The newsletter has been in limbo the past few weeks for a number of reasons: lack of inspiration, personal and professional obligations, and just plain laziness.
I am sorry to the dedicated readers who come back every week (I see you), but the wait for “normal” “content” will be a little longer. One, it is spooky season, and I like to dedicate a lot of my free time to watching horror, thinking about horror, and reading about horror; and two, I am attempting to the first draft of my book by the end of the year.
There will be attempts at a weekly letter, but it might not always be on a Sunday. It will also be shorter and varied in content, more of a catch up on the week’s news and interests. November will be a catch all, and December is planned as a “best of” wrap up featuring my favorite films, books, etc, of the year.
I am fully aware that this newsletter is about as low stakes as it can get—zero money and zero outside pressure—but I take pride in my ability to stick with it, so I feel like writing my end of year goals will self-motivate.
So, with that, let’s get on with the show!
The Big News
Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker got engaged this month! They really couldn’t let Holden and I have the spotlight, could they?
KK and TB, along with their BFC (best friend couple), Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly, exemplify the return of big goth energy—the melodrama and irony, public displays of affection, Doc Martins, dark lipstick, unresolved issues about your parent’s divorce, fishnet stockings. Suburban rebellion at its finest. I personally love the vampiric-kitschy love of their whole affair because it is something I could never pull off. Walking around a Hot Topic always brought on cold sweats.
Kourtney is living out every girls dream of the pretty, overlooked sister getting with the skater boy. She is the girl at the beginning of Avril Levine’s “Sk8er Boi” if that girl had a redemptive arch.
We love dark, twisted love stories—monster mash romance. It’s why there are so many stories about “not like other girls” girl falling for “from the wrong side of the tracks” boys. It’s all better left in literature, though.
Travis seems like an okay guy despite the rocker reputation. If anything, Scott Disick was the true horror of Kourtney’s life—just to reiterate, I don’t know these people.
Bonus thought: the 00’s punk-pop trend among Gen Z is like how 90s kids loved ska music and bowling shirts.
“The Lump”
Oh yeah, Holden and I are engaged, as well. That’s right. Everyone who placed a bet in the *squints at paper* 12 year courtship bracket are big winners today.
Holden popped the question on one of our favorite overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We have been to the site many times because the easy trail up the grassy hill lead to picturesque views. The whole experience makes you feel like the main character without having to work hard.
In an alarming plot twist, we found out after the fact that the site is called “The Lump”. The Lump. Holden proposed on The Lump. I got engaged on The Lump. Our shared history is forever linked to The Lump.
On top of that, The Lump has a dedicated plaque (we should have read it) at the beginning of the trail for a man named Tom Dooley who either killed, or was wrongly convicted of killing, his girlfriend—talk about punk rock!
The Party
This weekend was our annual Halloween party. I take great pride in planning, and it is one of the only social events that I take seriously.
One night takes weeks of prep work and many walks down the cheese aisle of Trader Joe’s. Afterwards, I feel like I need an intensive week of relaxation because I use my full reserve of sociability for this one night.
I’ve got to hand it to my friends who planned their weddings. I cannot even imagine the emotional toll, and it is exactly the reason Holden and I will not have a “formal” wedding. Yes, there will be a party—don’t ask when or where—but I would need a full month in a dark, cool room to recover from a full-blown affair, and I don’t think that is what a celebration of that magnitude should feel like.
I can only imagine Travis and Kourtney’s wedding. Lots of red roses or black eyeliner. A black wedding dress?