LEFOLG Summer Recap
Oct 25th, 2023 - Lynn Lylan
LEFOLG’s most productive summer yet!
Free Time, a court case, birthdays, holidays, camping, and much, much more filled the men of LEFOLG’s summer and kept them creative and busy the entire time. So let’s start at the beginning back in May.
May
May began with the men of LEFOLG returning from their trip to SoCal where they visited Evan in Long Beach and Lea at UCLA, where they were finishing out their semesters at their respective colleges. After returning, Eric began to work on the script for Free Time, and with only a month to finish it, he worked relentlessly to get it done.
More information on Free Time.
Throughout May, Free Time posters went up in the area at local coffee shops, parks, and restaurants, promoting the show. At this time, Eric also met with the Free Time designer, Logan from LFR Bowen Inc., and Benny, LEFOLG’s PR, HR, and marketing manager.
Logan sent me some never-before-seen Free Time concept art that he had sketched out on the back of a receipt while at work. He asked me to include it in the next newsletter.
Courtesy of LFR Bowen Inc.
By the 18th of May, act one of Free Time was done; The men of LEFOLG met up with Benny, Logan, and Ike, who was the lead on Free Time’s music. Eric’s script was a hit with everyone involved. However, they did have to change the name of Mrs. S to Mrs. R due to a close resemblance to somebody the men know personally.
Later that day, the first Free Time scripts were printed and the following day the first rehearsal of many, was underway.
Act two of Free Time was written in the last week and half of May, this time with the help of all the men of LEFOLG for a few scenes as well as the Finale song. The Finale song is the only song in the show that Ike didn’t write the lyrics for, so the men decided to write the last one together. After spending the end of May, rehearsing, writing, and partying, Free Time was finally completed on May 30th, just one day before opening in Galt.
Ike scrambling to finish the intro | Setting up the backstage tent | Benny watching the setup of Free Time
The world premiere of Free Time at Galt Community Park was a total success! LEFOLG had friends and family from all over the area make the drive to Galt to see Free Time. They even had a few people passing by stop and watch the show, the men even got a few hecklers. After cleaning up the entire cast, crew, and audience all traveled back home from Galt to celebrate at Red Robin.
June
In the two weeks following Free Time, tweaks and adjustments were made to the script, playbill, props, and a few other things to make them the best they could for the next performance of Free Time. This one would be taking place in Benny’s backyard for the parents of the cast and crew. Outside of Free Time, the men of LEFOLG enjoyed their summer together. They began to bowl and all really enjoyed the competitive nature of the game. LEFOLG all also decided to go see the movie Across The Spiderverse, which they all thoroughly enjoyed.
Just before the second performance of Free Time, it was Benny’s 19th birthday. So the men of LEFOLG, their friends, and Benny all gathered at his house for a celebration. Later that day, an afterparty for his birthday was held at Ike’s house.
Following Benny’s celebration, LEFOLG prepared for the “Mom Performance” of Free Time that was coming up in just a few days. This performance of Free Time was actually live-streamed and recorded on Emma’s YouTube channel, go check it out in case you missed it.
The second performance went even better than the first! All the mothers of the cast and crew loved the spectacular showing. As an added bonus for those who attended this performance, the cast and crew did a Q&A session for everyone and gave some insight about working on this show and the process behind creating such a beautiful spectacle. After the show, all the props and set pieces were scattered across multiple people and their houses, but if you’d like to purchase anything from Free Time, don’t be afraid to send LEFOLG an email. Since then, no more performances of Free Time have been held, and it’s unclear whether or not there will be any more showings. But rumors have it that LEFOLG are working on another play currently and could be ready soon.
Following the end of Free Time, the men of LEFOLG all took a bit of a break and focused on more personal matters. Eric took another one of his acclaimed “big walks” to the bowling alley that the men would frequent. Unfortunately, it was packed at the bowling alley so he was not able to bowl. It was also around this time that Ben applied for a car dealership nearby and felt that it was time to leave Taco Bell. The application process would take over a month for the dealership, so he still had some time at Taco Bell.
Before July, June ended with a straight BANG!
For years and years, the sexuality of Eric had been speculated on constantly. But finally, on June 30th, a landmark case brought the truth to light. He was found NOT gay. It also happened to be Joe’s birthday that same day.
Pictured above: The men of LEFOLG, moments after the truth was brought to light.
Evan couldn’t make it to the trial, unfortunately, but in my mind, he would have been the bailiff. Ben and Matthew served as Eric’s defense team, effortlessly defending him from the prosecutors, Emma and Lea. Megan presided over this case as the judge. Shown above, is one of the many pieces of evidence used against Eric in this case. But Eric’s defense team managed to cross-examine the prosecution and give reasons as to why Eric might’ve made this sort of pose three years ago.
I called Eric on the phone and asked him about this picture. “That was by far one of the most damning pieces of evidence they provided,” Eric said. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe I walked out of there a man who was not gay.”
But in the end, he won the case. And in true LEFOLG fashion, a celebration occurred afterward. But the fun wasn’t over yet. The 4th of July was just around the corner, and all gathered at Emma’s house for fireworks.
It was just a day later, that Ben moved into the Baldwin house. Ike lived with his family at the Baldwin house, but as time went on his mom and sisters moved out to live on their own. So the spare rooms at the Baldwin house were available to rent, making Ben the first to rent out a room at the house with Lucy following soon after, and Emma a little later.
About halfway through July, Eric decided to get his first tattoo. It was going to be a hibiscus flower on his forearm. It’s his mom’s favorite flower. So after making the appointment, he and Ben went out to get the tattoo. But before going to get it done, the two men of course had to get a mocha since it was right next door. While drinking their mochas and talking, Ben suggested that they play a board game. The options were sparse, but they saw Scrabble. And now the rest is history. Ben, Eric, and even now Matthew have been consistently playing Scrabble since then. A few hours passed and it was time for the appointment.
Just shortly after getting the tattoo | The next morning after taking off the bandage.
At this point in July, about a month had passed since Ben applied for the dealership. He went back for his final interview and landed the job. So Ben left Taco Bell and started working full-time at the dealership. Ben sold his first car at the dealership not too long after starting, but that was about it. Ben realized the dealership might not be the right fit for him, and left after a few short weeks and returned to Taco Bell. This would mark the second time Ben left Taco Bell for another job and came back. The first time was around April 2021, when he went to work at Journeys at the nearby mall.
Towards the end of July, Matthew, Eric, Lea, and Emma would all come together and head to Six Flags just as they did two years prior. A few mishaps and misfortunes happened on the way to Six Flags and while at the park, but in the end, all worked out well and they made it back home in one piece.
August
August began with a few home improvements for a few of the men of LEFOLG. A few cars were switched around at Eric’s house with his family which left them with an extra manual 1999 Saturn. Ben offered to buy the car from Eric’s dad. The starting price was $100 but it ended up being lowered to $60 after some reevaluation. The Saturn currently has many problems with it.
The most notable issues are the the paint chipping, issues with the alternator, coolant leaks and the car not cooling down. Then an odd issue when it came to starting the car. After the car was turned off, you would not be able to turn it on again for anywhere between 5 and 45 minutes. Nobody knows what’s causing the problem.
Home improvements would continue at Eric’s house with a reorganization and a reimagination of his room. The room just did not look like it was working out for him and didn’t seem that practical. So with the help of a few others, his room was redone and made into something much more sustainable. Pictured below, is a floor plan of the new room. This configuration would lead to a much more open floor plan and a layout that wasn’t as suffocating as the last one was.
The below picture is not the final product though it’s pretty close and the difference is astounding.
Back at the Baldwin house, another room was being redone. There had been a spare room at the house for a few months at this point, so Ike decided to move across the hall into this new and bigger room. Ike’s previous room was left for storage, a guest room, as well as something else. Talks of having a museum of sorts where different pictures, jokes, and novelties of the whole group could be stored. The whole group being the L.I.C.E coalition. L.I.C.E stands for: LEFOLG Independent Ike Centrist Them Everyone Else
Shown above, is a very early rendition of the museum with a lot of items missing. Some standouts in the museum are the Woody dolls, Bev Bos letters, Emma’s paintings, Lefolg flag, as well as Ike’s maze that he created back in 2019. Since then, countless items have been added such as metal pieces that we’ve used to dig things out of the ground, A LEFOLG cardboard cutout, the Free Time script, and countless more items with many more to come.
Summer was coming to a close for the men of LEFOLG, or three of them at least. Benny suggested that everyone go camping together as a big end-of-summer event. The men of LEFOLG and everyone else gathered together with about a week left of summer and drove to Foresthill and enjoyed a two day camping trip. Unfortunately, Evan could not attend this trip due to prior commitments, but he was there in my heart. The trip went very well overall, everyone got along and each night ended around the campfire, talking, joking, and making smores.
Benny after setting up his tent. | The men of LEFOLG by the fire. | Ben getting baptized in the lake.
Ben, Matthew, and Joe floating away. | The campsite on the last morning. | Logan Mr. Beasting everyone at the fire.
After camping, everyone took a bit of a break and did their own thing for about a week or so. Everyone, including the men of LEFOLG, were exhausted. School would be starting pretty soon at this point and Matthew, Evan, and Eric would be in a bit of a limbo, waiting for school to start. However this year Evan would be taking a gap year from Long Beach and joining Matthew and Eric at their local community college.
Eric had planned on getting a haircut for a while, but never got around to it. His hair had grown out during the pandemic from a very short length, to about halfway down his back. He told me he got a trim last March, but it’s grown out much more since then. He never knew what he wanted to do with his hair, but he finally found something he liked and planned on getting it cut two weeks after the start of school, but Emma convinced him to get it cut sooner.
“I had the long hair for quite a while, close to three years, but it was just a byproduct of the pandemic,” he told me. “I never made the conscious decision to grow out my hair, I kind of just had to since the place I got my hair cut closed with the pandemic and after that, I was just too worried about getting it cut. But I think it’s one of the best decisions I could’ve made.”
Before | After
Since then a few things have gone on with LEFOLG. Ben planned on leaving Taco Bell yet again and was hired at Noah’s Bagels. He took the job but for the third time, he returned to Taco Bell. He now plans on moving to a different Taco Bell location and working mornings, rather than closing at night. The other the men of LEFOLG have been working hard at school and all have been maintaining great grades. All are also involved in the school’s production of Lend Me A Tenor, a farcical comedy where Matthew has taken on the lead role of Max. Eric is currently a part of the sound team and Evan has been working tirelessly on the costumes for the show. The show opens pretty soon, so be on the lookout for a review from David pretty soon.
Sierra College’s production of Lend Me A Tenor
That about wraps up this newsletter! We’re very sorry that it took so long to come out, seeing that it’s a summer recap at the end of October. David’s been pretty busy with a few personal matters, so I’ve come on board to at least help out with the newsletter side of things. Be on the lookout for LEFOLG content coming very soon. Thanks for reading!
Extras
Free Time Scrapped Lyrics
Leave It Behind
Chorus:
Now I know the value of free time,
Take a break. Try something new
Take a moment to soak in the sunshine
I’m here to show you, you can do it too
Budding young minds, just begging to bloom.
Chorus:
No room to grieve
I’ve been bereaved
But do I really deserve the blame?
Now my husband wants me out of the frame.
Literature Lament
Verse 1:
Students and teacher: the separated twain.
Ashes and memories are all that remain.
Heart stripped of hope and bursting with gloom.
Set design for the first scene of Free Time. Below is the design for the second scene