I had this month's Happy Hour planned with Laney on Saturday, but when I saw that Shobhit had that day off of work, I asked Laney if she'd mind shifting to Sunday, assuming she didn't already have other plans. We were actually originally going to do our Happy Hour at Don Armeni Park in West Seattle because she was cat sitting until Sunday. Now, because Sunday morning she'd be taking her stuff home, she suggested we have a Happy Hour at Volunteer Park. Sounded great to me!
In the meantime, Saturday Shobhit got me all to himself. We did a pretty significant outing that day, taking the vast majority of his Seattle City Council campaign materials to the nearest transfer station (the dump): three boxes of campaign "
talkers" (glazed papers a size between a postcard and a flyer); a still-nearly-full box of the large
yard signs; two boxes of the metal stands those signs go onto; all of the
handheld signs was used in the Pride Parade; both of the banners he had made—one used for
the canopy at the Capitol Hill Pride Festival, and one used also for
marching in the Pride Parade. There was also a small box of informational sheets of paper.
Shobhit had these high hopes that they might actually
buy back some of this stuff, especially the metal. But, when we got up to window at the entry weighing station, Shobhit rattled off all the stuff he had, and the lady goes, "So, just garbage then." Uhhh. Apparently?
We knew we also had some stuff that could be recycled, though. And once we got inside, far more quickly than the "thirty to forty-five minutes" we were told we'd have to wait for them to do "a clear-out" (I don't think we waited even ten minutes), it was all very straightforward, and in a way more intimate than expected. They let in a line of cars, and you back in toward the growing pile of garbage that's right there on the ground, and then you take all your shit out of your vehicle, and just throw it all onto the pile.
I find myself wondering about the intention behind the design of the structure it was all in, with high ceilings made of metal panes with sporadic window openings. I didn't even notice until I took the picture that there was dust filling the entire space, and I wonder if the structure does anything to lessen the garbage odor permeating the entire neighborhood. We went to PCC after this, and when we got back inside the car, we could still smell the garbage, as though the odor had permeated our car itself.
Now, along the wall opposite the giant pile of garbage were two dumpsters for recycling, one for mixed recycling and one for flattened cardboard (mostly boxes). Shobhit and I took a few turns taking the signs and talkers over to the dumpster for recycling, going up the metal staircase alongside it to make it easier to toss over the ledge. I didn't notice until later in the car that I must have accidentally swiped my arm along the ledge of that dumpster because I had a brown streak down my forearm, which was disgusting.
There was a separate section off to the side, along the north wall, for metal. So, we drove the car up there to dump the metal sign holders onto
that pile of garbage. We broke down the boxes they had been in and threw those into the flattened-cardboard dumpster. And then it was done, surprisingly quickly and efficiently. Our car was weighed again on the way out, revealing we had unloaded something like 240 lbs. of stuff. It cost $35 to dump there (that's for up to 420 lbs), which Shobhit paid for with his campaign account, for which he is also still figuring out tax issues.
I found myself wondering where all this garbage goes for its final destination, as it clearly wasn't here—there's a difference between a transfer station and a landfill. And this is where it gets interesting, because King County has one landfill site,
Cedar Hills Regional Landfill, which takes all of the garbage in King County
except for that from Milton, which sends its garbage to Pierce County (part of Milton's City Limits straddle over into Pierce County); and Seattle, which apparently "
ships its trash, by train, to a landfill in Arlington, Oregon." Arlington sits along the Columbia River (seven miles north of the actual landfill) roughly half the width of both Washington State and Oregon.
Out of sight, out of mind, I guess. Garbage cans here at PCC are consistently labeled "landfill" instead of "garbage," probably as a way to keep us aware of what actually happens to it: it just gets shipped somewhere else to rot.
Well, like anyone I suppose, I'd still have all this stuff collecting dust down there than in our guest room, which for months was used as a storage space for campaign supplies. Jennifer is coming to stay the night the weekend of August 7, and it's nice to have it now once again mostly cleared out for her.
— पांच हजार चार सौ छियासठ —
As for the rest of my weekend, on Friday I took myself to the one movie I had to go to this weekend, which I quite enjoyed:
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I chose this movie, which I rode my bike to see at the AMC 10 in the U District, after just looking up what was in theaters, what I had not yet already seen, and looked good. This one came up as fairly well-reviewed, and even a bit of a coming-of-age story about gay Latino teenagers. Well, that'll definitely be my jam!
What I did not know was that it was based on a
very highly acclaimed YA novel, which even Mandy apparently had read and posted a comment on my post with the review link on Facebook, that she hadn't known it was made into a movie. Even before she posted that comment, I put the book on hold at the library. I'll definitely read that one after I get through our next Book Club title, which I need to pick up at the Central Library after work today:
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach, about the physiological effects of living in outer space.
Anyway, I digress. The movie was very moving to me and I think Shobhit should watch it with me once it's available on a streamer somewhere.
Getting back to the rest of the weekend, though, after visiting the transfer station and doing a bit of shopping (taking advantage of Member deals at PCC), we went home, put groceries away, and then walked down to South Lake Union Park for the "Cider Summit Seattle" event, a local hard cider festival I had never heard of that is apparently in its 12th year.
I probably never would have paid to go to this anyway: tickets are $40 a piece, but Peter here at work gave me two free ones on Friday. They do offer a pretty good value, admittedly, as they included 12 "drinking tickets" each, and since Shobhit and I shared almost all of them, we tasted fully 23 different ciders. The one booth we repeated was the
J. Seeds Apple Cider Whiskey, which Shobhit then bought two bottles of at the "store" booth before we walked home again.
We got there a bit after 3:30, the event closed at 5:00, and I don't think we were there much more than an hour. Nearly every booth was a hard cider, of course, and they really varied in quality; my favorites tended to be berry flavored. There was occasional variety otherwise, one a piña colada and another made with fermented lemon juice that was shockingly tasty. Only two booths we saw had any food to speak of, and we utilized both: one sold soft pretzels, which Shobhit bought, and it was maybe the largest soft pretzel I'd seen in my life—and we ate bites of it in conjuction with the free cheese samples at the Cowgirl Creamery booth.
It was pretty fun, and sure as shit worth going to with free samples. We walked to Denny Way and then took a bus to 15th Ave E afterward, walking the last five blocks home and then starting
The Righteous Gemstones after that. We've seen four episodes so far and every single one has had one or more exposed penises in them. It's like we're still watching
Euphoria.
— पांच हजार चार सौ छियासठ —
And lastly, there's yesterday, when I met up with Laney for our aforementioned Happy Hour at Volunteer Park. I made myself a sandwich to go, and guess what drink I made? Hot apple cider, with apple cider whiskey in it! Actually Shobhit asked me to pick up medication for him at the Bartell Drugs on Madison & Boren, and I decided to take my bike; I then rode over to the PCC on 23rd & Union to get some apple juice. I really wanted to get some Knudsen Cider & Spice but they don't appear to be on shelves yet. So, I just got a Field Day Apple Juice, and made apple cider with it using the leftover mulling spice in a packet I still have leftover from last year. I nuked that in a tea steeper in a mug, poured that into a Yeti mug mixed with the apple cider whiskey, and
voila.
Laney had originally said she'd need to pick me up at 2:00 in order to get her stuff home to Renton from West Seattle first, but she wound up ahead of schedule and texted me to say she could pick me up at 1:00 after all. She drive us to Volunteer Park, and we found a lovely spot to sit in her lawn chairs in the shade between some trees offering just enough buffer from some lovely instrumental rock jams being played life at the Volunteer Park Amphitheater.
Before we settled, though, Laney had her own great idea for our requisite "Happy Hour Photo" for me to post to my socials: she suggested we sit on the stumped ends of branches of a huge tree that evidently had to be cut down. It did indeed turn out to be a great idea, although I wanted a second take after I was sitting facing the camera and I felt I looked too fat. I like the final shot better because we are more smiliarly posed. I still think I look a bit too fat, but I'll live with it.
Laney got up to use the bathroom at around 3:00, and I could have sworn she said she'd need to go once she got back. I said, "Okay," but then she came back, sat down, and we chatted for another good two hours. I brought this up then and she said she had no idea what I must have misheard but she had no intention of leaving at 3:00.
Our Happy Hours, particularly at parks, often stretch to about four hours, as it did yesterday. It's amazing how much time we spend together and somehow we never run out of shit to talk about. In a sort of unusual twist, I think Laney would have happy hung out even a bit longer—I'm theorizing this has to do with her now being in retirement life, she's not ever in a hurry to get anywhere. But, Shobhit called me to see if I wanted a ride home as he was on his way home from work, and although I did say Laney would give me a ride, I decided I was indeed ready to go home by that point. This way Shobhit and I could have dinner and watch a bit of TV together before bed.
It was probably around 5:30 by the time I actually got home. I still did plenty this weekend but had less to do than last weekend, which was nice. It was a more chill weekend, all the stuff I did notwithstanding.
Oh! And before I forget: our Thanksgiving plans are not only settled, but booked! Shivangi, Shobhit's niece who visited us between Christmas and New Year last year, wanted to come visit us for Thanksgiving. Faith asked us to come spend Thanksgiving with her this year, which I had been hoping would happen anyway—we last did that two years ago. I suggested we see if Shivangi would just want to come with us to Palm Springs. Faith was perfectly happy to welcome her, and when Shobhit asked Shivangi, whom he had on speaker phone, she was like, "Yes! Let's do it!" It took a bit of coordinating, but Shivangi is now considering a trip to Seattle to see friends again over the Christmas holidays, but will be flying direct from D.C. (she lives about half an hour away from there in Maryland) to LAX, and will ride with us in our rental car to Faith's in Desert Hot Springs.
Shobhit and I also have flights booked to and from LAX from Seattle. We'll all meet in L.A. on Sunday, November 19; and we all fly to our respective homes on Friday, November 24, the day after Thanksgiving. I will miss out on the Lighting of the Tree ceremony this year but that's a small sacrifice for getting to do this trip. It's actually the longest we'll ever have stayed at Faith's, having done at most four nights in the past, and this time we're staying five nights. Nearly all of Thanksgiving week.
Shobhit's and my flight lands four hours earlier than Shivangi's on the 19th, but we can just figure out something to do in L.A. after we pick up the rental car. The flight Shobhit itinerary found for us to book on Expedia.com was astonishingly cheap: round-trip for both of us combined was only $360! I've often paid more than that just for myself. Shivangi's tickets for herself were over $600. I get the feeling she's making a decent living already though.
Now all we need to do is come up with some things to do while we're there, although several will be things we've already done but want to share the experience with Shivangi: the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway; Joshua Tree National Park; maybe the Salton Sea. I'd like to keep at least a couple of days free for just hanging out and relaxing, though. That's my favorite thing to do there. And Faith may have to sell her house, so if this is maybe the last chance we have to stay there, I'm really happy we're taking it.
[posted 12:31 pm]
