— पांच हजार तीन सौ नब्बे-दो —
I still have so much to catch up on at work, after having been on PTO last week, and yet virtually every morning, and into some of the afternoons, I am swimming against a tide of new shit to attend to.
This is without even having Gabby around, as she's on a massive, two-week Mediterranean cruise vacation with her mom. (She's mentioned several times she said during her interviews that she had this booked in May and could not back out of it; this was a trip they had booked in 2020, I think she said, and it took until now for them to reschedule it.) If she were here, I'm willing to bet one or two or more totally unrelated things would wind up getting filtered to me through her as well.
It's funny how, when you're behind on everything, you can take some days making headway on certain things that have the greatest need for catching up on, while at the same time other things get neglected, thereby running behind on that other shit. It's all so much fun!
— पांच हजार तीन सौ नब्बे-दो —
— पांच हजार तीन सौ नब्बे-दो —
Last night was Action Movie Night at the Braeburn Condos: Joe was the movie chooser. It looks like next time, two weeks from now, is going to be my choice. I have two great ideas in mind, and just need to decide which one to choose.
At first, Shobhit had emailed the group that he would be unable to make it because the weather was too nice and he needed to go to Volunteer Park and talk to people about his campaign. He said that I would be there with food, though, and indeed, after I walked home from work, I made a pasta dish. I even went slightly fancy and brought a little nowl of fresh parmesan cheese for people to sprinkle on it. I was the only one who actually did that! What a bunch of commoners.
In the end, though, Shobhit made it after all, walking in with his backpack on, as I was telling everyone about my Birth Week concept and what my recent themes have been. I told them about my having already chosen "islands" for next year, but have a couple ideas of fun "alt versions" of islands to do, such as Laney's idea of a Happy Hour sitting on a side street traffic island. (Eventually I will scout ideal locations on Capitol Hill for that.) I also realized I could count a kitchen island. And then Jake offered another good idea: go to a restaurant with "Island" in its name. That works! I did look up ideas today though and it seems just about any island-named place is very meat centric. There's even a place called Island Cuisine in Bremerton that serves Filipino Food which ideally could be perfect to go to with Tracy, as she's half-Filipino, except that place does not appear to have anything vegetarian whatsoever.
Oh well. The movie Joe chose, much to my amusement, was
The Menu, which I saw in the theater last November, and then watched again soon after it was available on HBO Max,
in January, because I knew Shobhit would enjoy it. Thus, Shobhit was one of seveal people who saw it for the second time last night; I was almost certainly the only one seeing it for the third time. And you know what? As much as I was slightly disappointed, only that it was a movie I had already seen twice—and a recent release, no less—I still very much enjoyed it, even a third time through. That movie is almost shockingly rewatchable, and the more you see it, the more you appreciate it, particularly its finesse in editing.
I felt compelled to text Dad that he should watch it. I don't think Dad is especially interested in movies about chefs and restaurants as a general rule, having run a restaurant for decades, but I think this movie is a bit different. I think I would call it a "comic thriller." The whole ensemble cast is great, but I think Hong Chau is the best. She's funny and menacing and nuanced all at once.
So who all was there, then? Let's see . . . Tony, Jake, Ben, Ryan, Sean, Derek, Shobhit and me. Eight people this time out. A pretty comfortable group.
Ben even made the unusual choice of bringing a vegetarian dish, an Asian noodle dish he purchased somewhere. He was disappointed not to see Shobhit when he arrived, for this reason—but, I assured him I am also vegetarian and also appreciated it. Interestingly, this was a very rare case in which no one brought pizza. Derek also brought something without meat: a pan of freshly baked Red Lobster cheddar cheese biscuits. I had plenty of options to eat last night without meat in it, which was very nice.
When the movie was over, Shobhit and I left fairly quickly as we still needed to swing by PCC for some quick shopping, particularly for cat food, as I was out of the cans. Then we came home and I went to bed.
— पांच हजार तीन सौ नब्बे-दो —
[posted 12:46 pm]
