To be honest, I have been meaning to write this for a few days. It’s not that I was lacking in topics to discuss, but more that I just couldn’t get in the right headspace to fully jot down what it is I wanted to say. This was originally planned for Monday, but something about that day had me distracted, so now I’m here. Ideally, this would’ve been the second essay this week that I published because, quite honestly, I was planning to dedicate a whole entry to attending the recent WNBA game between The Los Angeles Sparks and The New York Liberty. Even as I realized in an initial write-up that I didn’t have that much to say about the experience itself, it’s maybe one of the best Sparks games that I’ve been to, period.
But I’ll get into that in time. Want to start by saying that August is rolling on, and it’s surreal how fast time is going. I don’t know what happened on August 1, but something just clicked into place and was like, yeah… now we’re just going to throw the punches. We’re going to get you through the second week in a matter of seconds. It’s surreal if not cliché, and it’s been hard to stop and appreciate life as a result. I realize that The Fall is even more unkind to time, but for now, I live with a small gratitude that it’s nowhere near as hot in Long Beach as it was last year. It’s still summer hot, but we had 100° days last year. It was crazy.
Well, I guess we had them earlier this year. I attended a softball tournament on a day that had to be at least 95°. It’s one of those hot that sitting outside for three hours will drain your resources and make sitting in a Denny’s afterward both comfortable and make you painfully aware of how overheated your body is. You drink the water and take in the air conditioning, but it’s going to take some time to get “comfortable.” Anyway, it’s not that bad… yet. There hasn’t been a day when I have been so overwhelmed with heat that I had to wait until sundown to go outside and appreciate what the afternoon should’ve felt like.
Right now, I have also been struggling with any long-term sense of motivation. While I do what I need to get through the day, I think the heat has convinced me to take more breaks and not take as many physical risks as I should. There are pros and cons to thinking like this, but mostly it makes you batty. You want to get up and do stuff… so why don’t you? Maybe it’s the abundance of sweaty clothes you’ll acquire, or that everything feels like it’s at a stasis that is acceptable for the time being. Whatever the case may be, I am struggling to break through for more than a day here or there.
Which cannot be said for my writing. By some miracle, I have just finished the first draft of my next short story, “Except Change.” This will mark my eighth month straight of publishing a story… possibly ninth? It’s hard to tell. I might’ve already released something in August, and this is approaching bragging rights. Anyway, it’s next on the docket and frees me up to think of something else. I’m also planning to start work on this month’s Failed Oscar Campaigns very soon. I had considered doing Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit for whatever reason, but certain topics got me considering other things. For example, The Naked Gun has me thinking of Pamela Anderson and The Last Showgirl, as well as Taylor Swift’s new album sharing the s-word. However, I am largely leaning towards Lucy in the Sky since Noah Hawley has recently come out with a new show (!) called Alien: Earth (!!). It’s pretty good and I think it has me wanting to revisit one of the odder awards pushes in recent times.
But anyway… another downside of postponing the publication of this is that I honestly forgot what was originally going to appear in Monday’s entry. These aren’t as nearly structured as they used to be, so while I intended them to be shorter, it does, ironically, feel like they may actually be getting longer. The good news is that I have kept up a weekly entry of The Rundown per month since I started, even if it’s questionable how thorough I have been. Still, it’s a good snapshot of where everything is at that given time.
Time to ride through the rest of this entry. The big event of the week was the aforementioned WNBA game. It’s my second of the year and… my 12th (?) since 2021. It’s hard to tell how many games I’ve actually been to because some years had smaller turnouts than others. I know last year was four, and another had three. Did the year before that cover the bases to get me to 12? I don’t know. Let’s just say it’s been a great excuse to get the family together and have fun.
Last year will be hard to beat because we went four times, and I think it ingrained in me why I loved going to the games. Things I had initially written off as annoying side effects slowly became things I longed to see. DJ Malski has evolved from this odd antagonist to a fun interjection. I love Sparky. Even the anticipation of seeing certain super-fans has become a fun game of who shows up to these things. Chris Paul was there. Mila Kunis was as well, and, to be quite frank, it’s wild how well she aged because I thought she was some 25-year-old Netflix romantic comedy star from the other side of the court.
But another thing that makes the games interesting is that you see the progress in person year to year. You have an assumption of how things will play out. The Liberty is one of the most dominant teams at this moment. They whooped The Sparks last year by over 30, to the point that Sabrina Ionescu and crew sat out for large portions of the game. I was convinced it would be another blow-out, even as The Sparks looked to be on a winning streak (okay, they lost a few here and there, but of the past 10, they were batting a great record). I know I hold Kelsey Plum highly, but having been to The Golden State Valkyries game earlier this year, I had assumed it would take a little bit to gel.
At every turn, I was left in a bit of shock as The Sparks exceeded expectations. They would be down by six and, sure enough, my brain would predict that this was their downfall. By the half, they were practically tied. By the third, they were holding on. If they were going to fall that spectacularly, it was going to be one of the worst collapses that this Los Angeles building had seen… and I am including The Clippers in that equation.
Instead of the divebombs, however, I was seeing a team that finally found its groove. Maybe it wasn’t enough to be top of the league, but it was a vast improvement over the past two years. Those judging solely on losses will think that they still suck. However, that is to ignore the heart of the game, the intensity with which both teams played and kept just enough agitation to make it hard to look away. Because my mind wanders at times, I did miss a handful of fouls, and it only made piecing everything together more thrilling. The audience, nearly 85% sold out, was on it. They were passionately defending the home team and making this everything that The WNBA has been trying to sell in recent years.
Outside of Plum, the highlight is likely Julie Allemand, who has been having a phenomenal run as of late and is a big reason The Sparks have turned things around. I also think Dearica Hamby has improved for the most part, and the role players have gotten more confident. Rickea Jackson remains the steal of the draft while Cameron Brink continues to recover. I can at least say that I’ve seen Brink play four out of six games when she was on the team. It’s also funny to see Julie Vanloo get traded to The Sparks after seeing her on The Valkyries only a few months ago. Finally, I’m sad to not get to see Alissa Pili play, though I hope she eventually finds her place on the team.
Like any person clouded by their team’s perceptive immediate victories, I feel very optimistic about their chances right now. Not so much to win, but return to the playoffs after two seasons of major setbacks. They’re still not perfect, but this is the first time that I think the coaching has felt as locked in as the players, and the drive is very much present. If this is not the best game I’ve seen them play so far, then my memory is faulty. They’ve always been good, but they’re also plagued with odd situations that have kept the rise from being gradual.
Another fun, ironic detail is that the final score matched the first-ever WNBA game back in 1997 by those same two teams. A nice coinky-dink if I say so myself.
Other than that, life’s been good to me so far. I don’t know that I have that much to say. I have moved on to reading Ned Vizzini’s “Be More Chill,” and it’s been a rough go. I am a fan of the musical, and the best I can say is that the adaptation is also an improvement. I get this is young adult, but it’s very much a horny teen in the Mid-2000s, and I’m not sure how well the misogyny has aged. In theory, these characters are my age, but they feel so distant from how I think. It’s a comedy, sure, but so little feels grounded in a way I care. It’s really making me miss the density of Charles Dickens’ “Bleak House,” which, for the record, is pretty good.
Also, I recommend checking out the new King of the Hill revival if you haven’t. It does a nice job of updating everything and actually expands the stories in respectful ways. For as much as it’s a show plagued by setbacks like deceased voice actors, it shines through as a sign of how to be kind to others in a complicated and hostile world. It’s got the feel-good touches that I have been missing. I just wish they would broadcast the original more because it is such a unique and charming show that hits my sweet spot.
I also want to give a shoutout to one of my favorite records of the week. I have tried to listen to a wide variety in recent years, and I’ve fallen in love with Cassandra Jenkins. Her “My Light, My Destroyer” album ended up being one of my favorites from last year. She just came out with one called “My Light, My Massage Parlor,” which I assumed was a joke album based on the title, but it’s actually the calm type of instrumental you’d expect from that title. I’m not sure if it’ll become one of my personal favorites, but for today, it’s been the most revisited. It puts me in a good mood and reminds me how much I love a good piano measure.
So anyway, this is running long. What you need to know about me at this time is that I’m doing okay. I could be better, but I’m making the most of what I’ve got. Not sure what the back half of August will have in store, but I’m doing my best to get productive and make a difference. Who knows. Maybe I’ll go for a walk after this. We’ll have to see where my head’s at. So until next time. Hope all’s well and I’ll see ya when I see ya.
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