I had a fair amount of socializing over the weekend, but given the photos I'm using for today's DLU, I will start with Saturday evening. Consider the photo above: that building is
REO Flats, built 2014, and this angle is the view from our living room window on the fourth floor of the Braeburn Condominiums, all of one block away.
It is also the source of much resentment on Shobhit's and my part, because before it was built, we had a spectacular, panoramic view of downtown Seattle from our 4th-floor condo. Consider
this shot from January 2012, taken from the condo during a snow day that year, now what appears to be the most recent unobstructed daytime view I got from our living room; or
this shot from May 2013, which appears to be the most recent unobstructed nighttime shot I got. By the time we get to
this shot from September 2013, although the shot focuses on rain drops on the window, you can actually see, blurred in the background, REO Flats mid-construction.
This is what the view looked like from our living room bay windows in October 2007, the month we moved in.
Anyway: on Saturday, I actually got invited to a birthday party
at REO Flats, in a bit of a circuitous way: Tracy had been invited to a party there, and she asked me to be her +1 because she wasn't going to know anyone there besides the birthday boy. The guy whose birthday it was was Dylen, who turned 28, and had also worked in Marketing at PCC while Tracy was working here, and they became friends. I never really got to know Dylen while he worked here, we barely spoke in fact, but you can see him in
this shot from the PCC Ugly Sweater Brunch in December 2021, he's the grinning young man (I guess he'd have been 26 then) in the white sweater at lower left. He got laid off early into the next year, and according to Tracy, has yet to find another job. And I'm sure that sucks.
And the thing is, Dylen doesn't even live in this building, so to me, it was doubly surprising to find that the friend hosting the party for him lived there. Tracy had come over earlier in the day to watch a movie in the Braeburn Condos theater, and when she Mapped it on her phone, she was like, "It's a three-minute walk from here!"
I was slightly ambivalent about going to a birthday party where I also knew no one, but Tracy's tactic proved quite smart: there were one or two other people who came alone and clearly had no one to talk to outside of clear social groups that formed, whereas Tracy and I always had each other. We did meet a young man who told us he had been friends with Dylen since high school, when it got chilly out on the outdoor rooftop deck and we came to the indoor common area to sit on couches by a mounted TV screen, and we kind of commiserated, because this guy, whose name I can't remember—even though he had also come up the elevator with us—told us he also didn't know anyone else there besides Dylen. He commented that a lot of the other guests seemed "bougie and cliquey." The guy seemed very nice and sweet, and I can only assume a good friend. But, as I noted to Tracy, this is precisely why I prefer the way I do my Birth Week instead of having a party to which a bunch of people are invited: when you are the guest of honor at a party, you get no quality time with any given indivudal at all. It turns the whole experience into something disappointingly superficial, in my opinion.
But! I sure was glad for the opportunity to get into that building. I got a
new angle photo looking back at The Braeburn, although I had to stand on a bit of a stoop and raise my phone above a fence in order to get it (side note: top floor is 7th; go down from there to 4 and the bay windows, about half visible above the railing beyond which the photo is being taken, and that's our condo); and multiple shots of their spectacular panoramic view of the Seattle skyline, basically stolen from us—not even our views from the Braeburn's roof are quite as good, although they're close.
I also took photos of
the deck itself, which is far nicer than ours, largely because it's a reservable common space that includes both indoor and outdoor areas. At the Braeburn, there are no indoor common spaces on the roof, just the rooftop decks, although to be fair we actually have several and on their own terms they're still very cool. That said, it sort of feels like REO Flats took some lessons from the design of buildings like ours. How great would that be, to have both indoor and outdoor common space on the roof? Instead, we have the community kitchen on the ground floor, which absolutely has its uses, as well as the cherished theater. I don't have any idea if REO Flats has a theater (hold on, it
appears they don't—for someone like me this is a fair trade in favor of the Braeburn), but that rooftop space was fantastic. I'm kind of kicking myself now that the photos I took all focused so much on the deck itself and the view, because I should have taken a shot or two of the view back at the doorway into the indoor space, and one or two from inside, and I never did.
Anyway, when we arrived, with Dylen's other friend, we all got in the elevator and found that only residents could access the 7th floor with a key card, but floor 6 worked. I suggested we get off on the 6th floor and see if we can't get in via the stairwell, and that indeed worked: the other guy went up to the door on floor 7 while we kept the 6th floor door open just to make sure we wouldn't get stuck in there, but the door did indeed open and we were all good. Dylen actually came down the stairwell just as we got there, clearly going down to let someone in, saying some quick hellos along the way.
Shortly after, when we were by the snacks and drinks table near the stairwell, Dylen was back, and he gave Tracy a big hug. He then also gave
me a big hug, and said, "Hi baby!" as though we were old friends. He moved on to greeting other guests, and after Tracy and I made ourselves drinks (she doesn't do alcohol so she just had a can of Key Lime LaCroix, while I had the same but with some vodko) and small plates of snacks, we went out to a small table on the outdoor area of the deck. I was most relieved to have that option, actually, as a good number of people were there, probably even more by the time Tracy and I left, and I didn't particularly want to be in a crowded enclosed space with no one masked for an extended period of time.
There was a few other people, over time, with whom Tracy and I introduced each other, although nothing resulted in particularly extended conversations—Tracy and I spent nearly the entire time just hanging out with each other, thus proving Tracy's precience in inviting me to begin with. (Dylen had actually suggested she bring someone, and suggested her sister; Tracy said Cindy wouldn't be much interested so she invited me instead.) I will say this about Dylen's friends, "bougie and cliquey" though they may be: a lot of them are fucking gorgeous. Of course, they were also all young, and nearly exclusively gay men.
Over the course of our time there, Tracy would "count the vaginas" present. By the time we left, she had been one of four women there. All the rest were men, the vast majority of which were clearly queer. One who came with a woman may have been gay: "You came with me, after all," Tracy said—but I got a straight vibe from that guy. Tracy was thus one of four, but I definitely stood alone: I was the single man there anywhere near my age. Most people there were clearly in their twenties. They may have been one or two in their early thirties. God knows I was the only one there with a head of solid gray hair.
I should note, though, that although I am something like six years older than Tracy, she and I did still also have the age thing in common: the two of us were almost certainly the only people there in their forties.
But, whatever. I had a good enough time, and Tracy seemed to as well. Dylen was a good host and made the rounds, even chatting with us briefly two separate times. He would always get pulled away pretty quickly, but such is the nature of these things. We were there less than an hour before Tracy was talking about how we could leave inconspicuously. We were sitting at the couches with that other friend of Dylan's when we decided it was time to go, and that guy was like, "I'm leaving too," clutching his designer purse. (Tracy, of course, knew the brand; I would never have a clue.)
In the end, we still made our way through the people crowded around the drinks and snacks table, and all three of us got hugs from Dylen yet again as we said our goodbyes. He thanked me for coming, and I said "Happy Birthday" to him as we embraced just as I had when we said hello, and then Tracy and I went down the same stairwell we had come up, then to the elevator again.
We then walked just the few blocks down to Rhein Haus for dinner. The snack table was insufficient as a meal, and neither of us had had dinner. Tracy offered to cover my dinner, even though she knew I could technically afford it—she was like, "I know you'll say 'I can just eat at home,'" and she was absolutely right about that.
She said she was in the mood for a burger, and so I had searched for veggie burger places. Skillet Diner once had one of the best veggie burgers I'd ever tasted, but they seem to have taken it off their menu, goddammit. I then remembered once having a veggie burger at Rhein Haus that I loved, and in fact both Tracy and I ordered that very thing, Tracy doing so because for some reason it came with more toppings than the regular burger. Unfortunately, their veggie burger now was stunningly bland and underwhelming, and neither of us finished more than half of it.
We were also very filled up, however, by the one delicious thing we ordered, at Tracy's instigation: a "
jumbo pretzel," which really lived up to its name, and at least one of the three sauces—a white cheese sauce—was spectacular. I wound up taking about a third of it home as leftovers for Shobhit.
Between all that and the snack table though, my weight was
way up yesterday morning. Time again to get my shit together!
I suppose I should also mention what Tracy and I did
before the party, which was hang out in the Braeburn Condos theater to watch
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, the director's cut, which is four hours and 10 minutes long. We started this trilogy run in February of
last year with
The Fellowship of the Ring, and did not get around to
The Two Towers until six months later, in August; it was now eight months after
that. This is definitely it's the longest I have ever taken for one of these Lord of the Rings "trilogy watches." But hey, now it's finally done!
Tracy kept making comments that made it very clear she has seen that movie way more times than even I have. And I've seen it a lot of times. I was kind of amazed to realize that the third of those movies, which each came out only one year apart, is now twenty years old, as of this year. Well, this fall, anyway.
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I guess I can work backward for a moment now, and mention I had a movie night with Alexia on Friday. Having had the previous two, which she thus rented on Amazon Prime Video, at her place, and knowing Shobhit would be interested in watching this one, we hosted at our place this time—to watch
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
I took transit home because I had a bag of stuff that would be too heavy to walk all the way, and then I quickly vacuumed so the floor wouldn't be gross for Alexia's visit. She then came over at about 6:00.
This was earlier than she usually suggests, and she even took us up on our offer to have some of our leftover sambar for dinner. I didn't realize until later why this may be, also after she surprised me when the movie ended by saying, "I'm going to go get an orange, I'll be right back." I was happy to have her continue visiting for a bit, but this was unusual.
It then became clear she thought we were watching a double feature. She had a slight brain fart hearing the title
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and heard two separate titles: "Indiana Jones" and "The Last Crusade." Ha! That cracked me up. And actually, she was relieved when we figured this out, as she was tired and happy to be going to bed sooner than later after all—which I already knew would have been what she preferred anyway. Alexia is not a night owl. I'm thinking now that maybe we'll do the next title in our Harrison Ford-athon Thursday next week, after Alexia and I do Happy Hour at Frolik Kitchen downtown.
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Side note: I have also finished selecting "hidden gems" to do with everyone for my Birth Week, starting this coming Friday. Between the movie and going to the party, Tracy came up to the condo to hang out, do her makeup and change. (She had arrived for the movie wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and I joked that I'd love it if she went to the party like that. It would be funny! She said, "It might be if I knew anyone there, but I don't!" Fair.) While we were in the condo, we finally settled on what we'll do after work on Sunday, and we're going to Terra Plata, the rooftop restaurant on Capitol Hill next to Melrose Market, where I had brunch with Jennifer and Matthew last October. To me that absolutely qualifies as a "hidden gem."
Over the weekend I also found a cool spot near downtown Everett to go to with Lynn and Zephyr. I messaged her to suggest it and haven't heard back, but I think it'll work. Assuming so, I've now got a solid 13 "hidden gems" to visit over the course of ten days starting on Friday.
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So, that leaves yesterday for me to tell you about, which I deliberately kept open for Shobhit's sake: we were to go over to Karen and Dave's in Magnolia, so they could allocate Democracy Vouchers to Shobhit's Seattle City Council campaign, and also provide him with two more signatures and donations toward his dual goals of 150 each in order to qualify to
use those vouchers (nearly everyone needs to have this explained, it's very confusing).
There was a bit of a twist to this visit: Anita is isolating with them after having gotten covid on a vacation to Hawaii. She is no longer sick, but still testing positive. Karen and Dave, who had covid themselves earlier this year, are testing negative. Karen said we could either reschedule, or we could all wear masks and do the signing on the front porch. We chose the latter option.
There was a breeze outside though and it made signing difficult, so they asked if we would mind going inside for a few minutes, So, we did. Dave's sister was visiting too, and she was inside, unmasked. But, the rest of us all had masks on for the several minutes we were iside, to get all the paperwork signed, particularly Dave's signatures as Karen did hers outside. There was a fair amount of discussion then, about both the democracy voucher process, and Shobhit's platform, and particularly accessibility issues Karen was known to be very knowledgable about—she sits on the
U.S. Access Board.
We did see Anita very briefly; she came out in her wheelchair (which she always uses, just to clarify; it had nothing to do with covid) in the kitchen for like thirty seconds, evidently looking for something, then went back to her room. We might have said hi to her, but too much discussion was underway otherwise.
This was specifically a political call, but I think I'll go ahead and include it as a social event for my next Social Review. We must have been there, I don't know, half an hour? Forty minutes? We might have been inside the house for twenty. This was a real calculated risk, but Shobhit really needed those signatures and donations, especially since a couple provides two instead of one. They offered him a donation total of $60, making Karen's contribution $50 and Dave's $10.
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After that, Shobhit and I made the rounds to do some shopping. We had to pick up something at the nearby Total Wine & More where he works; we then drove up to the Shoreline Costco, and did our PCC shopping at the Edmonds store all of two miles from there. Shobhit decided to go to that Costco instead of the one on 4th Avenue in Seattle so that Saffron Grill would be on the way back; he wanted to stop in there to see if he could get some support for his campaign.
They were busy, of course, so Shobhit was back in the car before I finished using the bathroom. But, they did say he could contact them later about it. Also, we were able to tell Muhammed, the namesake son of the older guy who used to run the place, that Google's Maps app was saying they close at 6:00 on Sundays, and he noted that he needed to contact them to get that fixed as it isn't true. Shobhit was afraid something may have been wrong to cause them to cut back their hours, but it turns out they actually haven't.
We got back home, and made dinner, and then spent the rest of the evening on TV: last night's episode of
Succession, the season premiere of
Barry, and then I went to the bedroom to burn through four episodes of
Beef on Netflix. I have the last two two watch tonight before, for the first time since signing up in 2004, I will briefly have my Netflix subscription canceled. I want to continue with Apple TV for two months past my three-month trial period because I want to be able to finish season three of
Ted Lasso. I'm not willing to pay for yet another streamer on top of all those I'm already paying for, though, so Netflix is out for the next two months. My billing cycle ends tomorrow though so I do need to get the excellent
Beef watched before then.
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And now, I just got off my virtual, FaceTime lunch with Karen, which just happened to be scheduled for today, right after seeing her yesterday: it was supposed to be last Friday but she had a conflict so we rescheduled it for today. Then, when I finally remembered all these two-hour Promotion Analytics virtual trainings we have scheduled every day this week, I had to ask her this morning if she could push it back to 1:00 instead of noon. She only had 1 to 1:30 available but we could make that work. This is why I'm posting a bit later than usual today.
And boy, did we pack a lot into that half hour. First we talked a bit about her sister-in-law who recently moved from San Francisco to the Seattle area, should soon be moving into a recently purchased house in Issaquah, and has been visiting them a lot—Shobhit and I actually met her when we were at their house yesterday. Then we managed to reschedule next week's lunch that was scheduled as normal on Friday, to Thursday,
and we agreed to meet in-person, at the place we used to meet for lunch every month before the pandemic, Six-Seven at the Edgewater Hotel! She was surprisingly excited about that, and we both agreed that place qualifies for my Birth Week theme of "hidden gems." And then I went through telling her about all the other "hidden gems," which now will number fourteen, over the 10 days of my "Birth Week" from Friday the 21st through Sunday the 30th.
At that point she had a phone call she had to get to as it was already 1:30. And now I need to post this and get back to work myself!
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[posted 1:37 pm]
