There was a delay in sending the first Gibbous e-mail because the night I went to send it out, she suddenly sat down next to me.
Context: I do all these e-mails on my work laptop, some IMs I've done in our bedroom with her nearby, those aren't a problem. My work laptop is in our living room. I rarely go there in the evenings for work purposes and it's even RARER for her to be there with me. On occasion she has watered the plants while I'm down there but then she'll be off to do her thing.
Not really an issue, I don't think she was particularly interested in what I was doing, nor saw any specific e-mails open although I had screens of family/friends videos open. I don't think she noticed anything.
Out of Towners - Parallel Plot
Great segue into a parallel project I have been running for Sonia's Out of Town family and friends.
Initial thoughts on what to do in this COVID-era birthday party was Zoom. We've done Zoom gatherings and it's mayhem at best. Like a grade-school show and tell at worst. However, I felt because this was a milestone birthday, I thought it would be great to have all her out of town friends and family. The platinum, diamond encrusted goal was to edit some fancy birthday video together.
This plan started motion July 2. First problem... how do I get all the contact info for out of towners??
Facebook is a start but not all her friends are my friends and she communicates to most TW contacts on LINE. I have LINE but no contacts.
Family is easy, I message my mother-in-law and done, messages start going out in grade school level chinese, english to some. HK contacts also relatively easy, most of them are on WhatsApp.
Friends... Facebook messages sent.
One friend I was hoping to get I had no line of sight on. Finally, a true secret agent like task in this whole project. One night I find her phone unattended. I get on her LINE and forward the contact to myself. Then delete the message. In my mind I was strutting HARD! LOL
Sadly, I believe this friend has not seen my friend request nor messages so I may not get her video message, which is really sad because she's a grade-school friend of my wife.
The Diversion
Not a lot to share here, yet. As the Gibbous e-mail went out, one of the attendees replied indicating that my wife had asked them for a picnic meet up and if I wanted to use it as a diversion story. I went for it and so far that is the cover.
Last night I also decided to layer on the diversion and asked her what kind of dinner she would like on the day of e.g. date night dinner or family dinner with N. She said family so... let's see where this goes.
I'm also aware that one guest who backed out of the group gathering is arranging a personal get together on Jul 24.
Ultimately what I think will happen is she doesn't expect anything due to COVID, she has mentioned this to friends already. AND apart from that, she'll chalk it up to my lack of doing much for myself and for her in the past LOL Not good words for me, I know, but it's the truth and sometimes the truth is hard.
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Project SuperLeggera - the final post
I know what you are thinking... "Final post already??"
Final communications go out under the new guise: Project Gibbous!
The little tidbits here and there that may be of interest:
- a week or two prior to this, we had a friend picnic at the same park I'm targeting and we saw a family set up a child's birthday party in the park. She noticed this and said "You can do that for my birthday". As per a previous post, this would immediately strike this option off my list LOL However, this is COVID, it's a new world, new requirements. I can adapt... I can adapt...
No... this is only the beginning, as they say. Recall dear reader that the ultra-top-secret code name for this initiative was exposed to the targe... I mean the star of the day at completion.
I spent a little effort coming up with the next name and for a moment, it was going to be Project Tourbillon for the mechanical watch complication, only to realize it might be too obvious again if exposed and not truly her favourite complication in a watch.
Her favourite complication, which I often forgot like a good husband should, is the moon phase. Some watches display the phase of the moon on their faces mechanically because... well... why wouldn't you want to know how the moon looks today??
Complication is my middle name so let's add a few layers and land on Project Gibbous. The phases of the moon have names and this year her birthday lands in the Waxing Gibbous phase. Let's drop the waxing part just cuz.
Next up venue... throughout this all one of the major COVID complications was a venue. My very first thought being a park gathering. We've been doing plenty of picnics with family and friends and it just feels safer.
I am not a risk-taker however and Vancouver weather is... random.
Patios were my next option and with Sonia's gardening bug, my go-to spot was Shaughnessy Restaurant that has a lovely COVERED patio. I inquired at another place on the North Shore but they didn't offer the space that I had seen previously and their private event space was basically indoors.
A few e-mails later and... back to square one. As I sent to the attendees in my e-mail: Ever get that confirmation that it's best to stick with your first answer to a problem/question? Yeah... that's where I'm at now.
Shaughnessy's COVID max for an event is 35, which I could work with, the headache more was around how to seat people, having families varying from 2 to 5. The park just seemed the best idea.
Families could set whatever distance they feel comfortable with, families could come and go as needed as well. It was just a better solution and I knew it from the get go... apart from the weather.
And here we are, rolling the dice for a park surprise!
Complication is my middle name so let's add a few layers and land on Project Gibbous. The phases of the moon have names and this year her birthday lands in the Waxing Gibbous phase. Let's drop the waxing part just cuz.
Next up venue... throughout this all one of the major COVID complications was a venue. My very first thought being a park gathering. We've been doing plenty of picnics with family and friends and it just feels safer.
I am not a risk-taker however and Vancouver weather is... random.
Patios were my next option and with Sonia's gardening bug, my go-to spot was Shaughnessy Restaurant that has a lovely COVERED patio. I inquired at another place on the North Shore but they didn't offer the space that I had seen previously and their private event space was basically indoors.
A few e-mails later and... back to square one. As I sent to the attendees in my e-mail: Ever get that confirmation that it's best to stick with your first answer to a problem/question? Yeah... that's where I'm at now.
Shaughnessy's COVID max for an event is 35, which I could work with, the headache more was around how to seat people, having families varying from 2 to 5. The park just seemed the best idea.
Families could set whatever distance they feel comfortable with, families could come and go as needed as well. It was just a better solution and I knew it from the get go... apart from the weather.
And here we are, rolling the dice for a park surprise!
Final communications go out under the new guise: Project Gibbous!
The little tidbits here and there that may be of interest:
- a week or two prior to this, we had a friend picnic at the same park I'm targeting and we saw a family set up a child's birthday party in the park. She noticed this and said "You can do that for my birthday". As per a previous post, this would immediately strike this option off my list LOL However, this is COVID, it's a new world, new requirements. I can adapt... I can adapt...
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