I don't know these people. I took this photo while Shobhit and I were taking a walk to Pioneer Square on Saturday, and we cut through Pike Place Market. This was in the "Marketfront" section that was added in 2017. I first noticed this holiday backdrop
back in 2020, having no idea it was ever intended for use as
photos with Santa—and, well shit, they were doing that
for free on Saturday the 14th! Had I known that, I might have actually considered getting a shot with Shobhit. Maybe they'll do this again next year? I should jot a note down.
At any rate, the above shot was what I snapped literally as we walked by, of another family getting themselves all set up for their photo. The photo kind of cracks me up because the people in it look relatively distressed, Santa looking on dispassionately.
Anyway, this walk to Pioneer Square was my idea for doing something with Shobhit so he could get a Social Review point. I saw on the
Seattle Holiday Lights & Delights schedule for this year that there was to be a "Holiday Bazaar" and a free ice skating rink at Occidental Square. I figured, even though this year's "Holiday Lights & Delights" have been the biggest letdown since they started them in 2020, I could get some more photos for this year's Holiday Lights & Delights photo album. And, indeed, after this weekend, while it's the lowest number of photos I've gotten to date, it's still only
one shot less than I got for the 2021 album. So, I'm relatively satisfied with that.
Once Shobhit and I got to Occidental Square, I did indeed get seven new shots to add to
this year's album. Only four of them were taken at Occidental Square, where there was no Christmas Bazaar that had been promised; only the ice skating rink—which we did not partake in; I might have had I been with someone else but Shobhit can't hack it, his balance is so bad—and the "
Seattle Christmas Station" where they had almond and cashew roca candies for people to take. I had already taken the shot at Pike Place, so that made five; the other two were taken at the Pioneer Square Pergola, which was
decked out in holiday decorations, and a
Christmas Tree standing in the park behind it. Beyond that, we walked to the RapidRide G line stop where we caught a bus back home.
Everything about this year's "Holiday Lights & Delights" program is a lesser version of what it's been the past four years. In 2020 they removed the previously traditional Holiday Carousel with spectacular light sculptures in Westlake Park, clearly as a pivot in the first year of covid. I've been loving them, though, and loved going there each year after, untilt his year—where they still have "selfie stations" (there are three, I discovered yesterday with Laney) but none of the light sculptures, only the
color-changing bulbs strung overhead amongst the trees at Westlake Park. This is super lame compared to years past.
Hold on, wait a minute! I only just realized I took photos at the Lighting of the Tree Celebration that would be also part of the "Holiday Lights & Delights" program, so I just cross-posed those to this year's "Holiday Lights & Delights" album. That takes this year's shot count up to 25, actually. That leaves 2021 at the record low. Whew!
That said, there's still the fact that, in years past, there was much more going on at both Westlake Park
and Occidental Square, where they had vendor booths that were nonexistent this year. They handed out free hot chocolate in years past. Everything about the whole thing this year just feels comparatively janky, and makes me wonder about the city's budget. I really hope they step it up again next year.
— पांच हजार सात सौ तेईस —
I don't know these people either. I took
this shot while Shobhit and I walked past the ice skating rink at Occidental Square in Pioneer Square on Saturday.
We took the bus back home after that walk, watched some TV, and then I took Light Rail to Northgate to see a movie at the Regal Thornton Place. I went to that one by myself, which is too bad because I think Laney would have had a lot to say about the movie I saw, playing at only that single theater in town:
Nightbitch. I gave it a solid B. Good enough for me to not feel like I wasted my time, but not quite good enough for me to recommend.
— पांच हजार सात सौ तेईस —
Shobhit managed three Social Review points for each day over the weekend, incidentally.
Laney and I had made plans to see
September 5 on Friday, only for me to discover it does not expand to wide release until mid-January. I messaged her to suggest we pivot to watching a Christmas movie from last year that I really wanted to watch again this year, which she had not yet seen and which I knew she'd really like:
The Holdovers. I had already watched it twice, once in theaters in November of last year and then again when Shobhit watched it as a SAG Awards nominee screener in February.
Laney was happy to do this; I could not reserve the theater downstairs as someone else already had it reserved, so she just came over to watch it in the condo. When we made the plan, Shobhit was scheduled to work that evening. But then he decided he wanted to call out sick just because he didn't feel like working that night. And this way, he could join us for the movie and get a Social Review point.
He also made pizza for dinner, which Laney also shared with us. I offered chai or hot chocolate, which she almost declined, until she asked, "Will it be boozy? If it's boozy I'll take some!" So then I made us all hot chocolates, each with a shot of rum and a shot of Irish cream in it. It was super duper tasty.
And the movie was as delightful as ever. I think I could watch it every year indefinitely. When it ended, Laney said she wanted the movie to keep going because she was so fond of the characters. Then, I offered to drive her home since it was raining, even though it's only six blocks. She insisted she wanted to walk so she did. She had her umbrella.
— पांच हजार सात सौ तेईस —
I had more plans with Laney yesterday, but Shobhit wanted to go for a walk to get himself yet another Social Review point. I was the one who came up with this idea: We walked north along 15th Ave E to Volunteer Park—we went a bit further even than that, to Louisa Boren Lookout, at Shobhit's suggestion to get more steps—and then we passed through Volunteer Park over to Broadway. We got back to the Capitol Hill Light Rail station right in time for me to meet up with Laney there at the planned time of 12:15, and Shobhit walked the rest of the way back home.
Laney and I then took Light Rail up to U District Station, and went to the AMC 10 to see
The End, the post-apocalyptic musical with Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon. Laney liked it way more than I did. She even clapped her hands when the credits rolled! I turned to her and said, "You liked it?"
I kind of lost my patience with it. I was really leaning toward giving it a C+. But, after acknowledging
some compelling things about the music, and its premise, and especially the performances, when I went to actually write the review after getting home last night, I bumped it up to B-minus. Laney agreed it was way too long, at least. That movie did not need to be two and a half hours. I'm not even sure why it needed to be a musical.
— पांच हजार सात सौ तेईस —
Before I was home to write the review, though, Laney and I took Light Rail back downtown, passing Capitol Hill Station to get off at Westlake Station. From there we went to our first of this month's Happy Hours, at
Bombo Italian Kitchen, at the Seattle Convention Center Summit building.
We discovered we should have made a reservation. All the tables were already taken, and we'd been hoping to sit in the tables set up outside the restaurant but in the larger entry space to the building. Instead, we had to settle for the bar, which was fine. We split a mushroom pizza which was delicious, and also a good budget strategy. I had two cocktails besides, and still I met my $50 budget for this outing almost exactly. It could have been a bit lower, except I did not realize until I got home that the "Dine In Service Charge" was meant to replace the tip. And Laney and I added a tip on top of that without realizing we didn't need to. It was only about 10% because of some calculation mistakes, but then that on top of the fucking fee came out to like 33%. I'm actually happy to go back there again sometime—both the pizza and my cocktails were delicious—but I'll have to make a note of this.
I had actually paid my bill without a tip at all by accident, and then Venmoed $5 to Laney to cover the tip she did add, but she calculated only based on her half. I paid using Apple Pay, only because the bartender suggested it because he knew I'd get more cash back from my Apple credit card that way. I need to start using Apple Pay more often; that gets me 2% cash back on everything rather than the standard 1% when using the card itself. I was not well versed in using Apple Pay though, so when the bartender showed me how to do it and I tapped my phone to pay, it just went through without a tip. (And then Laney tipped what turned out to be 10% of the total, which I Venmoed her half of, and in the end we didn't need to tip at all; my receipt noted that the Dine-In Fee was meant to replace a gratuity that was therefore not expected.)
One other thing:
Back to the Future: The Musical was playing across the street at the Paramount Theater. The guy sitting next to Laney overheard our conversation about how I might have bought tickets had I known about it earlier. He told us he plays bass in the orchestra for the show, which I thought was very cool. He noted they do rush tickets for $30 an hour before the show every day and that they haven't been fully selling out but the show is really good. This would theoretically be a great idea, except even at $60 for two tickets my budget is pretty tight right now. It does play through December 22, though.
— पांच हजार सात सौ तेईस —
After dinner, at my suggestion, Laney and I walked over to Westlake Park to partake in their "Selfie Stations." I had thought there were only two, but this was when we discovered there were three. I got a couple of shots of the "Seattle Star" hanging on the old Macy's building. This is how I added another six shots to the "
Seattle Holiday Lights & Delights 2024" Flickr photo album, and after the three from last month that I just added, the album now contains 25 shots.
We decided to take Light Rail back up to Capitol Hill. We parted ways there.
[posted 12:34 pm]
