(Post 144 of 263. Thanks again to those who participated in the Fundrazr. As I mentioned in the post announcing Bast’s passing from COVID, I thank everyone for your generous donations to the original Fundrazr campaign, which resulted in sponsored 263 posts. I will continue to honour the commitment to write those 263 posts, but I will not commit to more. The link above is to a new campaign to help Bast’s family.)

Today, I let myself pretend that life was normal, that it hadn’t had a nearly two-year pause, and that we are very much likely to end up in an Omicron lockdown after the holidays: I treated myself to a fancy lunch at an indoor restaurant, followed by a viewing at the cinema of Spider-Man: No Way Home. I realized with the much anticipated Black Widow movie, which I saw as a rental at home on a streaming service, that movies like these need to be seen at the theatre, where I’m forced to put on Do Not Disturb mode and let go of the real world for a few hours.

The posh cinema with recliners walking distance from my house is closed, so I chose to go to Galerías, which has an excellent sushi restaurant. I bought my ticket ahead of time, so I was able to pick a time when the theatre would be nearly empty (mid Saturday afternoon!) and also the seat I wanted.

At Sushi Roll, I sat in the same booth as I did last time, so many months ago, and there was a clue that time had sprung forward — the menu was accessible through a QR code. This technology makes sense — no worry about sanitizing a pile of menus — but when the server is slow, it’s a bit of a pain.

I decided to treat myself to a cocktail, choosing this mezcal and sake concoction with passion fruit and ancho chili, a sweet, spicy, and flavoursome choice. I was impressed that it looked exactly like the picture.

Lunch was my usual for Sushi Roll —- an eel roll with a piece of octopus nigiri. All delicious!

Some foods just taste better at the restaurant than at home…

There were only perhaps five or six of us spread out in the theatre, so I was really able to enjoy the movie without worrying about being in too close proximity to strangers. I’m not going to say anything about the movie!

I thought to maybe do some shopping after, but the crowds were a bit thick for my taste, so I headed home to a doggo who was very happy to see me.

Playing pretend today was a lot of fun. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do it again for Dr. Strange 2!