Sycamore Press July 2024: Whoa. Oh… We’re Halfway There??

This is a weird one to write. Already we’re finding ourselves in the latter half of 2024. For me, this realization is just one half of a devastating one-two punch, as I am also turning 25 this Friday. I know it doesn’t really mean as much as we’re tempted to think that it does, but it’s still a scary milestone when so much in my life feels like an unsatisfactory work in progress.

Still, it’s also a birthday, and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to try to have some fun! I have worked really hard this year, so I think I deserve it. I even consulted the WikiHow article “How to Enjoy Your Birthday” for tips. Plus, it’s on a Friday and, for me, a day off. And you know what? Writing to you all again is kind of a birthday gift in itself. I can’t wait to tell you what I’ve been up to!

“His childhood was dead or lost and with it his soul capable of simple joys and he was drifting amid life like the barren shell of the moon.”*

— James Joyce, Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man

*Sorry for picking such a bummer quote — I promise there is fun and levity and good news in this newsletter!

General Life Updates

Unfortunately, I must begin again on a sad note. On June 10th, Sonora & I bade farewell to our longtime companion and friend, Wally the guinea pig. He was at least 7 years old and lived a vigorous life to the very end. We’re told he even sired children (before he came into our care). He will be sorely missed and fondly remembered always.

The weather has been hot. Really, really hot. We’ll get up to 115F this week, which is no surprise. We’ve had some relief from the brutal sun rays lately, on and off, at the cost of having to endure some humidity. It even rained the other day. During the day!

Don’t believe me about the heat? Just ask the grackles. They roam in languid waddles, mouths agape, trying to get some evaporative cooling going.

I’ve got to get in the pool. I ordered a new bathing suit that I’m hopeful I won’t feel too gross in. Oh, anyway, therapy has been going pretty well so far. It hasn’t cost me an arm and a leg, as I’d worried it would, and they have La Croix in the waiting room. They diagnosed me with OCD, by the way. At least for now. Is that oversharing?

I also signed up for a book club focused on lit in translation. I am so excited. This might be my most solid lead in the quest for friendship, especially based on my reading of the vibes. The first meeting is on July 10th. I’m so excited!! Did I say that already? I’m also going to try to go to an Emo Night this weekend (as lame as those can be sometimes) at one of my favorite local venues (which definitely isn’t lame). I can’t wait to hear all my favorite bands like Indian Summer and Off Minor! ;)

Work has been going well enough! More of the same, mostly. A paper I published last year won an award! Well, an honorable mention. But it comes with a $100 prize, which warrants a “hell yeah” in my book!

Food & Drink

If nothing else, the shameless, squee-ing hipser joy I feel using my little Coolpix has helped me remember to photograph more meals, including a lot of my own cooking. So check these out!

Arts & Entertainment

After a brief and difficult period of no having a book to read, I am back in the saddle. I knocked out Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s novella Kappa (which was amazing) and then jumped right into James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man since I read his Dubliners earlier this year (and Portrait was on sale in a nice-looking paperback with thorough end notes for all the esoteric Irish and Catholic references and lingo). Next up is Kwon Yeo-sun’s Lemon for the book club. After that will probably be Clarice Lispector’s The Apple in the Dark, although I’m hoping to pepper in some non-fiction at some point soon. Anyway, I’m on a rampage! Books have been my trusted companions in my loneliest moments (of which there have been many).

Since it’s the summer, I’m allowing a little more ska into my musical diet, especially records like ska-punk classics Energy and Everything Goes Numb. I’m also tentatively planning a viewing of Paris, Texas for this weekend, which I’ve been meaning to see for at least a month now. I might be able to catch Challengers and I Saw the TV Glow in theaters ‘cause there’s a cheap local place which seems to cater to cinema slackers like myself who don’t leave the house enough to see the newest flicks.

Please send recommendations of all kinds! Also, I really really really truly promise I’ll post something of my own creation next month. Probably even some goofy animals!!

Reflections

I always underestimate how hard things will be (except for the many many cases when I way way way overestimate how hard extremely easy things will be, but that’s beside the point). And I (actually for real) always underestimate how long things will take. Cultivating a truer version of myself, finding things to romanticise and be excited about in life, soothing my anxious brain, building good habits, white-knuckling past the stubborn reflex to keep my feelings quiet, and fighting a full-scale war against my semi-self-imposed loneliness and isolation…it’s all been hard and slow going. I’m not even really sure whether I’m reaping the rewards yet at this point. But I’ll keep at it out of what I guess you might call faith.

I can’t wait to tell you about my kick-ass birthday weekend. I wish I could throw a big party and invite all of you. Anyway, thanks for reading another one of these. Seriously. Like, if you made it all the way here to the bottom you are a certifiable ride-or-die! I’m sorry there were so many pictures this time. I’ll try to restrain myself come August. Maybe. Talk to you soon! I love you!!!

—N