Tag: Disneyland

Wake up, it’s nineteen-eighty-four.

Sara Mazariegos

Luis and I had a wonderful, fun vacation in California last week. It was so wonderful that I was genuinely sad to return home. We went to Hollywood for a few days, exploring the Walk of Fame area and a museum full of costumes and Max Factor makeup history, then Universal to check out the new Nintendoland (amazing!) and Disney to ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout for the first time. We ended up riding it four times. None of which included a working Rocket Raccoon animatronic, but I’ll get over it. Eventually.

We also rode The Haunted Mansion fourteen times. I’m not exaggerating.

We’re planning to go back again in a few years. Luis event mentioned we could retire in California and get resident passes. 🥹 That is the dream.

I managed to avoid much of the political craziness while we were enjoying our trip. It’s overwhelming, in a lot of ways. I know I’m extremely privileged to be able to go away and not think about stuff for a while, but it’s hard not to feel powerless right now.

Yesterday, I started writing my new novel, and Luis started reading the draft of my other novel. I’m trying to take it easy this time and not push myself so much to write 2k every day. I was starting to feel burnt out and like it was work instead of pleasure. There’s no sense in the first draft being so stressful. It’s not like I have real deadlines (yet.) I wrote an opening scene, and that was a good start.

Anyone else watch The Oscars? I missed it on Sunday since we were flying back that day, but we watched a recording on Monday. I had a feeling Anora would do really well when we saw it in theaters months ago. I have a lot of good-looking movies to check out now, too. Flow looks adorable.

Mostly I’m trying to enjoy each week regardless of what plans we have on the horizon. We haven’t made plans for our anniversary yet this year, and though it’s gnawing at me, I’m not stressing as much. We have time.

We have time.

“Though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass.”

Sara Mazariegos

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was as good as an unnecessary sequel could be. I enjoyed it, though it’s not as good as the original. We saw it with someone who said he liked it more than the first one. He’s a crazy person.

We finally finished the third season of Stranger Things. I started watching the show again after seeing Inside Out and wanting to see more of Maya Hawke. 🫣 I don’t really care about the others; I’m watching it for Robin and Steve.

I started reading House of Leaves at Luis’s recommendation. It’s over 700 pages and due in two weeks. We’ll see if I can finish it or if I’ll have to put it on hold again. It looks like a textbook! But it reads more like a spooky story. I have no idea what to expect.

Writingwise, things aren’t too shabby. I’m at 32K words now, but planning to reach 34K by the end of the day. I hit a big plot point with only a little blushing. This story is fun, even if I’m not sure how well it would do in the literary market.

Luis and I are planning to go to California/Disneyland next February. I’ve only been there once, so I’m very excited. It’s also exciting to explore such a different area with him. I wonder if we’ll see any celebrities this time. (Last time, I saw Alan Cumming eating lunch, Eric McCormack out with his kids at Universal, and Arsenio*… he appeared kind of out of nowhere and was excited to be recognized.)

We’re mainly going to “tourist” places this time, so we might only see fellow tourists. I shan’t hold my breath about running into any famous people.

This weekend, we’re going to our second Spirit Halloween (hopefully.) Finding open stores isn’t easy, but it’s early yet. I’m so excited for Halloween season! I’m always on a quest for more Haunted Mansion stuff.


*”WOO WOO WOO!” I think that’s how to spell it.