Tag: About Me

The seasons changed, times are strange.

Sara Mazariegos

Bloody Weather. I know I’ve been complaining about this a lot, but the ice/snow is STILL HERE. Thankfully it’s melted a little, bit the massive piles at bus stops and around sidewalks are sticking around. I told Luis he will probably be waking up with me and helping me get onto the bus for at least the rest of this week. Hopefully by this coming weekend, the warmer temperatures will finish the job and things can go back to normal.

I do love having some extra time with him in the mornings, though. I will miss that. It’s my personal Extra Magic Hours*. My coworkers were singing his praises when I told them he’s been helping me. It’s always my goal to get people to join the Luis fan club, because he’s great.

Stuperbowl (I’m original.) You know what I don’t like? American football. Fortunately for me, Luis is not a fan either. He much prefers soccer/futball, and I’ve become a fan as well. So we didn’t watch any of the Superbowl last weekend, except for maybe ten minutes before the Bad Bunny Halftime Show.

The performance was so fun and I loved that it told a story about Puerto Rico and Latin American culture. He even threw in a mention of Canada! He included all of North America. It was pretty cool. I know at least one person who got teary-eyed watching the beautiful representation of Latin culture, especially in this crazy time we’re currently living in. Maybe, just maybe, this will get people talking about issues in a more nuanced way.

Podcasts but as videos. Like the general populous, I enjoy listening to podcasts. The trouble is, I have a difficult time paying full attention to them, because I am usually working or writing when I listen to them. So when a bunch of the popular ones (Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, Good Hang with Amy Poehler, etc.) started releasing video versions of them, I was ecstatic. I much prefer consuming YouTube videos. So I’ve been watching the podcast videos during my lunch breaks at work. One thing that’s nice about them is that, if I have to look away for any reason, it’s totally fine because they’re meant to be listed to! What a concept. They’re also long enough that I can watch one episode over the whole week’s worth of lunch breaks.

I’m truly an exciting person. Eh, I’ll go outside for my lunch breaks when it stops being arctic outside. Maybe. Didn’t do it last spring/summer, but maybe this year.

14th on the 14th! I’m so excited about our dating anniversary plans. Last week, I looked at the calendar to see the latest updates—Luis made dining reservations—and, in a combination of excitement and sleepiness, I forgot I’d looked ahead on the calendar and thought it was already next weekend. This made me briefly panic because the Project For Awesome starts on Friday, and I thought I’d missed it!

I highly doubt I’d be able to miss it. I follow too many helpful accounts, and I have it all on my calendar. Just have to remember what day it currently is. 😅

The Metro is getting work done this weekend, and traveling on the Metro is part of our celebration (we met at a stop, after all) so we’re going to brave the long travel in order to enjoy the experience as planned. Then we’re going to explore the place we met; we haven’t been there for longer than a few hours in at least a decade. I love the story of how we met. Which leads me to…

Writing update. I’m starting to feel the familiar feeling that I don’t need to rewrite my Nerdfighter story. Instead of starting completely over, I just need to tweak it. I’ve been working on a big rewrite, and it was a massive overhaul. The characters were different, much of the plot was different… and I started wondering if it’s really better or if the earlier version I had was totally fine, it just needed some big edits. What I’d been working on started to feel a lot more cynical than intended. I wish I could have an unbiased reader read the first chapter of each version and tell me which one’s better. I’m too biased. But I feel like, in this case, writing what I know helps the story and makes it more unique.

I can’t help it that our true love story is already pretty perfect. It doesn’t need revision. It just needs some higher stakes, and I’ve found them.

* This might be a sign I go to Disney too often… Nah.

Time keeps on slippin’ into the future.

Sara Mazariegos

Snow anxiety. I think it’s difficult for people who aren’t in the U.S. northeast to understand the icy, slippery mess we’ve been dealing with. Giant ice-covered mountains of snowcrete stood at the bus stops and on crosswalk corners for days, unable to be removed because they were so packed and stuck together and heavy. Luis helped me each morning by coming with me to the bus stop and helping me get on without slipping. A nice lady at the bus stop also gave me a hand, which deserves mentioning. But the prospect of going out into this awful situation each day was giving me such anxiety. I wasn’t sleeping well, worried about the mess I’d have to penguin-walk through the next day, and I was having a hard time thinking about anything else.

I told my coworkers how I was feeling, and they were so nice and understanding. One of them even said I was brave for speaking up about it, because many of the others didn’t experience any of this crazy winter storm so they aren’t even thinking about how it could be affecting us.

Fortunately, the sun during the day helps melt things and it’s supposed to become warmer soon. Not soon enough, but soon.

I didn’t get mail at the office all last week.

SNOW UPDATE: The snow is still around and Luis still goes to the bus stop with me to help me get safely on the bus, but it’s not as dicy to walk around, at least. I received a bunch of mail at the office, so that’s good. I’m looking forward to not seeing these snow piles everywhere. He’s probably going to be coming to the bus with me every day this week and into next week, by the look of things. It is nice to have him keeping me company. I’m spoiled.

What’s next for Colbert. As you probably know, if you’ve been reading my site for a while, I’m a big fan of Stephen Colbert. Luis got me to really pay attention to him, so he’s a comedian we’ve been able to share. I’m sad that he is losing The Late Show soon—actually, we’re all losing it because CBS is completely cancelling the show, not just firing him (the dicks)—and I wonder what’s next for him. I’m sure he will not completely go away, but I wonder if he will continue doing political satire or if he’s ready for something else. He is an actor, after all. He could go to Broadway for a while. Write a book. Write a nonfiction treatise on J.R.R. Tolkien. Whatever he wants to do next, I am excited to consume it.

That came out weirdly. But you know what I mean. I want to watch it, read it, hear it, etc. Experience it.

Okay, moving on before this gets too silly. I have a more serious topic to discuss.

Rob Reiner & Catherine O’Hara. I started reading As You Wish, Cary Elwes’ memoir about making The Princess Bride. The forward was, fittingly, written by Rob Reiner. There’s so much of him in that book, and you can tell how much Cary Elwes and the others in the cast just loved him. I’m still very sad about what happened to him. I asked Luis for a copy of The Princess Bride for an anniversary present, since I really want to reread it. A lot of people have been quick to point out that Rob Reiner didn’t write that book. He’d be one of them, too. But he had a massive hand in the movie version, and it’s as wonderful and faithful to the story as it is because of him.

To add insult to my already injured heart, Catherine O’Hara passed away last week. I’ve been a fan of hers since Nightmare Before Christmas when I was little, without knowing who she was yet. She’s in so many things I love, including Christopher Guest movies and Schitt’s Creek. It still doesn’t entirely feel real. When I saw the news online, I shouted, “No!” at my screen.

And it struck me that poor Chris Guest lost two close friends within two months. 😢

Comfortable tenses. I’ve started writing an updated version of the Nerdfighter story that I’m still trying to get to a publishable novel form. The tense my brain hit the ground running* with is present, which I’ve enjoyed playing around with recently. I’ve noticed a lot of romance novels use present tense these days. It’s a tense that makes sense. Hopefully my brain won’t forget about it and start using past tense. That has happened before, and it creates all kinds of confusion when I’m editing.

A lot of writers stress about which tense to use. I think you should write in whichever way you’re comfortable with. And if you’re working on a draft, there’s nothing preventing you from changing your mind and changing tenses. It’s the same with point-of-view, though that can be even more annoying to edit. Finding all the “I”s and changing them to “he”s or whatever.

Write in a way that makes you feel comfortable and true to yourself. After all, cleaning it up is for the editing phase.

* I don’t recommend letting your brain hit the ground

No time for revolving doors.

Sara Mazariegos

Commuting in DC. I love living in the DC area and being able to take reliable buses and Metro trains everywhere. Luis and I don’t own a car (I can’t even drive, and he dislikes driving) and we don’t need to. We save so much money by not having a car, and the time spent waiting for buses or trains is comparable to the time spent sitting in traffic for drivers.

That being said, having to stand for all or nearly all of the commute is exhausting and I always get bummed because it means I can’t read while I ride. (First World Problem, I know, but still.) The other morning, the train was full of people and slow because of single-tracking and I had to stand the whole time. I briefly felt a panic attack coming on, but luckily I was able to get a seat before it got bad. I felt hot and like I might faint or be sick. That doesn’t usually happen to me. Thankfully, it’s not usually so packed I have to stand in the morning.

“It’s gonna snow again.” We heard for at least a week that it was going to snow from Saturday night through Monday morning. I went from thinking, “Oh man, I might have to work from home” to “I’m definitely going to have to work from home” to “I might have to take it as a snow day if the power goes out.” It also ramped up to include so many other states that several of my coworkers also had to work from home in their respective office locations. What does it say about me that I was more concerned about having to possibly take a day off (not as vacation, but as emergency) than I was about having enough non-perishable food in case we’re stuck in our house with no power for a while?

Luis ordered groceries and we planned meals in case we can’t use our stove or microwave. We might be living on canned beans and potato chips for a few days. I have faith that things will be okay, though.

SNOW UPDATE: I was allowed to work from home on Monday and Tuesday. We got about six inches of snow plus ice and sleet on Sunday, and the D.C. government closed because of the weather. The bus and Metro would be a nightmare when there’s that much snow and ice, even if they sometimes like to pretend otherwise. The Metro had problems with their track the other day, after all, and that was without snow.

Luis helped me get on the bus from the terribly icy/snowy bus stop this morning. Maryland left a huge frozen hill at the bus stop and we had to climb over it to get safely on the bus. Fortunately, the driver knew to wait to let us on. We weren’t going to wait 30 minutes for another bus. Luis even rode to the Metro with me, to make sure I got onto the train safely as well. I can’t speak highly enough about him. 🥲 Today’s the anniversary of the day we met!

He’s probably going to need to help me the rest of this week, until the snow is actually gone enough for it to not still be a minor hazard. Conversely, the Metro? Totally fine. It came right on time and there were no issues. I hope it stays that way.

The Color Purple novel. I’ve just started reading The Color Purple, and I’m really enjoying it. It feels like a well-timed departure from the depressing books I’ve read recently. It’s not all sunshine and giggles, of course, but the tone is brighter and the characters (at least several of the main ones) are more lovable. Especially Celie. We saw the musical movie when it was in theaters, so I was excited when I found the novel in a Little Free Library. It is a delight to read the way the strong women in the story fight back against the oppressive men, even if it’s sometimes just with a shared look. I keep catching myself grinning while I read it on the Metro. I used to think it would be very heavy, like Beloved, but it’s got humor to it. I hope it’s not bad to say I find it lighthearted and hopeful.

Beloved is also very good, of course. It is definitely sad, though. I need to read more Toni Morrison. I read Sula in college, and I need to read it again to enjoy it this time instead of using it for a term paper. You know?

February’s going to have a lot going on. There’s a week on my calendar with so much on it. It’s going to have Luis’s and my 14th dating anniversary mini-vacation (14th on the 14th!) the Winter Olympics coverage (I love ice skating/dancing,) and the Project For Awesome! All three of those will be on the same days, though of course the Olympics last longer. With the skating and the P4A livestreaming, we’re going to have plenty to watch in the hotel room after our fun anniversary activities each day. We’re going to museums and parks and shops near where we met fourteen years ago, and we hopefully won’t freeze our tails off.

I’m glad we did not get married on Valentine’s Day, but it is nice we started dating on that day. It makes it seem like everyone’s celebrating us with us.

Time to stand up and steal the show.

Sara Mazariegos

Days off. It’s funny how vacation is so needed and restful and fun, but then going back to work feels like this insurmountable burden. I guess “funny” isn’t the right word. But I’ve noticed every time there’s a holiday or a vacation from work, coming back feels like such a big deal. It doesn’t help that the system is currently down at my office and one of my monitors decided to die. That just adds to the feeling of needing a break from my break before I feel like I can work again. 😅

Elio and the loss of originality. During our long holiday weekend, Luis and I watched several movies. We watched Dreamworks’ Sinbad which was… all right. We also watched Get On Up starring Chadwick Boseman. That was quite good. And sad, since we lost him so young. He was really talented. But the main movie I wanted to write about here is Elio. I wanted to see Elio when it was in theaters, but our theater did not really give us a chance. It came out at a time when several other big movies came out, but still… Disney movies are usually out longer. I’m glad we finally saw it, and it got Luis and me thinking about how none of the action hero in space movies have been successful. Even Lightyear did poorly, and people love Buzz Lightyear.

For what it’s worth, I think Elio is very cute. The aliens are all designed uniquely, and it has little nods to other sci-fi movies like E.T. and Terminator 2. I don’t understand why people didn’t go see it, unless theaters everywhere didn’t show it for long enough. But it seems like original movies are falling by the wayside at Disney, and it’s so sad. I hope we can see Hoppers in theaters and it won’t suffer the same fate as Elio. Streaming is nice, but it’s not the same.

Limping to the end of Seeing Other People. This sounds more serious than it is. It’s taken me longer than anticipated but I’m slowly finishing up reading Seeing Other People by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I’m not really feeling this one. It’s got moments, but it’s been a slog. Do you ever read a book and the words start to just roll through your brain like you’re not actually retaining any of them? I feel like that’s been happening to me with this book. It’s not holding my attention, and the plot bums me out. In the relationship part, it seems like they suddenly liked each other and I missed something. I guess not every book is for me, unfortunately even the ghost ones with pun titles.

Feedback and getting back into the writing groove. I edited my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired novel with my dad’s notes and I’m feeling pretty good about it. We had dinner with my parents on Saturday and Mom gave me some notes as well, so I’m going to be pondering some more. Nothing major though, which is awesome. Hopefully this can be the year I actually send out query letters for it, but we shall see.

I’m going to be starting up work on the major rewrite of my Nerdfighters-inspired novel soon. As it approaches, I’m getting nervous. I haven’t taken such a long break from writing in a while. I think it was a good refresh for my brain, but I hope I haven’t lost my groove. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, though, so it’s not as if I’ll be going in with no plan. Luis read my outline and said it was good, too, so I’m also not going into it with a lot of garbled ideas. (We’ve all done that before, right?)

And before you think, “But Sara, your stories are inspired by other stories. They don’t sound very original either,” I’ll remind you that they’re inspired by, they’re not the exact same stories of anything else. It’s not even the exact story of how Luis and I met anymore. That was at least six drafts ago. C’mon.

Until next time, stay safe out there.

Stop time. Stay just this way.

Sara Mazariegos

Thirties vs. Twenties. Amy Poehler briefly touched on this in a recent Good Hang episode—yay, Amy Poehler!—but I was already thinking about it. I’m coming to the end of my thirties, and realizing that my thirties were much easier than my twenties in a lot of ways. Sure, I’ve had a lot more responsibility and stress in my thirties, but in my twenties I was also very stressed because I was trying to get my first job and figure out who I was. I graduated college and lived with my sister, then lived with our parents. It’s a tale as old as time for people who graduated around 2008/2009/2010/2011. Recessions aren’t fun. I was twenty-four when I met Luis, and then we slowly started finding enough success to be able to get a place together. But we didn’t get married until I was thirty. My twenties were filled with a lot of uncertainty. Things are still often uncertain, of course, with the way things are in this country, but we also have more stability. So I hope people in their twenties realize that things aren’t always going to be as hard as they are for them at their age.

Globes that are golden. Speaking of Amy Poehler, I was so happy to see her win the Golden Globe for Best Podcast. I would’ve turned it off if she hadn’t won. I’m still annoyed about Ricky Gervais winning Best Stand-Up Special. It should have been Kumail Nanjiani. Luis and I saw many of the nominees, most of the winners. I really want to watch Adolescence. I like watching these award shows because they help me find new shows and movies to watch that I may otherwise not hear about. We got pizza for it, and I had a tasty at-home Redbull Sunrise (since the Buffalo Wild Wings near us closed, we’ve started just making them at home.)

It was jarring not to see an In Memoriam segment, especially with how dramatically sad some of the famous people’s deaths were last year. But it made the show shorter by not having it, so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Divisiveness feels like gaslighting. If you’d told me when I was in high school that we’d be living in a time where our own government thinks it’s okay to shoot a woman three times in the head in broad daylight and then lie about it and try to vilify her, I would have told you that you were crazy because that’s Nazi behavior and America is not Fascist.

What’s been some of the most terrifying, crazy stuff to me is the fabrication of the truth. Nineteen-Eighty-Four is invoked all the time, but lately the quotes from it are so apt they’re painful. We were all supposed to learn from it how to be better, not how to copy Ingsoc.

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

– George Orwell, Nineteen-Eighty-Four

Struggling with books. Firstly, I’ve been struggling with my copy of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold because it was nearly pristine when I got it off a little free library shelf, but now that it’s been traveling in my purse every day, it’s slowly falling apart. I fear that, by the time I’m ready to put it back in the little free library, it will be a stack of paper barely held together by glue from the 90s. I don’t know how it’s happening but every time I put it out of my purse, another bit of the front or back cover has fallen off. I’m not violent with it; all I do is put it down into my purse between my cell phone and my wallet. It’s nothing crazy. It’s kind of funny, but I feel bad.

I’m enjoying reading it. It’s not my usual thing, but it’s good. My favorite character is Liz. I have a bad feeling she’s not going to make it.

The other book I’m reading, Seeing Other People, continues to make me feel disappointed in some ways. It’s well-written and sweet, a lot of the time, but the name is so punny and the cover looks more light-hearted and youthful than it feels to me. Something about the tone has been throwing me off the whole time. I’m reading an ARC copy, so I wonder how much it changed in the final version. I just thought it would be funnier than it is. It’s mostly sad. Beautifully written, but not easy to read at the end of a long day in our currently bleak world.

Literary update. I’ve been slowly working through the edits of my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired novel, using the notes my dad gave me. I’ve been feeling less motivated to edit it, mainly because I’m excited to move on to writing the next story draft. But I’m doing it. I also sent the story to some friends to read, just as a little present. No feedback required.

I want readers. My main reason for wanting to be a published author is just that I want people to read my stories and enjoy them as much as I enjoy creating them.

Buy time, don’t lose it.

Sara Mazariegos

New Years. We had a fun New Years this (last?) year! Luis met me at my office and I showed him the holiday decor I put up. We took some snacks the building gave my office, then had a nice stroll to an English pub called Duke’s Grocery. It was decorated with gingerbread men and gumdrops. It was very cute. I had a delicious peppermint espresso martini. The first of a few fun drinks to celebrate the occasion. We also went to the movies after Duke’s Grocery, so we did end up doing something else fun instead of going straight home! Later that evening, I had a homemade espresso martini care of Luis’s sister, and a rummy egg nog around midnight, while watching Ryan Seacrest bemusedly pretend to care about a Tiktok rapper.

Then on New Years Day, we went to Outback Steakhouse and I had a gingerbread cookie martini and a wallaby darned. The gingerbread cookie martini comes with a little koala glass stem-hugger dressed like a Christmas elf, so he lives on my shelf now. Luis named him Cookie. I love Outback’s drinks. The one near us closed, but this one is still around and about the same distance as the one we used to go to. I’m so glad! They also have a blue cheese pecan salad I’m obsessed with. #NotAnAd

THEN, at nearly midnight on New Years Day (Night), who should show up on our porch camera but a raccoon? John Green manifested this for us. I called him Reginald. He checked out the water dish we leave out in the car port for any wayward critters, and then he skipped along into our backyard, where I hope he lives. What a great sign for the New Year. 😊

Marty Supreme and Hamnet and Taskmaster. On New Years Eve, we saw Marty Supreme. We enjoyed it! It features a cute dog, and Pamela Adlon’s daughter, Odessa A’zion, who sounds enough like Bobby Hill that we were smiling. She was in the movie more than I expected, and I liked her a lot. I wonder if it will win any Oscars. I think it was my favorite Timothy Chalamet performance that I’ve seen.

Last weekend, we saw Hamnet. I have a feeling it’s also going to be nominated for Oscars. Especially Jessie Buckley, who is amazing in it. It’s difficult to watch that movie with dry eyes. Luis pointed out that it’s about William Shakespeare and his family (but moreso about his wife Agnes/Anne) but they avoid saying his name until near the end for some reason. It’s not really a surprise, but I guess not everyone knows Shakespeare had a son named Hamnet who inspired Hamlet. That’s not a spoiler, though; it’s just a fact. Paul Mescal looked just like young William Shakespeare in it, and I’d never thought he looked like him before. He was also very good. It’s definitely a movie that engrossed me, making me feel like I was watching the actual people in the actual situations. It’s a more traditional Oscars nominee (they loooove Shakespeare content,) but that doesn’t mean it’s any less worthy.

We also watched the Taskmaster New Years Treat last weekend. Rose Ayling-Ellis is super cute. I was shocked at how anti-word-nerd Greg Davies was. I think it was more that Susie Dent reminded him of how annoying Alex Horne can be. 😂 I always wish there were more episodes, but I understand the people on these specials are available for a more limited engagement than during a regular series. I’m looking forward to seeing Kumail Nanjiani on Taskmaster! My lucky day! I was just writing about him, wasn’t I? I wonder if he’ll win or if he’ll be terrible at the tasks. Either way, I’m sure he’ll be fun!

Writing Goals & The Sims. My dad read the draft of my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired novel (and skimmed it a second time, to write helpful notes for me!) It’s touching how quickly he read it and how much thought he put into helping me out. He doesn’t usually read books very quickly, but he focused on this one for me. His notes are really good, too. I’m relieved, because I can’t tell you how many times friends have given me only “this is good!” type notes instead of actually giving me some constructive feedback. It’s not that I want people to be mean to me, but it’s more helpful for me to be told what’s not working, what should be tweaked, etc. I appreciate that my friends like my writing, but I know it needs editing!

I’m still taking a break from writing, but I plan to start writing my next draft version of my Nerdfighters-inspired novel in February. I’ve worked on a new plot outline, keeping certain elements from previous drafts, and I’m excited to play around with some new ideas.

Since Luis updated my Sims 4 for me, including all the packs and everything, I’ve been playing a lot during my free time. I took a long break from playing because my game files needed updates and I wanted the new stuff, so now I’ve got it all and I love it. I’m going somewhere with this, hear me out*. The first thing I did with my newly-updated and installed game was create the FMC and MMC from my Nerdfighters-inspired novel. It’s giving me some fun inspiration for my story as I think about the characters and how I want them to interact, work, and be as people. I love being able to “see” my characters by having computer-animated versions of them. I can put actual faces to the faces in my head, if that makes sense.

The new Romance skill in The Sims make the love story more of a challenge to play out, and their relationship feels more real because it takes effort and keeping up with. I love it! They currently are madly in love with each other, and they’re engaged. I’m not rushing their wedding, because I think it will be better with more time and experiences under their belts. They’re way ahead of the characters in my novel, considering that I haven’t started writing it yet. But who wants to play The Sims slowly?

I did make the couple have a baby, which is not something they will do in my novel. Because I also wanted to play with the new Infants pack. That’s also quite challenging, but the game is more fun if it’s at least a little challenging. Don’t get me started on those damn gnomes, though. I turned them off as soon as I learned how. Well, Luis helped me figure out how.

Here’s a picture of my cute Sims family. I plan to only play as them and expand the family, because that’s always fun. I wonder if they’ll be able to roleplay some of my novel’s plot eventually, too. Baby Charlie is dressed like a raccoon, yes.


This is a terribly nerdy post. But you already knew I was a nerd, didn’t you?


* Read me out?

This will be our year. Took a long time to come.

Sara Mazariegos

Christmastime. We had a really great Christmas this year. We were so organized, it never felt like we were rushed. In fact, everyone showed up a little late on Christmas Eve, which was fine. We forgot eggs for our sweet potato casserole, so Luis’s mom brought us eggs and we put it in the oven once his parents arrived. I also drank probably too much egg nog over the last week, but ’tis the season!

We played a fun card game Luis invented and then it was midnight and we opened presents. I got a snuggly “Biscuit Bandit” hoodie with Meeko the raccoon on it. I’m wearing it even as I type. Luis’s sister gave me a martini glass and a bottle of fancy espresso so I can make my own espresso martinis at home, since I like them so much. My dad gave me not one but TWO Beatles calendars this year. That’s his silly tradition. My sister got me an ice skating Barbie and Ken doll from the early 90s. I haven’t seen them since I was little. So Luis and I might have to make them skate around our dining room table once the table cloth has been removed. All of the presents were very nice and fun. One thing that’s good about being older is there’s less of a disappointed, “Aww, I wanted x” feeling after the presents have all been opened… Mostly because I’m already spoiled.

Luis’s big surprises. We were already planning to go to Disney World for our anniversary in 2026, and I was eagerly waiting for December 27th to book things with Luis. He told me we would wait until then. Nevertheless, his big present for me, which he put in a McDonald’s Happy Meal box (along with a toy Mirabel from Encanto and Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles), was a print-out confirming our one night in the Contemporary Resort, plus four nights in the Art of Animation Resort, plus four days of park tickets!! He booked all of it himself, using our loose plans document and calendar!

He said he booked it all so I wouldn’t worry about it. 💖 I told you I was spoiled.

Now we just have to worry about getting good dining reservations, but why worry?

Luis also got me a big update for my Sims 4 so I have all the game packs I didn’t already have. He’s been busy this Christmas. I got him some Guardians of the Galaxy figures he asked me for, and when I asked him what he wants for his anniversary gift, he told me we could just use the money toward booking another nice dinner at Disney. 🥹 He’s the best and I love him.

John Green told me not to. Anyway, enough gushing about my husband. Time to gush about John Green. This weekend I had a dream that we were hanging out with John and his brother Hank, and I told them I wanted to adopt a raccoon. Dream John and Dream Hank were very supportive of the idea, which is amusing because in real life they wouldn’t be. So I shared it on Threads, and who to my wondering brain should write back?

As much as I love raccoons, I know it would be crazy for me to adopt one. They are not pets. The fact that he wrote back to me at all – during the holiday break, no less! – makes me happy. I laughed out loud when I saw his comment. And I’ve been getting tons of comments and likes ever since. I didn’t think my silly little post would get so much attention. I even got a comment from Mychal Threets!

Like I said: I’m spoiled. 😊

New Years Plans. At my job, we work a half-day on New Years Eve, so Luis is going to meet me at my office and we’ll go out for a nice lunch. I found a fun-sounding English bar and made a reservation so we wouldn’t lose out like we often do. It’s hard to make New Years Eve plans in DC if you don’t like staying out late and you’re not looking for a big crowd. We usually go to the zoo, but this year is a change of pace. We’ll probably be home by five p.m. and watch a New Years-themed movie. And of course check in later on Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen to see how drunk they already are.

I can’t believe the year is at an end. 2025 has been a rough one. I’m looking forward to a better 2026. *crosses fingers* I certainly have a lot of things to be excited about!

Ahaha, I just remembered we saw John Green twice this year. That was a highlight for sure! And our amazing trip to California. Wow. Luis definitely makes my life happy. Everyone should be so lucky as to have their own Luis.

Happy New Year! 🎉

“Hmm. Well, it needs work. I have to go.”

Sara Mazariegos

Daily Prompt: Describe a man who has positively impacted your life. It’s probably just the way this month/year has felt, but this question almost made me cry. I’ve still been thinking a lot about Rob Reiner and how huge his impact is.

But on a personal, real-answer level, Luis has positively impacted my life, of course. He’s kind, thoughtful, smart, funny… He makes me happy. My dad has also positively impacted my life. He’s the reason I like a lot of the things I like, and I quote a lot of the things he quotes. 🙂 I reference this in my It’s A Wonderful Life novel; a movie I wouldn’t have seen without him showing it to me yearly. We quote it to each other often. It may seem like a small thing, to be given movies and music to enjoy together, but it is personality-shaping.

The bad reviews of Ella McCay. When I first saw the trailer for Ella McCay, I was excited to see Julie Kavner in a movie. I recognized her voice right away, and I knew what she looked like. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her in a movie. I wanted to see this one right away, because of her. The rest of the cast is also awesome, but I have a soft spot for the cast of The Simpsons.

We saw it last Saturday and… I give it a C. It has good moments, but the writing is not great. It feels a little too late. The trailers didn’t really showcase that it’s about politics, and they made it look funnier than it actually is. It’s political but in 2008, so it feels worlds different from how things are now. It should’ve probably been made back then. But you know who was in it and who was my favorite character? Kumail Nanjiani!

Kumail Nanjiani and Night Thoughts. I’ve been a fan of Kumail Nanjiani for years. He’s so funny and he seems so kind. I learned he’s also a cat person, which makes me like him even more. His new comedy special is really good, but it did also make me cry. I recommend it, if you have tissues. His beloved old cat, Bagel, is a focus of the special and she unfortunately passed away before it was released. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know about my cat Boo. Her fourteenth birthday was the other day. She’s a cancer survivor. We love her and spoil her, and she was in Luis’s lap while we watched the special. It made me want to cuddle her, but I know she’d rip my arm off. 😅

He also talked a lot about mental health, and how his talking about mental health made people make fun of him. It made me wish I was suddenly jacked with Eternals muscles so I could fight them on his behalf.

You should watch the special. I really enjoyed it. He hosted SNL the day Luis and I got married. I can’t forget that. We watched it later, of course, but it felt like an extra gift. Maybe I’m silly.

Reading The Good Part together. Luis and I finished reading The Good Part last night. I don’t usually read as quickly as I did with him, but it’s partially because I was more motivated to be in the same place as him and also I’ve read it before so I wasn’t inhaling the words as often as I usually do. It was fun to read something together and react to it. He didn’t get as teary-eyed as me, but I couldn’t have expected that. Even the acknowledgments make me teary.

Christmas Eve Eve. Today is “Christmas Eve Eve,” something I’d been calling it without realizing it was a Friends thing. (I’m not really a Friends person.) After today, I’m off work until Monday. Yesterday was crazy at the office, so I’ve earned this nice holiday vacation. Hopefully my work won’t be insane when I get back.

Tonight we’re going to watch It’s A Wonderful Life, that movie I’m constantly talking about. It’s that time of year again. 😊 I’ll probably cry.

We’re going to host Luis’s family for Christmas Eve at our place again, with our cats and music and gifts. It’ll be nice. And then we’re with my family on Christmas. And then we spend the weekend recovering. We’ve been fairly organized and on top of things this year, so I don’t think we’ll have too much to stress about. I even managed to receive all the ordered gifts early, which rarely happens.

I hope you have a happy holiday season. I’d say “see you next year,” but who am I kidding? I’ll post next week. 😉

“My way’s not very sportsmanlike.”

Sara Mazariegos

Rob Reiner. I cannot believe this happened. I wanted the news to be untrue and wrong, but unfortunately it’s true. He directed so many movies we all love. Luis and I still need to see Spinal Tap II… It feels like only yesterday that Rob Reiner was on all the talk shows promoting it. Not only was he not that old yet, no one should die the way he and his wife did. It’s just awful.

In his honor, I wore my Princess Bride shirt that my sister gave me for my birthday this year. 😢 We watched When Harry Met Sally as an impromptu memorial holiday movie on Monday. We’ve been thinking about him and his family and all of his friends this week.

Hanukkah has been very tragic so far this year.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. On the 14th, we went to the special, airplane hanger part of the Smithsonian’s Air & Space Museum. We saw the Enola Gay (we each saw it a long time ago, when it was crammed into the other facility) and several other cool old planes. We also saw the Discovery space shuttle and a docent was in a live video chat to answer questions, so Luis asked about the heat-resistant material and the emergency exit markings. It was very cool. We also did a motion simulator of flying, which scared me a little because of the claustrophobic conditions. I kind of liked firing the plane’s gun at the “bad guys” but I didn’t like whenever the simulator moved…

I don’t think I’m ever gonna go to space or be a pilot, guys. Sorry.

Holiday Get-Together. Last Friday evening, we went directly from my office to my best friend Kat’s holiday get-together. A few of our other friends were there, too, and it felt very much like a college hangout, in a good way. Kat made dinner and then we chilled and watched the newest Knives Out movie. I may have fallen asleep in a few places, but I’d been awake since 7 am! It’s always nice to spend time with friends. It’s harder to do so now that we’re older and we all have jobs and lives of our own.

I’ve been friends with Kat for twenty-four years. 🤯 Our friendship would be a young adult, if it was a person.

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Do you ever start reading a book and it takes a bit for you to get into it and care about what’s happening? When I first started reading The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, I was a little lost. The main character is such a (heh) cold person, and he says a few highly judgmental, bigoted things within the first 20 or so pages. But then I started being interested in what was happening. He’s a spy, and he’s living this life that’s made up for his mission. He even goes to prison. It’s kind of intense. I’m interested in seeing the movie version after reading the book.

I started reading it because it’s cold outside, so the title matches. But it’s not actually about the cold at all. Well, it’s The Cold War. And it’s also a term for being a secret agent. You “come in from the cold” when you’re finished. I didn’t realize that I’d seen a related movie before, about George Smiley (a mentioned but so far unseen character in this book.) I saw Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy over a decade ago. But the name George Smiley jumped out at me. That’s pretty fun. It’s hard to forget a name like that.

I like spy and mystery novels when they’re well-done. I’m not all romance 24/7. Just most of the time. 😄

Won’t you be in Nerdfighterlike with me?

Sara Mazariegos

My Nerdfighter story. Strap in. This is going to be a long one.

Continue reading “Won’t you be in Nerdfighterlike with me?” →