Don’t Grab The Bubble
Short Story + Short Film: When Genius Visits But Never Stays
Hi there,
I've been quieter than usual lately, heads down working on The Jailbroken Guide to The University. I finished the first draft, and now I'm deep in the revision process.
It's the one project I can't get my mind off of. It will be great, strange, interesting, and definitely won’t be boring.
I’ll talk about it (and share it) soon. But if you really can’t wait, I’ll leave a little surprise at the end.
But for now, I wanted to break the silence with a story and short film I've created.
They explore those fleeting moments we all experience—when everything feels possible. You know them: listening to your favorite song, deep in conversation with a friend, or taking a walk when suddenly everything clicks. Then, just as quickly, the moment passes, leaving you wondering what just happened.
Don’t Grab The Bubble
If you prefer, you can read this story on my website.
Every day, for a fleeting moment, Vimo becomes a genius.
In those minutes, the fog of life lifts. Everything aligns perfectly, and solutions to his problems reveal themselves effortlessly. He sees the path to his ambitions with unshakable clarity, feeling invincible—like the universe itself has whispered its secrets to him.
But the moment he becomes aware of this clarity, it begins to slip away, like a child reaching for a bubble that bursts in their grasp.
These moments bring Vimo his greatest joy, but also his deepest misery. At first, he spends entire days chasing that state, trying desperately to summon it back, but it never returns on command. When he finally gives up, resigned to its elusiveness, the clarity visits him again—unexpected, unearned, and just as fleeting.
He comes to see the universe as a cruel and mocking trickster, offering glimpses of infinite possibility only to snatch them away. It is the ultimate irony: the secrets of life are given, felt, and known—but only for a moment, before they dissolve like smoke.
Clarity visits briefly; action keeps it.
You’re here for the surprise!
If you really can’t wait, you can read the first few chapters here.
If you already bought an early version of this last year, you will automatically get it.
Can’t wait to share more details soon…Would love to hear from you. How are you doing? Anyways, talk to you soon!
Back to writing (more editing, really),
Juan David Campolargo
From an inspired reader:
Catching those fleeting moments of genius is possible, but requires a delicate balance of catching these bubbles with grace. But, how we do this is counterintuitive.
Our instinct when we see a bubble, like you said, is to grab it, but bubbles only remain intact in three points in time: (1) upon it's creation, (2) while it's floating in air, and (3) when it lands gently in water.
Of these three points in time, none of them include a timepoint in one's hands. So, somehow after the first and second points, we must keep this bubble intact until we reach the third point.
Action is much like guiding a bubble from the second point to the third one. But, instead of grabbing this bubble and plopping it on the water, we must gracefully wave our hands so as to move the air around the bubble. Only that way can we keep the bubble intact as we guide it towards the body of water so that we may keep that fleeting thought of clarity just a moment or two longer.
I NEED MORE!!! Make it longer, more personal, and beautiful!! The story’s great, but the short film needs to do it justice 🫧
Keep making these and explore the full depth and emotion of your soul and existence in these films.
DON’T GRAB THE BUBBLE