Its already August and I’m still reeling from the month of July. Normally a month can pass in a flash but this July was so action packed and filled to the brim with a little of everything that I actually felt time slowing down for the first time, in a very long while.
In July I got a lot of good news and many beautiful events took place. There were several weddings, new children were born, and I had a chance to travel and reconnect with old friends I love.
At an outdoor firework display, I weaseled my way to the very front where the fireworks were lit because I always wanted to get as close as possible to watch. I was so close this year that a few times I had to lay flat on the grass because it looked as if the rocketing fireworks were headed directly at us when they launched. I did scream, but in a good way. It was really exciting. I’ve never seen fireworks that close from that angle. I know it’s a very bad pun but it was a blast!
Two loved ones I was very worried about both got surprising reprieves from their doctors. Throughout most of June my father and I spent hours on the phone preparing for his demise. I was very scared I was going to receive bad news last month that would signal the beginning of the end. Instead in mid-July we got an all’s clear from my father’s doctor and a little more time together. A dear friend who had been seriously ill got good news as well and it felt as if the universe was letting us all up for a breath of air. A sense of joy and relief reigned.
My wedding anniversary and birthday are both in July. I have a long running tradition that every birthday, I challenge myself to try something new that’s outside my comfort zone. One not-long-ago-birthday I promised myself I would learn to type and start writing. Another I walked into a body-piercing saloon and got pierced. An earlier year I raced along a series of steep fire roads that stretch across the Santa Monica Mountains from morning to nightfall, by myself just to know I could still do it.
By comparison this year will sound pretty tame. I’d never taken a yoga class in my life. I’ve been carefully avoiding yoga all these years because I was certain I would be bored out of mind and hate it. I went to the yoga class on my birthday and left class trembling, sweaty and tear-streaked with gratitude. I cried cathartic tears holding some of the deeper stretches and felt very grateful I took the class. I loved it and I’ve been in a yoga class every other day since.
In July I completed and turned in two short fiction projects. Now the waiting begins… I’m keeping myself busy working on several longer WIPs.
I saw a lot of movies in July, more than I usually see because an ingenious local theater has started dropping prices on slightly older movies, which means we get a second chance to see everything on a big screen, at bargain prices.
We saw “X-Men First Class” The other day and I absolutely loved it. I was totally surprised because I went into the theater with low expectations. X-Men First Class was so well written and acted. It beautifully explains the X-men mythology. During the beginning of the movie both my husband and my son whispered at the same moment. “This is the best X-Men ever!” Warning this X-Men isn’t for the little kids in the group. There are a lot of adult themes going on. One is a gripping scene in the beginning where young Erik (The future Magneto) is the Jewish victim of a very cruel experiment overseen by a Nazi doctor played by Kevin Bacon who makes a AAA villain. Kevin Bacon is fantastic and speaks the first ten minutes of the film in flawless German with subtitles. There is a lot of conflict, guilt and shame dropped on poor Erik’s character, which sets us up perfectly for a complex, messed–up and exciting-as-hell adult Erik played by Michael Fassbender.
I’m a new fan of Michael Fassbender. I think this handsome 34 year old German/ Irishman is one the most exciting actors with depth to come along in a while. You may have already seen Fassbender cast in starring roles as Lt. Archie Hicox in “Inglourious Basterds”, the newest version of Jane Eyre or playing the part of Stelios in “300”. Good news is there’s more to come. He’s been cast to play the pioneer psychologist Carl Jung across from Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud in David Cronenberg’s upcoming film “A Dangerous Method”. I predict Michael Fassbender will play James Bond someday. He’d be perfect.
There was so much that was good about July, I hope August can equal it.
XXOO Kat
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