Hello! It is Tuesday and I have been so excited to update you on my affairs. If you will, recall a post I wrote [platform redacted] oh my goodness will you look at that, it was literally a year ago. Midnight Meandering: Take Me Out. Don't go follow me on there I hate all apps and will be moving all of my online content here. The gist of it is that I wanted to be more involved in my community, going to local events, connecting with people who share my interests and passions, and to just slow down and appreciate life where I am now. I am trying to live more in my present, and yearn for a different time or place. Change will come, and I will miss times like these.
I am a bit of an introvert by design. I really enjoy spending time alone to recharge and connect with my inner self...The problem arises when I spend a majority of my recharge time sitting in my room...I thrive on stimulus. I can only watch so many YouTube videos and listen to the same playlist so many times before my recharging starts to feel like rotting.
Now that I’ve identified the problem of spending too much time wasting away indoors, here is my preliminary plan: go outside...I have this tendency to deprive myself of the simple pleasures in life when I feel like I don’t have everything in order. I am fortunate enough to live in Southern California and I want to start taking advantage of all the culture and beauty of my city.
Now that I feel like my life has been a lot more in order due to six months of intensely prioritizing my physical, mental, and fiscal well-being [as well as recently getting my driver's license yippie] I have been able to go to lots of exciting happenings about town. Each week I sit down and look for art and cultural going on in my area to add to my Google Calendar. I check out local collectives' Instagram pages, libraries, small cinemas, museums, and when really desperate browse around on Eventbrite [everything on there is a ponzi scheme or get rich quick self-help slop, don't even bother].
To put this plan into praxis, I’ve made myself a little monthly newsletter full of free and affordable events to go to. Up on the docket this month: a trip to two museums, one art gallery show, and one concert.
This past weekend I promised to meet my friend for coffee and thrifting for records, which was a major success. I bought my fourth and fifth new vinyls. As someone who built 95% of their collection off the dollar bin at my local library, and the bargain section of my go-to shop, spending $30 on a single record feels a bit wild. But, to hear Francis and Astrud's warm and fuzzy vocals through the speakers of my record player in the afternoon...a $60 well spent.
After the planned portion of our morning and early afternoon, we decided to pop to another part of town to hit up a vintage clothing spot I go to from time to time. The two cashiers were dressed super well and will come back later in the story, so keep them in mind.
Anyways, we called it a quits there, and I departed to go pick up my partner. A few days prior during my community events planning session, I saw that this cafe I used to go to from time to time with my more indie friends in college, was hosting a dinner and cinema event. Unbeknownst to me, they had started serving dinner and holding special events toward the end of the day.
I was a little anxious as we walked to the spot, because I couldn't find a lot of information on the event, and I was worried I got the date wrong, or it was canceled or something, but it was not! The hosts were super nice, the food was amazing, and everyone there was really funny and kind, good crowd good energy. For their first movie they were playing Tampopo, and the food pairing was handroll sushi.
As we sat and drank our beer, waiting for it to get dark enough for the film to start projecting on the side of the cafe building, I heard one of the barista/bartender/event hosts say that the "Projector was on the way." I thought it funny that someone somewhere was running from some far-off location, racing to hand deliver the projector to this brunch spot. Lo and behold, the vintage store cashier and their coworker walk up, projector in hand, doc martens on feet. It's a small world after all.
Overall takeaways: going to things is fun and worth the effort, sure I was sleepy and could have stayed home and felt a little pang of sadness in my stomach, like I had so many times before. Instead, I was introduced to new films, flavors, and quality time with friends and strangers alike.