July - August 2023
Optimistic By Radiohead
Solari By Ryuichi Sakamoto
Sparks By Coldplay
Bitch N****z By Dr. Dre
It Was a Good Day By Ice Cube
The Everglades (For Leonard) By Blur
Oklahoma City By Emile Mosseri
Dr. Hill By Ludwig Goransson
Song for Bob By Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
Sprinter By Dave & Central Cee
tenTHIRTYseven By Paris, Texas
Punching Bag By Wallice
PPP By Beach House
Everything Means Nothing To Me By Elliott Smith
Ingenue By Atoms for Peace
Look On Down from the Bridge By Mazzy Star
Sail to the Moon By Radiohead
On the Sea By Beach House
Glory Box By Portishead
Porque Te Vas? By Jeanette
FEEL BOUT ME By Eem Triplin
Things I Don’t Need By Human Tetris
Odiame By Julio Jaramillo
Long, Long, Long By The Beatles
In The Shadows By Emile Mosseri
Beautiful By The Smashing Pumpkins
Nude By Radiohead
Y Tu Te Vas By Chayanne
Toward the end of June, I was notified that my shift would be cut in half due to the writer's strike. The post-production company I work for was experiencing a slowdown. This slowdown meant there were fewer shows in production, less need for post work, and it took a lot less time than I thought it would for our well to dry up, but it did. This reduction in hours hurt initially, leading to a strange first month of wandering.
The first week, I spent most of my time roaming in Chinatown. Sitting out in front of Thank You Coffee and just thinking about what the fuck I was going to do. I wanted to write, but how, what, and when? I wasn't in love with any of my prior projects. I'm fed up with the idea of self-producing, directing, writing, and dragging a production to its end. I want to, but that is not what I want to put myself through right now. It had been about a month since I started hiking at Griffith Park regularly, where I became a regular for the 8 a.m.-11 a.m. Griffith Park hiking crowd. Regulars might frequent Griffith at their own specific times. Same with the cafes I go to. During that first week, I entertained being a DASH driver. I rewatched Jim Jarmuschs Patterson, a film I loved, or more than anything, I loved the idea of one day turning my life into a variation of that film. There was a week when I was looking into the Peace Corps. I just wanted to get away again. My life has been a lot of eventful situations, putting me in a giant spiral.
I was not on any regiment and had lost about 3 pounds from 206.2 to 202.8 from April 18 to June 26, but I mainly felt stuck. However, I should have been happy since I was down from 245 pounds in July 2022. Even though my body was taking a different shape due to the hiking, I did not see much difference in the scale. I was also scared that with more time and financial stress, I might start indulging in food that might induce binging (staring at cookies suspiciously). After weeks of entertaining a couple different careers, I decided to use the time to settle down, try new cafes, exercise, and watch new films. I didn't do all of them every day, but I stuck to one or the other on most days, and after 100 days, I am more relaxed because of it. I returned to cafes I had not ventured to in a while and met wonderful people while doing it. I also had this cool-ass playlist accompanying me to try all these great Matchas.