#1 | full of sound and fury
Welcome to the first edition of tomorrow!
Plans for the blog
The blog name tomorrow is from the novel tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, which I read earlier this year and devoured. The book actually borrows the title from a soliloquy in Macbeth:
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
It has such gravity to it. It carves out sweeping amounts of space and then blinks to darkness with "signifying nothing." When I read this quote in the book, I immediately thought, "I see why she dedicated an entire novel title to this passage." The longer I stare at it, the better it gets. Which is partially why I named this blog after it—so I can think about it whenever I write, and I guess now you can think about it whenever you read it, too.
The other reason for the blog name is that writing has always been a meaningful way for me to savor the passage of time (i.e. the "petty pace from day to day" in the soliloquy). In high school, I wrote journals and poetry in bed after late nights spent studying. In college, I wrote about existential crises, searing heartbreak, and other growing pains on a blog under my irl identity and shared with my irl friends. But I previously attached writing to sadness and pain as well, and didn't ever build a routine around writing when things are simply content. This is my attempt to get better at that, too. So now I'm trying this, quietly talking to the void about adulthood and documenting what I can.
I'll initially aim to publish on a biweekly basis, but if that doesn't work, I'll re-evaluate. The format will probably be just like this one, where I open with the most pressing things on my mind and then end with random stories about my life.
Things I did recently
This is where I'll tell little stories about recent events.
1. Found a mahjong community
My mom has always wanted to play mahjong together, but we previously didn't have enough people interested, and learning from scratch can be difficult. I looked online for a local meetup and found one that actually meets very close to where I live, so I invited a friend to go with me. Everyone was so friendly and showed the other noobs and I the ropes. I realized afterwards that I have such a single-track mind. I was so caught up in learning the rules that I barely spoke to the people actually in front of me. But I'm going to the next meetup and will try to gather folks to get dinner afterwards :)
After the meetup, my friend and I slurped down some delicious ramen (it feels so good when a ramen place hits the spot. there seem to be a lot of mediocre ramen spots these days) and then went back to my place and chatted until the sun had long gone down. My roommate made us cocktails and I remember crying with laughter as she made stupid puns and then taught me a "secret handshake" prank she saw online where you mimic sucking dick. Lmao. I still can't believe I fell for that.
Anyway, I'm super excited about this because I've been searching for a way to make new friends, especially ones my age that live close to me. All my old friends live elsewhere. I can feel myself slowly growing roots and planting myself here.
2. Watched an opera
My mom came to visit me and we went to see the opera with my girlfriend. Tickets were actually not terribly expensive and I recognized the composer, too. The opera house had these glittering chandeliers and many people came dressed in gorgeous gowns and took photos. We were dressed fairly casually, but still had a good time.
The most interesting part to me was the captioning machine. Because the opera is all in Italian, each seat in the theater has a tiny screen in front of them with the English lyrics in real time (see below). I love simple technology like this! It's partially why I'm so drawn to 90s movies, because of the presence of technology sans internet.
3. Ate some tinned fish
I know, I know. I got into tinned fish because of tiktok. I feel like such a zoomer. I've actually tried a couple more artisinal cans but they haven't impressed me. The one I've enjoyed the most so far is actually a relatively cheap tinned mackerel with olive oil and lemon juice. I might just be a lemon juice addict, but I eat it on toast with creamy scrambled eggs and it's such an energizing way to start the day.
Media roundup
This is where I'll mention movies/tv/books/music/articles that I've consumed recently and want to share or discuss.
- I've been revisiting Brand New Eyes by Paramore. I didn't grow up listening to this album but wow Hayley Williams has an insane voice.
- I spontaneously watched Renfield (2023) with friends and it was actually so stupid and I enjoyed it. I feel like it's only funny if you're into vampire tumblr humor, but still. 3.5/5