Eclectic Brain Party
Flash fiction, theme park nerddom, and an important life update
Paid Subscribers: Today, there is no audio newsletter as I am currently traveling in Hawaii! I’ll be back to recording audio newsletters once we return home (after our wedding!!!).
New Subscribers: Welcome to The Giggler! We’re on a never-ending quest for amusement and unadulterated fun here. Sometimes, my newsletters contain ridiculous short stories to make you chuckle. Sometimes, I share updates from my life as a voice actress and writer; other times, it’s all about my adventures in learning to draw. Today’s post is a combo pack. A little life update, a little theme park nerdery, a sprinkle of humor, and some original fiction. Thank you for riding the wave with me—I’m so grateful you’re here. 💛
🌊 Life Lately: From Diagnosis to Ocean Vibes
Hey Gigglers,
After I sent my previous newsletter about the diagnosis that felt like a death sentence, we moved, we unpacked, we packed, and we took a plane ride over to Hawaii for a much-needed getaway before our upcoming wedding. All within two weeks!
I'm glad we made this trip longer than usual because it took the entire first week of us being here for me to even begin to feel relaxed. Now that my cortisol has returned to a somewhat normal range, I’m thinking like myself again. I’m not as panicked and I’m easing into my familiar curious and creative headspace.
I'm writing this from a patio overlooking the ocean. The sunlight on the water looks like diamonds dancing, and it feels like my body is literally drinking the humidity. It’s centering, healing, and creatively invigorating (even though I forgot my drawing tablet... I can’t believe I left it charging on my desk! 🤪).
🫣 Opening Up: The Diagnosis
Before we get to flash fiction and nerdy theme park updates, I wanted to stop being vague about the “feels like a death sentence” diagnosis I mentioned in my last email. Okay, here is the fully transparent truth…
My fiancé has been diagnosed with ALS.
It’s been two years since strange neurological symptoms started showing up, and a few months since we got the official word. The diagnosis came out of nowhere—especially considering how insanely healthy he is. The man never gets sick. He heals like Wolverine. It’s freaking bizarre and just doesn’t make sense!
That’s probably why it took us so long to figure out what was going on. We now have multiple doctors—some who’ve given up on him before even trying (and those are the so-called “experts”), and others who are pointing us to new developments in ALS treatment. Some even think this might not be ALS but something else entirely. It’s all confusing, frustrating, and exhausting.
We’ve already started alternative treatments, and when he began a carnivore diet months ago, his symptom progression seemingly halted. That alone felt like a miracle. Now our mission is twofold:
Eliminate the root cause.
Heal from the damage.
He continues to amaze me with his strength and spirit. I love him so deeply. Please pray for him. His name is Kealoha. 💛
(I was hesitant to share that with you, but admitting our situation out loud somehow makes the weight of this easier to carry. It feels much better knowing we aren’t alone in this. Thank you for being here.)
😅 Finally Relaxing
This diagnosis has flipped our world upside down, not to mention the landlord’s surprise letter we received, which led to our last minute move right before this trip!
It took me a few days for my stress to recede enough to realize we’re on a vacation. Then for the rest of the first week here, I was constantly researching and talking to doctors. But once we learned about a new treatment possibility, my stress began shifting into hope.
I finally relaxed enough to laugh at Jack Black playing a teenage girl trapped in a middle-aged man’s body in Jumanji. (“OMG there’s literally a penis attached to my body right now—Martha come look at my penis!”) 💀
🎢 Theme Park Joy = Instant Energy Boost
And THEN… I absentmindedly opened up X (formerly Twitter), and OMG—
Epic Universe sneak peeks are flooding in from passholder previews and they are giving me life. (Ugh, I recoil from that saying but in this case it’s actually true!)
For those who don’t know, I grew up just an hour from the theme park capital of the world. Every summer was a storytelling feast! Theme park storytelling is on a whole other level of storytelling and I am always down to geek out about it. I’ve even been to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea! Theme parks (NOT amusement parks… that’s a discussion for another time) are in my DNA, largely thanks to my brother who we half-jokingly believe is Walt Disney reincarnated. Sometimes I listen to the entrance music to Islands of Adventure just to feel alive. It gives me the equivalent of ten espressos worth of energy. Not kidding.
🌀 Let the chaotic squealing ensue
Anyway, here are a few links to give you a taste of the amazing storytelling packed into Orlando’s newest Universal Studios park expansion, Epic Universe. This is the content I’m obsessed with right now:
General awe at the scale and beauty
Nighttime moonlit lighting trick in Dark Universe
Seemingly real magic in the newest Harry Potter expansion
The awesome animatronics in How to Train Your Dragon land (look at Toothless during this meet and greet! Unreal! I’m totally Kids are totally gonna freak!)
Dragons flying over the Isle of Berk!
The kinetic energy in every sign at the park, including this one for Stardust Racers
These footprints turning to paw prints as you near the Curse of the Werewolf ride
How the character actors contribute to the storytelling experience (I just think it would be a blast to be one of these actors, don’t you? Improvising and interacting with fans to make their day?! I would LOVE to do that! There’s also an actor playing Ygor in the Dark Universe and already there is lore surrounding this character thanks to his hilarious and inspiring improvisational performances with park guests. LOL)
And lastly, here is a super cool “nostalgic” video someone made of their trip to Epic Universe using an old camcorder
🤪 Random Road Trip Giggle That Inspired Today’s Story
Okay, now we’re transitioning to today’s flash fiction. It’s a total change of subject, but stay with me! On a drive from Arizona to Vegas during the more tumultuous stage of doctors appointments and diagnostics testing, Kealoha and I were quietly sitting in the car as we passed a sign for Lake Pleasant.
I turned to Kealoha and said,
“You ever been to Lake Pleasant?”
He goes, “Yeah.” (Eyes still on the road.)
I asked, “How was it?”
Silence.
Then he looked at me, eyes twinkling, and raised his eyebrows in the most obvious dad joke face ever.
We both burst into giggles. For ten straight minutes. 😂 He never even had to say the punch line. LOL!
That ridiculous exchange somehow led to this week’s flash fiction piece (my brain is kind of wild, but I love it). Keep reading for a fictional treat to reward you for making it through this chaotic newsletter, Gigglers…
🪁 Flash Fiction Feature: The Third Gust
Aron searched through squinted eyes into the sunbaked wasteland, the light from the nearest moon searing his cheeks. The sandy dunes stretched out in every direction. He stifled a groan, rolled his eyes, and kicked at the sand with the heel of his boot. It puffed upward in a swirl that stung his eyes and deepened his scowl.
“This is a joke,” he muttered. “There is no water here.”
The old man beside him hummed. Not in disagreement, not in agreement. Just a hum, like wind through canyon rock. He crouched beside a flat rock protruding from the sand and tapped it with a long wooden stick that looked suspiciously like a broken-off rudder.
“Wind’s not right yet,” the old man murmured. “Need the third gust. That one opens things.”
Aron pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. “You dragged me across half this planet just to stand in a sandbox and tell me some puzzling crap about imaginary breezes?”
“Not imaginary,” the man said, sniffing the air. “Just shy.”
Aron let out an exasperated sigh. He’d grown up half-dreaming of sails and sea foam, of distant worlds connected by ancient tideways. His parents said it was nonsense, mythical stories from a dead civilization. But as he grew older, Aron’s dreams got clearer. The currents, the stars, the way a sail felt in his hands… felt real, and Aron felt as if he’d been training for something that could never happen, not when he lived on a desert planet.
And then the message came.
You are needed. Come west. Bring no questions.
And now here he was with this cryptic old desert drifter and nothing but dunes for miles.
“If you’re not going to teach me, I’m leaving,” Aron said.
“Is that what you thought this was?” the man asked. “Teaching?” He said the word as if it were a foreign feeling in his mouth. He shook his head, his wild course grey hair following the movement. Then he smiled, revealing too many teeth. “This is remembering.”
Aron waited for the man to say something more, to clarify or indicate why they were there. But the man stared at him as if waiting for Aron to burst into flames or magically grow wings. Instead, Aron turned, ready to return to the barely working shuttle. This must be a scam, he thought. Maybe the old guy just needed someone to carry gear through the sand. Ugh. Perhaps it was some elaborate joke.
But then came the third gust.
It didn’t feel stronger than the others before, but it had a sound. A deep groaning, like something ancient waking up, or the wood of a ship from his dreams creaking with the changing tides.
It sent a cold, sharp feeling down his spine. Aron paused. Turned.
The dunes shifted beneath his feet, rippling out in every direction.
A few hundred yards down the hill where sand had been just moments before, there was now water. Wide and silver-blue, it caught the two moons’ light and threw it back in a dazzling pattern. There was something else, as well—a boat. Moored to nothing, yet floating steady in the middle of the sudden lake.
Aron stared, mouth parted open in awe, skin prickled with shock.
“You see it now,” the old man said, already walking toward the vessel. His stick tapped the sand like a metronome. “Good.”
Aron’s legs moved before his mind could wrap around this new development. He followed. He reached the shore of the impossible sea and dipped his hand into the water. It was cold. Invigorating. Real.
The boat was made of old wood and something else—metal etched with symbols he didn’t know but somehow understood.
They climbed aboard.
“Where does this go?” Aron asked. He was already crossing the boat, staring over the edge at the strange planets and stars reflected in the water, though they were nowhere to be seen in the sky.
“Nowhere... unless you’re ready,” the man said. “Everywhere, if you are.”
Aron’s face lit up. He adjusted the sail, which had caught wind despite the stillness of the dunes, and the boat pushed off from the desert shore.
And so his remembering began.
… I think I may be obsessed with pirate adventures. 😆
IN CONCLUSION
Life is nuts. Love is powerful. Laughter heals (and so do prayers).
Stay goofy, Gigglers. Please pray for Kealoha. And when you need a pick me up, listen to Islands of Adventure music on repeat. 💛
With love and chaos,
Alexa