Last night ended up being quite joyful. I danced to my music while waiting for Elisabeth to pick me up to go to Felfel (she isn’t a fan of the heat so she didn’t want to walk over). And I made this gif of myself that I quite like. I think I’m really warming up to these new glasses of mine.
At Felfel we ran into our friend, Shari. That was totally not planned but was a lovely surprise. I got to meet two of her friends and we all complained about the motorcycles that zoom by in our stretch of town. Nothing like complaining about not being able to sleep that brings people together. 😉 Chatting with them was a very nice way to spend the time waiting for our food.
Once Elisabeth and I grabbed our food we went back home to eat on the balcony because it actually wasn’t THAT hot out and there was a nice breeze to push away the last of the day’s heat. I didn’t end up eating the entire container of baklava like I mentioned yesterday because I let Elisabeth have one piece. I mean, come on, I was already eating a giant falafel sandwich, I didn’t really need four pieces of baklava on top of that. And I like Elisabeth, she deserves some baklava too.
After dinner we watched Quest for Camelot, a 1998 cartoon movie that is one of Elisabeth’s favorites from her childhood (she even had a cassette tape of the songs, remember those?) Supposedly she had me watch this movie years ago but I honestly don’t remember watching it, there’s my poor memory in action. With that said, watching the movie last night did feel familiar, even though I didn’t remember the plot in the slightest. Honestly, the movie is not good and I don’t think anyone should watch it. Ever. Like, there’s no redeeming qualities to it. The leading man sings about how he does everything by himself and he’s alone and that’s okay. No, everyone needs a support system. The villain repeatedly beats and tortures his beast companion. Not okay. And the animation is ugly. I actually could probably have been okay with ugly animation (and by ugly I mean, the character’s hair was jagged, the eyes were too far apart, etc) but what really got me was the proportions – there were scenes where some people were gigantic and others were regular size. It was as if the artists didn’t understand the concept of scale. I felt slightly guilty each time I scoffed because I know Elisabeth is a real fan of the movie but she was a good sport and laughed along with me. She admitted it wasn’t the best of messages or movies.
We went on the balcony after that to look for our bat friends, ’cause that’s a nightly ritual now I guess, and were quickly distracted by making shadow puppets on our brick wall. Turns out 30-something year olds like doing that just as much as kids. It’s fun! I made a really good duck and made Elisabeth laugh and laugh with my brilliant duck voice and hand movements. I also made a spider that legit freaked her out (all of my limbs are long, including my fingers, what can I say, they’re perfect for shadow spiders!). We then started snapping pictures of our shadow selves, which was a blast.
This morning I met up with my friend, Meseret, at Washington Park to hang out for a bit. We sat underneath a tree by a little creek and chatted it up. She’s one of those wonderful people who can talk about anything and keep the conversation going. I’m so lucky to have a few friends like that because I’m still learning how to navigate conversations. She did tell me that if her university, where she works, decides to go full online classes in the fall, she’ll likely stay in Denver instead of returning to Arizona. That would be awesome for me so I kind of hope that happens.
We had to say goodbye eventually because it was 90 degrees by 11am and that’s a bit hot so I ran a couple of errands before heading home. My last stop on my errand train was going to Shahrazad Bakery to get some baklava. Yes, I know I had baklava yesterday. But Shahrazad has the best baklava (FelFel second best) and I just needed some more. Life is too short for me to not have baklava two days in a row! I was thrilled when I asked for their walnut baklva and the woman told me I was in luck, they literally were placing a fresh batch on the rack as I asked the question. Needless to say, Elisabeth and I each ate a piece as soon as I stepped in the door. And it was delicious. It basically disintegrated in my mouth, which is perfect. Baklava, like cotton candy, should do that. If somebody ever wants to win my heart, all they need to do is buy me some walnut baklava from that bakery and take me to the Botanic Gardens. I’m yours forever. It’s been a good day.
Just Lauren 