Kismet! ⭐✨💫

Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?

Welcome to So Relatable, an occasional newsletter that helps creative folks improve their craft, achieve their goals, and eat better snacks. I’m glad you’re here! ✨

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Last week, Nathan texted me in the middle of the work day: “Do you want to see The Flaming Lips on Tuesday? Quick, I need an answer now.” 

“YES,” I replied. And that’s how we ended up at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater, a beautiful outdoor venue in the heart of Wilmington, surrounded by cypress trees and alligators, for an incredible show by one of my all-time favorite bands. 

After the first few songs, during which giant inflatable robots swayed on stage, Wayne Coyne, the lead singer, informed us that this very day—July 16—was the 22nd anniversary of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, and they were going to play the entire album, start to finish, to celebrate. 

I later learned The Flaming Lips have spent the last two years doing a Yoshimi tour, but in that moment I thought it was pure kismet, a thrilling coincidence just for us.

And in a way, it was. 22 years ago, I was about to enter my junior year of college. I was 19, weeks from turning 20. In a few months, I would meet and fall in love with Nathan, my future husband. And The Flaming Lips would be the weird and wonderful soundtrack to so many of those weird and wonderful days. 

Life is still weird and wonderful, and so are The Flaming Lips. The show was perfect—small and intimate due to the venue, yet infused with so many delightful quirks. Towering pink robots, disco balls and lasers, Wayne Coyne in a bubble, giant dancing eyeballs, bulbous balloons bouncing over our heads, an inexplicable costume change into a singing flower. Magic, everywhere I looked. 

Coyne, wild haired, full of energy, radiating love, didn’t just play to the audience—he played with us. He encouraged us to cheer, sing along, bounce those balloons back and forth. It was a performance and a game, a show and a party, a nostalgic trip into the past and a reinvention fit for the present. 

Ever since the show, in between incessantly singing “Do You Realize” and “She Don't Use Jelly” to myself, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be an artist like The Flaming Lips. How does it feel to create something magical and return to it 22 years later? To play it for people who still love it, after all that time?

When I think about the two+ decades between 2002 and 2024, I’m awestruck by all that’s happened—the ways I’ve changed and grown, the experiences I’ve had, the people I’ve loved and lost, the heartache and rejection and joy and kismet that brought me from then to now. 22 years ago, I cried the first time I heard “Do You Realize.” 22 years later, in a different city, in a different life, I cried again as the chorus floated over our heads. 

Proof, right there, that The Flaming Lips were right—the sun doesn’t go down. It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round. 🌞

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Snack Break

One of my very important goals this summer is to eat ice cream at three new-to-me places. Thanks to supremely supportive friends, I’m making excellent progress! These sweet treats are from my beloved Salita Pizza. Even though I’ve been there about a dozen times, I’m always too full for dessert. This time I was strategic, and we headed there directly after hot yoga for a cold ice cream, which was the perfect combination. Pictured here: peach ice cream and blueberry sorbet, and every spoonful was incredible! 🍑

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Relatable Recommendations

• Reading: A book about fairies and elves for book club and I am… just not into it! I know “romantasy” is the Big Thing right now and I’m happy for y’all, but I simply cannot.

• Watching: We’re slowly making our way through S3 of The Bear. Will my inappropriate feelings for Jeremy Allen White salvage this season? Only time (and a few more episodes) will tell.

• Clicking: More Duolingo, less Instagram.

• Eating: Roasted cherry tomatoes. Chickpea salad sandwiches from The Half. Harris Teeter pizza by the slice. Fried eggs with the last jar of tomato jam. Perfect Bars by the box. Fresh basil on everything.

• Feeling: Excited, enthusiastic, creative, and eager to embrace my weirdness. Let’s release our inner pink inflatable robots and do this!

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👋 About Me: I’m Chrissy Hennessey, an enthusiastic snacker and native New Yorker living in coastal North Carolina, where I stayed after earning my MFA. My writing has appeared in a decent number of journals, I’ve received fellowships to some fancy residencies, and I’ve written three novels, all currently unpublished. This newsletter is a passion project I started in 2019 as a way to connect with readers and writers, share my creative journey, and build a community. Thank you for being here!