Tag: Movies

Time, he’s waiting in the wings.

Sara Mazariegos

Love-Hate relationship with the Metro. Next month, the DC Metro is going to be shutting down 4 stops along the Red line in order to do some big construction for the new Purple line and some needed repairs. I take the Metro into DC for work every day, so this has been a source of stress for me. Luis pointed out that I can take a bus to the opposite end of the Red line and go to work that way, avoiding the points where I’d have to exit and take a shuttle. I’m relieved to have that opportunity, but I’m still dreading it. Commuting is so draining.

The other morning, my train was delayed for half an hour because someone was on the tracks. Police came and escorted them off the tracks, and I’m very glad the person wasn’t hurt, but a whole lot of people were late to work because of that. Thankfully, because I’d caught an earlier bus, I ended up only being about ten minutes late, so it could’ve been much worse. But this is a week in the life of a DC Metro rider.

I am very grateful to have access to a rail system that fairly reliably gets me where I need to go. I also appreciate that many other people in this area see the value of it. Fewer people drive around here, which is better for the environment and safety of others who have to be on the road. I wish more people had reliable rail and bus service in their areas. The Metro has a lot of issues, but hopefully a lot of them are being worked through this summer while the crews work on the several stations that will be closed.

Das Boot has nothing to do with German footwear. Last weekend, we watched Das Boot, Luis’s long movie choice. We took a break in the middle (it’s about three and a half hours long) to go have pizza and a peach margarita (for me) at an Italian restaurant near our house that we’ve never been to. The movie is really good, and definitely claustrophobia-inducing. I’d never want to go into a submarine. I told Luis, I wouldn’t even want to go down the ladder. The subs in World War II didn’t even have screens or windows to look out of, if the movie is accurate. They had to rely on sonar and physically going up to see what was around them. I would hate to be in an enclosed space with zero windows. I remember staying at the Z Hotel in England and our room didn’t have a window. Thank goodness it was only for one night. I would’ve lost my mind if it was for longer. I didn’t sleep very well. When the guy lost his mind in Das Boot, I totally understood, although he wasn’t going crazy because of the tight space; he was going crazy because the Allies were torpedoing his U-Boat. Which…fair. He was my favorite character. He reminds me of Andy Serkis.

It’s about a German U-Boat in World War II, so you can’t completely cheer for them, but it’s interesting to see that perspective. It’s not like all German soldiers and naval officers were Nazis. A lot of them were, but the guys in the movie (minus one) aren’t really into that stuff. Anyway, it’s a really good movie. We watched in in German with subtitles, so it was completely authentic. I’m interested in reading the book it’s based on now, but I have so many books to read. It’s not like Hamlet, which feels more like a “duh, you should read it at least once” kind of book.

Local Pride events. On Sunday, we went to our local Pride event with some friends, and saw one of our friends perform some original songs. It was nice. We got a lot of swag. We also got Lebanese Taverna and margaritas. It was very hot outside, so it was good to be able to take a break inside. I’m glad it wasn’t raining. There were some brief thunderstorms during Das Boot, which was thematically appropriate, but if it had rained on Pride it would’ve been sad.

Getting into Hamlet. I checked out Hamlet from the library and I’ve been reading it on the Metro (when I can manage to get a seat.) Watching the Kenneth Branagh movie and having it fresh in my mind is the best way to read the play, in my opinion. I can still hear the inflections and imagine the characters, which makes it easier for me to follow. I definitely think that reading Shakespeare can be tough, and seeing it can make it clearer, so seeing the plays and then reading them might be the best way to understand and appreciate them.

There’s a part early on in the Folger version of Hamlet that I borrowed where the editing team basically wrote “there’s no consensus on what this means.” 🤣 Great. Love that.

Writing <break> update. I’ve still been enjoying my break from writing. I have ideas I’ve written down, and I’m thinking about my next novel a healthy amount. My goal for writing the first draft is to try and take it a chapter at a time, instead of pressuring myself with lots of future ideas. I tend to get ahead of myself, particularly when I’m excited.

During my break, I’ve been enjoying the ARC novel I mentioned last week—the one I can’t tell you anything about yet—and I’m dreading finishing it because, like I said, once I’ve finished it I’ll never be able to read it for the first time again. I told my sister-in-law about it and how much I love it, and she asked to borrow it when I’ve finished. But she has to give it back to me and be gentle, because it is precious to me.

Reading has been helpful in relaxing my brain while simultaneously inspiring me and awakening my imagination for my next writing project. I haven’t been reading as much as a writer, since I’m taking a break, and I think sometimes it’s better to quiet the analytical thoughts and let the story take me for a ride.

I’m counting out time, got the whole thing down by numbers.

Sara Mazariegos

Holidays can make people go crazy. Last week, Memorial Day was on Monday and a bunch of our clients either don’t celebrate the holiday because they’re not in America (fair) or they just assumed we would be working on a holiday. So we had a stressful Tuesday of explaining our closure to a lot of people, and dealing with a big influx of tasks and things. Things were still pretty nuts on Wednesday. Then I felt sick, so I took a sick day. I came back to work on Friday and everyone seemed to still have lost their minds.

Sometimes our little team takes a holiday. We deserve breaks.

They’re going to go crazy again on Juneteenth, because that’s a recently-added federal holiday. I can already imagine the impatient emails and messages come the following Monday. 🫩

Luis said, “Pick a long movie.” So I chose Kenneth Branagh’s William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. His response was not, but it was practically, “Not like that.” Given the fact that I’ve been thinking about hosting a Lord of the Rings weekend in which we watch all three of the movies—in their extended versions, because the other versions cut out way too much!—he shouldn’t have been surprised that my choice for ‘long movie’ was Kenneth Branagh’s extra-long treatment of Hamlet. It’s been on my watchlist for years, mainly because of Robin Williams. I remember my parents seeing it when it was in theaters. I was around nine years old, and I really wanted to see it, because of Robin Williams, but my parents said no because it’s too long, violent, Shakepearey, etc for a nine-year-old.

I probably would’ve fallen asleep.

But you never know! I may have loved it! Anyway. I’m glad we finally watched it. It’s not even particularly violent. It’s rated PG-13. It’s available on YouTube, so it’s easy to find. I was surprised to learn it was a flop when it came out. I guess because it was so long. I checked out the book version from the library so I can read it for the first time. It’s easier to read since I just watched it; the actor’s inflections are still fresh in my mind. It may be a long movie, but I think it does a fairly good job of making Shakespeare more accessible to audiences who might not understand it otherwise.

Next weekend we’re watching Das Boot for Luis’s long-movie pick. Notably not as long as Hamlet, but twice as many Nazis.

Finally some good news! Without going into detail, again because it’s personal stuff I don’t want to share on a public blog, the situation that was stressing Luis and me for months has finally been resolved. He’s done a lot of hard work for several months, and it’s paid off. So we can finally relax now, which feels amazing. It doesn’t even feel real yet, but it will soon. I’ll be able to write more about it in a few months, once everything has settled down.

I love a book I can’t talk about. Luis was able to use his producer magic to get me an advance reader copy of a book, and I have been loving it so far. I read it a bunch this past weekend and I wish I could just sit for hours reading it. But I also don’t want to read it so much that I finish it, because then I won’t be able to live in its world anymore, and reading it a second time won’t be as magical as the first time when I don’t know what will happen next. I have a feeling I will read it a second time, though.

It will be a perfect comparative title for the next novel I’m writing. That’s why I wanted to get a copy; but I love it beyond being similar to a story idea I have. I can’t talk about it for now, because it’s not out for another month and I haven’t finished reading it yet, but I’ll be publicly singing its praises as soon as I can!

Writing update! I finished writing my novel draft last Thursday! I feel free to move on from that story now and write other things. I may circle back to it and reshape it into something new, but for now I’m thinking about my next novel, which is exciting. I have a document of my outline plus notes, and I’ve been adding to it as I think of new ideas. It’s going to be similar in some ways to the novel I just finished, but it’s also going to be so different. I’m looking forward to writing the first draft.

At the same time, I’m enjoying taking a break from writing. I’ve had more time to read, which is lovely. I’ve also had more time to let my imagination run wild a little bit instead of constantly trying to stay on one track with one story idea.

Probably by the end of June, I’ll be chomping at the bit and anxious about getting started with my next novel, but for now it’s nice to not feel pressured to write or stick to a schedule.

How very special are we to have on our family tree Mother Earth and Father Time.

Sara Mazariegos

I thought of this entry’s title from a song by the Sherman Brothers that always makes me teary, so working on this post has been an experience. I see the lyrics every time I write/edit this. I may not have thought this through.

Colbert and The Last Show. We downloaded a free trial of DirectTV to watch the last episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Really, it was the last episode of The Late Show ever, unless CBS tries to reboot it when the dumb replacement doesn’t work out for them. It was a lovely finale, with many bizarre and silly twists and turns. I didn’t cry as much as I thought I might, but when I saw the staff all come onstage to dance while Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, Jon Batiste, Louis Cato, and Stephen Colbert sang “Hello, Goodbye”…man, oh man. I hope everyone will be okay and have new jobs and not have to worry about what they’re doing next.

And I really hope Stephen will be in front of audiences and cameras again soon. He seems so genuinely happy in front of an audience. I’m sure working on the next Lord of the Rings project will be so much fun for him, but I hope we see his face again really soon, too. And not only on one episode of Only In Monroe.

Belated Mother’s Days and Birthdays. My parents returned from their trip to Washington state, so we finally celebrated Mother’s Day with my mom on Saturday. It was nice to get together with my family, and see my sister’s new puppy. All of her cats even came out and were friendly. My dad gave me some of my grandma’s solar-controlled dashboard dancing ornaments. I realized when we brought them home that we don’t even have window sills in our house! So they’ll probably just live on a shelf as decorations.

My best friend Kat postponed her birthday festivities because she was busy with school and moving, so we spent time celebrating her on Sunday. One thing that’s nice about Sundays before holidays is that you can stay out later without worrying about going to bed on time. This proved true this time for sure, because we stayed at her place until around eleven, playing games and having a fun time. We also got tasty ramen and pizza, and saw…

The Mandalorian & Grogu. I thought it was really cute. I mostly cared about Grogu, the little mechanic guys, and Rotta the Hutt. The guys in armor shooting at each other is less compelling to me, though I do love the way the Mandalorian takes care of Grogu. They take care of each other, which is sweet. This is a good movie if you like all the weird-cute little space critters. There are certainly a lot of those. There’s even a cool “dragon snake” that reminded us of our cat Boo.

Wrapping up my rewrite. It struck me last week that I only have about 2,000 more words left to write, because once I hit 80K, I can just plunk in my already-written epilogue chapter. I’ll read it and edit it so it makes sense with the new draft, but otherwise I won’t have to write this story past Friday. I’m looking forward to taking a break before writing something completely new!

The Boys finale [SPOILERS]. Luis and I have been fans of The Boys since the first season. The edgy, cynical superhero comedy was a big hit and all over the internet when it first came out, and for the first several seasons. This final season, however, didn’t have great buzz. In fact, there were a lot of complaints. We have several as well. We like the show and characters, but the ending felt anticlimactic in several ways.

Spoilers within

I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will.

Sara Mazariegos

This year’s been challenging. Without going into too much detail, because it’s personal, this has been a difficult year so far. I’ve been feeling my usual unreality about a lot of things, like how we’re going to Disney World and Universal in October but so much of it has already been booked, I’m just sitting on my hands now. It doesn’t feel like it’s really going to happen. There are also some reasons for me to feel that way that are about more than not having things to plan. Having our ducks in a row is actually the more enjoyable aspect of it. Many other things are up in the air right now… But enough of my vague posting about things I can’t really post about. I’m ready for things to calm down and be more certain.

Mother’s Day delay. My parents are out of town for my grandma’s memorial service, so we’re delaying our Mother’s Day festivities for when they come back. Luis and I went to their house last weekend to visit their cats and spend time with my sister who lives nearby. We met her new puppy! That was some impromptu fun. We spent time with his family on Mother’s Day and then saw The Sheep Detectives, which was also a pretty Mother’s Day-y movie. We weren’t planning to see it, but we wanted to go to the movies and it was playing at a good time. We don’t usually spontaneously see things. I’m glad it worked out well this time.

Saturday Night Live feeling more classic. Matt Damon was the host on SNL last Saturday. Since we recently saw The Martian, my brain kept thinking he was hosting to promote that, but he’s actually in the new Christopher Nolan version of The Odyssey! I had no idea. I only knew “Spider-Man” was in it.

It was a great episode. I feel kind of hit-or-miss with the current cast, and each episode depends on the host more than it did with other casts, but this was a good one. Luis and I (and a lot of people online) particularly liked this auctioneers sketch. The writing and concept make it feel like a classic. I could easily imagine Gilda Radner or even Julia Louis-Dreyfus in this sketch (but Sarah Sherman is great, too.) Many times, SNL wants to be current with what’s popular and in style, but it’s nice for them to relax every once in a while with a more ‘anytime’ sketch like this one. A sketch that doesn’t rely on the audience knowing about x. As long as you know what auctioneers are like, you’ll get it.

Noticing writing mistakes in other novels. When I read books in the genre that I’m writing (romance) I find myself reading more closely than when I’m reading other books. I think about the writing more, and the choices made. People on Threads agreed with me that it’s a sign of a writer to be more observant about the way the story is being told. In the novel I’m currently reading, which I really like, I’ve noticed a few things I’d change, like overly telling sometimes or using the same word or phrase too much. It can be a little distracting from the story, but it’s not too much for me to still enjoy reading it. Reading this closely is another way that reading helps one become a better writer.

I know that many, many authors have noticed mistakes or things they’d change once their novel has been published and printed. No one is expecting perfection, because it’s nigh impossible. Novels that have been published and printed have been read by so many pairs of eyes, and mistakes still happen. So there’s no offense meant when I say I’ve noticed things. It’s likely the author has noticed as well.

Writing my “spare parts” draft. My writing is more laid back now that I’m not thinking about anyone reading it. Maybe that’s the secret to better writing. 🤔 I’m allowing myself to enjoy the words and have fun with things. I keep reminding myself that I won’t worry about editing this draft either, if I’m mainly writing it as a completionist at this point. It may end up being a “spare parts” draft, where I’ll use bits of it for a story but not all of it. There are good bits in this story. I wonder if, reading it back, it will feel like night-and-day from when I was writing it with the intention of querying it someday. I was still having fun with it, but I was harsher with my word choices and scene work. And then, a little over halfway through, I got more relaxed.

I wonder if I should try to write my next story’s first draft in this looser way and then sharpen it in later drafts. I have a tendency to want to get things right the first time, but I’m finding it’s not really the way things turn out. Revisions will always come into play, even with a draft I completely love. (Does such a thing exist in real life?)

Time will heal all the hate, all in good time.

Sara Mazariegos

Birds don’t discriminate. As I was walking to my office, I watched the birds eating the seeds that some nice city worker throws out for them. I noticed that it’s not only pigeons and sparrows, but there are crows and even ducks joining in on the feast sometimes. And none of them try to pick a fight or keep the other kinds of birds from eating with them. There’s a metaphor in this somewhere.

There was also a robin on my way to the bus the other day, standing in the grass next to the sidewalk. Rather than running or flying away like they usually do, this little one just looked up at me with big eyes. It was incredibly cute. Sometimes, our local wildlife makes me feel like a Disney princess. Specifically Giselle I suppose, because the animals I get excited to see are pigeons and squirrels. Cute animal friends are cute regardless of what kind of animals they are!

The Devil Wears Prada 2. We saw the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada last weekend. I was wary at first, but I know it is a book series and I liked the first movie. I think it’s a good sequel; it feels like the first one but with new plot points and drama instead of being a rehash. I also think Miranda isn’t as mean in it. Maybe I’m just used to her meanness. I mostly felt sorry for her in this one.

I can’t remember if I posted about it (I probably did) but I tried reading the first novel and I couldn’t get through it, in either audiobook or book-book form. Andy is an annoying, whiny narrator in the book, but I like her in the movie. My favorite character is still Nigel (Stanley Tucci.) I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, so I won’t say anything else.

Immortality final thoughts. Luis and I finished playing Immortality last weekend as well. It was addictive so we played it for hours. I really like it! It’s so cool that they have actors performing all of these scenes within scenes, and then there’s scenes hidden within the scenes. I wish more games were this creative and adventurous with ideas. I do think we’re seeing more and more cool, innovative games like this lately, thanks to places like Steam making it easier for indie developers to get their games out there.

My favorite of the movies within the game is Minsky. This won’t make any sense unless you play the game, though. I definitely recommend it. It’s a showcase of the main actress Manon Gage’s talent as well, because she was fresh out of college when she acted in this game, and she gets to show off her range. I look forward to playing other games by the creator, Sam Barlow. We’ve already played Her Story.

New ideas are rejuvenating. I’m within the final 20K of my current novel draft, projected to be finished by the beginning of June. Ever since I decided this story won’t work as a published novel, I’ve been more laid back about writing it. It’s still going to be completed, even if I won’t pursue it with agents. It’s always a good goal to finish what you’ve started, if possible. I even have a few ideas of ways I can repurpose this story into a new idea I have swirling around in my brain. I don’t want to fully abandon it because I still see its value.

That being said, I’m looking forward to not thinking about it for a while.

I’m very excited to start writing my next novel. I have months to plan it, so hopefully it will just easily come out as the fully formed story from my head!

No? That’s now how writing works? I always forget.

It’s 8:15, and that’s the time that it’s always been.

Sara Mazariegos

Our personal Super Mario connection. Both Luis and I grew up with the Super Mario Bros. games. Him more than me, but I have early memories of playing Super Mario on the NES with my sister. She always made me play Mario so she could be Luigi, because she preferred green. This resulted in a lot of Mario falling off the very first ledge and then Luigi getting his turn. We also had and played Super Mario Bros. 3, a game that is still my favorite of the Mario games. Hey, I’m a sucker for nostalgia.

Anyway, it was this shared enjoyment of Mario and the various characters and themes within the games that inspired Luis’s and my wedding’s theme. It was a loose theme, because we didn’t want to give off kids’ birthday party vibes. Our decor was cute! Luis’s sister made paper lanterns with Boo’s face on them. We still have two of them, hanging in our living room.

All of this to say, heck yes we like the Mario movies! We saw Super Mario Bros. Galaxy last weekend, and as we were leaving we were already planning to see it again this weekend. Unfortunately, the cue I was given to go to the bathroom was at a pretty bad moment, actually, so we snuck into another showing afterwards in order for me to see the introduction of an important character! I’m very much looking forward to the next movie, too.

Watching The Studio is saddening. We started watching The Studio the other week, because of all the awards it won and everything. It’s very sad to watch now, though, because Catherine O’Hara’s role on it is so big and integral to the plot. It’s nice to see her, but I’m still so sad she’s no longer with us. It feels cruel. It is cruel. Seth Rogan clearly was so excited to be working with people he admired, and she’s one of the people he looked up to… So it’s quite sad to watch even though it is a very funny and well-made show. It’s beautifully shot, and I love the “oner” way of filming it. It reminds me of Birdman. It’s kind of stressful at times to watch a style like that, but so far I’m enjoying it. It’s hard for me to imagine how season 2 is going to be.

Taskmaster is back! My favorite grumpy/sunshine pairing came back last week. As usual, I love the group of comedians and actors that are “competing” on Taskmaster. My favorite is not Kumail Nanjiani, but of course I’m still excited to see him on it! He’s so far aligning with the trend of South Asian contestants performing badly. 😅 The worm task really wasn’t fair, though.

I don’t want to spoil it, so I won’t say any more. I highly recommend that show. It’s available wherever YouTube is sold!

Story ideas coming unbidden. As previously mentioned, I’ve started getting ideas for my next story while working on my current novel. This always happens, and usually when I’m midway through writing a story. This time it started with me thinking I could rework an outline and turn it into something different but still a similar concept, but now it’s gotten bigger and more detailed, so I’ve been writing down the ideas in the outline for now so I can work on it more once the story I’m currently writing has a complete draft.

I think it’s a good idea to let ideas simmer a bit, especially if I’m already working on something. The last thing I want to do is fall into the trap of pausing the story I was focusing on to write something new before the story is finished! It’s never a good idea to pause before ‘The End.’ Even if the draft needs a lot of revisions. Keep writing until ‘The End’ and then you can write something else. That’s the way my brain works anyway. I can’t write two stories at the same time. One of them always takes precedence or nothing gets finished.

Writing update. My novel rewrite is going well. I’m nearing 50,000 words which is just past the halfway point. Instead of being the ‘sagging middle’ that a lot of writers talk about, there’s a bunch of drama happening in my story, which is keeping things moving along nicely. It won’t be much longer until this revision is complete! And then I can take a break before writing something new.

I said what I said, brain!

There was a time, a storm that blew so pure.

Sara Mazariegos

Not all movies need critical analysis. I saw the Super Mario Galaxy movie got some pretty brutal reviews, and it’s made me wonder why we have reviewers for every movie. I appreciate that critics are writers and they need jobs. I get that. But I don’t think every movie must be held to the same standard that some of the critics expect. No one expects a Mario movie to be anything other than what it is: fan service for people who love the games and characters. It’s a little bit like the Five Nights At Freddy’s movies. They’re made for people who like the thing. Anyone interested should go see it and they’ll probably like it. Maybe there needs to be more segmentation with reviewers. What do fans of Super Mario think about this new movie?

I thought the first one was cute. It wasn’t amazing, but I’m glad I saw it and I’d watch it again. I don’t remember why Bowser is tiny. I’m excited to see the new one next weekend.

The allure of Robert Pattinson. Luis and I forwent Mario last weekend because we knew the theater would be teeming with kids for Easter weekend. Instead, we saw The Drama starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya. That movie is definitely not for kids. I’ve got to say that Robert Pattinson has grown on me. I was never a fan of Twilight so I didn’t like him, but it’s not his fault. He didn’t write it or direct it, and he’s grown a lot since then. I really liked him in Mickey 17, and he was quite good in The Drama as well. He’s someone a lot of people find attractive, and I never have (no offense to him) but I can appreciate a good actor regardless of how they look. I also appreciate that he seems to be shying away from the handsome leading man roles in favor of more quirky, interesting scripts.

The Drama has a controversial subject matter, but I think it’s a subject worth thinking about. It’s not pleasant, but it’s important. I think it’s handled in a pretty realistic way, considering it’s in a dark comedy. I don’t quite understand the people who think it’s a topic than can never be explored like this. It’s not like the movie makes light of it or acts like there’s nothing wrong with it. (I’m not spoiling it; you should see it for yourself, if you’re interested.) It’s intense, but it’s good.

The Martian during real space times. On Easter, we watched The Martian as the next space movie on my list. It’s based on a novel written by the same author who wrote Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir. It’s got a very stacked cast, with all sorts of actors. We liked it, though we liked PHM more. The Martian is more stressful, and it also doesn’t have the cute element. I don’t want to spoil PHM, though I think the Internet is already spoiling it quite a bit. I also think that, while it’s better and makes sense not to have Matt Damon actually lose a bunch of weight, the CG looks a little weird. I suppose it’s always a risk. AI crap in things won’t age well either. It already looks bad.

Now we just have to see Arrival and Interstellar. Speaking of space movies, it felt pretty surreal to be watching The Martian while we have real astronauts in space at this very moment, exploring the darker regions of the moon. I hope they return safely to Earth on Friday and bring back a whole host of new images and stories. So far, it’s been pretty incredible to watch and learn about.

Aging out of things. Lately I’ve been feeling as if I’m aging away from a lot of the Nerdfighter stuff, not through lack of interest but because there’s so much to keep up with. When I first became a Nerdfighter, everything was pretty much online. I was on the old ning website and everything, and I never missed a video. I bought all of John’s books and inhaled them. Then, a little later, I found my local Facebook group and met a bunch of Nerdfighter friends in real life. You know how that turned out. ☺️

But now that I’m older and we’re all older, I’ve got a job and other commitments and I find it hard to keep up with everything going on. I do my best, of course, and I’m still there for a lot of it, but I wonder how much longer I’ll be able to show up. And it’s sort of bittersweet because, like I said, I still love John and Hank and the community, but keeping up with livestreams and events is becoming less tenable. I don’t know. I mostly just wanted to mope a little. I’m going to do my best to go to John’s latest book tour stop (if there is a book tour stop) but I fear something like NerdCon Nerdfighteria might be out of the question for me. We’ll have to see, and I do so hate having to see.

Evolving conflicts. While writing the other day, I realized my new story draft has a conflict that evolves as the characters and plot evolve. It starts out as one bit of drama and then it sort of snowballs as the story progresses. I’m proud of myself for coming up with a conflict like that, because I think it means it’s more realistic but also more impactful.

As soon as I finish writing this draft, I plan to wait a few weeks and then dive back in to read it and add a few details/subplots that I came up with while I was writing but didn’t want to stop and go back to add. I’m a little past the halfway point now with this draft, and I’m really enjoying writing it and playing around with things.

It’s definitely true that the best way to improve your writing is to keep writing.

It’s the first time, the last time we ever met.

Sara Mazariegos

Birthday month. March is my birthday month, so last weekend and this weekend were/are all about birthday parties for me. 🥳 Last weekend, we got Indian food and strawberry cupcakes with my family, and we played a trivia game. It’s also my mom’s birthday, so we combine our parties since it makes sense and we don’t have to plan and travel twice.

This weekend, we’re getting dinner with Luis’s family, then we’re going ice skating* and getting fancy sushi with friends on Sunday (my birthday!)

Whenever I feel at all guilty or silly for having multiple get-togethers for my birthday instead of one big one, I think of Sona Movsesian on Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend and how she calls it her “Birthday month” because she has many parties with friends the whole month. That’s the dream!

Just kidding. I like attention, but not that much attention.

Whereabouts. One thing I always find myself thinking about as I write my Nerdfighters novel is the fact that my parents panicked about me going on my first date with Luis because I didn’t text them updates every hour (exaggeration, but not far off.) I was twenty-four years old and I’d been to D.C. by myself plenty of times at that point. Plus, we went to a bunch of museums together, so it’s not like he led me into dark alleys or anything like that. I think it’s one bad thing about cell phones. It makes people feel like they must be constantly aware of things at all times, and if there’s no instant response the world must be ending.

I remember when I was a kid, I’d go off on my bike to my friends’ houses after school and I’d be gone until evening. My parents never freaked out then. I got into more mischief back then! My friends and I used to play in a Virginia creek, for heck’s sake. I also went on a ski trip to West Virginia when I was in middle school and they never checked up on me at that rate. They may have been calling my friends’ parents to make sure things were going well, but there was no sense of urgency about any of it. I’m way more cautious as an adult than I was as a kid, and even as a kid I was careful. I never broke any bones or got lost. There was more stranger danger back then. There were more serial killers.

I think, when I was twenty-four and they were all concerned about me and what I was doing, it was more because it was a date with a boy than it was about the danger of D.C. Which, again, silly. They wanted me to meet people, but also not go out with them… It would’ve been so rude to pull out my phone and text them constantly when I was busy paying attention to my cute, funny date. I remember a time not long before that time, when my parents didn’t like cell phones and thought people who used them in public were rude. 🤔

Anyway. I like cell phones. They’re very helpful. I’m still glad I grew up in a time without them.

Ryan Gosling and space movies. Last weekend, we saw Project Hail Mary. I figured we would like it, but we both really enjoyed it! It’s very cute. It’s the kind of movie people need right now, I think. I want to see it again, even though it’s two and a half hours long. It doesn’t feel long. We’ll probably watch it again when it’s streaming. I’m glad it’s doing as well as it is. I don’t want to spoil it; I recommend you just see it if you like movies set in space that don’t involve big laser fights or anything. It’s like Alien + Star Trek (the series, not the movies) + ET, and a little bit of Moon. I cried, but in a good way.

There are quite a few space movies we need to see. A bunch came out close to each other and we missed them. This one is by the same author as The Martian, which we need to see. We also need to see Interstellar and Arrival. We like space movies, but it’s hard to keep up sometimes! Apparently Timothee Chalamet is in Interstellar. That doesn’t have me rushing to see it. 😝

References and prior knowledge when reading. I’ve noticed in two of the books I’m reading/recently read—Where’d You Go, Bernadette? and Today Tonight Tomorrow, which both take place in Seattle, which I didn’t expect!—that there are a lot of pop culture references with very little explanation for people who might not understand them. I suppose books have always included a bit of that. But, for example, Bee in Where’d You Go, Bernadette keeps saying she’s making a Kubrick reaction face, and I feel so lost myself whenever she says that. Is that a thing regular people say? It takes place in 2012, too. Not really Kubrick’s era.

Now that I see it, I understand but I’m not used to things like that making me have to look them up. I wonder if it’s a sign of the age of the author? Also, what fifteen-year-old would use that term? It comes out of nowhere. It’s not like Bee is watching 2001: A Space Odyssey or A Clockwork Orange and then starts referencing it. Anyway, I think it’s a good idea for writers to try to limit pop culture references because it might age things and also confuse people.

I pay attention to my use of pop culture references in my novel. In my opinion, if it’s relevant to the plot or characters or if it helps place the story in its setting, then a reference is okay. But too many is definitely distracting and can take people out of the story, especially if they’re going to their phone instead of reading!

Sheesh, do I sound old?

* I always envision myself doing spins and tricks like a figure skater, but um. I mostly will be trying not to fall and hoping my ankles don’t hurt too much. Just know I imagine myself as the next Sarah Hughes. That’s what goes on in my head when I’m going skating.

Time was still, but hours must really have rushed by.

Sara Mazariegos

The whole “cats are bad pets” argument. I was planning to see The Bride! last weekend, but then I saw people sharing and discussing an interview with Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal (and it’s not an old interview, because they were promoting Hamnet which is nominated this year for awards.) She said she hates cats and forced her husband to get rid of his two cats if he wanted to be with her. People are entitled to their opinions, but that is abusive behavior, both to her husband’s cats and to her husband. It’s not cute.

Also, cats are wonderful pets. This perception that they’re “mean” is largely because the person saying that hasn’t ever had one, or they met one that didn’t like them so therefore all cats are mean and bad. Cats domesticated themselves and are very smart and loving to the people they love. They will follow you from room to room just to stay in your presence and see what you’re up to. They will fall asleep on your lap for hours, or snuggle with you in bed. Dogs are people pleasers, they’ll love anyone. Cats are more of an honor when they love you, because they’ve made sure you earned it.

So we’re not seeing The Bride! It also helps that it got pretty terrible reviews. We saw Hoppers instead, and it was adorable.

Give me dark mode or give me sunglasses. I’ve become so accustomed to dark mode on my devices that, when my work didn’t have it set up for the CRM we use, I had to find a browser extension so I wasn’t squinting to read things on it. The problem with the extension is that sometimes certain websites still don’t want to play nice.

Like WordPress, which I use to write this. For some reason, it decided the place where I write each post still needs to be bright white. A week ago it was working fine, and nice and black with white text. I hope the extension updates and makes WordPress black again. Now I feel like a vampire as I’m typing because it’s too bright. 🧛‍♀️

The number of the day is 1 for First World Problem. Ah ah ah!

Messi & Inter Miami in Baltimore! We went to Baltimore and saw a soccer match between Inter Miami (this time with Messi) and D.C. United. The stadium was great. Luis managed to buy us some tickets in the Caesar’s Club level, so there were nice bars and slightly nicer restrooms. I never had to wait in line, whereas the men’s room line was quite long at the end. It makes sense, when you think about it.

We waited until the last minute, almost, to get the tickets because you never know if Messi is actually going to play or if he’s resting/injured. It’s always fun to see him and his team play, and it’s a nice activity to share with Luis. There were quite a few kids this time, too, which was cute. Inter Miami narrowly beat D.C. which was a pleasant surprise. It’s more exciting if they don’t completely trounce the other team. After the game, we went and had some fancy food and drinks at a place called Nola.

Enjoyable books with unlikeable characters. I’m currently reading Where’d You Go, Bernadette? which I fittingly found in our neighborhood’s little free library. There’s a movie based on it that came out several years ago. In fact, when Luis and I saw Stephen Colbert’s show live in 2019, Cate Blanchett was on to promote it and part of the reason I grabbed the book off the little free library shelf is because we saw her talking about it. Take that, CBS. Stephen Colbert is great at promoting things.

Anyway. I’ve been feeling a bit like the kombucha lady with this book. The way it’s written, half epistolary and half narrated, is a little funky. It feels like the author, Maria Semple, was trying a little too hard to be quirky. And yet… I’m still reading it. Sometimes it makes me laugh, and I want to know what’s going to happen next. The character of Bernadette Fox is a frustrating one because she can be so dismissive and strange, and a little racist, but she’s also somehow sympathetic. I find her, so far, more off-putting than likable but I still care enough about her to find out what happens to her.

My favorite character is her daughter, Bee. She just wants to go to Antarctica.

Writing update. I’ve been enjoying the rewrite of my novel. I’ve added a lot more conflict to the characters’ situation. It’s a lot of internal stuff caused by external stuff, if that makes sense. I do get the feeling that, after this rewrite, I might take a long break from writing. It may be partially because it’s that time of year once more where I would rather look out the window at the birds and go frolic outside amongst the living rather than sit and write.

But I could also just be being overdramatic right now and I’ll get slapped by a fresh story idea once July rolls around. We’ll see.

I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive.

Sara Mazariegos

Figure Skating obsession. The Winter Olympics have ended. I always enjoy them every 4 years and wish I could watch more figure skating. When I was little (around 7 years old) I loved Oksana Baiul. I remember pretending to figure skate around the kitchen in my socks, which was actually quite dangerous and I’m glad I didn’t give myself further injury*. It’s one of few sports I actually feel excited about, the other being soccer.

When we first started watching this year, I was drawn to Alysa Liu because of her style and because she seems to genuinely have fun while she’s skating. She seems really cool. I hope we can maybe see her on a tour sometime. My family took me to see figure skaters on a tour when I was little.

For my birthday this year, we’re going ice skating with our friends. I took lessons a long time ago, with my sister. We learned how to twizzle and get up if we fall. I doubt I remember how to do either thing. But I’ll probably hold onto the wall a lot anyway. Becoming a figure skating pro will be something my Sim does, not me. Alas.

Haircut and enjoyable laidback weekends. I finally got a haircut last weekend, after about a year of long-hairedness. My hair style is usually a long bob with side bangs, so I went back to that. I saw my reflection and thought I looked normal again, which is always a good thing when it comes to haircuts. I enjoy wearing my hair up when it’s long, but it’s nicer to have it short and easier to manage.

Aside from going to the salon, we had a nice, laidback weekend without any big plans. It’s good to do that sometimes; it’s more relaxing. We watched some winter sports themed movies. I chose Ice Castles, starring Robbie Benson, for some more figure skating. Luis chose Sudden Death, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, which has some hockey in it but isn’t really a hockey movie. And then I got the silly song in my head.

Excitement about Disney/Universal trip. I’m so excited about our anniversary vacation to Disney World and Epic Universe, even though it’s still seven months away! Luis did all of the Disney planning already, for Christmas, so pretty much all I can do is wait. My cousin is going to help us get tickets to Universal, and we’re planning our first trip to their new park, but it’s too far away to really plan plan. I love looking forward to things, but waiting is also so frustrating.

We watched videos of the Jaws ride and the original King Kong ride the other night. Those rides were so cool! The King Kong animatronics were impressive and cute. The new version is quite sad in comparison. I wish they’d stop relying on screens. They’re cheap, sure, but they’re also dull.

I can’t wait to go see the new stuff at Epic Universe. I just wanna skip to October. Spoiled, first-world problems for sure. There’s just so much unpleasantness happening from all sides at all times, so it’s nice to have something to look forward to.

Farragut isn’t on a horse. The other day, I wrote about a statue close to my office and described the guy being on a horse, but then when I walked by after work I took the time to look at him and realized he’s not on a horse at all. And I realized that we’re all unreliable narrators, in a way. We don’t all remember things exactly as they happened.

I edited out the horse so my story is accurate. I want my narrators to be trust-worthy, even if they still don’t have all the correct information. They might have some fun misunderstandings along the way, but the least they can do is know what a statue they’re talking about looks like.

Observantly yours,

* When I was around 2 years old, I spun around while dancing to Star Search and hit my head against the family’s wooden TV stand. I have a lovely eyebrow scar to prove it.