— पांच हजार सात सौ चौसठ —
Shobhit came to meet me at work on Friday, and we walked home together. Another Social Review point for him!
At my request, we walked south along the waterfront instead of straight down Western or Elliott Avenue. Just because it was more scenic, and I knew Shobhit would want to go through Pike Place Market, which we could still do by cutting up through the Overlook Walk, which takes us straight up into Pike Place Market.
I took
a brief video clip from the MarketFront while we were cutting through, having registered for the first time the many layers of city that particlar spot has: I noticed for the first time the train barrelling into downtown by entering the tunnel under it from the north—it would be in a tunnel from there down to King Street Station in Pioneer Square. Directly above that was Elliott Way, over which the Overlook Walk stretches, connecting the Pike Place Marketfront to the waterfront. The MarketFront stands in between the Overlook Walk and the original structure of Pike Place Market.
Anyway. That was my social activity for Friday. We went home and hung out there for the rest of the evening. Shobhit got a couple of books as a training of sorts for his new Accounting position with TPS. Apparently reading the books still counts as billable hours. And I've made a pretty good dent in my library copy of
Children of Dune over the weekend, so I should easily be able to return it before they charge me for the book for it being overdue for a month, which would not be until March 12. I just got an email notification that
God Emperor of Dune is now available for me to pick up—knowing this one is somewhat more divisive among readers, it doesn't surprise me that one became available by far the most quickly of any I have read to date.
— पांच हजार सात सौ चौसठ —
Shobhit and I went on another walk on Saturday. Another Social Review point for him! He's officially ahead of Laney now for the Winter Social Review, he can breathe easy. After yesterday, he has 23 points. Laney is still standing at 20, which was where she was at before leaving for Florida. Due to rain, tonight's BYOB Happy Hour at the Seattle Waterfront swings has been postponed to Wednesday. At that point, she'll get up to 21 points. Spring isn't for nearly another month, so now there's till time for them to be neck and neck for a while.
Anyway, we walked the mile and a half or so down to Jackson Street, to the Franz Bakery outlet store that's at their factory. They have super cheap prices there, and Shobhit has taken to stopping there on his long walks. We actually bought a couple of things. On the way back, we stopped at both Amazon Fresh and at QFC to get some other things, which I suppose could arguably make this the kind of outing I don't usually count for the Social Review due to it just being running errands. Were it not for the walk to Franz, I would indeed disqualify this walk. But, the point of this walk was actually the walk itself more than the destination, which puts it in a gray area and I decided to count it. I know you'd all be losing sleep over if if I did not clarify this.
Shobhit and I went to our own separate events on Saturday night. I went to Steamworks and had a great time. I only needed a couple of hours, which was unusual. Oh! I nearly forgot: on Friday night, I found the two-and-a-half-hour
SNL 50th Anniversary Special on DVR. Even though we didn't even start it until after 10 p.m., we stayed up until about 1 a.m. to finish it. It was incredibly entertaining. But, Shobhit woke me up around 7 a.m. Saturday and I could not get back to sleep. This left me sleep deprived all day Saturday and I zonked out by shortly after 10:00 Saturday night. Shobhit got back from his event within minutes of my going to bed but I was fully sleep already.
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That brings me to the SAG Awards Viewing Party, something I have been attending as Shobhit's plus-one whenever possible for several years: in Seattle, it gets hosted by SAG-AFTRA Seattle, on which Shobhit is a board member now. This year, for the first time, it was held at Central Cinema—the place Barbara worked at for several years until she quit that job in 2010 to move to Arlington. It's still just a block from the apartment building she used to live in; Central Cinema is on 20th just off of Union. The guy who runs the place is still the same guy, I think, although I couldn't tell if he recognized me.
SAG-AFTRA provided free bags of popcorn, a couple of free drink tickets (Shobhit and I both had two glasses of rosé), and some free candy—all of which I consumed too much of, on top of the cheesy fries
and pizza Shobhit and I split, which we did have to pay for when ordering from the Central Cinema menu. I'd have settled for just the fries but Shobhit kept wanting more to eat. He even got a third bag of popcorn from the table in the back after we had each already eaten one of our own. I was quite stunned to have weighed in at 165.9 lbs yesterday morning, the lowest dip I've had in months. But after last night, it was no surprise that as of this morning I was right back up to 167.4 lbs.
Anyway. I have
an ongoing photo album containing all my photos from SAG Awards viewings over the years, because I typically only take one or a few photos. I took seven last night and that was the most I've taken since the eight I took in 2014, when I went to a viewing with Shobhit in Los Angeles. Still, I think I'm going to duplicate each year's now and add them to my annual, separate
Oscar Party photo albums, as the SAG Awards, while distinct and separate, are still very much connected to and in conversation with the Oscars, for which the acting branch is by far the largest. And the "Oscar Party" photo albums have really fluctuated in size over the years, especially as I haven't done a "party" of more than two or three people in several years now.
It was a good time last night. It was certainly a great place to watch the awards, which now get broadcast live on Netflix, which made it easy. Shobhit and I walked over there early, getting there around 4:10 maybe, as he had committed to help set up. I helped him set up the photo backdrop, and then used the timer on my phone to get the shot of the two of us in front of it.
They passed out paper ballots. I almost didn't turn mine in at the end because out of 15 categories, I got 10 right. I was certain someone else got more right than that. But, finally I said fuck it, and turned in my paper—spacing the fact that I forgot to put my name on it. The guy who collected them figured out which was mine though, and gave it back to me to write my name on it. Another guy from the National Board was present, and I was amazed when he called out my name as the grand price winner! I got a SAG Awards-branded charcuterie board, and a SAG-Awards-branded little speaker.
A woman had also been given a charcuterie board as a prize for getting the least right. She got four correct.
There was a woman who was another plus-one, sitting in the booth directly to my left. She had arrived nearly as early as Shobhit and I had, saying she would just wait for her friend to arrive. Her phone had the wildest ringtone: it sounded like the yowls of cats in heat. It even rang once shortly after she sat in her booth before the awards were about to start. Thank God she turned it off at that point.
As for the awards themselves, there were two notable surprises, even though they also tracked when it came to odds: Tomothee Chalamet won for
A Complete Unknown over Adrien Brody for
The Brutalist (I think Brody still has the edge with the rest of the Academy at the Oscars, but I could be wrong); and
Conclave won Best Ensemble for a Film, in a category where
The Brutalist wasn't even nominated—but both
A Complete Unknown and
Anora were.
The Brutalis is nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, but the preferential ballot could really push
Conclave forward even there.
I gathered my prizes, Shobhit and I walked home, and we watched this week's episodes of
The White Lotus and
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
— पांच हजार सात सौ चौसठ —
[posted 12:31 pm]
