Tag: Movies

All my favorite places, my city had been pulled down.

Sara Mazariegos

Have you ever noticed how pretty pigeons are when they fly together? They shimmer. I’ve been thinking about pigeons a lot more than I usually do, because I see them in the city nearly every day now. People often write them off as pests, but I think they’re cute. They were originally brought up as pets before they were abandoned to life on the street. There are several places along my walk to/from the Metro where they are fed seed or bread and you can find a massive flock of them having a great time. It always makes me smile.

It is finally autumn in the U.S. and have I ever been looking forward to it! I got a pumpkin spice coffee as soon as I could, and I’ve been enjoying the slightly cooler weather lately. Autumn seems to only last about two weeks these days before it becomes too cold. I think I’m somewhat oxymoronic because autumn is my favorite season—and October is my favorite month—but I dislike it when it’s cold and dark. Once the daylight gets scarcer, I get less motivated. I’m starting to embrace the cold versus the heat, though. This past summer was way too annoyingly hot.

We’ve begun our annual watch of Halloween movies. So far, we’ve checked out some old John Carpenter movies. Luis has seen the majority of his movies already. I’m going to select several Stephen King movies I haven’t seen yet, perhaps Cujo and Pet Sematary. Last weekend, we saw the newest one, The Long Walk. It was quite good, but not really a horror story. I might prefer his less horror-y stories anyway. It’s a really sad movie, and Mark Hamill is the villain. It’s fun to see him with one of his more sinister voices.

“I just realized, they didn’t stretch first.” – Luis

I recommend The Long Walk, though it has some really gross moments so come prepared and maybe don’t eat past the first twenty minutes. While we were watching, I got a charley horse in my legs from reclining in the comfortable theater chair and I felt guilty because the characters were forced to walk and walk. It’s not based on a new Stephen King novel, either. It’s from the 70s.

With all the craziness going on, I’ve really been looking forward to our upcoming anniversary trip. I haven’t had a vacation day, not counting a holiday, since March. It’s going to be nice to relax and have fun with Luis for several days in a row. I love spending several days in a row with him. It’s like we should be married or something. 😉

My writing is going well. I’m working on editing the epilogue I already wrote and wanted to keep in the story even as everything else was tweaked. The next few days will be more relaxed as I wind this story down, but of course new story ideas are appearing to me since I’m not actively creating anything. I keep thinking, “What if?” with a few ideas I’ve had recently. Originally, I thought I’d take October off from writing and then work on editing my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired story, but a new plot idea has entered the chat…

We’ll see if it leads anywhere.

I can develop my brooding potential.

Sara Mazariegos

Last Saturday, we spent some much-needed time with friends. I had the idea that, since so much stressful stuff was going on, it would be good to have fun with our friends instead of going to see a movie. We went to Spirit Halloween and Barnes & Noble, and got margaritas. It was really nice. Then we played a Lord of the Rings escape room in a box with one of our friends. It’s good to be reminded that, though the world can be awful, we still have people in our lives who care about us and help us feel better.

Luis and I went on a zoo date on the 14th. We mostly looked at the coatis, fennec, and sand cat. We love the small mammals the most. He likes the sand cat because she reminds him of Boo. 😄 She even has a cat tree and multiple beds like a spoiled house cat who doesn’t wish to be petted. I wish I could have a coati. I made noises at them and they came to me. Then we got fancy Middle Eastern food. I had something called Koosa which is a stuffed squash, with rice and vegetables inside. I’d have it again. I love trying new places in the area.

We were originally planning to see Spinal Tap II but I’m not so sure if it’s worth our time, and it also looks like it’s already left our movie theater. It seems to be relying too much on cameos. I know the original had cameos, but not Paul McCartney and Elton John types of cameos. We’ve watched a few mock interviews with Spinal Tap to promote the movie and it just feels… not the same. It’s nice to see them again, but they’re not as funny.

Speaking of something not as fun… We finished watching The Osbournes the other day. The last two episodes are weird and not interesting. I didn’t know it ended with a Dr. Phil episode. We checked out Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour because we wanted to see more Osbourne stuff, and it’s pretty cute. Plus, it’s educational! I like that they like history so much. It’s a lesser-known fact about Ozzy Osbourne that he was a big fan of World War II history. I have no idea why they chose to end their successful reality show in such a boring way when he was certainly not a boring person. None of them are!

For this week’s writing progress report, I’ll be sitting at 78K words by the end of the day. Eking my way towards the happily-ever-after. There’s still a lot of cute stuff happening in the story, and I’m looking forward to finishing it so I can read it and work on making it better (after a break!) One thing that will be interesting is how I’ll go about editing my long-windedness. 😅 I notice it happening while I’m writing, but it’s how the words come out! I talk like it as well, so it’s not like I’m trying to stretch the word count like a college essay cheater. There’s going to be a fair amount of tightening happening when I edit, as well as getting rid of redundant sentences. Knowing the problem is part of the solution.

“Oh, now you’re saying that I’m redundant. That I repeat myself. That I say things over and over.” – Dr. Frasier Crane, Cheers

Both of us searching for some perfect world we know we’ll never find.

Sara Mazariegos

We went to the National Book Festival on Saturday and saw Geena Davis and John Green talking about their books. Geena Davis made me tearful because her children’s book is really sweet, about being yourself even if you’re big and loud. You don’t need to shrink yourself to fit on the page. She wrote and illustrated it, which is so impressive because it was her first time illustrating. She also talked about picking up various sports, including archery which she apparently qualified for in the Olympic trials! She’s a real life Mary Sue, but not in an annoying way.

John Green spoke about tuberculosis, of course. He sat with Scott Simon from Weekend Edition on NPR and talked about his book rather than reading from it this time. He also didn’t answer any audience questions, which I found a little funny because I’d been wracking my brain to come up with one while I stood in the line for at least two hours waiting to see him.

The lines were intense and badly organized. Not the authors’ fault! I hope the Library of Congress staff fix that for next year.

USPS Informed Delivery gave me a preview of our mail on Monday, so I spent the whole day knowing I’d been summoned for jury duty. 😩 I let my boss know, and he’s not thrilled because I’m the only person in the D.C. office, so if I’m on jury duty it means our office is closed for at least one random day. And it’s right before Luis and I go on our anniversary trip, so it’s right before the office will be closed already. I feel bad, but it’s not like I want this extra stress. I am interested in the judicial process and stuff, but it’s inconvenient this time. (I did it once in 2011 and it ended when an earthquake happened!)

I’m planning to request a postponement so I at least can do it after our trip. I only have three available days otherwise, and the case could be longer than that, so it’s better to wait until I’m less time-constrained. When I go to jury duty, it will give me an excuse to read a lot, if nothing else. Last time, I finished one Sarah Vowell book and read half of another.

Speaking of books, I’ve fallen into judging books by their cute designs. I try not to let the design alone be the reason I get a book, but I found an autumnal book at Barnes & Noble for five dollars with purchase in the cafe. I was buying a pumpkin spice latte anyway, so… But now that I’m reading it, I’ve realized it’s a young adult romance. It’s not bad, it’s just not what I expected. I guess I assumed it was about college-aged people. I feel like there aren’t enough romances about college kids. At least not enough that my algorithm suggests them to me. Also, the main character dislikes pumpkin spiced lattes. I hope she changes her mind by the end. (I bet she will.)

Last Sunday, we saw Caught Stealing, which is a Darren Aronofsky movie. I don’t usually like his movies, but I gave this one a chance because it looked fun and has a cat as a main part of the plot. I really enjoyed it! I think it’s my favorite of his movies, which I know is a low bar, but still. I’d happily watch it again*. It’s the first non-superhero movie we’ve seen in a while that I liked, actually. Eddington, Weapons, and Honey, Don’t disappointed me.

We’ve got a movie theater subscription, which is a big reason why we see so many movies. I like going to the movies. I missed it during the Covid lockdowns. There usually aren’t very many other people in the theater with us, which I like but it’s also worrisome.

My writing is still going well. I’m at around 73K words now, with Friday night’s total word count goal of 75K words looking more than likely. It’s funny, I’ve been thinking of it as writing 500 words a day, but I’m actually writing a little over 1,000 words a day, split into afternoon and evening sessions. If I was only writing 500 words a day, it would take me forever to finish a novel. I don’t have patience for that.

I’m at an amusing place in the writing process, because I’m almost within the last 10K words of the story but so much is still happening. I’m not yet at the place where the resolution is occurring. I guess you could say I’m in the Break Into 3 beat, moving into The Finale of the Save the Cat beats. I’ve been writing according to my outline and still those beats are aligning with things, which is a sign I’m doing things well! The edit/revision process is going to be a monster, I can already tell. But at least I have the right structure to work with this time, as opposed to other drafts that had more sketches of an outline than an actual outline.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s still plenty more writing before I have to think about editing!

* It gave me some casual nightmares about kidney problems, though. If you see it, you’ll understand.

Well, sometimes I love you on a Saturday night. Sunday morning, you don’t look right.

Sara Mazariegos

Well, Honey Don’t! was a disappointing Coen Brother movie. I really liked the first two thirds, but the last third was a confusing mess. A mystery was set up and then not solved. I wish I could rewrite the ending so it’s satisfying. I remember liking Drive-Away Dolls much more.

The rest of our Labor Day weekend stuff was nice. I got pumpkin spice lattes every day. I bought a new novel about pumpkin spice lattes because I couldn’t help myself. We checked out Spirit Halloween and ordered something from their online store because they didn’t have it in person. We’ll probably go back at least one more time, though. I love browsing Halloween aisles. We went to Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen and ate too much, then went to Guapo’s and ate too much again. It was a good time.

I worry less about work stuff than I used to, because my job allows me to stop thinking about it. It’s less stressful, with less things looming in the future. Still, I always look forward to having time off. My next long weekend will be when we go on our anniversary trip. I’ll be off for three days plus a weekend, so it’ll be wonderful. But, before then, we’re planning to see John Green at the Book Fest and see the coatis in the zoo.

This coming weekend will come sooner, but it’ll go by much quicker, too.

It feels like I’m in the home stretch of my story, even though I’m at around 68K words and it’s going to be about 85K words in total. There’s still a lot left to write, but somehow, as if by magic, I’m getting near the end. My last day of writing is scheduled this month. Things are falling into place and I can see the happily ever after. I think I should always write in 500-word spurts.

Pumpkin spice is back on the menu. Spirit Halloween is open. My favorite time of year is coming. I’m not looking forward to the Always Darkness, but I’ll get through it. I always do.

Tried to see your point of view, hope your dreams will all come true.

Sara Mazariegos

In Superman (2025), Clark tells Lois he’s making her favorite dinner: breakfast. “You love breakfast!” he explains. “For breakfast,” she retorts. This launches them into a big argument about journalistic integrity and Superman’s moral dilemma of whether or not he should get involved in countries’ disputes. The “for breakfast” has stayed with me, though. What starts out as a run-of-the-mill argument turns into this big, philosophical question. I really love James Gunn’s writing.

They’re working on installing a few security cameras in my office, mainly to keep track of the mail handling. I think it’s more of a concern in our Miami office, because it’s much busier and bigger, but they’re trying to be uniform with it and have all of the offices the same. So a guy came to look at the places where we’ll put the cameras, and then we’re going to order them and he’ll install them. This process has taken a long time, but hopefully it will be useful eventually… I don’t foresee misplacing any mail items, but who does? I think it’ll mostly showcase how calm this office is by comparison, and how organized I am. 😇

Last weekend, we saw Weapons. We went into it not knowing much about it. I thought it might be metaphorical about school shootings, so I was prepared to cry. I really like the story structure of it. The perspectives change, like the screen says Justine and then we see her part of the story, then James or whatever. I thought that was cool. It all pieces together nicely and things gradually make more sense the more you see. I thought it was building up to something interesting and (like I said) tragic. But then it just got dumb. It became less unique in the last bit of it. There were still some good moments, but I get annoyed at certain types of movies. I don’t want to give it away, but if you’ve seen it you know what I mean. Hereditary is the same way. I really liked it until the end. This one could’ve done so much more. Also, there was a random moment that seemed like it was referencing school shootings, but then it never came back*.

So frustrating. I’m surprised how well-reviewed it is. I guess no one else is over it like I am.

We have some fun, casual Labor Day weekend plans. We’re going to see Honey Don’t! starring Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza. I saw the poster a few weeks ago and knew we needed to see it because I like both of them, and I like the 70s aesthetic. We’re also going to have dinner with my parents at Hell’s Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant. We’ve been there once before, and once in London. We like him. Especially his sticky toffee pudding. And then on Labor Day, we’re going to relax and enjoy the day off. I hope to finish reading at least one of the books I’m reading. (Not House of Leaves; that’s going to take me at least a year to finish.)

We started watching One Night in Idaho, about those poor college students who were murdered in their house. I don’t know very much about it yet, just that it’s sad and horrible. I didn’t know one of the victims was a triplet. His poor brother and sister… Sometimes it feels weird to watch things like this for fun, but y’know. It’s interesting and a way of remembering those lost. It’s also not as exploitative as some of those true crime shows can be.

On the writing front, I’m at 64K words and the pieces are all falling nicely into place. I’ve noticed I’m having an easier time pinpointing the places to edit, and the things I know have to change. Sometimes I just wish I could wave my hands and make paragraphs better, like when the kids decorate the tree in A Charlie Brown Christmas.

* Please don’t misunderstand me. A movie about school shootings would be very sad and I’m not sure if I’d be comfortable going into one knowing that’s what it is. I just thought it would be alluding to that sort of subject matter, and be a drama, not a horror movie. This is why reading about movies first is sometimes better.

I gazed a gazely stare at all the millions here.

Sara Mazariegos

One thing I will never understand is people who are on their phones in the movie theater. Can they not go two hours without checking their phone? Why not just stay home then? No one’s forcing them to go to the movies. Luis and I went to see The Fantastic 4 and this couple next to us would not stop looking at their phones, with their screens as bright as could be. It was so rude and distracting. We’re going to see the movie again this weekend, partially because we were so distracted.

And also because I want to see Pedro Pascal again. 🥰

I still want to see Superman again, too. Those two movies go well together.

Friday is the day I receive my last paycheck from my old job. It’s crazy to think about how all that went down. It only took me one week to get a new job, and so far it’s going well. I don’t spend all my time dreading things like I used to. Sure, there are difficult days, but they usually turn out totally fine. My coworkers, though they’re all remote, are all helpful and kind. I’m very lucky.

I’m also looking forward to next year, when I will have more vacation days. Can you blame me?

Luis and I will be buying insurance together once my old job’s insurance ends this week as well. I hope we can find something good that doesn’t make us have to change too many of our doctors (if any.) We went to get check-ups the other weekend and the doctor called me so many times, and sent me a letter in the mail, just to tell me my test results were normal. At least they’re thorough.

Speaking of insurance, we’re also dealing with some fun home insurance stuff. Our roof needs to be replaced because it’s old and it’s been raining so often, there are starting to be marks on our upstairs ceiling. It’s a tell-tale sign. We spent so much time and money fixing up our bathroom, so I’d rather not let the roof create a leak in there. Luis was excited about getting a metal roof with solar panels, but we’ve since realized it’ll be better to get more energy-efficient shingles instead. Metal roofs look cool, but they’re so expensive.

It bothers me that it’s “roofs” and not “rooves.”

My writing is still going strong. I just passed the halfway point of my novel, so I’m getting into some of the heavier plot stuff. I’m trying not to be so hung up on things being 100% right in this first draft. I’m going to have to edit things and make changes. The good thing is, I have ideas about what those changes are already, so it’s not going to come as some big surprise that I have to make them. It also helps, of course, always, that Luis is reading through my chapters as I go and giving me pointers from a reader perspective, too. I think my new writing process works best for me. Plus I’m not writing all hours of the day when I have free time, so I’m feeling more balanced.

Can you believe it’s going to be August on Friday?

Oh, Superman, where are you now when everything’s gone wrong somehow?

Sara Mazariegos

It may just be because I’ve been thrown a few curveballs lately, but time has been going by weirdly for me this year. I both can’t believe we’re already in the middle of May, and I’m also surprised the year is going slowly. It feels like we went to Disneyland last year, but it was only three months ago! Hopefully things will feel more normal soon, now that things have settled. *knocks on wood*

All of the movie remakes annoy me, generally, but I feel like the only person who’s not awed by the new-old Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon. The animation of Stitch and Toothless is cute, but that’s because they’re just CGI versions of the already cute, animated originals. Why bother making these remakes? The originals are better. Just show your kids the originals.

Also, they did Pleakley dirty.

It amuses me that Google red-underlines Pleakley and I get shocked by it. It’s a made up name, self.

“That’s not a real name… in Iceland. But here it’s a good name!”

Sometimes I think about how many franchises there are. There are too many for any one person to be interested in all of them. But at the same time, there are quite a few I’m not into and it feels like everyone else is. Like Bridgerton. Or The Fast & The Furious. I have no problem with people liking them, but I have zero interest. It feels, to me, a little bit like how everyone has their own lives and you don’t really see how they are or what they’re doing, but you know they’re out there living them anyway.

There are exceptions. Obviously I’m not interested in Harry Potter anymore, and it gives me the ick when I see people who are. I was also never one of those people who made HP my life, though. But that’s a different issue. Vin Diesel’s not a transphobe, that I know of. He just makes movies I don’t care about.

My writing is going well, and I’m having a lot of fun with it. I realized I’ve been setting a lot of self-imposed deadlines which made things more stressful than they need to be, especially since I don’t have an agent or a publisher waiting for a draft or anything like that (yet.) I edit one novel about half an hour each day, and I write another novel for a half hour each day while I’m at work. It allows me to devote some time to each of them every day without feeling pressure to write for hours and have it done by a specific time. My goal is to get my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired novel ready for beta readers by next month. But we’ll see. I’m going easy on myself.

I started getting some further inspiration for another rewrite project, so I’m planning to work on the plot development for that as well. I’ll probably actually start writing that new draft the beginning of next year.

Loosey-goosey is my new mantra.

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.

You only meant well (well, of course you did.)

Sara Mazariegos

We had an awesome Halloween party last weekend. “Awesome” in the original meaning of the word.


Luis created a Riddler (and Batman) themed escape room with a bunch of riddles and puzzle boxes. Everyone had a lot of fun. I was mostly proud and in awe of him. He made videos for the introduction and the ending, and everyone thought they’d been provided by an escape room company or the company that made one of the puzzle boxes. But it was all him. 😊 I helped, but it was awesome because he is awesome.

FRIEND AT PARTY: Are you anxious?
ME: Always.
FRIEND: No, but like, not just because you’re Anxiety. Are you feeling anxious?
ME: Yes.
FRIEND: Would you like a hug?
ME: I always want a hug*.

Halloween being on a Thursday is a bummer, though. I’m not wearing my costume at work, because I think it’ll become uncomfortable (especially the boots) after eight hours in an office and I’d want to just change out of it when I get home. Instead, I’ll change into it when I get home, and be Anxiety for a few hours. Mostly while watching Arachnophobia with Luis. Seems fitting.


On Sunday night, we watched Late Night with the Devil, which was a perfect movie to watch for Halloween. I wish it embraced the 1970s aesthetic more, and I thought the introduction “documentary” wasn’t necessary, but otherwise, I liked it. I had no idea it was mostly Australian, too. Indie films like that are always good to promote.

We’ve been watching a lot of movies that take place in the 1970s lately.

I caught a cold and took the day off yesterday, sleeping as much as I could and being generally lazy. For some reason, at about five AM, I was having panic attacks that kept me from being able to fall back asleep. I’ve never experienced THAT side effect before. I definitely do not recommend it. I had to go downstairs and read a book for a while, next to one of our cats, in the cool living room. Then I was able to take a nap and eventually go back up to bed.

I made the executive decision to stop writing the cat romance novel for now (after giving it an ending that works, even if it’s at the 76,000-word point instead of the 80,000 I was going for.) I was feeling pretty burnt out with it. I plan to fix it and retool it next year unless a newer, shinier idea presents itself.

For now, I’m taking a brief break. Next week, I will resume the rewrite of my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired romance novel.

Hopefully November will be calmer.


* Unless you’re a stranger. I don’t want hugs from people I don’t know.

Bark at the moon.

Sara Mazariegos

Am I the only one surprised that Halloween hasn’t happened yet?

It’s not that I’m in a rush. I’m excited about our party this weekend, and I’ve even considered wearing my costume to work this year (a slightly toned-down version to not be distracting.) But October has been dragging its feet. I say that as someone who’s had a hectic month.

We watched the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions last weekend, with a break to see Saturday Night. It was great to see Peter Frampton finally get honored. He and Ozzy Osbourne could commiserate about their muscular ailments; it’s sad to see inclusion body myositis and Parkinson’s disease affecting such energetic, youthful rock stars. I know they’re getting up there now, but still! I wish them both well. Combined with the fact one of the other inductees (Phife Dawg from A Tribe Called Quest) died of diabetes complications and another (Jimmy Buffett) died of cancer, I kept thinking “I wish we could find cures for all of these things.”

Saturday Night was delightful. It left me wanting more, which is a good thing. We came home and I just had to watch the very first episode of Saturday Night Live, so I could see the moments referenced in the movie. I’ve been a fan since the early nineties when Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman were on. Some of the movie felt a bit like a play, which works since it’s all about live performance, and some of it felt a bit like parody. Some of the impressions were better than others. For example, I liked the Jim Henson guy as Jim Henson, but his Andy Kaufman was a little off, not least of all because he’s even ganglier than Kaufman. It’s a shame Benny Safdie had to drop out. I bet he would’ve been good.

On the writing front, I’m clawing my way to the finish line with my magical cat transformation romance story. One thing I’ll need to work on with it is tightening that description. 😅 Then, almost immediately after finishing that one, I have my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired romance to rewrite. That will be nice during the holidays.

I’m going to use the NaNoWriMo method of writing around the same amount each day, although skipping Thanksgiving because I do have a life. Honest. I’m avoiding the actual NaNoWriMo site this year, though. I don’t support what they’re doing lately. Since my novel is longer, the draft will be “finished” in mid-December. And then I can breathe again before the edits! Weee!

Before you ask (why would you ask?) I’m planning to take a mental break from the cat story until sometime next year. It’s messy. I always knew it would be. Don’t all novels start out a bit messy?

Trying to find something between a strict writing schedule and a looser one that still doesn’t let me just, you know, stop writing. It’s dangerous to become too lax.

I like the word “lax.”