Tag: Inspiration

So many times we’re stumbling in the dark and then, eureka! What a spark!

Sara Mazariegos

Josh Johnson’s Comedy Band Camp. Last Saturday night, Luis and I went to Immigrant Food for dinner and saw Josh Johnson in D.C.! His show, Josh Johnson’s Comedy Band Camp, is so cool because it has comedians, musicians, dancers, and a fun ’70s camp vibe. It was a variety show, which I sort of expected because of the name of the tour. I don’t think Josh even came on stage until like 10pm (it was an 8:30pm show.)

Like on The Daily Show, he talked a lot about politics and current events. He has a funny Elizabeth Holmes impression, which I did not anticipate. He was talking about White House things that SNL also talked about at almost the same time. That was amusing to find out later when we got home. It was funnier coming from him. His opening comedian, Tevin ‘Mandal’ Williams, said he went to the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture and only saw the second floor, so he doesn’t get why everyone says it’s so sad. All the fun pop culture and music stuff is on the second floor. The basement is where the main exhibit is, and it’s both enormous and enormously sad.

I love that museum. I love when visitors acknowledge our awesome museums. God, I hope they’re allowed to stay awesome.

I’m glad we saw this show, and I hope we can see Josh Johnson again next time he visits D.C.

Housewarming & zombies. On Sunday, we went to our friends Emily and Ashley’s housewarming party. It was really nice to see them again and not just be talking about taking care of our cats. We saw their cats, and we talked about Nerdfighter things. I told them a little about Hollywood, Ending but didn’t say anything spoilery because I hope they’ll read it.

Then we went to the movies and saw Resident Evil. It’s so good! It feels very much like you’re inside the game, which is cool and scary because it’s got a lot of zombies. One thing I especially like is that the movie itself is split into ‘levels.’ It feels like each beat of the plot is the next level where more horrors await and new goals for the protagonist present themselves. Austin Abrams is great in it. He feels like a normal, real guy. I call him Ben because he was Ben in Paper Towns and it reminds Luis where he knows him from. 😆

Pre-vacation jitters. I’m so excited to go to Disney (and Universal) with Luis again! He booked everything so long ago, it feels unreal that it’s finally happening in two days. I’ve been feeling the pre-vacation jitters of “did we forget about something?” or “do we know how to do xyz?” I wrote before about how I watched videos of people walking to and riding the Skyliner from our hotel to the parks, to get an idea of how it all works. I’ve been antsy for a refresher of things like that. But, like I also said, too much planning can make me feel crazy, too.

I told Luis I was feeling anxious about our packing situation, because our airline is sort of strict about sizing and weights of bags, and he suggested we pack a week ahead of time so we can be sure we’re good to go. I love that we’re in sync when it comes to planning trips. He even wrote down, hour by hour, what we’ll do during our “resort day” at the Contemporary. Sure, things might change because of timing, but it’s nice to have a general idea of what we can do while we’re there. This sort of goes along with my being a “plantser” when it comes to writing. Hmm.

We’re going to stay in three wonderful resorts while we’re there, and I’m going to try to focus more on relaxing this time. The plan is to rope-drop every day, so we’re going to hopefully have calmer evenings and not be trying to cram things up until the parks close each day. We’ll see how that goes. I’m glad we’re not the type of people who are trying to ride everything. We’ve got a list of the rides we want to ride, and then we’ve also programmed lunch breaks and some of the attractions that are shows for some breaks. I’m planning to write specifically about our dining experiences in my next update, a week after next, so stay tuned for that!

My outline is my real MVP. I will be roughly four and a half chapters from the end of my draft when we go on our vacation. I’m not sure if having a stronger outline is why things have felt easier this time, or if it’s just being more relaxed about things. My outline means I go into each chapter with a plan instead of a lot of things being stream-of-consciousness, making-it-up-as-I-go-along. It’s funny because, with my last story, I also had an outline but I still felt like I was making up a lot of things as I went along. Maybe it helps to write a good outline and let things germinate for a minute before writing. There are a few little areas here and there that I know need revision, but I feel like the overall story is much stronger.

Wouldn’t it be funny if the secret was writing on less caffeine? That’s one big change I’ve made in my daily routine, and I’m sure it’s affected my thoughts. But I think it’s really the strong outline and the fact that I’ve had these story ideas for a while now.

I’ve started to really contemplate my next story idea. I mentioned it last week, a little. The thing about shorter flights is that I’ll have basically two hours to think about novel plots while I’m on the way to and from Orlando. There may be hope for my Nerdfighter story yet! But don’t quote me on that.

I’ll be back the week after next, unless I’m kidnapped by the Hitchhiking Ghosts! 😉

Ain’t got time for messin’ around, and it’s not my style.

Sara Mazariegos

John Green’s Hollywood, Ending. This is not a review of the book, I’m on page 80. This is about seeing John again, and the jumble of emotions I feel.

Luis and I saw John Green again for his Hollywood, Ending book tour last Thursday. It’s always a pleasure to see John and hear him read his work, and hear him talk about the process of writing and existing as a human in this messed up world. His discussion with Clint Smith was great, a lot of insightful questions were asked and it felt like two friends having a chat rather than John being interviewed, which I liked. I’ve been so spoiled in the past by these book tour stops. My first one was for The Fault in Our Stars, which led me to finding my local Nerdfighter community. My second one was for Turtles All The Way Down, and I don’t need to talk more than I already have about how that turned out…

So it’s natural for the book tours and events that followed to feel somewhat…less magical, right? I still love seeing him and reading his books, and watching his videos, and being part of the Nerdfighter community. But, as I posited to Luis at dinner after this event, John had to have known that he made the Turtles All The Way Down event the most special for us. I feel very honored and spoiled that something as great as that ever happened to us. But also, I think about the time of that book versus now and it kind of goes along, at least a little, with the themes of this book’s tour. 2017 was so different from now. I know things were not great by any means, but I look back at 2012-2017 with such wistfulness. When we went to the Turtles All The Way Down event, Hank was there. Our friends were there with us. It felt like such a community to us. And I feel like, at least from our vantage point, so much of it has splintered now. Friends aren’t really friends anymore; they’ve either moved away or grown away from us. Our Nerdfighter group isn’t really active anymore. Which is fine, it happens. But it still makes me miss them and that time.

I can’t always meet my future husband at a John Green event. I can’t always be given a wedding gift or clink red Solo cups with the guys. But I also can’t always have our friends there with us, and that’s perhaps what makes me saddest of all.

But, by that same token, one of our Nerdfighter friends is helping take care of our cats when we’re out of town. So I really shouldn’t be too sad. Nostalgia can be a dangerous trap.

The cat-sitter saga. Our usual cat-sitter is going to have a baby so she can’t come take care of our cats while we’re out of town. Luis and I went onto the pet sitting app we use to try to find a replacement, and we found a person named Ashley who seemed great. She’s a vet student, so she’s got plenty of experience taking care of cats. But then, a few weeks ago, she messaged saying she realized she’ll be out of town several of the days we’re gone, so she can’t take care of the cats the whole time. We had to cancel with her and try to find someone else, with time running out to give them the keys and show them what’ll need to be done.

Then we found our friend Emily*’s wife Ashley on the pet sitting app! Luis messaged her and told her we could pay her directly instead of through the app, and it’s all worked out that our friend who already knows the cats can take care of them. She’s going to be out of town some of the days, too, but Emily will be able to cover those days she’s gone. We came full circle, because Emily and Ashley used to help take care of our cats.

It is much better to have good friends help, because they know us and the cats already. Even Boo might behave herself with them as opposed to a new person. (And they already know not to try to cuddle her, haha.)

Josh Johnson’s Comedy Band Camp! On Saturday, we’re seeing Josh Johnson on his latest comedy tour. If you don’t know who he is, he’s one of the correspondents and sometimes hosts of The Daily Show. I’m very excited to see him; I’ve liked him so much when I’ve seen him that I subscribed to his newsletter and that’s how I found out about his tour. I thought it might be a long shot to see him, but he announced he was coming to D.C. pretty soon after I started following him.

I don’t know what to expect, because there’s a whole camp theme to the tour. He has a personality quiz you can take to find out which troop you’re in. It’s a whole thing. This is mine:


So that’s fun. I kind of love that I have no idea what to expect, but it’s sure to be funny and thought-provoking. I recommend his YouTube videos.

Writing update. My story is still coming along well. My outline has been invaluable this time, and I’ve taken plenty of notes for other ideas to add in or make sure to include. I feel like I’m sailing with a map this time, instead of having to come up with a bunch of stuff on the fly. I’m leaning more into the Planner part of me instead of Pantsing so much. To borrow the parlance. I make up scenes as I go, and little vignettes to fill out the story, but I also add the new ideas I’ve introduced in the story to my notes so they’re accounted for and given more room to develop in later drafts.

I learned at John’s event the other day that he doesn’t use outlines. I knew he erased most of his drafts and rewrote everything a bunch of times, but I didn’t realize he didn’t use any kind of outline. It takes a special kind of brain to be able to create without any kind of planning, in my mind. He also has aphantasia, which blows my mind because his books are always so visual. I wish I could talk to him about writing.

Anyway, I’m already going to be writing the final chapters of my novel when we come back from our trip. It feels like it hasn’t taken me long to write this one at all, probably because this process has been so pleasant. I just hope when it comes time to read it I’m not horrified. I know it’s going to need work, but how much remains to be seen.

* Emily is one of our Nerdfighter friends. She was at our wedding. 🙂 And we were at hers! How ’bout that?

He stared at me and I felt a change, time meant nothing, never would again!

Sara Mazariegos

Weekend fun. Last weekend, Luis and I went out to dinner with my parents in D.C. at a place called Capitano in The Wharf. It’s a good, Southern Italian place. We caught up with my parents about their recent trip to Norway and Iceland, and they gave us a few souvenirs. We also stuffed ourselves on pizza, pasta, and bruschetta. Oh, and tiramisu.

On Sunday, Luis and I celebrated the 14th early by going to an all-you-can-eat stir fry place by our house. We also watched a few episodes of Dahmer: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which has a too-long title. We’ve already seen a documentary about him, and My Friend Dahmer, so we know about the case. He was a pretty messed up individual, to say the least. We also watched the original Nosferatu, which was very tame by comparison. Can you tell we’re looking forward to Halloween?

Things start rolling soon. I’ve realized, as I look at my calendar, that all of our fun plans start rolling soon. We’re seeing John Green next week, and then about a week later we’re seeing Josh Johnson. And then the following week we’ll be at Disney! Everything is occurring close to each other this year, and it makes it all very exciting. After we go to Disney/Universal, we’re also seeing Rush.

I like having lots of plans in autumn, because it is my favorite season. It does make it a little harder to watch a bunch of Halloween movies, but there’s nothing preventing us from stretching Halloween through November. Especially because the nice, autumn weather probably won’t really kick in until then. I cannot wait to wear hoodies outside again*.

What happens to our imaginations? In all of my nostalgia as I write lately, I remember how I used to create entire worlds in backyards, and get my friends to see the same things as me. I once turned my friend’s backyard into The Haunted Mansion, at least in our minds. It was so cool that I’ll never forget it. All we really had was a red plastic wagon (her little sister rode in the wagon) and some cool, southern gothic-esque porches and trees to play in. We wheeled her little sister around the backyard and I described the imagery of the ride, turning the porch into Madame Leota’s seance room or a tree vine into a snake. We would shake the wagon or run with it down a grassy hill to make the “ride” more thrilling in places. It was so much fun.

What happens to our imaginations as we get older? I feel like I do still imagine a lot of things, but real life and adult sensibilities often get in the way. The whimsy is quieted. I read something online recently that said we don’t remember the last time we played, because we didn’t know it would be the last time.

Maybe the next story I write should be for kids. I’d love to reawaken the whimsical, hyper-imaginative side of my brain. I know it’s still there. Does it know I miss it?

All the pieces seem to fit into place. As things fit into place in my story, I’m starting to feel oddly psyched for the second draft. This never happens. But I wrote down some notes for some changes I already know I want to make, and I’m excited to fill in some gaps and add some more subplot drama. I’ve been doing a lot of research, and humorously enough it’s a lot of looking back and remembering things that happened and when and how.

I’m starting to feel like I really have something here. I hope it’s true.

* I often wear hoodies inside because air conditioning makes me cold.

Time, time, time, see what’s become of me.

Sara Mazariegos

Dolly & Tim. Last week was rough. I desperately want to be eloquent about how wonderful and beloved both Dolly Parton and Tim Curry were, but it is hard to find the words for two people who meant so much to so many around the world.

Dolly was an angel on earth. She was loving, supportive, generous, fiercely loyal, open-minded, and of course talented. She was an example to all of us of how to be a good human being. There’s a reason people from all walks of life loved her, and why everyone was sad when we found out she passed away. I hope the number one thing we take away from her passing is that we can all be more like her. Life is not often fair or easy on us, but it makes everything better if you’re kind and gracious to everyone. We should remember that, and make Dolly proud.

Tim was unique and always seemed larger than life to me. I’ve been a fan of his since I was around eight years old. He’s great in every role he was cast in. Seeing his big, toothy grin and hearing his booming voice with that outlandish, affected accent was always a joy. My earliest memories of him were Fern Gully and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. We used to watch the latter every Halloween when I was growing up. I think it helped me grow up a more accepting person. Sure, it’s a strange movie full of bizarre characters, but that’s life, too. I believe seeing that movie at such a young age meant that I grew up respecting other people and fully embracing if someone was LGBTQ+. In fact, fully embracing myself for being a part of that community.

Wear the fishnets, Brad. You look good in them.

I’m going to be sad for a while about Dolly and Tim, but I am so glad we got to have people like them in our world. I think others will come along who take up their mantles, at least a little.

Last days of the longer commute. Finally, the days of this hellish commute are nearly at an end. I only have to deal with crossing the street to catch the bus and riding the Metro into the city from Wheaton for two more days. After Friday, we’re going to celebrate.

Luis has been coming with me for the last of it, and it has been nice seeing him in the early mornings. It makes my days start out more cheerfully. The bus drivers on the other end of the line have been friendly and nice, and the train has been fine, but it has been draining. Next week, everything will hopefully feel much easier again.

It’s funny, because it wasn’t long ago that my commute shifted to slightly later when my job changed. At least, as Luis pointed out, that was a change I signed up for. The long Metro maintenance is not the way things were supposed to go. I won’t be complaining about it anymore, though. It’s finally at an end!

The sagging middle. I’m working on writing the part of my novel that’s referred to as “the sagging middle” because it’s the second act of the story and a lot of tension can be lost in the plot, etc if a writer’s not careful. I’ve thought of a few twists to write in here to keep the story from losing its momentum and intrigue. One thing that amuses me is that, as I write in my little 500-word sessions, it seems like the story is slow-going, but it’s only because I’m taking my time to write it. Once I’m in editing mode, it will be interesting to see what the pacing is actually like.

Another thing this story’s made me realize is the kind of guys I used to be attracted to. As you know, if you’ve been paying attention to these parts of my blog, I’m writing a story involving going back in time. So I’ve made a love interest that’s sort of based on a combination of all the guys I ever had a crush on. It’s amusing how my tastes have changed. No offense meant to the guys I used to like. I never told any of them, so they’ll never know I wrote about them.

It’s time to move on, it’s time to get going.

Sara Mazariegos

7 days left to deal with the Metro Red Line shutdown // 45 days until vacation! But who’s counting? 😉

Kate McKinnon at the DC Book Festival! Luis and I went to the DC Book Festival last Sunday with one goal. We went straight to Kate McKinnon’s meet-and-greet line and stood there for over an hour. We bought her book, Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science: Secrets of the Purple Pearl, which served as a ticket for the meet-and-greet, and we met her! She shook each of our hands and asked for each of our names, and then she posed for a few photos with us. She was really polite and smiley. She looked the same in person as she does on camera; she’s so pretty. I was a little worried that I’d look into her beautiful blue eyes and forget how to form words, but I didn’t. Also I wasn’t able to say much to her, because the line was moving quickly. But still! Ahhh!


So now I can finally say I’ve met a former SNL cast member. And also a Ghostbuster.

She was the only person we wanted to see at the Book Fest this year, so we went and got Chinese food afterward, and saw Spider-Man again (at long last!) in 4D this time, which was kind of insane. Every time we took a drink of soda or ate some popcorn, it felt risky because the action scenes made our seats move a lot.

My (albeit biased) thoughts on Hank Green. There was a livestream last week for the donors to the Dear Hank & John podcast, which is hosted by John and Hank Green. (Makes sense.) A lot of it felt like an intervention for Hank, because he has been struggling with an addiction to using LLMs to help him do research for his videos and projects. Emphasis on his videos, for his YouTube channel, not for his videos with John and not for Complexly’s content. He does his own research and writing for Vlogbrothers, and he doesn’t really write for SciShow, etc at all. There’s a big team at Complexly and it is important that people don’t assume all of those good people are using AI, because they are not.

Anyway, all of us in the livestream, which is pretty much exclusively made up of Nerdfighters, feel for Hank because we have been following him for years and we’ve seen him putting more and more pressure on himself to create things. He has so many ideas and he feels like he alone can make them happen. I commented, “Hank, let other people do things.” And John read it back to him, and said it was good advice. I understand the feeling of having a lot of ideas and excitement for said ideas, but it’s important to take a step back and realize the burden of every new thing doesn’t and shouldn’t fall on one person’s shoulders.

John pointed out that Hank should stop trying to make so many things for the greater Internet, where people can be mean and unsupportive, and he should focus on creating things for the Nerdfighter community instead. Because we are kinder, and we know him well enough that we can be gently honest when he’s made something we don’t like. It’s a little bit like when The Fault in Our Stars came out and suddenly everyone had a mountain of opinions about this little author in Indiana named John Green. Not everything is for everyone, and that’s also okay.

No books til John Green. Please tell me you read that in the rhythm of “No Sleep Til Brooklyn” by the Beastie Boys. Speaking of John Green, I’ve given myself a quasi-rule not to start reading any other books because I’m going to have John’s new book next month! I’m currently reading three books: Death at Bishop’s Keep by Robin Paige, As You Wish by Cary Elwes, and House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. They’re all sort of neck-and-neck in terms of how far into them I am, because two of them are short and one of them is House of Leaves.

It’s been difficult to read a lot lately, because I’ve been extra tired from the longer commute. I was literally falling asleep while holding As You Wish the other night. (It’s my before bed book*.) But I’m determined to finish all three of them by September 24th, when I get John’s new novel!

I may bend this rule slightly and read Kate McKinnon’s book while I wait, too, but only if I’ve finished one of the other ones first!

Stuck in the past. As I write my novel, I’m noticing how nostalgic it makes me. I’ve been looking back and remembering all sorts of things from my life, and using them as gentle inspiration. It’s been cool to go back through my memories and my old emails and try to piece together what happened and what was going on in my life. I randomly remembered the name of one of my professors, but not quite how to spell it, and then Facebook brought her up as someone I might know. That was jarring. Does Facebook have access to my literal memories in my brain?

Writing this story has been cathartic and fun. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

* I usually have a purse book for my commutes, a living room book for evening/weekend reads, and a before bed book that lives on my nightstand

It’s gonna take patience and time to do it right, child.

Sara Mazariegos

Days off in the middle of the week. Last week, I had Tuesday and Wednesday off and it was so nice to have a break in the middle of the week. It gave me some much needed rest, even if I did wake up early both days to get Disney reservations. It gave me more time with Luis, which is always wonderful. And it made the weekend come sooner. The only downside is the weekend ends up feeling too brief. But then, weekends are always too brief, arent they?

I do intend to keep this in mind, though. Having days off on Monday or Friday to stretch out the weekend is good, but there’s something to be said for having the middle of the week off, too. Especially when I’ve been as tired out as I have been during this summer’s Metro construction. Only twelve more days until things go back to normal and I get to have my shorter commute back! Yes, I’m counting the days.

Spider-Man and potlucks. We were planning to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day again last weekend, but our movie theater unexpectedly closed for maintenance. I was really looking forward to seeing it again (especially not so up-close this time.) We ended up having a nice brunch instead, and watching Jaws, which was nice. There was a “Vinyl Day” at the library nearby, and I’m pretty sure it had a huge turnout because people couldn’t go to the movies. Could’ve been worse. It’s good to support your local library.

Also on Saturday, we went to our neighborhood’s block party. Luis made tostadas that were a big hit. It was nice to see everyone, but we are the neighborhood shy people, so we mostly sat quietly and ate food together. Some ladies introduced themselves and were very into talking about their fresh bean orders online, which was amusing if a bit strange. We have a friendly neighborhood. Oh wow, that’s what I could’ve called this section. “Friendly Neighborhood + Spider-Man.” D’oh!

Disney excitement. On my days off last week, I watched some YouTube videos on how to walk from our hotel to the Magic Kingdom, and how to take the Skyliner into Hollywood Studios and EPCOT. I love that there’s a video for everything these days. The hotels in the videos I found are even the exact hotels we’re staying at, so we don’t have to try to transpose the information for ourselves. There’s a delicate line between avoiding spoilers and knowing what we’re doing so we don’t arrive and feel lost. I love being in the know about stuff. It makes me even more excited. And I also feel dorky watching a ride-through Skyliner video, because it’s literally just a gondola on a line going from a hotel to a theme park gate. But I like to be prepared!

Planning our trips is sometimes more exciting to me than actually being there and doing the things. Sometimes, the being there and doing the things part is more stressful, but imagining doing the things is fun. Also, everything happens so quickly when we’re actually there. But in the twoish months leading up to it, I can daydream about all of the things we’ll do. At the same time, I cannot wait to be at Disney again and experience the new things and the old things we love!

Telling myself the story first. One of the more frustrating things to get in my head is that writing the first draft is me telling myself the story first. It comes out as the messiest version. It’s basically improv so far, making it up as I go along with the aid of some notes/prompts. I’m getting the thoughts and ideas written down so future me can go in and make sense of it. Then the second draft will presumably be better. And then the third draft, etc.

This is the first story I’ve written from the beginning in a long time, because the last two stories I wrote came from previously-written drafts that needed to be heavily rewritten. This time, I’m starting from scratch. And it’s scary. It’s daunting. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought, “well, this is hard. I don’t have to keep writing it.” But that is the trap! Every novel starts out in the frustrating, ‘this isn’t coming out the way I envisioned’ phase. Every author goes through this, probably with every novel they’ve published. It’s hard to imagine, and hard to feel like pushing through the self-doubt and the “grr, this needs to be better” will eventually be worth it. But I know that it will. And then I’ll have a completed novel I can be proud of.

And maybe eventually send to agents. But I’m taking the pressure off myself. For now, it’s best to focus on the enjoyment of writing and discovering things as I draft it all out.

But time makes you bolder, even children get older and I’m getting older too.

Sara Mazariegos

Titanic: The Immersive Experience: Review. On Saturday, Luis and I went to Baltimore to check out the Titanic experience I’ve seen advertised so often. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I used to have nightmares about the Titanic, when I was around ten years old. Waking up screaming that my bedroom was sinking, that kind of thing. Normal kid fears. I blame National Geographic. Anyway, despite this, I’ve always been fascinated by the Titanic, mainly how it happened and what it looked like. That doesn’t mean I’d ever want to try going down in a submersible to see it, though. I’m not insane.

The immersive exhibit is cool, with lots of screens that make you feel like you’re in the action. There’s a crow’s nest you can stand in and watch as the giant iceberg suddenly appears out of the darkness, and then you can ring the bell to alert the crew, but of course it’s too late. There’s also a hallway filling up with water. And then, the saddest part, you can sit in a lifeboat and watch as the ship sinks and the projected water around you fills up with people crying for help and dying around you.

I came away from it more sad than scared. And it’s not like a “woo, that was fun!” experience. I’m glad we did it though. Luis even got Mr. Andrews’ ticket as his passenger to ride along with, so we brought it home as a souvenir. Mr. Andrews did not survive, of course. And he was my age. Of course we came home and watched videos about different Titanic stories. Because we’re nerds.

Luis’s birthday funtimes! 🥳 For Luis’s birthday on Sunday, we went to a few places in our area for him to get his birthday rewards. He got a free burger, taco, and strawberry shortcake. Then, later in the evening, some of our friends came over and we played an escape room in a box game and got some fancy Tex Mex delivered. It was a chill, relaxing day for him, but he seemed to enjoy it.

I also took off on Tuesday and Wednesday this week to book our Disney dining reservations, so it gives us even more time together for some extra birthday stuff. Mainly getting more fun food and spending more time together. We’re probably going to see Spider-Man again this weekend and he’ll get a free popcorn and soda for it. He loves deals.

There’s no place like home for the Disney reservation days. We woke up early on Tuesday and this morning to book our dining reservations at Disney World. A perk of staying at their resorts is that you can book your dining 60 days out from your trip. I’m not a morning person, but excitement about Disney stuff is like caffeine for me… Plus we went back to sleep once we made our reservations.

I was nervous we wouldn’t be able to book the super popular restaurants like Be Our Guest and Space 220, but we got them fairly easily! I think being in the know about how to do the reservation process and planning ahead really helps, so you’re not left with whatever’s still available. All of the Disney restaurants are great, of course, but it’ll be fun to have some of these experiences we’ve been wanting to try. Plus Be Our Guest, which we’ve done before but it’s really nice.

All this nostalgia is making me nostalgic. My current novel is inspired by some of my experiences in college, so I’ve been a bit wistful for my friends I made back then. I looked through my old email to try to find context for some things, to try to get the details as accurate as possible, and then I was sitting there, staring into space as I tried to remember some of these events that had been tucked away in the back of my mind for decades.

Some themes of my next novel are memory and keeping in touch with people, and the evaporation of some social websites on which we used to rely to keep in touch. It’s also set a little in the future, so it’s going to be interesting to see how much has changed in the social media landscape by then. It is sad to go through my Facebook and see all the people who are no longer there. It’s not like I have everyone’s phone number.

Like I said: wistful.

Where lovers steal and beg for time.

Sara Mazariegos

People in public pet peeves. A lot of this is probably going to make me sound old, but I have a few pet peeves regarding how people behave in public. I dislike when people use their phones without headphones, be it for TikTok videos or just phone conversations. It’s very rude and annoying. I personally don’t like it when people talk on their phone in public in general. I know cell phones make it possible, but I think too many people do it too often, and for too-long conversations. As if everyone else on the bus needs to hear about your plans for the evening, Denise.

I’ve also noticed and dislike when people assume public toilets are automatic. I don’t need to go too into detail with this; you get the idea. I’ve stood in restroom lines at venues before and realized that several of the toilets in the restroom weren’t broken, they just hadn’t been flushed. 🙄 Not every toilet is automatic. We’re not living in that utopia yet.

The Odyssey reaction. Wow. I went into it without knowing very much. I never read it in school, so I only knew about things like the cyclops and the Trojan horse because of pop culture references. I was very enthralled by the movie. It’s a great story. It doesn’t even feel like it’s nearly 3 hours long. All the actors in it are great, the practical effects are amazing. I think it’s my favorite Christopher Nolan movie. I’ve seen most of his movies without setting out to do so. I also love The Prestige.

When it got to the army of the dead scene, I was very excited. I didn’t know there were also zombies/ghosts in it! That story really does have everything. I’d watch it again. Though probably at home so I can pause to go to the bathroom. I went at a perfect place where I didn’t miss anything, though! There seems to be one place where you can do that, because so much happens and you might miss something if you go at a different time.

I’ve seen some people saying it’s a good introduction to the story for people who aren’t familiar with it. I’ve also seen a lot of “purists” complaining that the movie has changes from the original story. I watched the Crash Course episode on The Odyssey after seeing the movie, and I think the changes enhance the story and give reasons why I should care about the characters.

Thoughts on Every Version of You. I finished reading it yesterday and I enjoyed it! There are lots of twists, some of which I predicted and some of which came out of nowhere. It kept me guessing, which is great. There’s also a little side plot with a cat, and I died in that part. It comes together so sweetly. I’m glad I got myself a copy as a comp, because I think I’ll read it again someday. It’s inspiring for my own writing, too, which is a fun little extra perk.

Writing update. My writing spurts are starting to take me less than thirty minutes to get to 500 words. I’ve put a lot of thought into this story, so writing it so far has been a pleasure. The other day, I thought, “Oh no, I still have two thousand words left in this chapter!” and then I immediately figured out a scene to stick in that moves the plot forward and even adds some foreshadowing. I love foreshadowing.

I’m looking forward to being finished so I can read it and see how it all fits together. Hopefully it’ll make as much sense as it does in my head. I expect to spend a few years on this one. I have realistic expectations for once!

If I could turn back time, if I could find a way.

Sara Mazariegos

Wildfire smoke + anxiety = not fun. A lot of wildfire smoke came down into D.C. from Canada last weekend. Combined with my anxiety about suffocating, it wasn’t great. On Thursday, I was on a crowded train and I briefly worried about there not being enough air on the train for us all to breathe. It was fleeting, but then I wondered if it was because of the smoke. A Nerdfighter friend pointed out that smoke wasn’t even in our area yet. Oh. Just plain old boring anxiety then. But on Friday it was actually smoky. Like, making my esophagus hurt, eyes watering smokey. The commute home wasn’t dreadful, though, because a lot of people work from home or don’t work on Fridays, so I avoided the extra suffocatey feeling. It was actually better to be in a ventilated train versus walking outside.

A lady who lives in Canada posted that, as bad as the smoke was trickling down here, it’s been much worse where she lives because they’re still dealing with the actual fires that have killed people and animals… So it puts it into perspective. I hope the fires are out soon and everyone will be okay. 🖤

World Cup reaction. With the scores being as high as they were in the England vs. France game, I feel like the final between Spain and Argentina was a little anticlimactic. It was a good game in that Argentina prevented Spain from scoring for most of it—largely because my favorite player, Dibu Martinez, is an amazing goalkeeper—but Argentina didn’t seem to have the drive to try to win. They didn’t even attempt to shoot, and they kept losing the ball. I’m not sure what happened. But, like I’ve said before, Spain is another team of players we really like, so we’re happy for them. I just feel like the last game was the least exciting of all the World Cup games this time. It’s funny how that worked out. Well, funny but in a sad way.

Also, what was that halftime show? That was a mess. I think it should’ve just been Shakira and BTS. Even the Muppets felt like too much extra for no reason. There really was no need for a halftime show. It ended up underlining how meh of a game it was.

Ace Ventura as an adult. We watched Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as my latest movie pick, since I’ve been strolling down memory lane with some classic Jim Carrey movies. It is…woof. Well, it has a lot of classic Jim Carrey one-liners. There’s a raccoon in it. There’s also a lot of football stuff, which I remembered as the reason I didn’t like it as much as its sequel, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.

But the worst part is that the villain and the ending are all kinds of transphobic. It didn’t age well at all. And it doesn’t honestly make much sense. I wish I could rewrite it. Something similar happens in Soap Dish, and it’s just like, why? Why was that the go-to joke? Thankfully, the majority of people have evolved since then. But it does make those movies cringey to rewatch, which is unfortunate because most of those two movies is otherwise funny and they have actors I like in them.

Novels that try to do too much. I’ve noticed in the novel I’m currently reading*—that I really like, don’t get me wrong!—there’s starting to be a little too much going on. There’s a romance but there’s also a crazy time travel plot and there’s also a trying-to-stop-something-from-happening subplot. It all feels a bit heavy. I suppose it’s good to have more than just the romance, because that can get boring if there’s nothing else happening. But suddenly all these new characters have been introduced in the middle of the book, which I was not anticipating. I’m curious to see how it all comes together. I’m always impressed when authors create these worlds and these complex scenarios. I can’t wrap my head around it when I’m reading it, and it’s got to be even more difficult to write!

That being said, it’s something that’s difficult to do well. I hope the author pulls it off. I feel like she will. So far, I’ve adored the romance plot. It flows very naturally and the characters are cute and funny together. I look forward to their scenes.

Writing update. Writing my latest novel has been so fun. I promised myself it would be, and I’ve completely leaned into it. I’m trying to just enjoy writing it without thinking about trying to get it published, even though of course it is my long-term goal to get published someday. So far, I think this story I’m telling has a lot going for it.

One good thing about my extra long commute these days is that I can think of ideas while I’m traveling, especially when I’m traveling home and can get writing not long after I get there. I’ve been daydreaming about my novel quite a bit, which I think is a good sign.

* I’m not going to name it right now, because this could be slightly spoilery, though you don’t have to search far on my site to find mention of which book it is

And if I had an aeroplane, I still couldn’t make it on time.

Sara Mazariegos

Getting used to new commutes & a little TMI. It has been rough taking a different route to the office. I get up at 6:40 in the morning instead of 7, which you’d think wouldn’t be that big of a change, but my body disagrees. I’m still getting used to the longer bus ride and the, frankly, terrifying escalator at the different Metro station. And it’s also hard because, between the anxiety and the caffeine, I end up feeling like I need to hit the nearest bathroom. Last week when I went home, I decided to go to the mall near the Metro station to use the restroom and, long story short, I nearly got lost in JC Penney trying to get out and find the restroom in the food court. It was Backroomsesque, especially when I went downstairs into the totally empty children’s department. Horror. Movie.

Anyway. Luis recommended that I stop drinking caffeine in the evenings, which already seems to have helped. *knock on wood* I drink a little caffeine in my cold brews at work (made by Luis, because he is the greatest) and then when I’m home I have some caffeine-free fruity soda now. There’s less of an issue during my commutes if my body isn’t telling me I need to pee at every point along the journey.

I just hope I get used to the journey and stop feeling so exhausted, though.

Seeing John Green again! John announced his tour for his new book (Hollywood, Ending, available September 22nd!) and I thought for sure there was no way we’d be able to go, because Luis’s job doesn’t finish until 6pm and the show’s at 7pm and he’s at home in Rockville (remote) and I’m in D.C., but then Luis told me we could make it work! So I bought us tickets. He’s going to meet me there, possibly a little late, but awwww! We’ve seen John Green every chance we’ve had, pretty much, so it’s great to not have to break the tradition of me thinking it’s impossible and Luis telling me we can do it. I cannot wait to read John’s new book. It sounds amazing. I may be biased, but still! This one is for adults, too, so it’ll be a little different. We literally saw him twice last year. Ahhh! We’re still spoiled.

Sorry, carry on. 🙂

Nail-biting World Cup games. After the game between Cabo Verde and Argentina, I thought the games would chill out a little. But then Egypt said, “hold my Karkade.” The game between Argentina and Egypt was also crazy close, and Egypt hates Argentina and FIFA now. FUN. So fun, these games. When Messi scored the equalizing goal, Luis collapsed and our cat Boo flew across the room in surprise. A lot of haters think Argentina was helped in that game, but come on. No one helped them score three goals in a little over ten minutes. That was all Messi and his team. They’re amazing.

People also complained about England beating Norway (I’m sad for Norway) but they won fair and square. I feel like the cable thing is so minor, and Haaland shouldn’t have pushed the guy. Sigh. And then Argentina beat Switzerland in another insane game with red cards and controversy. It’s been fun to watch these games, but they’ve also all been ridiculous. It’s hard to believe it all ends this weekend! My order of favorites in the top four is Argentina, Spain, England, France. I’d like anyone but France to win, honestly, because France winning is just boring. They’re too good, haha. I feel like people might think the same about Spain, though. Or Argentina. So it’s subjective.

By the time I’ve posted this, one of the teams (Spain or France) will have moved forward and another of the teams (Argentina or England) will move forward a few hours after I post this! This weekend will have a winner. So you have a summation of all that to look forward to next week.

When 14ths aren’t on the weekend. As I’ve said previously, Luis and I try to have mini celebrations on the 14th of every month—not like big, expensive trips or even big expensive meals every time, just little acknowledgments and date nights—but it’s sometimes difficult when the date doesn’t fall on a weekend. They actually usually don’t fall on weekends. When they don’t, we usually Doordash something fancy for dinner together or sometimes watch a movie if there’s time (this likely won’t happen while the Metro is messing up my schedule.) And I like to do something extra special on the weekend before or directly after, depending on the day of the week the 14th falls on.

I put a lot of thought into this, okay?!

This past weekend, we went to a nice Tex Mex restaurant near our house since we couldn’t go to a place on Tuesday the 14th. We also got some delicious Indian food before the games on Saturday. I also got a lot of reading done, which is something I don’t usually have left over time for. It was a relaxing weekend, which was what I needed since I’d been so drained. Then, on the 14th, we ordered Thai and watched The Four Seasons (the show, not the movie.)

August 14th is on a Friday, at least, so we might be able to watch a movie! Even when we have time to do things, we don’t do anything too crazy. 😅 Maybe when the Metro’s back to normal, we’ll go to D.C. to do something fun again. But September 14th is a Monday. Argh. We have time to plan a nice, fancier 14th then, for the future.

Just having fun with writing. Between reading Every Version of You and taking a different commute to and from work, I’ve had some interesting inspiration for my writing. I got an idea the other day while riding the scary escalator in Wheaton station. I obviously didn’t take out my phone to write it down, because I’ve gotta hang on for dear life while I’m riding the escalator to Hell. But I wrote the idea down as soon as I got off the escalator and onto the bus. {The scary escalator was the idea.}

So far, it’s been nice to have fun with writing this story and see where my thoughts take me. I’m following my outline, but it is loose enough that I can play around with things. Pizza has already come up as a plot point. I can’t avoid writing about pizza. Sorry not sorry. At least this time it has more of a reason for being in the story. Sort of like Every Version of You and its lobster. If you read it, you’ll see what I mean.