Born on the 5th of July Tag

Record 31: Monterey, Sunday, July 5th, 2015. Day. Old John does his crossfit exercises on the wharf’s edge. He does them at sunup, not only for the sake of adding a, yes, hint of drama to the retelling of his daily crossfit undertaking, but, he will tell you, because he is infatuated with the sun, and its location relative to him mid-burpee. When asked why the sun is so arresting to him, he will tell you to think of a world with no natural light. A world artificially lit inRead More

Record 30: Temecula, Friday, July 5th, 2013. Day. On the weekends we ride our Schwinn mountain bikes through the park and smile. Mother is the leader of the Schwinn bicycle trips and she signals where to turn left and where to turn right. She does this because she is the leader, and leaders of Schwinn bicycle trips know where we turn. We all smile. And follow. We sip from our individually customized plastic water bottles during our rest period at the alcove, shaded by California sycamore trees. Father explains toRead More

Record 29: San Francisco, Saturday, July 5th, 2014. Day. Here ye here ye all you radders ‘n rollers! Dat Bar: BAR is straight opening its doors TONIGHT for an unofficially and totally incomparably lit 4th of July after-soiree! That’s right, it’s that summer season of sippin’, so trip on in for a coupla brews and kickback with Dat Bar: BAR’s in house groove dude, DJ dubblaLICKAbron! He’ll be lettin that bass drop all nite dear brahs and brahdesses, and word on the street is DJCM’s crushin’ the illest brat-pop dubwaverRead More

Record 28: Sacramento, Friday, July 5th, 2013. Night. The locker room is a church at halftime. Winning or losing, it doesn’t matter. It’s where we come together for reassurance. For motivation. Hope. At least, this is what I’m told I should believe. There’s the smell of sweat. Old Spice. Axe body spray nonsense. Cedar from the open window. But this is all familiar. Tonight, there’s a sting in the air. Something sour in the space between our heads and the cement ceiling. My players, the kids, they’re sucking air inRead More

Record 27: Six Flags Magic Mountain, Saturday, July 5th, 2014. Day. Today 4:34 PM haha gurl i just puked onn some kids bugs bunny stuffed animal thing lol…relax tho. i bought her a new one 😛 n e way imma hit up superman soon, at like sundown cause we wanna see th fireworks (aiden said their still lighting frieworks off tonight even though the 4th was yesterday) so if u dont wanna go thats cool, but just tell me whats up. u didn’t show up for tatsu an i knowRead More

Record 26: Bakersfield, Friday, July 5th, 2013. Day. On Fridays this summer we go to the Aquatic Center where I do activities in the pool. Today is a Friday and so today I am having my swimming lesson while my mom and Francis eat hot dogs and drink diet soda at the barbecues. They are wearing their swimsuits but they don’t get in the pool very often, and it makes me wonder why I have to be the family swimmer. Right now I’m on my stomach with my arms stretchedRead More

  Record 25: Malibu, Saturday, July 5th, 2014. Day. in the coffee bean today. it’s the afternoon. i don’t feel well. there’s a crumbling that starts in my forehead. it spreads to the back of my skull, and charges down my spine like lightning. i don’t want to lose again. last game was a wrecked train. 42-6. and it was cuz of me. coach said. i remember this and feel upset. today is another day. i drink my venti iced white mocha latte and do my stats homework that iRead More

Record 24: Death Valley, Saturday, July 5th, 2014. Day. John Shane sits in a cowboy-cool diner in Death Valley. The sun hangs low in the sky. He knows this, because he can see the sky outside the window. The window has smudges on it. And like a rush, he remembers: this is a dream. This never happened. Nothing is real, except smudged windows and cowboy diners. “Why am I here?” John thought, in his head, where thoughts the coffee shop, the wooden booths and sawdust floor. Slow spinning ceiling fansRead More

  Record 23: San Diego. Friday, July 5th, 2013. Day. There was a jacuzzi at the bed and breakfast that no one used. It sat in its faux-plastic glory beneath a stained red awning, shriveled and crusted from rainfall and neglect. The water was the coolest blue you could imagine. Like 5 star hotel swimming pools. You could see to the bottom without debris clouding your vision, or obstructing your view in any way. That’s what Maddie thought. That’s what Maddie told Cool Josh the night before the wedding, inRead More

Record 21: Santa Monica Pier, Monday, July 5th, 2010. Evening. Tobin and Orlando were at the pier and eating cotton candy, watching panhandlers dance and do bad magic. Tobin, a strapping young man with clean clothes and quite the sane mind, sat outside the arcade under some pretty dang cool neon lights. Neon lights. Tobin, whose age was a number, had his eyes locked on the famous Bubba Gump restaurant. Tobin had a wild hankering for some seafood. “Seafood?” Orlando’s arms were large and swollen. He wore a tanktop withRead More

  Record 20: Moraga, CA, Friday, July 5th, 2019. Night. For months now, the outsider had been dying. Six months ago this same day, folks watched as the sun set for the last time over the mountains at precisely 7:02 pm, as their iPhones had informed them. A sadness hung in the now-forever night air, inert and disarmed, and waiting. Some folks called it the apocalypse. Some called it fate. Some, global warming. None of it mattered anymore, none of the theories and predictions. The modern folks, they were notRead More

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Record 18: Disneyland, Thursday, July 5th, 2012. Day. Haven is visiting Disneyland with her family. Haven has 2 brothers. One brother’s name is Jamie. He’s 18. The other brother’s name is Hampton. He’s 19. Haven is 14. Haven’s mom is 43. Her name is Mary. Haven’s dad is 44. His name is Ned. The family is waiting in line for ‘It’s a Small World.’ Hampton checks Twitter on his iPhone. Ned checks ESPN Sportscenter on his iPhone. Jamie has a Smartphone. “You haven’t responded to my Candy Crush.” Jamie tellsRead More

  Record 17: Irvine, CA, Friday, July 5th, 2013. Day. Hey what’s up. I’m Audrina. I’m hungover from last nite when I got really drukn at Mackey’s 4th of July party at his place in Dana Point and I’m still pretty fucked up. I madeout with no one, and I don’t really wanna talk about that much lol so I won’t. But I did meet this 1 guy, and that’s like the whole story I wanna go into or whatever but right now I think I might fucking puke again.Read More

Record 16: Torrance, CA, Tuesday, July 5th, 2011. Night. I’m not going to tell you that I like what I do. I do what I do because when I do it I don’t do it poorly. So what is IT? Let’s break IT down: (note: I’m using numbers instead of letters for arbitrary reasons that I don’t feel like explaining because I write for free and explaining arbitrary reasons defeats the arbitrariness of those reasons). 1. I have sex with old women. Not older women. OLD women. 2. I don’tRead More