At the time of publication, I notice that I’ve fallen into an old habit that sank my previous public diary. My unwillingness to sit down and just write a few paragraphs every week has failed to suffice, and as a result, this is my first proper correspondence since September. While it’s true that I’ve written one post in October about Saturday Night Live, it’s a far cry from the previous months, which had a plethora of topics and kept the namesake feeling relevant.
And so I make the familiar excuse that there’s no way to encapsulate an entire month in this essay, nor do I plan to try. The short of it is that Halloween ended up being one of the better seasons this year, and I think it’s because everyone got to let loose even as the world has been crumbling in its own way. The president has continued to deflate morale in the nation, and all we can do is crack jokes that I don’t think are funny and pass laws that will make *some* difference, but I also worry is just counterproductive when the redistricting will result in larger numbers of inactivity among voted parties. It goes without saying, but I do imagine that January will roll around, and with that wildfires that need federal funding that just won’t come. I get that we never would’ve gotten a proper seat at the table, but there is a lot of headbutting going on that’s going to hurt people, and I hate it.
I’ve already written at length about this on The Memory Tourist, so I won’t elaborate. Instead, I want to say that I met a weird goal of watching one horror film a night in October, and in doing so, forced myself to expand my personal tastes. I am realizing how dull horror relying on slashers is, and that while David Lynch is not horror, Mulholland Drive (2000) still sends chills right down the good old spine. I also got a chance to see Bugonia (2025), which is another home run from Yorgos Lanthimos.
Beyond that, I have been going to a lot of women’s volleyball games. Despite having a largely new roster, CSULB has been having a fantastic season and ranks among the best teams in the Big West. I love it. We’re very close to ending the season in the Top 5 and landing a decent spot in the tournament, and I can only hope this means future good things.
Before I shift to something more personal, I want to mention the one great thing that’s happened in November so far. On Saturday, I was invited to see a production of Peter Pan Goes Wrong. While it’s not a show I was in love with, I went largely to see Cathy Rigby in a “Peter Pan role,” which will make sense to theater fans, especially those who live around the La Mirada area who are familiar with her theater. This was as much an excuse to have fun as it was to see what she could bring to a satirical version of her most famous non-sports role.
But anyway, I went on Saturday, which also happened to be Game 7 of the World Series. While I am realizing that baseball isn’t the sport I obsess over and feel the most passionate about, there has been some joy in keeping up with the final rounds to see how things play out. Given that it’s also The Los Angeles Dodgers, it’s easy to get caught up in hometown pride. I won’t bore you with play-by-play, but just know that the World Series against The Toronto Blue Jays was stellar and very competitive. It was everything you could want from a series featuring the best teams in the league. The fact of the matter is that it could’ve gone either way up until the very last minute.
But because I was at Peter Pan Goes Wrong, I couldn’t even sit and watch the score update. I had to watch the live performance in front of me, which was still an ideal way to pass the night. The cast was delightful and the production was top-notch. However, because it was a show that catered to improvisational elements, it allowed for occasional score updates and a general chance to feed off the audience. When The Dodgers won during intermission, it was pure pandemonium as the entire room erupted, ending a tension that I had carried going into Act I. Short of being in a crowd that would’ve been leaning over and watching every moment, it was the best feeling in the world if just because it was a unique and spontaneous moment that can’t be replicated elsewhere.
Now, if I can be more candid and personal, I want to briefly touch on why I probably haven’t been writing as much. It’s partially due to poor time management, but it’s also just the reality of private matters. Around the time when productivity slowed, my father had surgery, which required me to run more errands for him and, thus, be removed from an environment where I could write more freely. As someone who needs 3-4 hours of undistracted writing time, it’s difficult to do it while fitting into other people’s schedules, especially when key busy hours is the time frame when I was most accustomed to productivity.
As a result, whatever I did write usually took place in the evening and favored The Memory Tourist, which I would love to think has remained consistently active, though I think has fallen short on the big essay areas that I have been wanting to keep regular features. I don’t have as much time for additional research at the moment that doesn’t cut into other parts of life. I do recognize that I could cut back on watching movies or reading, but I do think there’s something to balanced activities. At most, I have cut back on social media, which has probably been for the best all things considered.
But yeah, in total, that includes at least 80 minutes of driving every day, and that has been mostly tedious. I’ve gone through most of Tom Waits’ catalog in the process (I’m not being controversial by saying his esoteric stuff makes for unpleasant driving) and have been on various kicks, including most recently with Billy Woods, even though I have to imagine it’s difficult to understand most of what he says, even when I have headphones on.
As you can guess, it’s sometimes coming down to what I feel is best for myself at the end of those days. Do I want to end all of that activity by forcing myself to center and miss social hours with other people in my life? Again, when do I fit in the two hours of reading that I do on average? There’s so much, and I am thankfully at a place where I am starting to balance everything again. However, I still recognize that whatever effort I have will be deposited into The Memory Tourist and making those more thought-driven essays as qualitative as possible.
Other than that, I must apologize for the infrequent updating. I am hoping that, in November, I will fix this problem and get back to more regular and random material. For now, just know that I am doing okay and that life is going swimmingly. Hopefully, I’ll have more stories to share soon and give you a better glimpse into how life has been. I just discovered this awesome show called The Chair Company with Tim Robinson, and I Love L.A. stars my pick for one of the funniest working actresses, Rachel Sennott. I would love to say that Welcome to Derry rounds out that line-up nicely, but it’s a bit of a slog so far. At least HBO Max still has Fionna and Cake, which fits my Adventure Time-sized itch even though I am too intimidated to dwell into that franchise properly anymore.
Oh, and I saw Hello Dolly. I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I do, but you sometimes forget that my favorite musical is My Fair Lady, so there is something about the old school that does resonate from time to time. Anyway, that’s going to be it for now. I have a few days before I see you again, so I suggest hopping over to my other website and seeing what I have to say there. I am hoping to have an essay on Weapons (2025) up very soon, as well as potentially another on Sorry, Baby (2025), which is the closest to capturing that feeling I got going to see indie dramas in the early 2010s and finding new favorite artists. Eva Victor is one to watch, and Sorry, Baby might be my favorite directorial debut since Past Lives (2023). Don’t quote me.
So until next time. Hope all’s well and I’ll see ya when I see ya.
Comments
Post a Comment