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A So Lately Update

Feb 06, 2026

Zzzzzzzzz…. Zzz… Zzz… Zzzzzzzzz….

Pass me the creamed corn, Mr. Rogers…? Hey, what’re you doing…? Get off of the table…. Whoa, why are your teeth and nails growing so long…? And your eyes, why are they glowing red…? No, stop…. Get away…. Get away! GET A — !

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! AH! AH! AH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! AH! HUFF HUFF HUFF! Huff, huff, huff…. Huff, huff… sigh….

Man, that definitely wasn’t a wonderful day in the neighborhood….

Oh, hey everyone. How it’s going?

What? It’s 2026 already? February 6TH?! Jeez, I must have been really conked out.

I should probably get you all up to speed on what I’ve been doing, shouldn’t I? Or was it just a dream? Maybe that’s all life is: a strange, enigmatic, ongoing dream with no final destination….

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Whatever. I’ll tell you anyway. Just give me a sec.

Imagine me throwing my comforter aside, swinging my legs over the side of my bed, standing up and stretching both my arms and legs.

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrgh! POP! Aaah! Now, then….

WRITING UPDATES

After much thought and consideration, I’ve decided to make a few changes to my newsletter, Triple Layered Brain.

For one thing, I’m going to put the Really Real Interviews and the short stories on the back burner. I realized I was biting more than what I could chew and getting overwhelmed as a result.

I’ll still regularly post my So Lately updates and occasionally post funny stories from my life, but that’ll pretty much be it.

Speaking of my So Lately updates, I’m also going to post those on a monthly basis rather than weekly. Why? For the same reason I’m giving the Really Real Interviews and short stories a definite break. Plus, the coming Spring and Summer are going to be fairly busy for me, so I need to schedule my writing time to accommodate that.

With all of these changes, then what’ll be my main focus? No, it won’t be that slice of life comedy I was developing. I’m also putting that on the back burner as I was loosing momentum with it. I’ll probably return to it someday, though. My current project is another short novel, specifically a science fantasy action adventure one full of comedy and drama. The working title is “Two Lives.” I’ve written half of the outline so far.

I’m very excited about it! I feel like it’ll be something really unique!

PERSONAL UPDATES

Remember when I talked about that visit from Dominick Richardson, my dad’s biological father, back in November? Well, it was spectacular! He and his wife (who he brought with him) were both so incredibly warm and sweet! My family and I had such a blast getting to know them, and they definitely felt the same way about us!

Since our time with them, they’ve been saying they want to not only make us a part of their family, but also visit us again sometime in the Spring with them! Talk about enthusiastic!

I should probably also mention that Dominick Richardson isn’t the man’s real name. It’s Manuel. And you know what else? He lives in the Dominican Republic (realize where I got his pseudonym?). He gave me permission to publicize that information after I told him about Triple Layered Brain, insisting he wanted me to be an “open book” about it. Well, there you go, Manuel! The book is wide open!

Then December came. Cue falling snow.

Besides my writing (which took up most of my time during those wintery weeks), I participated in Tamsin E’s Cozy Winter Fantasy Prompt Challenge! Here are the two sketches that I drew for it:

It was so much fun! I wish I could have done more than just those two, but I was just so busy, typing away at my laptop!

Then Christmas and News Years came. Cue festivities.

I celebrated both wonderful yet overtly commercialized holidays with my family within the coziness of our home, and we really had a nice, relaxing time together, as we always do during that time of year.

I know the season is long past, but wanna see what I got for Christmas? No? Too bad. I’m gonna show you anyway.

1. Treasure of Soviet Animation Vol. 2

Recommend by the wonderful team at Animation Obsessive, I watched all three films over Christmas weekend. I was pleasantly surprised by how engaging they all were! Don’t get me wrong, I expected them to be enjoyable (especially the animation), but I didn’t expect them to be as much as they ultimately were!

2. Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony CD

A divine and beautiful album! That’s all I have to say!

3. Lake: Bucolic Gone vinyl record

Another spectacular album! That’s also all I have to say!

3. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Two Volume Box Set

This has been something that I’ve wanted for quite some time!

Ironically enough, though, I only read a few pages of the first volume, but I plan on reading more in the near future!

4. Invader Zim Funko Pops

I especially love the GIR Pop as he’s my favorite character in the show, next to Gaz.

5. Everybody Loves Raymond Complete Series Boxset

I did not expect this whatsoever! But my Mom and I both love the series, and we always talked about getting this for the longest time. So, I guess Christmas was a good a time as any to finally get it!

Ok, that’s all I got.

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Anyway….

Then January came. Cue never ending dullness.

Beyond writing, I haven’t done much other than recover from the holidays. What else are you gonna do after two weeks of sweets? However, I have also been doing a marathon of Star Wars films on Saturdays, particularly for the Prequel Trilogy and the Original Trilogy.

I finished the former a couple of weeks ago.

Here are the vintage DVDS that I watched them on, the only way to watch them, in my opinion:

While I enjoy both trilogies, I have to say the Prequel Trilogy is my favorite. Yeah, it’s far from perfect, specifically the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. But you can’t convince me it’s not a thousand times better than what Disney has been shoddily pumping out since 2015! For me, it’s more for its overall aesthetic than anything else, especially since all three films were made right before and shortly after the new millennium when (arguably) American cinema had more flare than it does now.

But if there’s one thing that I find particularly compelling about the Prequel Trilogy, it’s Anakin Skywalker’s arc. He genuinely wanted justice, order and peace in the galaxy from beginning to end, being notably motivated by the death of his mother, Shmi, and his love for Padme. But as he slowly became consumed by fear, indignation, distrust and hate, he also became terribly conflicted with what the Jedi Order taught him to be right, what he felt to be right and what Darth Sidious manipulated him into believing was right, tragically culminating in his transformation as Darth Vader and the rise of the Galactic Empire. It was a tense, delicate balance that inevitably drowned him in the Dark Side. And despite the Prequel Trilogy’s flaws, I think this contradiction is one of the elements that made it so palpably heartbreaking yet simultaneously special and a worthy precession to the Original Trilogy.

Well — ya-a-a-awn — that’s it. That’s all I have for today.

Now, if you excuse me, I’m gonna go back to sleep. I’m pretty pooped.

Until… until next… until next ti — zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….