The nice thing about having a mostly empty schedule for Friday night and Saturday was being able to spend a nice and relaxing Shabbos in Los Angeles.

Many friends attended the Barbie party on Saturday night. I didn’t attend because it was at capacity by the time I heard about it on Friday morning. I didn’t go out at all on Saturday night but that’s because multiple outlets still owe me money for work from this past summer. One of those outlets is on a publication pause, which sucks because that’s the one where I wasn’t really writing about film but other things. It is inexcusable to enter the month of December and not pay for freelance work written in August. As a result, I’m essentially on a complete spending freeze until that money finally comes in or I start making enough through Substack revenue, which is easier said than done.

Barring a surprise miracle in the next few weeks, it’s very unlikely that I make the trip for the Critics Choice Awards in January. It’s the biggest highlight of the year since I don’t live in NY/LA and Chicago doesn’t feature anywhere close to what LA and NY have to offer.