— पांच हजार छह सौ छत्तीस —
I met with Laney last night at the Regal Meridian 16 to see a movie we both enjoyed a great deal, called
Thelma.
I had to use one of the two Costco discount Regal ticket vouchers I had left, because I did not buy a ticket early enough to see it at the AMC 10 in the U District as initially scheduled—because, somehow, by Wednesday evening all three showtimes at that theater were sold out. Last night was the only night I had available to see this movie I really wanted to see, so, Regal it was.
Regal actually has by far the most comfortable theater seats in town, with their leather plus and reclining backs. They also offer a loyalty program which honestly sounds better than AMC's. The reason AMC still works better for me is simply their share of the market: they have two multiplexes in Seattle proper (downtown's Pacific Place and U District's AMC 10), whereas Regal has just the one (downtown). I see tons of movies and AMC offers 21 total combined screens, compared to Regal's 16. AMC just gives me more to choose from, and typically anything that might not be available at AMC is apt to be available at one of SIFF Cinema's four Seattle locations, and I am also a SIFF member (which is not a loyalty program but does give me a $5 discount on all tickets).
But in light of their seats alone, on the rare occasion that my only option is to see a movie at Regal, I kind of love it. Back when Barbara lived here and went to see most movies with me, she constantly called the Regal Meridian the "ghetto theater," but they didn't have those great seats then. I don't think she'd call it that now.
I had foregone cycling to work yesterday—which was how I managed to
leave my phone on the bus—because I knew I would likely walk home with Laney after the movie, which was indeed what I did. I thus also walked downtown after work to meet her. We had about 15 minutes to chat before the movie, during which they started playing product commercials that were
way too loud before it was even the listed showtime of the movie; and then about 15 minutes on the walk back to her building after the movie.
Pride Place has a relatively recent problem of drug users hanging out in their entry pathway, getting in the way of the residents who are all above the age of 55 and littering trash all over. Apparently a resident recently snapped at one of these people to pick up their garbage, and the person responded by beating the shit out of him—like, he was literally hospitalized. It sounded horrible, and according to Laney, the only police that could be found was one over at Cal Anderson Park a couple of blocks away, "and they practically had to drag him over to take the report," because they say there's nothing they can do if there was no weapon involved. Jesus Christ. What purpose does our police department serve, for real? Seriously, fuck the police in this town. This shit makes me so angry.
— पांच हजार छह सौ छत्तीस —
— पांच हजार छह सौ छत्तीस —
I walked the six blocks home from Laney's building, and at Shobhit's request, I made him two sandwiches for when he would later get home from work—and made myself one too. It was delicious.
I then wrote my movie review, shortly after which Shobhit got home, and I finally did a few small things to help him with preparing for having Gabby and Nick over for dinner tonight: I peeled and grated two cucumbers; I grated some daikon; I assisted a bit with his blending the sauce for what will ultimately be my all-time favorite Indian dish, Shahi Paneer. I should note, though, that this is very much a "Shobhit version" of that dish, as always, with a lot more differen vegetables added to the tomato cream sauce used as the base for the dish. I can't really find any online recipes that use the same ingredients he tends to, although the final product looks basically the same—and most critically, either way features small squares of paneer added to it, which with the sauce pair fantastically with rice. I love, love, love it.
He's also making eggplant squash and a potato & bell pepper dish and an okra (barf) dish, not to mention the requisite samosas. I was actually somewhat surprised, and also delighted, when he told me he'd be including samosas; he doesn't do that for every dinner we host. He'll also be making parathas. He has the day off today so he'll be very busy all day, and I'm actually hoping to get out of here at 3:30 so I can have an extra hour to do some much-needed cleaning and then assist otherwise as needed.
— पांच हजार छह सौ छत्तीस —
[posted 12:33 pm]
