My Summer's Tale

Seasons bring truth; when I found mine, it was summertime

Aug 31, 2024

Prologue:
The Start of Summer, June

High School Musical 2 premiered in August of 2007 after I completed my freshman year of high school. I truly believe HSM2 is the best installment from the Disney trilogy (I am also a lover of movie sequels, lol). How can you not enjoy the exaggerated sets, melodramatic line delivery, and over-saturated color grading? I fear it’s my ideal summer movie. So, while I never had the luxury of spending my summer months at a country club like Sharpay and Ryan, I still feel drawn to the carefree energy of summer vacation and endless possibilities that the film so vividly conveys.

I haven't been in school in almost a decade, but nothing beats a summer break after a full school year. I was able to broaden my mind and hone my ability to imagine during those brief three months of vacation that I didn't get to do in school. When I was in high school, I filled my summer days watching the requisite French New Wave films, binge-listening to the Jonas Brothers, and stockpiling international fashion magazines from Barnes & Noble. Summers were always a big deal to me; it was my freedom and figuring myself out (sorry to be corny, but it’s true). Before entering or returning to adulthood and making important, difficult choices, summer vacation was a transitory borderland. The season brought in a plethora of mixed feelings that ranged from apprehension to excitement.

I've been feeling stagnant for a long time now, and for the very first time in a long time, I have an impulse to push over this invisible obstacle in my life. It's only now that I'm at ease enough to take measures. I long for the boundless summertime spirit I felt as a teen, back when I wasn't concerned of making mistakes. I have yet to figure things out (whatever that means).

I'm definitely a fan of colder temperatures, but then I remember that I have lived in San Diego for 22 years. As a result, warm weather raises serotonin levels in my brain as much as I reject it. I just wish I could remind myself that sweating in the summer isn't the most awful thing.

Heat (Hey Arnold! Season 1; Episode 6) (1996)

Chapter I:
NYC, June

This year in NYC, the summer solstice hard launched with thunderstorms and sweltering, nearly 100-degree heat. I've lived here for nearly eight years, and I can't recall ever seeing an early June this humid. I dread this type of weather because it frizzes my already frizzy, thick hair and causes sweat beads to accumulate on my already oily face. How is it that no one else sweats as much as I do while waiting for the subway? Speaking of subways, I visited the New York Transit Museum for the first time early this year and surprisingly enjoyed it while learning a lot about the ever-changing NYC MTA. Below is one of my favorite metro posters from the 1950s that I saw on my visit, encouraging New Yorkers to hop on the subway to the iconic Coney Island.

The Subway Sun, Vol XXV, No. 16, 1958. from the New York Transit Museum

I've already been to Coney Island this summer, and it's become one of my favorite summer traditions. When I'm riding the Cyclone rollercoaster, you can be sure it's summertime. A number of my favorite things come together in Coney Island: people watching, fast roller coasters, and rainbow sprinkles atop vanilla soft serve. This year, I confronted my fears by riding the Slingshot (a ride I’ve always avoided for some reason) with my friend Myles. I felt insanely terrified beforehand and screamed the entire time, but when I landed back on the ground, I said, "Wait, that was actually kinda fun." It can take me years at times to come to the understanding that doing the scary things in life can be enjoyable and rewarding.

Yes, I bought the video footage from the Slingshot, but I’ll save you the pain of my deadly screams so here’s a screenshot of said video.

Currently dark sweets cherries, blueberries and lychees have been my go to fruits for breakfast.

Even though I don't think summer is my favorite of the four seasons, I do enjoy the long, bright days that end at 8:30 p.m. The in-season fruits and flowers during this season are so exciting and beautiful to me. Perhaps it's my love-hate connection with summer that keeps me intrigued, confused, and inspired simultaneously.

The Midnight Sun (The Twilight Zone Season 3; Episode 10) (1961)

I couldn't stop taking photos of palm trees during my California trip. They looked extra beautiful this time around

Chapter II:
From LA to SD and back, July

More than a month has passed since I began writing this. I began this in June, but we are currently in July. I didn’t have the time or energy to finish it during my unplanned two and a half week work trip that consisted of a semi-vacation to both Los Angeles and San Diego. While I was gone, I had a hot and dry summer on the west coast, but I felt fortunate to have avoided nearly a week's worth of heat waves and muggy thunderstorms in NYC. As usual, the weather in San Diego was perfect as always. I enjoy going back home to San Diego for a mini summer vacation, but it’s such an unsettling feeling when the city makes me feel like a child and an adult at the same time.

When I’m back home, I roll down the car windows to flip off my high school as I pass by it, eat tapsilog at my childhood favorite Filipino restaurant, and go through high school yearbook pages just to wonder what all my classmates are doing now. All of these feelings are combined with less enjoyable sentiments, such as needing to be a mother to my mother while understanding that I have turned into my mother. I break down when I walk past my childhood home, curious what the current family is like. I visit my aunt’s grave to say my prayers and gift her favorite flowers: red roses.

I'm perpetually contemplating whether I want to stay in New York or move to Los Angeles. Maybe it's because Los Angeles appears to be the perfect equilibrium of being close to home while still being far enough away to feel sane. That specific notion lasts a few days and then dwindles as soon as I'm on the Q train, enjoying my favorite view of the Manhattan skyline. Don't ask me to choose between palm trees and the skyline, although if I had to, I'd choose the latter at this moment.

Back in April, I wrote about spring here and mentioned A Tale of Springtime from Eric Rohmer's Tales of the Four Seasons. So this time it's about A Summer's Tale, which carries the themes of reflection and renewal that are prevalent across Rohmer's most summertime movies.

These two themes appear to be especially prevalent in my personal life as I go over the journal entries from the summer. I write a lot more while I'm in a downward spiral, but I'm gradually becoming better at writing when I'm feeling content. It acts as a reminder to myself that I am capable of happiness, which must be memorialized! As I go through my old journals, I come across one entry marked August 8, 2016 that reads, "i booked one-way plane tickets to NYC!! i’m so excited but scared. it'll be great though." This August marks the eighth anniversary of my move to NYC. It's laughable to think it took me nearly eight years to feel at home here. I’m finally starting to feel brand new.

Chapter III:
San Francisco, August

As August approaches to a close, summer is quickly approaching a conclusion, and I will soon have to say goodbye to those late sunsets and summertime fruit. I find so much romance in the month of August, especially the weeks near the end of summer. There is a sense of warmth and enchantment that early summer lacks. My days start to feel hazy and then all of a sudden they clump together into one, and I lose count of each passing day of the week.

I've spent the entire week in San Francisco, Ca for work. Returning to California for the second time this summer and exploring another region of my home state makes me feel so fortunate and inspired. Despite having spent my whole life in California, I have never visited San Francisco; in fact, the northern part of California ought to be considered a separate world to me. It looks and feels nothing like the southern California I am used to. I achieved a significant victory in that I hardly perspired at all. It's incredibly rare for me to be able to wear trench coats and lightweight knits in mid-August.

When I'm in a new city, my tourist inclinations usually take over, and honestly, that's okay with me. I got to see the windy Golden Gate Bridge, the beautiful Palace of the Fine Arts, and The Painted Ladies. The city's foliage was the richest, most vivid shade of green I've seen in California.

Photos of the foliage and flowers I took in San Francisco

Chapter IIII:
Summer's end returns to NYC, August

I was immediately struck by the oppressive heat as soon as I arrived in JFK airport and stepped off the plane. Even though I anticipate such interaction, it nevertheless surprises me each time. For the remainder of the month, I'll be spending time in NYC, and I can't wait to sleep in my own bed. All of my summertime memories and feelings resurface when I read what I wrote back in June.

I believe that I finally discovered the particular reminiscence I was searching for back in June this summer. Even though I can't possibly recreate my childhood summers as a thirty-one-year-old, I seem to have achieved it in some little way. I read all of the books I meant to read this time around. I had the pleasure to enjoy time with all of my closest friends. I watched every film I wanted to watch. I started watching the series Criminal Minds (my new addiction, and I am now on season 6). I've shocked myself in so many ways, said "yes" more, and ultimately chopped my almost-buttocks-length hair into a french bob à la Amélie. Lastly, you would be astonished to learn that I only sobbed twice this entire summer.

Left: Long hair in San Francisco / Right: Short hair in NYC

Though my perfectionism impeded my work, I managed to publish this piece of writing before the end of the summer, which is something I told myself I would do. I admit I was hesitant to finish since after the piece was completed, summer was pretty well done in the past. I was enjoying myself too much for it to come to an end. I made it through yet another weird, confusing, and sweaty summer, and I'm already anticipating towards the next one.