the fruitcake enterprises social review—winter 2023
In the winter of 2023, I engaged in in-person or face-to-face virtual social interaction with the following people on the indicated number of days:
1. Shobhit—41
2. Alexia—9
3. Shivi—6
4. Laney—5
5. Karen—4
6. Uncle David—5
7. Mary Ann—5
8. Danielle—3
9. Tony—5 *
10. Tracy—3
11. Sean—4 *
12. Jake—5 *
13. Ryan—5 *
14. Gabriel—2
15. Lea—2
16. Mel—2 **
17. Steve—2 **
18. Derek—3 *
19. Ben—3 *
20. Chris—3 *
21. Chris—3 *
22. Dad—1
23. Sherri—1
24. Jennifer—1
25. Scott—1
26. Abhishek—1
27. Vinaya—1
28. Becca—1
29. Kara—1 **
30. Dave—1
31. Kwanteria—1
32. Tyler—1
33. Val—1
34. Bree—1
35. Allie—1
36. Francine—1 **
37. Deena—1 **
38. Hope—1
39. Chase—1
40. Ian—1
41. Jesse—1
42. Eli—1 * Regular attendee at Action Movie Night ** Book Club Total days in the winter with social interaction: 54 (60.0%, a +5.1 percentage point change from fall)
. . . Well! The ranked list of people with whom I socialized dropped pretty dramatically in winter versus fall (a full third), but the amount of time I spent with Shobhit this go-round seems to have sort of made up for it: he always gets the #1 slot by a long shot, but after he got 24 points in the fall, in the winter he's got 41! That itself is a 70.8% increase. Has Shobhit ever even gotten 41 points before? I would guess the answer is yes, but I can't remember. A big part of his bump this quarter is clearly the 17 points he got for our 17 days together in Australia alone, so I went to check the Social Review from the last time we went to Australia, winter 2020. (Side note: in both instances, while we were in Australia, it was actually summer.) How many points did he have then? All of 26! 15 of them from that trip to Australia. To be fair, his total that quarter would almost certainly have been a lot higher were it not for the pandemic shutdowns that began almost immediately after we got home. ... . . . And: okay, I just scrolled through all my Social Review archives to find the last time Shobhit garnered that many points. It was, in fact, spring 2017—the most recent Social Review posted to my LiveJournal before I shifted to this blog, at fruitcakeenterprises.com. That quarter, he got 45 points. That appears to remain his second-highest score ever, tied with winter 2005; his record high remains 49, from summer 2004, the first full quarter in which we ever knew each other. I found maybe two or three other instances of a score higher than 41, all of them from the very early years. Right now, though, this is the highest score he's gotten in six years; the closest he's gotten since 2017 was 38 (spring 2018). I guess the point is, Shobhit is experiencing quite the rebound this quarter. Considering Australia's part in that, it is very unlikely he will come close to meeting or exceeding that over the spring. I did have a lot of fun with him over the past three months, though. Beyond that, probably the biggest reason for the drop in total number of people on the list is how many holiday parties there were in the fall, particularly at work, of which there were none over the winter. The only particularly notable inclusions from work this time around would be Mel, Steve and Kara, and even Book Club only met twice over the winter. Shivi, Shobhit's niece, ranks #3 with six points on her debut entry here, because of how long she stayed with us from just after Christmas until just after New Year's and we did a lot with her—another thing that added to Shobhit's total. Otherwise, the top 5 is rounded out by standards: Alexia (#2, 9 points); Laney (#4, 5 points); Karen (#5: 4 points). Uncle David and Mary Ann are unusual additions this time around, and ranked rather high, having spent 5 days with them in Australia: they get the very rare rankings of #6 and #7, respectively. Further standards Danielle (#8: 3 points) and Tracy (# 10: 3 points) otherwise round out the top 10; and the rest are people from Action Movie Night, which happens every other Wednesday. And again, in some cases I ranked people with a smaller number of points higher, because the cumulative time I would have spent socializing directly with them would have been far greater—most people at Book Club, for instance, I am only "socializing" with because we happen to be in the same room together. Laney or Karen or Danielle would often be spending time one-on-one with me for many hours at a time, albeit sometimes with Shobhit along for the ride (again: adding to his total). Gabriel and Lea, who rank #12 and #13, haven't ranked high in ages (Lea really never has), both because of distance and because of the pandemic. I did actually hang out at their house one day, though, and the second point happened due to the amount of time we spent on FaceTime during the Academy Awards, just like last year when I was with Barbara in Louisville. All that said, why don't we just get to the who did what with whom where and when . . .
Wednesday, December 21: with Alexia, holiday movie night at her place (Scrooged) Thursday, December 22: with Tracy, to a movie (The Whale) Friday, Deceber 23: with Alexia, brief detour to Queen Anne and then Olympic Manor, then Candy Cane Lane: Holiday Lights tour 2022 Saturday, December 24: with Dad, Sherri, Jennifer, Matthew, Hope, Chase and Ian, out for dinner (Emperor's Palace) Monday, December 26: with Alexia, The Lights of Christmas in Stanwood Tuesday, December 27: with Shobhit and Shivi, Shivvy arriving for her visit Wednesday, December 28: with Shobhit, Shivi, Tony, Chris, Chris, Ryan, Jake, Ben and Sean, Action Movie Night (Triangle of Happiness) Saturday, December 31: with Shobhit and Shivi, Gingerbread Village, Teddy Bear Suite, Central Library walkthrough and walking Pike Place Market; New Year's Eve at Seattle Center Sunday, January 1: with Shobhit and Shivi, New Year's fireworks and drone show at Seattle Center Monday, January 2: with Shobhit, Shivi, Abhishek and Vinaya, out for lunch (Araya's Place in Bellevue) and out for dessert (Belle Pastry) Monday, January 2: with Shobhit and Shivi, Golden Gardens Park, Fremont Troll and GasWorks Park Tuesday, January 3: with Shobhit, Shivi, Karen and Dave, out for dinner (Saffron Grill) Saturday, January 7: with Shobhit and Danielle, out for brunch (Stonehouse Cafe) Monday, January 9: with Mel, Kara and Steve, Book Club at Pub 70 (Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays by Minnie Driver) Wednesday, January 11: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Chris, Chris, Ryan and Derek, Action Movie Night (Insidious) Thursday, January 12: with Shobhit, wine tasting class at Total Wine & More in Interbay Sunday, January 15: with Shobhit and Danielle, chai and hanging out at our place Sunday, January 15: with Alexia, movie night at her place (Blade Runner) Thursday, January 19: with Kwanteria, virtual movie night (Lilies of the Field) Friday, January 20: with Karen, lunch over FaceTime Friday, January 20: with Shobhit and Alexia, movie night at our place (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) Saturday, January 21: with Laney, at-home Happy Hour at her new apartment in Renton Saturday, January 21: with Gabriel and Lea, movie night at their place (Tár) Wednesday, January 25: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Ben, Chris B, Ryan, Sean and Jesse, Action Movie Night (Mojave) Friday, January 27: with Shobhit and Alexia, open hous public tour of Seattle Convention Center Summit building Friday, January 27: with Tracy and Scott, out for dinner (Tanoor) Sunday, January 29: with Shobhit and Danielle, champagne brunch and hot tubbing at her place Tuesday, January 31: with Tracy, to a movie (Infinity Pool) Friday, February 3: with Alexia, movie night at her place (Witness) Sunday, February 5: with Shobhit and Laney, Braeburn Condos movie (Wag the Dog) Monday, February 6: with Karen, lunch over FaceTime Wednesday, February 8: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Ben, Derek, Ryan, Sean, Chris, and Eli: Action Movie Night (Be Kind, Rewind) Saturday, February 11: with Laney, Happy Hour at Chuck's Hop Shop Saturday, February 11: with Shobhit, out for a walk Tuesday, February 14: with Shobhit, to a movie (80 for Brady) Sunday, February 19: with Shobhit, flying to Los Angeles, flying to Sydney Monday, February 20: with Shobhit, flying to Sydney Tuesday, February 21: with Shobhit, day in Brisbane Wednesday, February 22: with Shobhit, train day trip to Gold Coast; exploring Roma Street Parkland in Brisbane Thursday, February 23: with Shobhit, day in Brisbane Friday, February 24: with Shobhit, flight to Sydney; out for a walk Saturday, February 25: with Shobhit, Sky Deck at Crown Sydney; walk to Sydney Opera House; Fleurs de Villes: PRIDE: Sydney Fernery; Art Gallery of New South Wales; Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade Sunday, February 26: with Shobhit, Obelisk Beach Monday, February 27: with Shobhit, Uncle David and Mary Ann, trip to Kangaroo Island Tuesday, February 28: with Shobhit, Uncle David and Mary Ann, day on Kangaroo Island Wednesday, March 1: with Shobhit, Uncle David and Mary Ann, travel back on/from Kangaroo Island; d'Arenberg Cube in Adelaide Thursday, March 2: with Shobhit, walking Rundle Mall and Adelaide Parklands; Haigh's Chocolates factory tour Thursday, March 2: with Shobhit, Uncle David and Mary Ann, Adelaide Fringe (The Umbilican Brothers; The Choir of Man) Friday, March 3: with Shobhit, walk to Adelaide City parks and city and state government houses Friday, March 3: with Shobhit, Uncle David and Mary Ann, out for dinner (Himalayan Kitchen) and showing them our hotel room Saturday, March 4: with Shobhit, flying to Sydney; walking Oxford Street Party Sunday, March 5: with Shobhit, Sydney World Pride March; Queen Victoria Building; Oxford Street Mall; walking Oxford Street Party Monday, March 6: with Shobhit, Pride (R)evolution Exhibit at State Library of New South Wales; Sydney Opera House tour; walking Oxford Street; walk to Barangaroo Reserve Tuesday, March 7: with Shobhit, flying to Los Angeles and to Seattle Wednesday, March 8: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Derek, Sean and Ryan, Action Movie Night (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) Saturday, March 11: with Laney and Shobhit, Happy Hour at La Cocina Oaxaqueña Saturday, March 11: with Shobhit and Alexia, best-of-Australia-trip slide show at our place Sunday, March 12: with Shobhit, Gabriel and Lea, Virtual Oscar Party 2023 Wednesday, March 15: with Karen, lunch over FaceTime Thursday, March 16: with Mel, Steve, Francine and Deena, Book Club at Here Today Brewery + Kitchen (The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green) Friday, March 17: with Shobhit and Alexia, movie night at her place (The Mosquito Coast) Saturday, March 18: with Shobhit, Becca, Tyler, Val, Brennan (Bree), Allie and more, Becca's Baby Shower in Maple Valley Sunday, March 19: with Laney, Braeburn Condos Double Feature (Under the Skin and Her)
1. Shobhit—41
2. Alexia—9
3. Shivi—6
4. Laney—5
5. Karen—4
6. Uncle David—5
7. Mary Ann—5
8. Danielle—3
9. Tony—5 *
10. Tracy—3
11. Sean—4 *
12. Jake—5 *
13. Ryan—5 *
14. Gabriel—2
15. Lea—2
16. Mel—2 **
17. Steve—2 **
18. Derek—3 *
19. Ben—3 *
20. Chris—3 *
21. Chris—3 *
22. Dad—1
23. Sherri—1
24. Jennifer—1
25. Scott—1
26. Abhishek—1
27. Vinaya—1
28. Becca—1
29. Kara—1 **
30. Dave—1
31. Kwanteria—1
32. Tyler—1
33. Val—1
34. Bree—1
35. Allie—1
36. Francine—1 **
37. Deena—1 **
38. Hope—1
39. Chase—1
40. Ian—1
41. Jesse—1
42. Eli—1 * Regular attendee at Action Movie Night ** Book Club Total days in the winter with social interaction: 54 (60.0%, a +5.1 percentage point change from fall)
. . . Well! The ranked list of people with whom I socialized dropped pretty dramatically in winter versus fall (a full third), but the amount of time I spent with Shobhit this go-round seems to have sort of made up for it: he always gets the #1 slot by a long shot, but after he got 24 points in the fall, in the winter he's got 41! That itself is a 70.8% increase. Has Shobhit ever even gotten 41 points before? I would guess the answer is yes, but I can't remember. A big part of his bump this quarter is clearly the 17 points he got for our 17 days together in Australia alone, so I went to check the Social Review from the last time we went to Australia, winter 2020. (Side note: in both instances, while we were in Australia, it was actually summer.) How many points did he have then? All of 26! 15 of them from that trip to Australia. To be fair, his total that quarter would almost certainly have been a lot higher were it not for the pandemic shutdowns that began almost immediately after we got home. ... . . . And: okay, I just scrolled through all my Social Review archives to find the last time Shobhit garnered that many points. It was, in fact, spring 2017—the most recent Social Review posted to my LiveJournal before I shifted to this blog, at fruitcakeenterprises.com. That quarter, he got 45 points. That appears to remain his second-highest score ever, tied with winter 2005; his record high remains 49, from summer 2004, the first full quarter in which we ever knew each other. I found maybe two or three other instances of a score higher than 41, all of them from the very early years. Right now, though, this is the highest score he's gotten in six years; the closest he's gotten since 2017 was 38 (spring 2018). I guess the point is, Shobhit is experiencing quite the rebound this quarter. Considering Australia's part in that, it is very unlikely he will come close to meeting or exceeding that over the spring. I did have a lot of fun with him over the past three months, though. Beyond that, probably the biggest reason for the drop in total number of people on the list is how many holiday parties there were in the fall, particularly at work, of which there were none over the winter. The only particularly notable inclusions from work this time around would be Mel, Steve and Kara, and even Book Club only met twice over the winter. Shivi, Shobhit's niece, ranks #3 with six points on her debut entry here, because of how long she stayed with us from just after Christmas until just after New Year's and we did a lot with her—another thing that added to Shobhit's total. Otherwise, the top 5 is rounded out by standards: Alexia (#2, 9 points); Laney (#4, 5 points); Karen (#5: 4 points). Uncle David and Mary Ann are unusual additions this time around, and ranked rather high, having spent 5 days with them in Australia: they get the very rare rankings of #6 and #7, respectively. Further standards Danielle (#8: 3 points) and Tracy (# 10: 3 points) otherwise round out the top 10; and the rest are people from Action Movie Night, which happens every other Wednesday. And again, in some cases I ranked people with a smaller number of points higher, because the cumulative time I would have spent socializing directly with them would have been far greater—most people at Book Club, for instance, I am only "socializing" with because we happen to be in the same room together. Laney or Karen or Danielle would often be spending time one-on-one with me for many hours at a time, albeit sometimes with Shobhit along for the ride (again: adding to his total). Gabriel and Lea, who rank #12 and #13, haven't ranked high in ages (Lea really never has), both because of distance and because of the pandemic. I did actually hang out at their house one day, though, and the second point happened due to the amount of time we spent on FaceTime during the Academy Awards, just like last year when I was with Barbara in Louisville. All that said, why don't we just get to the who did what with whom where and when . . .
Wednesday, December 21: with Alexia, holiday movie night at her place (Scrooged) Thursday, December 22: with Tracy, to a movie (The Whale) Friday, Deceber 23: with Alexia, brief detour to Queen Anne and then Olympic Manor, then Candy Cane Lane: Holiday Lights tour 2022 Saturday, December 24: with Dad, Sherri, Jennifer, Matthew, Hope, Chase and Ian, out for dinner (Emperor's Palace) Monday, December 26: with Alexia, The Lights of Christmas in Stanwood Tuesday, December 27: with Shobhit and Shivi, Shivvy arriving for her visit Wednesday, December 28: with Shobhit, Shivi, Tony, Chris, Chris, Ryan, Jake, Ben and Sean, Action Movie Night (Triangle of Happiness) Saturday, December 31: with Shobhit and Shivi, Gingerbread Village, Teddy Bear Suite, Central Library walkthrough and walking Pike Place Market; New Year's Eve at Seattle Center Sunday, January 1: with Shobhit and Shivi, New Year's fireworks and drone show at Seattle Center Monday, January 2: with Shobhit, Shivi, Abhishek and Vinaya, out for lunch (Araya's Place in Bellevue) and out for dessert (Belle Pastry) Monday, January 2: with Shobhit and Shivi, Golden Gardens Park, Fremont Troll and GasWorks Park Tuesday, January 3: with Shobhit, Shivi, Karen and Dave, out for dinner (Saffron Grill) Saturday, January 7: with Shobhit and Danielle, out for brunch (Stonehouse Cafe) Monday, January 9: with Mel, Kara and Steve, Book Club at Pub 70 (Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays by Minnie Driver) Wednesday, January 11: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Chris, Chris, Ryan and Derek, Action Movie Night (Insidious) Thursday, January 12: with Shobhit, wine tasting class at Total Wine & More in Interbay Sunday, January 15: with Shobhit and Danielle, chai and hanging out at our place Sunday, January 15: with Alexia, movie night at her place (Blade Runner) Thursday, January 19: with Kwanteria, virtual movie night (Lilies of the Field) Friday, January 20: with Karen, lunch over FaceTime Friday, January 20: with Shobhit and Alexia, movie night at our place (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) Saturday, January 21: with Laney, at-home Happy Hour at her new apartment in Renton Saturday, January 21: with Gabriel and Lea, movie night at their place (Tár) Wednesday, January 25: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Ben, Chris B, Ryan, Sean and Jesse, Action Movie Night (Mojave) Friday, January 27: with Shobhit and Alexia, open hous public tour of Seattle Convention Center Summit building Friday, January 27: with Tracy and Scott, out for dinner (Tanoor) Sunday, January 29: with Shobhit and Danielle, champagne brunch and hot tubbing at her place Tuesday, January 31: with Tracy, to a movie (Infinity Pool) Friday, February 3: with Alexia, movie night at her place (Witness) Sunday, February 5: with Shobhit and Laney, Braeburn Condos movie (Wag the Dog) Monday, February 6: with Karen, lunch over FaceTime Wednesday, February 8: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Ben, Derek, Ryan, Sean, Chris, and Eli: Action Movie Night (Be Kind, Rewind) Saturday, February 11: with Laney, Happy Hour at Chuck's Hop Shop Saturday, February 11: with Shobhit, out for a walk Tuesday, February 14: with Shobhit, to a movie (80 for Brady) Sunday, February 19: with Shobhit, flying to Los Angeles, flying to Sydney Monday, February 20: with Shobhit, flying to Sydney Tuesday, February 21: with Shobhit, day in Brisbane Wednesday, February 22: with Shobhit, train day trip to Gold Coast; exploring Roma Street Parkland in Brisbane Thursday, February 23: with Shobhit, day in Brisbane Friday, February 24: with Shobhit, flight to Sydney; out for a walk Saturday, February 25: with Shobhit, Sky Deck at Crown Sydney; walk to Sydney Opera House; Fleurs de Villes: PRIDE: Sydney Fernery; Art Gallery of New South Wales; Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade Sunday, February 26: with Shobhit, Obelisk Beach Monday, February 27: with Shobhit, Uncle David and Mary Ann, trip to Kangaroo Island Tuesday, February 28: with Shobhit, Uncle David and Mary Ann, day on Kangaroo Island Wednesday, March 1: with Shobhit, Uncle David and Mary Ann, travel back on/from Kangaroo Island; d'Arenberg Cube in Adelaide Thursday, March 2: with Shobhit, walking Rundle Mall and Adelaide Parklands; Haigh's Chocolates factory tour Thursday, March 2: with Shobhit, Uncle David and Mary Ann, Adelaide Fringe (The Umbilican Brothers; The Choir of Man) Friday, March 3: with Shobhit, walk to Adelaide City parks and city and state government houses Friday, March 3: with Shobhit, Uncle David and Mary Ann, out for dinner (Himalayan Kitchen) and showing them our hotel room Saturday, March 4: with Shobhit, flying to Sydney; walking Oxford Street Party Sunday, March 5: with Shobhit, Sydney World Pride March; Queen Victoria Building; Oxford Street Mall; walking Oxford Street Party Monday, March 6: with Shobhit, Pride (R)evolution Exhibit at State Library of New South Wales; Sydney Opera House tour; walking Oxford Street; walk to Barangaroo Reserve Tuesday, March 7: with Shobhit, flying to Los Angeles and to Seattle Wednesday, March 8: with Shobhit, Tony, Jake, Derek, Sean and Ryan, Action Movie Night (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) Saturday, March 11: with Laney and Shobhit, Happy Hour at La Cocina Oaxaqueña Saturday, March 11: with Shobhit and Alexia, best-of-Australia-trip slide show at our place Sunday, March 12: with Shobhit, Gabriel and Lea, Virtual Oscar Party 2023 Wednesday, March 15: with Karen, lunch over FaceTime Thursday, March 16: with Mel, Steve, Francine and Deena, Book Club at Here Today Brewery + Kitchen (The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green) Friday, March 17: with Shobhit and Alexia, movie night at her place (The Mosquito Coast) Saturday, March 18: with Shobhit, Becca, Tyler, Val, Brennan (Bree), Allie and more, Becca's Baby Shower in Maple Valley Sunday, March 19: with Laney, Braeburn Condos Double Feature (Under the Skin and Her)