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The Big Event yesterday was another political one as part of Shobhit's campaign: a
District 3 Candidates Reception, co-hosted by the GSBA ("Greater Seattle Business Association") and CHBA ("Capitol Hill Business Association").
I was under the mistaken impression that, even though it was at the unusual location of Optimism Brewing Company on Capitol Hill, this was another candidate forum with candidates on a panel answering questions. I sort of spaced the "Reception" part of the event title, which was very much what it was: a section in a second-level area of the very spacious brewery was reserved for it, and there were couches and tall tables for people to mingle and schmooze at. That's basically all anyone did at this event which was scheduled from 4:30 to 6:30.
I actually left work at 4:00 for this, which got me home at 4:30. I fed the cats and also Cassie next door, then walked over. It was probably about 4:50 or so before I got there. Shobhit had actually hand-written a name tag for me, which I did not realize was waiting for me at the reception table until he showed it to me after I arrived.
The whole event, the basic protocol was for each of seven candidates present to take turns going around to every other person there in turn, and offer their campaign shpiel. I'm pretty sure Shobhit covered everyone there who was not another candidate. It wasn't a huge event; I would guess maybe 30 non-candidates were there, give or take. I have no idea how many actual votes get acquired at things like this, or whether it's as effective a use of time as, say, door knocking.
I largely just hung out by myself. For a while I sat at one of the couches where Shobhit had sat to speak to two women sitting opposite him. He left and later Ry, another candidate, came to talk to those same two women. Ry wore high heeled boots and a lengthy, blousy shirt that kind of doubled as a high-hemmed dress, highlighting long legs. It was actually my favorite outfit they've worn at these events so far, which have really represented a broad range of gender expression. I suspect that's the point.
At one point Shobhit asked me to go downstairs to get him a dark beer, as the options up here at this smaller bar were much more limited. It gave me something to do so I didn't mind; I got myself a second drink down there, a "Mixed Berry Hard Seltzer" which was delicious. I came back upstairs and handed the drink to Shobhit, who moved on to another potential voter shortly thereafter.
I continued standing at the tall table for a bit, looking at my phone, and this guy whose name I can't remember came over to say hi, tell me he just moved to Seattle two weeks ago, and that he was introducing himself to people because he's new in town. It's a simple way to get to know people that just isn't in my comfort zone, but it was effective: I learned he had lived in D.C. for nearly two decades, but moved to Seattle for the mountains. We talked a while about cool things he's seen, or hasn't seen yet, in Seattle and around the region.
Shobhit eventually made his way back around, and provided a natural transition into introducing this new guy to him, and Shobhit went into talking about his platform. The guy was pretty mixed on his reaction to it, I think. He later moved on to what seemed like a fairly lengthy conversation with another candidate, my least favorite one of the bunch.
There's one candidate who has been to a lot of these events previously but has not been at many of the more recent ones, and seems to have kind of given up on campaigning. He was on the primary ballot, but there's some speculation, at least among Shobhit and me, as to whether he's given up. If so, then he'll be the first of the eight serious candidates to do so.
In pretty sharp contrast to the forums I went to last weekend, which respectively focused on the homeless community and the Black community, I can't say I really learned anything at the event yesterday. There was nothing especially illuminating about, aside from realizing the GSBA has shifted away from their printed directory of queer-owned businesses to putting it
online. And, I spent $23.50 on three drinks.
I got some practice being sociable with strangers, I guess. Plus, Shobhit and I wound up in a fairly engaging and meaningful conversation with one of the other candidates at the end of the event. That did yield some useful information, actually.
— पांच हजार चार सौ इकतालीस —
— पांच हजार चार सौ इकतालीस —
Shobhit got slightly buzzed from that one beer, and it began to show slightly by the time the event was ending. He even offered another candidate a hug when they went to leave, which was a first and genuinely surprised the candidate. It's not like he was drunk—far from it—but there was a barely perceptible shift in his demeanor. He spent a lot of time talking about me as his husband and how I am his "rock" even though he spends a lot of time criticizing me in private. That did feel like it got slightly close to being awkward, not quite crossing the line into awkwardness but definitely skirting it.
He really does go back and forth, depending on his mood, being openly grateful for the ways I have helped him and being resentful for the ways I have not. I won't accept any blame for anything that goes wrong, though, which sometimes he wants to direct at me when he has no one else to direct it to. It was kind of nice, actually, to get acknowledged last night for the things I actually have done.
We walked home together, just a few blocks, and I took his suggestion of baking a couple of our Deep Indian Kitchen naan pizzas for dinner. We watched three episodes of
Night Court on Prime Video.
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I had a half-hour meeting over Microsoft Teams this morning that was a sort of intro to people going to the Co+nvergence conference in Saint Paul August 2-5 (I fly out August 1; I'm spending a few days in Minneapolis August 5-8). I thought it might be a little more illuminating about what to expect than it was, but that's okay. I did learn a little more regarding what to expect among other people from PCC going, from the shuttles to and from the airport to certain details like a plan to take a group photo. Because we have 16 stores and National Cooperative Grocers (NCG) covers two people per store, PCC has a cap on 32 people to attend, at least covered by NCG. Apparently the count, total, is actually 22, which clearly made it very easy for me to be able to go—at least three of us from the office are going—and the way I see it, Gabby really could have gone. She has enough other travel though and I think she was at least slightly motivated to suggest I go so she wouldn't need to.
I am finding I still feel a tiny, very mild anxiousness about whether I will feel out of place at this conference. How much of it will have actually direct relevance to my job? The flip side of this is: why should I care so much? In all likelihood I
will learn something, maybe a few things, at this conference, even if not every moment I spend feels like an experience directly applicable to my job. Either way, I'm getting to go; I'm getting to see two cities I've never been to; and the entirety of my airfare and four nights in a hotel are totally covered by NCG. Why
wouldn't I take that opportunity?
It's pretty much settled now that my extra three nights in Minneapolis will be spent there alone. I'm not worried about that at all. Not having to confer with anyone else about the many things I want to do, or when to do them or how, is something I expect to be kind of nice, actually.
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[posted 12:34 pm]
