— पांच हजार नौ सौ सोलह —
Not a lot to catch up on today. I did plenty over the weekend, but because there are no other new movies worth seeing, I have very little planned this week—until Thursday, anyway, when Laney and Alexia and I will be seeing
Wicked: For Good. Thus, Shobhit and I have just been catching up on TV. We watched two more episodes of season 2 of
The Sandman on Netflix last night. There's a movie on Netflix I may watch and review, though; a Richard Linklater film I spaced was released just last Friday.
Shobhit was out walking when I got off work, and he met up with me on Pike Street and we walked home together. He was being unusually sweet because I was so annoyed that he insists on shit like me calling Aetna to confirm coverage of the procedure I have scheduled tomorrow—but, for which I do not have the "CPT code," which Aetna needs to know any estimate of coverage. The Aetna rep had me on hold, sporadically, for over half an hour while he tried, unsuccessfully, to contact the doctor scheduled to do the procedure. I finally ended the call after 34 minutes.
All while I had work to do, and I kept having to get up from my desk to move to a phone room so this could be a private phone conversation. It didn't help that this was after I had already called my dentist to reschedule my next cleaning, also at Shobhit's insistence, because Aetna does not cover the third of three cleanings my dentist recommends and it becomes a large expense on my FSA account. That change is something I understand a little more, but having to make multiple calls like this while I am working is a huge pain in the ass. And I'm going to get this epidermoid cyst removed tomorrow regardless of what the coverage is, and I'm exhausted from doing things I either don't want or don't need to do for no other reason than because I don't want to deal with Shobhit flipping out or nagging me to within an inch of my fucking life. I haven't even mentioned the commercial audition for "real couples who love hiking" that he insisted he have his agent submit him for.
I sent him a couple of kind of nasty texts as this was going on, all the holds with no productive end on the line with Aetna. Shobhit said he was sorry and then was unusually nice the rest of the evening. It would sure be nice if he was just that way all the time. To be fair, I'm not that way all the time either. I don't nag Shobhit to within an inch of his life, though. I leave him be to live his life the way he likes in ways he really doesn't do for me. He often has valid points to make, but it's pretty seldom that they are worth being so wildly obstinate about. Some things just aren't of the kind of paramount importance he makes them out to be. Like calling Aetna ahead of time about coverage they don't even yet have the details they need in order to answer.
— पांच हजार नौ सौ सोलह —
— पांच हजार नौ सौ सोलह —
None of this makes me look forward to our overnight trip to Victoria next month any less. I only mention this because we shall soon be booking our "
The Magic of Christmas" at Butchart Gardens tickets—the entire reason for going there this time of year. I bet downtown Victoria is also really pretty at Christmastime too, come to think of it. This will be the first time I've ever visited Victoria when it's cold—even though it'll be
my eighth visit there since I was a kid, and sixth since I've lived in Seattle.
A big part of this is just having something fun to look forward to, which is something I love. It makes me happy that I have notable such things on the horizon in 2026 already as well: our trip to Amsterdam from late July to mid-August; and a trip to Albuquerque in October next year for the International [Hot Air] Balloon Fiesta with Jennifer. I suppose I could also mention my Birth Week, which is something I also always spend a lot of time planning, but that's been built into my annual schedule for two decades.
Right now, the focus is on much more imminent planning. I've got tons of local holiday events coming up, in addition to the Victoria trip. Somewhat ironically, Thanksgiving is next week and we still have no idea what we'll be doing. But, the Seattle Festival of Trees starts this weekend, and Gina and Beth are coming up for a holiday season day visit the following Sunday—and then again for New Year's Eve. And I have more than a couple dozen other holiday things planned. I'm going to have to spend January resting.
— पांच हजार नौ सौ सोलह —
[posted 12:32pm]
