A Night at the Tropicana

Natalie is a doctor. The hospital needs some funding. She puts together a Night at the Tropicana. It is a fundraiser event. They have some fun gambling. There is an auction at the end she hopes bring in money from the patrons. She thinks back when she turned 18 and visited Havana, Cuba with her family.

Natalie's grandparents migrated to the USA. Her parents did not grow up in Cuba. They family took a trip there when Natalie graduated from high school. There went to Havana when the Tropicana, originally named something else, opened.

At the hotel, there was some big festival or such. She met a man that was in her field. They danced the night away. He gave her his address so she could write when she returned home to Florida. Natalie's mom found the paper with the address and threw it away so Natalie could be focused on her studies to become a doctor.

Back in the present, where Natalie is divorced with an adult child, she is at the fundraiser she arranged. Her friend brings her brother to meet Natalie. Lo and behold, it is the guy she met in Cuba so long ago. He never married. He could never find anyone like Natalie. Just like back then, they decide to dance together.

I Choose Darkness

Jenny tells us about how she is meh about all holidays except for Halloween. Seems strange. She find the basis in the holiday from her youth. She lived out in the sticks. Houses were very far apart. She and her sister did not do the traditional walking around the neighborhood in costume.

Instead, Jenny and her sister would walk around their house. It would take a while as Jenny's sister was much younger and would be walking slow, or tripping on her costume. Each time around, they would knock on their own door, and their mom would give them caramels.

There were other memories at school where they had some type of halloween bazaar. This even brought back memories of my own school's similar event.

Please Like Me

This is another tiny e-book by Mindy Kaling. She recounts her 4th grade birthday party. She was worried her classmates would find her house weird, with all the Indian stuff in there. Then her mom went and bought burgers with Swiss cheese. She tried to inform her mom that burgers must have orange cheese to no avail.

Mindy moved to LA. She found she did not have any friends. Once she went to a party and found some women in the back smoking a joint and having fun. She tried to befriend these people. They were aspiring actresses. They did not eat burgers. And they only had safe talk. Eventually, she ghosted them.

Mindy tells of her best friend BJ, who hosted her 40th birthday party. Mindy, in turn, was asked to bring cakes to BJ's birthday party. And she was asked by BJ to give a speech at the party. While she is giving the speech, Wade Boggs steals the mic and never gives it back.

Once Upon a Time in Silver Lake

This was a tiny e-book by Mindy Kaling. This was back when she was very pregnant with child. The weather was terribly hot. Her friend BJ was taking her out to get food. They parked and were approached by a homeless guy. The homeless dude said he recognized her from the office.

Mindy and friend were disappointed to find their restaurant closed down. They went back to his car, only to find the homeless guy inside. He had taken a laptop out of the friend's bag and was doing something. Mindy goes to the driver's side and pins the door shut. Her friend jumps in the passenger side and screams at the dude.

Mindy's friend checks that nothing is missing from the car. Then they let the thief go. Apparently Mindy's friend has a keyless FOB that allows anybody to open the car door when the FOB is near. Mindy and friend contemplated calling the police. But they thought it would do no good.

Bad Date

Fay is a former movie star. Her career has gone down hill. She hosts a podcast with her assistant and friend Poppy. Fay moved to Hollywood when she fell in love with a man. That produced a son, Wolf, who is now a teenager. Fay and her husband divorced. Fay moved back to London.

Fay has been secretly dating different men. However, they all seem to die mysterious deaths. All evidence points to her son Wolf, who is overprotective and wants Fay to get back with his dad. Fay goes out on a date with Ollie. We find out that he is a stalker. Fay and Poppy know about this.

Fay steals Ollie's house key on the first day. Poppy goes and plants incriminating evidence in his house. Fay finally invites Ollie over to her house. He is early. He is let in by Wolf, who tries to kill him. Fay comes home and tells Wolf to accompany her in the panic room.

Fay calls the police. She and Poppy have set Ollie up. Fay instructs Wolf to tell the cops he has never seen Ollie before. Ollie is going to say he is Fay's boyfriend. But Fay has been careful. There is no proof. And Ollie certainly looks nothing like the caliber of men Fay can attract.

The Chemistry Test

Penny is disabled and confined to a wheelchair. She has other medical problems. But she wants to push past her limits and attend college. Luckily, she is very smart. So, she is fine academically. She meets Cam during her first semester there. At first, he is mysterious.

It turns out that Penny runs an online help site. Unbeknownst to them, they had been talking online at Penny's site for a while. Cam is still getting over the death of his grandmother. He was very close to her. She helped him get into the movie business. Cam is on a terribly famous series.

As an aside, Penny gets involved in public speaking. Cam reacts badly and ghosts Penny for a while. Then some other guy in the public speaking team appears to move in on Penny romantically. Cam finally gets up the nerve and shares his feelings with Penny. Penny shuts him down, thinking her disability would hold her back.

Of course these two get together in the end. She had promised to attend a public release of the latest season of his show. At this red carpet even, Cam is able to pin Penny down and address her reservations at them dating.

More Joel on Software

This is a book about running an independent software vendor company. The author is Joel Spolsky. He is co-founder of Fog Creek Software. They make boring bug tracking software. Joel is big on running the company in a way he would want to work there.

Joel's writing comes mostly from his blog, Joel on Software. The posts are 20 to 25 years old. However, they have aged well. This book is a sequel to Joel on software, which followed the same format. Ten years ago, Joel handed over the running of the company to somebody else. He then went on to lead Stack Overflow.