the ride ahead

— पांच हजार छह सौ सोलह — I had a social outing with Karen last night! This was always somewhat rare, at least outside of when we used to meet in person twice a month for lunches pre-pandemic. But, now that 90% of our lunches are virtual over Zoom, any outing with her in person is fairly rare. I actually last saw her in person a couple of weeks ago, when I went to her place in Magnolia for lunch, to make her kitchen island one of my "islands" for my Birth Week. But, this time we actually went to a movie together. I can't even remember the last time I went to a movie with her. Was it even since the pandemic? Looking at my Google Calendar history, it would appear not: I last went to a movie with Karen when we went to see Where'd You Go, Burnadette (B-minus) in August 2019. So, it had been five years. Since I was already doing searches in my Google Calendar, I also figured this out: last night was my ninth time hanging out with Karen in person since the pandemic. That would have been starting with our Birth Week outing in 2021. Given that I see her on Zoom every other week on average, that's a lot less frequent time in person, averaging once every four months. At least that also means that I see her one time during three out of every quarters in a year—and she gets Social Review points for the Zoom lunches too anyway. Anyway! She had asked if I wanted to join her for a movie that happened to be playing at SIFF, a documentary about a young man who is a wheelchair user. When she emailed me about this, I still hadn't purchased the pack of 6 SIFF movie tickets I usually get every year, this being the latest I have waited in many years. It finally pushed me to make me the purchase, and I said yes of course, I would go with her. It was called The Ride Ahead and we both loved it, as it was really illuminating in regards to the daily challenges of people with disabilities—of all sorts, but especially wheelchair users, and people who use communication devices, which this young man, named Samuel, is both. He conducts interviews, programmed into his device, with several notable disabled people across the country, and definitely covers some challenges they all have in common, regardless of the particular disability they have. I actually touched on this in my review, but I found myself glancing over at Karen a lot, as she would nod her head a lot, clearly agreeing with points being made and feeling validated. I had gotten there first, and was first in the ticket holders line (pass holders, who get in first, were already lined up inside the AMC theater; I was standing outside the theater on the fourth floor of Pacific Place, next to the escalator). We both had wondered if we'd be there early enough to secure a disabled seat spot, figuring there would be multiple wheelchair users who came to see the film. Well, before the film actually began, to both of our surprise, Karen was the only one. She had parked her chair in the empty space next to the companion seat I had sat in, and shortly after the couple of trailers started playing, another wheelchair user was brought into the space on the other side of her. "I guess I spoke to soon," I said, leaning into Karen's ear. — पांच हजार छह सौ सोलह — — पांच हजार छह सौ सोलह — The overall crowd at the movie wasn't all that large, actually—and, as has been the case ever since in-person screenings resumed at SIFF (in 2022, I if I recall correctly), judging by screenings I have attended, overall festival attendance remains down compared to pre-pandemic numbers. There once was a time when SIFF was known to be the largest film festival in the country in terms of attendance, but I have no idea how we would rank now. Apparently there had been a Q&A with filmmakers at the first screening (most SIFF movies have two theater screenings) over the weekend, and perhaps there was higher attendance at that one. I did turn around and look at one point, and the crowd was certainly much bigger than the line that formed behind me outside would have suggested. Still, there couldn't have been more than maybe thirty people in the theater, tops. It's kind of too bad, because it was an excellent movie. Karen bought a tub of cheese popcorn and shared it with me. Once I started, I could not stop reaching for more. Karen is a little person though and so rarely eats very much; I definitely didn't take any more than she'd have wanted. We chatted about the movie outside the theater on the fourth floor of Pacific Place for maybe ten or fifteen minutes, then parted ways. I took the escalators down to the first floor, walked home. And once again it was well past 10:00 by the time I got my review written. The last, like, three reviews I have written have been unusually long, all a thousand words or more. — पांच हजार छह सौ सोलह — Thankfully, even though I'll be watching yet another movie tonight—it's Action Movie Night at the Braeburn Condos tonight—at least it's the one night this week that I don't need to write a review. I'll have another to write tomorrow, and again Friday, again Saturday and again on Sunday. Sheesh! By that time, SIFF will be over and the packed-in movie going will let up again. SIFF only lasts like 10 days each year anymore; before the pandemic, it would be like twice as long. — पांच हजार छह सौ सोलह — We heard back from the vet about Shanti. Most numbers are normal, except that she appears to be anemic. We'll run the course of medications that include nausea suppresant and appetite stimulant, and now there's a recommendation that we start giving her 1/8 tablet of Omeprazole, the very same acid reflux medication Shobhit and I already take. Instead of paying them to cut them up and put into capsules, I just cut up a tablet myself this morning, and gave Shanti 1/8 of one. Who knows how long I'll continue needing to do that. The vet still recommends an ultrasound to check for any mass. Even Shobhit seems to be starting to turn around on that idea, as he picked her up last night and said it seemed to almost make her vomit. I'm still wary of spending a thousand bucks on something that may just make us decide we need to put her down—which will be yet another additional cost. Why can't this cat develop age-related health issues when it's a more convenient time for my budget? The hope right now is that the course of meds keeps her going for a while. At the moment, she is acting a lot more normal, but the bigger question is whether we are simply effectively treating symptoms of a bigger problem that remains undiagnosed. This is all really tricky stuff, deciding what to do. — पांच हजार छह सौ सोलह — [posted 12:30 pm]