holdover bombo lights & delights

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]

It's Christastime in the City

So the original plan was for Laney and me to go to The Cheesecake Factory for this month's "Happy Hour" yesterday afternoon at 2:00, after which Alexia would meet us there at 4:30 before the three of us headed down to Westlake Park for this year's "Downtown Holiday Lights & Delights." But, just as it had last weekend for The Great Figgy Pudding and Thursday for Holiday in the Park, Laney's sciatica got in the way, and even though she was feeling confident Friday night that she'd make it, she texted me yesterday morning just after 8:00: Hi Friendo, I got about 2 hours of sleep last night. My back is really bad. I'm going to need to stay home and do the ice and heat. I called my doc's on call nurse and she said ice and heat and stay laying flat as much as possible, that's all I can do. I wish I could take something for it but Tylenol is the only allowable thing and it doesn't really do any good. Argh! I'm missing all the holiday stuff. Hoping tomorrow is better so we can still do the double feature. Sorry this is getting in the way of our plans Thankfully, after she texted last night to remind her what our double feature movies are today (Carol and Happiest Season—both available on streamers so that's nice), she followed up with, Yay! I got lots of rest today and so I think I'm good for tomorrow. No follow-up this morning canceling (My back is somewhat better and I'm going to walk to your house very slowly with no twisting or pivoting. One of the things my doctor always says is when your back gets like this pretend you're walking with a breakable vase on your head LOL.) so that's hopeful, much as my eternally pessimistic husband was that she would cancel yet again. (To be fair, she's canceled the last three things we were supposed to do together.) Anyway, back to yesterday. Alexia and I kept the plan for Holiday Lights & Delights, just pushing it back an hour, because the cancellation of Happy Hour freed me up to join Shobhit for the 43rd District Democrats Holiday Party, hosted by a woman in Wallingford whose house is technically in the 46th District. Shobhit and I boiled up some butternut squash ravioli from Costco, and added a truly delicious pasta sauce we made, to bring for the potluck. I'd say the ravioli was a hit, and it really kind of was, but I'm not sure more than about 25 people came to the party, and we made so much of it that more than half was still leftover when we left the party. There was a lot of really great other food though, including a dish of spicy onion pancakes, a cake-like dish with a layer of jelly in the center, spanakopita, a red velvet cake that was amazing in spite of it being store-bought, peppermint brownies, and cheese and crackers, among other things. I partook in a lot of it and was pleasantly surprised still to be a pound lighter this morning. The woman hosting was named Jessica, and Shobhit and I were the first guests to arrive, at 3:01, one minute after the start time noted in email. Jessica was a very short woman who told us how the low-ceiling attick level of her beautiful house, built over a hundred years ago, worked well for her. Shobhit spent a fair amount of time visiting with people he was already acquainted with from his City Council campaign, as well as Ellen, the woman who once conducted his accent lessons and also helped him a lot in the campaign. (She was also part of our contingent in the Pride Parade this year.) I spent some time just casually passing time in a chair by the wall near the refreshments table, and then an elderly lady named Linda struck up a conversation. When my love of movies came up, her husband—who took every opportunity he could to tell us all he was born in 1941—joined us. We talked a lot about movies, and in particular about May December. As I already noted, Shobhit and I were the first guests there, but others arrived within about ten minutes after that. Shobhit and I left not long after about ninety minutes of being there, at which point the party was already winding down anyway. We drove back home, I texted Alexia that we were ready when she was, and within a few minutes she let us know she was also ready. And then, since Shobhit was also back from the party, the three of us walked downtown together, where, in the end, Downtown Holiday Lights & Delights was one of three different holiday displays we perused yesterday evening. "Holiday Lights & Delights" has evolved—or, depending on your perspective, devolved—a bit, since the pandemic kind of forced its inception during the holiday season of 2020, creating a holiday outing or people that was outside and could be socially distanced. It also included an "augmented reality" element that made for some fun screenshots, but, this year there was no such element at all. They are having the same kind of Saturday event in Pioneer Square that Tracy and I went to last year, but it was too late in the day yesterday to do it; if I can find time I may try and check it out on Saturday next weekend. So, last night, it was all just this year's light displays at Wesltake Park. I took all of 13 photos there last night, most of which are great shots, and I had already gone over to get some shots without the crowds last Tuesday, so now my full photo album on Flickr has 24 shots in it (so far, anyway; who knows, maybe I'll go back with Laney later). I thought it was quite the pretty display this year, and love the huge deer made out of lights. Our next stop was Fleurs de Villes Noel at Pacific Place, now the third of these I have seen specific to the holiday season here in Seattle. Alexia had already gone to it with another friend, and was somewhat disappointed by how few of them were floral arrangements in the shape of dresses on mannequins, but was still perfectly happy to go back to it again with us. We had a bit of confusion at first, though, because she suggested we go to "Pike Place" when she meant "Pacific Place," and I was like, sure we can go there, but we were just there for the Figgy Pudding Caroling Competition last weekend. We'd even gotten over to 4th and Pike before we realized she was meaning to say Pacific Place. And then we backtracked and went over there. And that visit yielded a 27-shot photo album, again with a lot of great pictures. Slightly fewer than the 29 shots I took in 2021, but more than the 22 shots I took last year. And, when you throw in the Pride-releated Fleurs de Villes displays Shobhit and I have seen in both Vancouver, B.C. and Sydney, Australia, I've now seen five Fleurs de Villes floral displays. The one in Sydney, which was also the only one we had to pay an entry fee for, was probably the best, honestly. I was really happy to have seen that one, but then, I genuinely enjoy all of them, especially as they are made with fresh flowers. When they do it at Pacific Place, they always have several on the ground floor atrium level, but there's one in the basement level, and usually between two and four on each other level up to the fourth floor. We went to all of them, of course. My favorite shot is probably the least Christmasy (although none of them are especially Christmasy), which Alexia took of Shobhit and me, sitting beneath a suspended bunch of cotton made to look like a cloud. It was very cool. And, since we were all downtown anyway, Shobhit suggested we go over to the Sheraton to check out this year's Gingerbread Village. Shobhit was convinced it would not be crowded on a Saturday evening, which I thought was a nuts take, and in the end we were both kind of right: it wasn't empty by any stretch, and actually was relatively crowded (I was one of few people to wear a mask, which I had not thought to do over at Pacific Place), but we only waited in line about twelve minutes. Given that in years past, I have waited in line anywhere between 45 minutes and nearly two hours, that practically felt like no wait at all. And still, Shobhit commented on how impatient he was waiting there, and how patient I was in situations like that. I really don't mind waiting in long lines. The theme this year was "The Chocolate Factory," with a tie-in to this year's movie release Wonka, which Laney and I will be watching in a couple of weeks. Last year had been a movie tie-in as well, with Lightyear. That seems to be the new, annual approach ever since the event finally returned post-pandemic, with the event canceled in both 2020 and 2021. Also like last year, there were only four gingerbread sculptures, as opposed to the 5 they'd had in 2019 and several years prior. I could swear there were even years, now many years ago, when they had 6, but I could be doing revisionist history in my head. Either way, I'll give them this: even the four displays they had this year were impressive in their attention to detail. I'll be coming back to this with Laney midday during my PTO the week before Christmas, and I'll probably find details I missed this time around—and add to the photo album, which as of right now already has 26 shots. I either created or significantly added to three separate holiday-season photo albums last night. I'm already at 14 finished or working photo albums for Christmas 2023, with at least another 5 yet to come. I really thought I would do less this year than last year's 20, and still I'm liable to get up to 19 this year—and I likely would have matched the 20 if only we actually scheduled a Team Holiday Outing this year, but it seems pretty clear now that isn't going to happen.Oh, well; as bummed as I am about that, I clearly have so much other shit going on, it's not that big of a deal. [posted 11:50 am]