plot construction

— चार हजार आठ सौ पांच — Shobhit had a day off from both jobs yesterday. We were going to go to the Indian grocery store for some shopping in Bellevue after I finished work, and combine that with a shop at the new Bellevue PCC store to check it out, but none of that happened. Shobhit decided he wanted to have a drink during his day off, and he decided there was no pressing need to go anywhere and we could do the shopping this weekend. We're pretty good on food until then anyway. He did leave for just a little bit in the morning, to deal with an airbag recall in his car, so the airbag got replaced. That's the only time he left, and I actually never even left the condo the entire day—the safest thing to do in 2020 anyway. Whatever might have arrived in the mail is still in the mailbox right now. There probably wasn't anything of note. I do have a new pair of earrings I ordered from Amazon that are supposed to arrive today. I decided I wanted to watch a movie as soon as I was done with work. So, we watched An American Pickle with Seth Rogan's dual roles, on HBO Max. I kind of wish the beginning sequences set in Russia a hundred years ago were longer; they were easily the best parts of the movie. I still enjoyed the whole thing, though. I mean, it was all right. It passed ninety minutes. I decided to move on to The Mary Tyler Moore Show on Hulu, which was immediately better than Designing Women ever was. I think we made the right decision there. We burned through four episodes. I can't think of anything else to tell you about, really. We watched a movie and some old TV. And you know what? It was very nice. — चार हजार आठ सौ पांच — — चार हजार आठ सौ पांच — I just finished Virtual FaceTime Lunch with Karen. I often nearly forget these lunches, and I realized just this morning it means I have official socializing of one kind or another three days in a row, starting today. I'm meeting Tracy from work at Streissguth Gardens for distanced-drinks tomorrow after work, and Saturday is Netflix Party watch of Uncut Gems with Laney. Oh! And I don't want to forget Friday Zoom Office Lunch Meetup tomorrow either. I don't know yet whether Alexia's knee is healed enough yet for her to walk with me to the office this weekend. I should text her. Oh, no, wait—I just looked up her text from just two weeks ago and she wrote Guessing I'm down for a few weeks, so, probably not. Anyway. Karen and I talked a bit about how surprisingly quickly the past six months have passed, which came up because she mentioned it was her and Dave's 26th wedding anniversary, and "How did that happen?" I told her I think about that, the shockingly swift passage of time, to remind myself that even though these lockdowns and COVID restrictions have gone on far longer than any of us wanted, we'll still be looking at them in the rearview mirror faster than we know what hit us. I also acknowledged, though, that it makes it easier to pass the time when we still have secure jobs, which fill up our time. And that was when Karen noted that she feels even busier this year than she was before. Her "professional profile," as she put it, "has skyrocketed," largely because of, just out of apparent serendipity, a lot of press she has gotten both this year and last. And, being an accessibility consultant for construction projects, she noted that although some construction was put on hold, design phases for other projects have not been, and not only that, but plenty of places in the country are "still full steam ahead." We talked a lot about television shows too, and other stuff. But now I should really get back to that job I'm lucky to still have. — चार हजार आठ सौ पांच — [posted 1:19 pm]

My tweets

• Wed, 16:34: If you are spending more time decrying property damage on the part of protesters than you are decrying the murder of unarmed civilains by the police—or hell, even *as much* time, as these crimes are not equal—you might want to consider the racist implications of your position, the white supremacy into which you are actively feeding. Police across this country are waging war against the people they are sworn to protect. If one half of the country goes ballistic over the patently peaceful action of merely kneeling during the National Anthem, and the other half either does little to nothing about the police brutality said action was meant to bring attention to, or is given no power or opportunity to do anything about it, what the fuck do you expect is going to happen? The oppressed can only take the boot of the oppressor on their necks for so long, and so they fight back. And, it is messy. You can't expect any of this to go smoothly, especially when police across the country continue committing these heinous murders, countless people blindly defend them, police unions are effectively designed to protect them, and the so-called justice system so rarely holds them accountable in any concrete way.  Many of these same people blithely accept collateral damage in countries abroad as an acceptable consequence of necessary wars and battles. Well, I see very little difference here: damaged property, even a few injured police officers—none of this is anything I would actively encourage, or call "right," or explicitly support. What I do understand, however, is how they are consequences of a systemic problem that needs to be addressed at the source (the police themselves!), not at how protest against the problem is not being handled "the right way." It's collateral damage. You don't heal a wound by telling the wounded they are not screaming in agony properly. You take away the fucking weapon from the perpetrator, so they can't keep using it. Now. All that is just a preamble to getting back to the damaged property itself. Nothing I just said changes the fact that many independent businesses caught in the crossfire—many of which actively support the protests—still need help. Just to be clear, I would still assert that places like the ACLU (https://bit.ly/2EGUJv6) or the BLM Bail Funds (https://bit.ly/3gtDH0L) are of highest priority, in the event any of you have the means to donate anywhere. BUT, on the off chance you have anything further to spare, there are also funds set up to help businesses damaged in protests, a second hit for business owners already struggling in the face of coronavirus restrictions. This is a blog post listing several such funds to support from around the country. The writer expresses something I already intended to mention: I could give two shits about Amazon Go stores, or even Starbucks, or any other major corporation that is swimming in so much cash they need no sympathy. This is about small businesses. Unfortunately, that link does not reference any fundraisers specific to the Pacific Northwest. I prefer to donate locally, and although I cannot find any local funds specific to protest damage, I have found a couple of funds, already created in the face of losses in the pandemic, specific to neighborhoods where Seattle protests have caused the most damage: Capitol Hill / Central District (further contextualization here), and the International District. Because my aim is to put my money where my mouth is, I have made small donations to both funds, and I encourage others to do the same, if they have the means.
• Wed, 20:28: Okay fine, I guess I'll check out that Wet Ass Pussy. THE SONG. THE SONG!!
• Wed, 20:33: Okay, I did it. I listened to Wet Ass Pussy. I could hear the ocean!