I was born in the summer, and I used to love vacations, but now I loathe the season for being too hot and not giving enough breaks like the winter when there’s Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years. I sweat and suffer through June, July, and August. September is insufferable too, but I begin to see a glimmer of hope. But it hasn’t cooled down. It’s almost ninety degrees in the morning, and a heat wave has flown overhead and doesn’t plan on flying away any time soon, like a massive raven in the sky. It flaps its heavy black wings and fans more heat onto the valley, where I sweat when I cross my legs.

I went to the gym yesterday just to stay cool and used a stair stepper for a half hour. It makes me drip sweat in front of a television. I wanted to watch the US Open, but on all six televisions in the cardio room, they showed one of those corny comic book movies like Thor or X-Men or Ironman. I was sure it was Thor. I saw a buff blond man with blue eyes in every scene. Why would I want to watch a movie while getting exercise if there’s no sound? It didn’t matter. I was wearing earbuds anyway.

I came home about an hour later and watched the US Open. Sinner played Medvedev, two of my favorite male players in the world, and their poetic strokes. Their rally points went on for over a minute. Amazing how long they could last through each point. They’re conditioned to be machines. In four sets, the number one player in the world, Sinner, won the quarterfinals and will advance to the semifinals to play whoever. I’m sure he’ll win. He’s just too good. I would’ve loved to have seen a fifth set to end the match, but Medvedev couldn’t hang: too many unforced errors. He’d reached fatigue by the fourth set.

The match ended around eight o’clock at night my time on the pacific. I settled in, knowing today would be long. But tonight, football season begins, and I have my fantasy team lined up. It’s something to look forward to when there isn’t much to look forward to anymore. I take what I can get. I never thought it would be this hard when I was a teenage boy with visions of so much more than what I have. No one told me life would be this disappointing. It isn’t something you would tell someone at so young an age. How will I last another thirty years? My parents have made it so far, and they seem happy.

And then I received an email from my tax firm. It said my social security number had been exposed on the dark web. A security breach occurred, and someone may have stolen my identity. I thought it was a phishing email at first, so I was afraid to click on any links. But after I called the firm, they told me the email was real. Bells and whistles went off in my mind. I logged onto the firm’s website and found more notifications. It suggested I call a few places to put a freeze on my accounts. At least they still look secure, but I don’t know. Those criminals may have cleaned me out by today.