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It looks like we're going to have a house guest from July 20 to July 26; that's Wednesday next week through the following Tuesday. He'll arrive the day after I return from Denver, in fact. It's not somebody we know, but rather a guy whose
Craigslist ad for a room for a week Shobhit found, and he forwarded me asking if I thought it was legit. I mean, who knows? But, I went ahead and emailed him, and we're feeling okay about it. The guy offered to send us links to his socials, which he did indeed do, even though he doesn't post but once every few to several months. He also sent his LinkedIn page, but most crucially, his ad also offered to schedule a "vibe check" call, which we set up for yesterday morning. It went very well, and while I'm pretty adamantly against getting another roommate, getting $750 for a six-night stay sounds good to me.
Shobhit did try to tell me he thought we should charge more, but the ad said "up to" and I had already said we thought it was reasonable. We're not a hotel after all, nor are we even an AirBnB. The guy's just looking for ways to avoid having to pay what are currently exorbitant prices for hotel
or AirBnB, which I totally get. (Shobhit and I did luck out on a pretty great deal right on the Vancouver Pride parade route over the last weekend of July, but, we'll see how nice or dumpy that hotel is. We did sacrifice any actual shower in that room; we'll only be able to take baths in a tub. But, we saved a few hundred bucks doing this rather than the more standard hotels that were available. I think it will be fine.)
Anyway! I only bring all of this up because that guy, who is originally from Lithuania, is apparently a "transit nerd." And I was just thinking this morning about how many more public transit options there are here in Seattle than most people even realize—in addition to the bus system, we have
three separate public transit rail systems (Light Rail, the most obvious; The Sounder commuter train, the only one that shares tracks with Amtrak; and two different streetcar lines), and actually three different public transit
boat systems that serve Seattle proper (Washington State Ferries, the most obvious; King County Water Taxi; and Kitsap Transit's foot ferries).
Which brings us to my weekend over the past three days. Between Friday and Sunday, I actually rode on a passenger ferry six times, serving three different routes: Downtown Seattle to West Seattle; Downtown Seattle to Bremerton; and Bremerton to Port Orchard.
So let's start with Friday, which was when I took the King County Water Taxi to West Seattle for what was easily one of the greatest Happy Hour experiences I ever had with her. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. First, I'm pretty sure this was the first time I took one of the water taxis in about five years—the last time being when Laney and I rode one together, from downtown Seattle, to get drinks at the place right there on the dock on the West Seattle side,
Marination Ma Kai. That was in 2017.
This year, though, the impetus for having Happy Hour over there was the fact that Laney was house sitting for a friend in West Seattle, so she was already in that neighborhood, and this way Laney wouldn't have to drive all the way back around to meet me. I also asked Shobhit if he wanted to join us, which would have been fine but also would have necessitated a change in how I got there, as Laney can only accommodate one passenger in her van, and Shobhit and I would have thus had to drive ourselves rather than take the water taxi. Plus, as Shobhit noted, he would get bored the fastest and his skipping it would mean Laney and I could hang out for as long as we liked.
In fact, I could have hung out one or two hours longer than I even did, and only headed back home when I did because by then the return water taxis were only once an hour and I didn't want to wait to catch a boat back until 9:00. So, I took the 8:00 boat back. That still gave Laney and me a good three hours together, which we spent at a boat launch park not far from the ferry dock, called Don Armeni Park. (It took me some time to get the name of the park right, because Google Maps is not labeling it properly—it just uses the label "Don Armeni Boat Launch." But, I used Google Maps Street View to find the Seattle Parks and Recreation park sign, and it says
Don Armeni Park.)
Laney and I had long assumed we would have our drinks (and my packed dinner; I walked straight to the dock on the Seattle side from work) at Alki Beach. Which we may still do, next time; we already scheduled an extra Happy Hour, again in West Seattle because this one was so pleasant, for Saturday, July 23. But this time, when we were driving away from the dock in her van and admiring the spectacular view of the Seattle skyline from right there, we happened upon the park, which to my astonishment not only had free parking but hardly anyone was there—on a truly beautiful day!—and on the spot we decided we would plant ourselves right there. We found a picnic table, although we still sat in the folding lawn chairs Laney had in her van right next to it. The table made it a lot easier for me to set up the timer on my phone's camera for the really great shot you see at the top of this post.
Until we started to move into dusk, the weather was truly perfect: sunny; we both had sunscreen on; temperatures in the mid-seventies; the view could not be beat. We chatted about this and that, including the saga of the PTO policy change at PCC. But we talked about a lot of other things too. I mean, we did for three hours. We both remarked on how much longer we could have stayed there, if not for my desire to make the 8:00 water taxi back to town. And she drove me back to the dock.
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— पांच हजार दो सौ सैंतीस —
A curious and amusing coincidence about this weekend was that, after a five-year break from any of our local water taxis—or passenger-only ferries, anyway—I then rode them two days in a row over the weekend, two different agencies, and as already noted, three different routes. The other routes were on Saturday, when I
finally went to Port Orchard to see Claudia and Dylan's new house, which they moved into in March.
I could have taken the Washington State Ferries route to Bremerton, but that boat takes an hour. The Kitsap County "Fast Ferry," which carries no vehicles, gets there in half the time. So I went downtown late Saturday morning, stopping at the Downtown PCC for my Members Only deal of an 8oz Northwest Delights Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites—I had to buy another product in order to trigger the deal, so I got a 16oz can of Zevia Cherry Cola—after another stop at the Bartell Drugs on Madison.
An interesting thing happened there, actually: I've been trying to find a reliable source for KN95 masks and finding that a challenge; in the end I finally broke and bought a box of 25 from Amazon which arrived yesterday (five colors! I was able to wear a pink one today on the Light Rail that matched my pink shorts and pink shirt!), hoping they aren't among the slight majority across the country that are apparently counterfeit. Anyway, I
thought I might find KN95 masks at Bartell's, but they didn't have that kind, only the standard disposable ones. And then, when I asked the young man cashiering if they had any, he clearly misheard me and said they had
free straight-up N95 masks behind the counter, and asked me how many I wanted! I gave me a wad of them in his hands; I still haven't counted them but there are at least ten. I don't care for the fit of these because I want masks with just ear loops and not the kind I have to strap behind my head.
but—these are still the best masks you can have, which makes them perfect for air travel, and I fly out to Denver super early Saturday morning. The timing of this could not have been more perfect, and will make it easier for me to worry less about the possibility of bringing covid to Sara's house, where I'll be staying for three nights.
Anyway, after two stops walking the whole way, I made it to the Kitsap Fast Ferry terminal with only a few minutes to spare. I was always fine but I didn't know for sure until I got there, and kept feeling like I was not making good time. I actually tore open and wore one of the N95 masks, because the last KN95 mask I had just put on had a strap break right as I had been walking into Bartell Drugs. So, I wore the N95 mask inside the PCC, and most of the ferry to Bremerton. And boy, do those things truly make a seal around your mouth and nose, which is of course the point. Still, it was making my breathing uncomfortable and I had one last KN95 mask in my the pocket of my hoodie stuffed in the backpack I had brought with me, so I swapped those out when I neared Bremerton.
The 11:30 ferry out of Seattle arrived in Bremerton at noon, and then the local foot ferry from there to Port Orchard left at 12:15. That got me across to Port Orchard just a couple of minutes before 12:30. Claudia's house is barely under a mile from the ferry dock, which means I could have walked, but Claudia still came and picked me up.
I then spent the next four and a half hours with Claudia and Dylan, which was really great. I got tours of their huge house and even more huge, half-acre of land in sits on; Claudia also truly ate up all of my complaints about the PTO drama at work—ever since she left PCC, apparently she has an insatiable appetite for anything even remotely close to shit-talking. And this whole story basically justifies some shit-talking, something I have historically done very little of in regards to PCC, but the way this had been communicated was truly wrongheaded and tone deaf.
Side note: Shobhit did manage to point out one legitimate mistake I had made on my PTO projections spreadsheet, but that made no real difference to my conviction that I will keep my PTO plans instead of cashing out another two or three days. At most, I
might decide to work Halloween Day after all, just still taking November 1 off, although that depends entirely on what kind of plans form between now and then for that holiday, as well as Shobhit's birthday which is the day before. I do enjoy spending Halloweens at work, but then, last year was totally pointless for me to be here as I had been the only one of the few people who even came to the office who bothered to dress up in any way. In which case, I arguably still might as well just take the day off. We'll see. We have some months to decide.
Claudia made me a drink that I had no idea was a thing, sounded very weird, and was actually very tasty: something the Spanish apparently drink a lot, which is red wine mixed with Cherry Coke. I already had my Cherry Cola Zevia so I used that, and it worked great. It was very tasty and I had two of them. Once the house and property touring was over, we spent some time sitting on the picnic table on their backyard, which is where we're sitting in the photo above. Claudia said she did her hair and moisturized her face because she knew I'd be taking pictures. Ha!
Claudia actually had
three other friends come over that day. She texted me at one point saying her friend from work was coming to help her with weeding (she has a ton of yard work to do on that property; I made it very clear that she wouldn't be getting any yard work out of me), asking if that was all right, and I said of course it was. And then a guy she had known from her .83 cycling group days was visiting from his new home in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; and yet another friend arrived just we Dylan and I were leaving for him to give me a ride back to the dock (because Claudia was drinking). These three other friends had their arrivals quite staggered out; the .83 guy arrived just before I was done with my spiel about PTO. It might have been another hour or ninety minutes before a friend from her new job, at the Farmland Trust, arrived. And another woman with a bike (the guy had come on a bike too), her name was Lisa—the only one of their names I can remember, ironically—was just getting there when I left.
The work friend was the one staying the night. Claudia seems eager for me to stay the night sometime. At first I was slightly resistant, only because it's so easy to get there and back from Seattle using the foot ferries, but I came around to the idea of how fun it could be. It also occurred to me that Shobhit hopes to take another trip to India in November, and if that happens he'll be gone for multiple weeks again, which would be a perfect time for me to go spend the night. Also, I should start folding in a stop to see Claudia in Port Orchard on my way to Shelton to see Jennifer during my Birth Weeks.
Claudia has always been quite openly fond of me, and that show no sign of abating even after she has left PCC and moved across the Sound, which of course makes me feel good. I'm particularly fond of her as well, and am glad to feel like our friendship will endure. We never got extremely close, but we've been friends for over ten years now. (The first social thing we did outside of work was in January 2011, a "Glee Sing-Along" at Central Cinema.) I'm happy to do my part in maintaining what we've got, and maybe getting even closer over time, as it feels very much like she is of the same mind. It's wonderful when you realize you have people like that in your life.
The many friends who came to their place on Saturday was sort of an amusing coincidence, as according to her, they moved so far from everyone that people generally don't come to visit. And then when I texted her earlier last week to make sure this Saturday was still a good day for my visit, she said yes, even though she had already scheduled another person to come help with her weeding. Somehow it just wound up happening that she had
four largely unrelated friends come and visit them that one day. It was a nice day for her overall, I think.
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I might have stayed longer on Saturday, but Alexia had expressed interest in getting together for our next Star Wars movie on Saturday night, which was why I wanted to catch the 5:00 ferry back out of Port Orchard, so I could catch the 5:30 ferry back out of Bremerton, which docked on the Seattle side at 6:00. This
should have resulted in my getting back home at about 6:30, but I missed the #12 bus by literal seconds, and then made the unwise choice of walking over to 4th and Pike to wait for the #11 instead of going down University Street Station to catch Light Rail and just walk from Capitol Hill Station. One Bus Away was only showing "scheduled departure" for this time for the #11 and not real-time information, and in the end the #11 just . . . never showed up. I wound up catching the #49 at 6:31, and still having to get off on Broadway and walking the last half mile home. I really should have just taken Light Rail; I'd have been home at minimum 15 minutes earlier, maybe more. It was nearly 7:00 by the time I got there, so the aim of starting the movie at 7:00 was pushed to 7:30.
But, it was still fine. We watched
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. For many years I thought
The Phantom Menace was the worst, but I think now that
Attack of the Clones is, with its zero-chemistry love plot, horribly written by George Lucas, between Natalie Portman and Hayden Christiansen. At least Hayden Christiansen was still gorgeous, and I do still enjoy the chase sequence on Coruscant near the beginning.
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As for yesterday, no socializing, but plenty of activity: Shobhit and I had the Zoom call with that guy named Eddie who will be staying with us for a week, and then we went shopping, first to DK Market (where I was
bored as shit, but I guess I have to admit I was glad to be there to negotiate a few crucial buying decisions with Shobhit) and then to Pacific Supply on Capitol Hill, where Shobhit got a tomato cage and I got a bottle of "Hair Away" for future use in tub drains.
We finished
Our Flag Means Death on HBO Max, which Laney had recommended and we did really enjoy. And then I took myself downtown to Pacific Place to see
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, which was quite charming. I came home and wrote the review, after which it was close to bedtime, as the showtime I had been able to catch was not until 6:10.
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[posted 12:24 pm]
