As of this moment, SCRAPS! as a larger concept is a blank slate. Although it's based on a previous website, I'm trying to make it easier for me to update. That is why I have released sporadic opinion pieces that I think are interesting enough to publish but not thorough enough to create a constructed essay out of. With this segment, The Rundown will attempt to strip that even further to its core by reflecting whatever period I deem worthy of consideration. It won’t be where I document everything, but there will be enough substance here to give you an idea of where my week has been.
To start with, last Tuesday was my 36th birthday. Usually, I am more self-reflective during that time and tend to ruminate on details that are often trivial. I think 35 was harder just because that was the acknowledged halfway point of this decade, and one that really made me have to grasp what the pandemic took from me. Even as I reached creative peaks and achieved things I never thought I could, there was something about that period being done that felt… unfinished. Maybe it’s motivated me a bit to be more active and, thus, has led to me publishing more short stories as well as a novel, “Lava Lamp,” that I am proud of. My hope is that 2026 brings with it my second short story collection, though whether that’s at 36 or 37 is unknown.
In short, this wasn’t a terribly spectacular birthday. Maybe it’s wrong to think that doing lush parties is the norm, but then you look at the celebrities who have these elaborate parties with homemade cakes, and you wish that life offered you a few more opportunities. In fairness, I have a lot of wonderful people who reached out to me and made the past seven days exciting. I even had someone get me the Baby Deadpool popcorn bucket when Deadpool & Wolverine was in theaters last year. Somebody else invited me to see Ben Platt in concert with them (line-up included Brandy Clark and surprise guest Laufey). I wish I were proactive enough to think of gifts for people, but I want to believe that I make up for it in other ways.
At risk of prolonging this essay, I won’t go into depth with reviews of everything mentioned here. However, I will mention that this week was bookended by stories of aliens and outer space. There was a family-oriented outing on Sunday that led us to Elio, while Saturday saw me visiting my popcorn bucket-bestowing friend to see James Gunn’s Superman in a packed theater. Sure, complaints abound as to whether $16 is a warranted price for a weekend matinee, but it explains why AMC wants to do 50% days now. Then again, I usually go to a Starlight where they have three days a week at $5, and have filled up a small fraction of my summer movie bingo card that way.
A quick note before I start transitioning is that the Elio trip featured a dinner at Applebee’s. The soccer draft was going on, but I was more fixated on the walls. Because we were at The Lakewood Mall, I was keen to notice how much they celebrated regional talent on the walls. I had been to the Super Mex across the way and noticed a Justin Turner jersey years prior, but had never been inside the Applebee’s to notice that they had a small piece of wall dedicated to CSULB’s men’s basketball team, notably with a close-up of No. 22, A.J. Neal, in the middle of a dunk. There was The Pyramid alongside him and various other signifiers of my alma mater, and it made me wonder how much of this mall held secret shrines to local legends.
To be honest, I don’t necessarily ask for birthday gifts too often. I worry that this has made me come across as cold, especially as it translates to other holidays as well. I’m not that clever and probably don’t know enough about my friends to warrant big swings. However, I do have a wonderful family who tend to get me Lego sets every year, and it has become the norm to just hang around in the evening and build whatever the big one is. This year, it was a large Rocket Raccoon, which went from the expected hour to a full 3.5-hour debacle. Yes, this went longer than The Brutalist, and having a cat threaten to steal pieces was only part of the reason for it.
My birthday in itself wasn’t terribly exciting. Because it fell midweek, the Elio trip was the compensation. It was the time everyone was available, though we were also planning a small get-together on Thursday to watch Zombies 4 and see what the new class was up to. As a result, I mostly hung around the house and tried to stay cool on the brink of a minor Southern California heatwave that thankfully only launched the day after.
I don’t tend to watch midday movies during the week, but I make exceptions on my birthday. As a result, I chose Black Orpheus as part of the entertainment. It was a fitting symbolism for the year ahead for personal reasons. Back in 2007, I was an intern for Long Beach Opera, where I helped with the mailing list for their own production of Orpheus & Eurydice (starring Michael York, whom I never met). Along with that, I first listened to the Hadestown cast recording the night I submitted my first novel, “Apples & Chainsaws,” for publication. Along with Anais Mitchell’s story of how long it took to see it become THE biggest show since Hamilton, it is my guiding light to what a creative life is about. Black Orpheus may not fit neatly into that box, but I do love how creatively diverse one centuries-old story remains.
The other detail I want to include from my birthday is that I watched The Shrouds. It’s the new David Cronenberg movie, and I’d argue it’s among my favorite of his. Maybe it’s because I’ve had long streaks since 2020 of fixating on death, but I found the humor and pathos to be very effective. It’s also weird that some of the technology reminded me of Flubber, in which the robot We-Bo creates a human avatar to fall in love with Robin Williams. They are both funny in their own right, but not for similar reasons.
At this moment, there isn’t a lot to say, but I am also in the middle of interviews for a potential job. Without wishing to jinx anything, I will leave it at that. The one caveat I will mention is that my penchant for social anxiety did cause the days up to it to feel nerve-racking, and thankfully, that didn’t play as much of a part in the happenings as I had worried.
What I find is that I’m at a stage mentally where I still worry like I do on my worst days. In the days leading up to a presentation, I will fixate on what needs to get done to present my best self. On one level, it helps because I know my cadence enough to write out speeches in a way that sacrifices awkward tics. However, interviews are more of a wildcard. I’ve had bad experiences in the past because I didn’t prepare. Thankfully, having the wherewithal to predict allowed me some lenience. Then again, the funniest part of this is that I have prepared so much for public presentations that on three separate occasions, I’ve had people say that they liked how I spoke. Not saying it’s the right choice for everyone, but maybe workshops are an easy way to test your skills within the safety of a small group.
To start wrapping up, there is one thing that you can look forward to from me. I am currently in the editing stages for a new short story that I am calling “Release.” It should be out within the week, though no concrete date is currently set. What I will say about it at this time is that it’s inspired by a mix of current events (if you live in Southern California, you know) and some other nocturnal behaviors that I’ve been taking part in. Let’s just say I was watching someone on YouTube do a livestream of Ape Escape a few weeks back, and it really spoke to me and this greater idea of parasocial relationships.
A fun upside of writing “Release” when I did was that I did it to ease some of the tension I had while waiting for jury duty to release their Day 1 assignments. Here I am over a week removed from completion (spoiler: I didn’t have to go in!) and finally appreciating life. June was a weird month because it was a mix of jury duty uncertainty and job prospects on top of whatever birthday plans lay in store.
On some level, July can’t help but be better for that reason alone. The movies are good. The new Clipse album is killer. I’m even digging Lena Dunham’s return to TV with Too Much. There’s a lot I could be doing to better use my time, but for now, life is good. I am 36 and am at the stage where everything is still bright and bushy-tailed. I just need to keep the motivation going because it’s been a while since I’ve been on this kind of hot streak.
So until next time. Hope all’s well and I’ll see ya when I see ya.
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