the
Seattle Times, has shot up past 17,000 in Washington State, and that's just as of January 6. The previous most-recent daily count had shot past 11,000, I think. It's also good to note that these are only official counts and many positive home rapid tests don't get reported, so these numbers are almost certainly underestimates.
I'm suddenly very confused by
this page's projections, though, as it has changed dramatically from last week. Like, what the hell? Last week they projected Omicron would peak in Washington State on February 4. Now the graph predicts a peak on January 16. Just a week fro now. What the fuck changed? Is there a glitch in their system or what? I don't get it. I just want a clear picture of what to expect! This isn't an exact science, I know. Like everyone else, I'm just grasping for some sense of certainty, even when I know logically I can't get one.
I mean, this new graph is far more hopeful than it was last week. I hesitate to put too much stock in it because that seems like it would be a truly dumb move. I'll feel better just when it's clear that daily case rates are declining rather than climbing.
And the thing is, I'm not even that afraid of how sick I might get if I do catch it at this point, especially having gotten a booster shot—that shot being as far back as October notwithstanding. I saw
a great TikTok video over the weekend by a doctor who illustrated with a graph how booster shots create an antibody concentration in the body multiple times higher than the initial vaccine shots do—a massive difference I was not really aware of at all. Media reports of Omicron "causing milder disease" has particularly lulled the unvaccinated into a false sense of security, but I don't think enough has been said about how breakthrough cases all along have a tendency to be mild, and that is especially the case among those of us with a booster shot, if there are even any symptoms at all. They've said all along that the far more important metric than base case rates was the rate of hospitalizations and death, and even in the face of Omicron, my likelihood of either is infinitesimally low.
None of that changes the fact that I'd still like to avoid getting it if I can. I do also have the desire not to spread it either. Unlike some, I don't even want to spread it to the dipshit anti-vaxxers. No so much because I care about them, to be frank (those idiots can indeed just reap what they sow), but because I care about the overwhelmed health care workers who have no choice but to add them to the endless list of patients they have to take care of. In any case, while yes, I have made some calculated risks (although these days it seems every fucking decision you make is a calculated risk), if I manage to get onto the other side of this surge without having gotten infected, I will feel like I have accomplished something. It's the whole reason I am working from home and doing what I can to avoid public transit, for now.
Anyway, back to movies. For the time being, I'm just writing reviews of new (or new-ish) movies on streamers or on VOD. I've got a pretty good working list of contenders that work fine for these purposes for the next week or two. And it actually helps that it's January, because so little is playing in theaters now that I have not already seen or that does not look like garbage. So in this context, although there's no convenient time for a COVID surge, this is a better time of year for it to happen than any other time, at least for me.
— पांच हजार एक सौ बारह —
— पांच हजार एक सौ बारह —
Oh should I tell you about my weekend? Two thirds of it was about as uneventful as expected, then Sunday was more eventful than expected—even more social than expected.
Shobhit worked a later shift on Friday, giving me time to catch up on the second of this week's two episodes of
Station Eleven on HBO Max, which is excellent. After Shobhit got home, though, we watched the penultimate episode of
The Expanse on Prime Video.
On Saturday, while Shobhit worked a shorter than usual, four-hour shift, I watched the movie
Swan Song on Apple TV+, which I signed up for a free month subscription just for that purpose, and also so we could binge season 2 of
Ted Lasso.
Swan Song was pretty good, although I couldn't help but nitpick a lot of it. I had intended to see it in theaters but never got around to it; now it's available this way so I went ahead and watched it at home. Then I wrote
my solid B review.
After that, Shobhit got home, and I asked if he wanted to watch season two of
Ted Lasso. We proceeded to binge nearly all of the season on Saturday—eleven episodes! We would have made it through the whole season, in fact, if not for the surprising twist that the half-hour run times of the earlier episodes later stretched to between 40 and 45 minutes. The season finale was 50 minutes and it was nearly 11:00 p.m. by the time we got to it, so I said I had to wait to watch the last one until morning because I was falling asleep.
So then we made pancakes and watched the season finale yesterday morning. I think I liked season one better, but only slightly; the show is still delightful and I love its earnest sweetness. The only difference is a lack of novelty when it comes to that, as the show already happened with a first season last year. Shobhit and I are both convinced it will win a bunch of Emmys and SAG Awards again, though.
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And then, for the social part of the weekend. It actually happened in two parts, the first because of a brief respite of comparatively spectacular weather: after rains so heavy last week that Western Washington
had flooding, yesterday was the one day after that, and before a minimum ten-week stretch of more rain and overcast weather starting today, where we had beautifully sunny, clear skies, with a high of 49°—apparently only one degree above normal, but enhanced by the sunny weather, which is unusual for January in Seattle, of course.
And after spending the past week at home, save for the occasional trip to grocery shop or stop by the office to switch out receiving paperwork, I was already
feeling a bit of cabin fever. So, Shobhit, who was on his first of three consecutive days off this week, had initially asked if I wanted to go out anywhere, and I suggested we go out to Alki Beach in West Seattle.
We were hardly the only people who thought of this. It took about half an hour to get out there, in part due to the extended route thanks to the West Seattle Bridge closure, but even the drive was fairly pleasant. We found a place to park near Alki Beach Park, like two blocks in from the beach, and then we walked maybe half a mile north along the beach sidewalk and then back again. We weren't out there long, but it was absolutely worth the effort and time and took to get out there. As much as I do love the rain, an outing like this is still more pleasant under sunny skies, and on this day it was a rejuvenating experience.
We then drove to the relatively nearby West Seattle PCC, which Shobhit had never been to, and did a little bit of shopping before driving back home.
When we got back home, I helped Shobhit a bit with preparing to have guests for dinner. Yep, we had a couple of people over—not highly recommended, not ideal, but it happened. All vaccinated
and up to date with a booster shot; I still draw the line at vaccination and will not have anyone over who hasn't been. Also, this was Shobhit's friend Sachin, and his mom who is visiting from India, has been at his house since mid-December, and apparently just got her booster shot recently. Furthermore, Sachin works from home, and his mom stays at home and doesn't really go anywhere. Like a pretty standard Indian mother, she cooks, and she brought over a dish for us to eat.
I guess Sachin told Shobhit his mom was making "a lot of food," but it turns out that phrase is relative; I'm too used to how Shobhit does these things and so this made me expect she would be bringing several dishes. She just brought one, in a small pressure cooker, a rice based dish that was very tasty. They also brought packaged "papad," or what I just learned online some others call "papadam," a crispy flatbread to eat with it. With their accents the way they pronounced it sounded an awful lot like "popper," and to gay men that is something different entirely, something I couldn't imagine they brought to mix with Indian food.
Shobhit could not handle the idea of just having the guests feed us (and provide wine), though, and he made multiple dishes himself. One was a flaky rice dish that I guess he didn't expect me to try; I took one bite and could barely breathe from how spicy it was. Sachin's mom's dish had seemed slightly spicy at first, but after that her dish was nothing. Shobhit also made a mango custard from a mix box that was surprisingly tasty; Ivan even had some of it.
They didn't even arrive until a bit after 7:00, so it was right around 10:00 when they started moving to go back home. And because this is Shobhit and Sachin, who simply cannot stop talking to each other, this process took an excess of time—I just went ahead and started getting ready for bed before they left. Maybe rude of me, but, whatever. Shobhit had commented earlier about how informal they were with each other, so the way I see it, it was just in keeping with that. But, then Shobhit wanted to give Sachin's mom (I don't remember her name; Shobhit just calls her "auntie ji") a tour of the condo. Good thing I wasn't undressed yet. The tour was relatively brief, at least.
Covid considerations aside, it was nice to have some company, honestly. I felt slightly bad for Ivan, who usually naps for around an hour before heading off to work, and it was clearly too loud for him to manage that last night. On the other hand, it's not like being awake and chatting at 8:00 on a Sunday evening is unusual by anyone's standards, and Ivan is the one who chooses to work night shifts. I believe he usually takes some sort of sleep aid, though probably not for the naps right before he goes to work.
All in all, a not-bad weekend.
— पांच हजार एक सौ बारह —
[posted 12:25 pm]
