sitting heavily in the richness of a saturated, lush world

good evening –

i did a number on my sleep schedule this weekend, so i'm up late and typing the early morning away once again. this time, instead of thinking aimlessly to myself, i wanted to address my thoughts to someone. but i have no one to write to. so i hope this is okay with you.

firstly, i've been slowly filtering through my archives and realizing there is so much i've neglected to share. these are some photographs from my time in the middle of a seemingly endless autumn storm, somewhere out in the muddy rural outskirts of buenos aires. despite the unwelcome weather and annoyingly persistent mosquitos, there were these breaks in the rain that ushered in some of the most brilliant colors i've seen, colors that could only be felt fully when sitting heavily in the richness of a saturated, lush world. it's a nice reminder that joy and despair can coexist without diminishing one another. the breadth of emotions we feel is more complicated than the semantics of our language imply.

secondly, can we please all agree that the latest the 1975 album is a masterpiece?? it feels like i'm shifting through ideas scrawled on napkins, euphonies hurriedly recorded in voice memos, and late night quietness, all thoughtfully pieced together. *sigh* i don't even usually like long albums.

thirdly, i, in my infinite aloneness, took a real good look at myself in the mirror today and noticed that i've got some duh-eeeeeep smile lines and my brain processed it in a positive way and it was unusual but nice 😌

lastly, there's a line in one of tyler the creator's songs that goes "you accept me how my eyelids, my eyelids look," and it’s a shame that it’s not written anywhere as an official part of the lyrics because it deserves more attention. no one knows it but i love it so very much. it's one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite chill love songs, and i will probably spend yet another summer melting in its silliness, simplicity, and depth.

i know the world still feels very noisy and stormy outside, but it feels sweet to briefly put a spotlight on some of the infrequent but happier bits and bobs bouncing 'round in my head. i hope you have some of your own to keep you company as well.

two winters ago

hong kong, 2014

you may say i’m a dreamer,
but i’m not the only one

yoko by the sea, kanagawa

one day in kyoto

26 hours of transit later, i found myself on a nighttime shinkansen to kyoto, watching the city lights dance around the darkness.

i slept soundly in a little attic room of the home of a older woman named keiko, who, because of my jet lag, spent a lot of time with me in the early morning sharing breakfast and watching japanese television. a lot of it consisted of celebrities commenting on visuals of most delicious food in tokyo. something was strangely familiar and comforting about the slow morning. we watched the sunrise and laid our eyes on a snow-laden kyoto -- the first snowfall of the year. 

at 7am, i bundled up in five layers of clothing and made my way to the station to catch a train to fushimi inari, the shrine of 10,000 red gates. the cold chill of the air clashed with the warmth of my breath.

it was so quiet. all you could hear was the sound of your own footsteps, nearby cats softly whining at each other, and the aching of snow melting in the morning sun. 

i left at around 10am, when the entirety of inari mountain began to awaken with people coming to hike, take pictures, and pray. because the day was still young, i decided to fulfill a year-long curiosity and revel in my love for train rides. with some plum-filled onigiri from 7/11 packed in my backpack, i made my way to nara - a 1.5 hour train ride away.  

the stay in nara was short, and the stay in the deer park was even shorter. watching the deer bite at my coat and push me around for food with their shaved antlers was heartbreaking. after walking quite a distance, i found a little deer resting by a tree alone; i sat by her and pet her for a while before making my way back to the station to go straight to arashiyama's bamboo grove.

i took photographs for large groups of families and happy couples and felt a pang of loneliness amongst the endless crowds. i kept my eyes up where the leaves began to blend with the clouds and saw the bamboo sway a slightly.  

cát bà jungle

in the depths of the jungle, the air thickly coated our skin until the release of rain.

sunsoaked amongst flowers in bangkok

by the sea in la gi, vietnam

i spent two days in a little beach village about two hours from saigon. it was quiet, marked by dreamy morning landscapes, hair whipping around my face on long scooter rides, bustling markets, and meals inspired by the sea. 

 

on my second day in la gi, i rose from the floor mattress after three hours of sleep and rode a scooter eastward towards the sunrise. on the roads at 4am were entire families, friends, siblings, individuals, all riding scooters, all heading towards the beach. people came to soak in the sea, exercise on the cool sand, and play ball games that i didn't understand. the sky was a blue gray haze and the air was damp from the night. the sun was still hiding behind a curtain of clouds.

as soon as the first yellow rays began to reflect in the water, the entire beach emptied and the village streets began to yawn. 

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