old layout :^)

date: 3 jan 24
time: 7:20pm
eating & drinking: bell shaped chocolates
feeling: small swan
- I’ve been volunteering at a prison since October. It’s one of my favourite things ever. I wanted to write a long entry about this, but it’s kind of hard, and I can’t seem to be able to write anything but a dull wall of text. I’ll just say the things that make me happy, even if I’ll probably sound like an idealist. It’s kind of dumb to be an idealist in prison. But anyway. This prison is on the humane side, lots of stuff to do, it’s clean, etc. My inmate told me that he’s never felt more free than now that he’s in there. I didn’t ask him why, but I think I get it. I think that's the point, why I like it so much. For some reason talking to people there is nerve racking, maybe scary, but also so humane and genuine. It's so easy for me to like him and care for him because he comes across as just himself. Not his crime, not his job, social class, or whatever. Those are some of the things that make him the person he is, but something about the environment there makes it easier to put them on the side, and to see him and get to know him for what he is in the very moment he’s in front of me. Which is something I'm very grateful for.
The prison itself is cute. It’s grey with pastel coloured window frames. On my way to his section I can see a couple of turtle ponds out of the windows. I’m always early, so I spend some time looking at the turtles’ cute little heads poking outside of the water.
- quote found on pinterest: “art and love are the same thing: it’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you - critic Chuck Klosterman”
- ps. happy new year! :)

date: 4 aug 23
time: 6:00pm
eating & drinking: fruit salad
feeling: zzzzzz
Went to the tailors to fix some clothes. I’m not sure how popular cheap tailors are abroad, but here they’re pretty common. Every time I go they give me a small square pink paper with a number on, it’s thin like a newspaper page, I keep it in my wallet or it gets disintegrated in 30 minutes. I went to the fabric shop too, on the -1 floor they have tons of cool scraps in huge chests, even silk. I bought a very light, pale blue piece of silk one year ago, just enough for a short skirt, but I’m still nervous to actually sew it, since I’ve never sewed anything but beyond easy things. The city is really silent now. Barely any cars around

date: 29 july 23
time: 5:37pm
eating & drinking: /
feeling: fish
After my July exam, I told myself I was gonna go to the last stops of the green line to look at the fields, but I still haven’t done that. I briefly went to the sea, ate lots of strawberry granita and these super weird champagne flavoured crisps. They actually taste like champagne. One of the ingredients is popping candy. Astonishing. I bought some new hair accessories and swam a bit. Now I’m back home, studying again. I like to study late at night when the air gets really fresh, listening to the cars in the distance passing by. One week ago me and E went on the 5th floor of our uni where our professors’ offices are. I think we were the first people to go up there since some time, because when we opened the door it smelled like plastic things that stayed in the sun for too long. Our Japanese professor sticked a paper with a Calvin and Hobbes quote on his door. It was slightly torn on the sides, like when you stick some tape on it and then rip it off. I think he recently went to the hospital, and the quote was about leaving a hospital bed. It made me feel like someone took my heart in their hand and squeezed it

date: 4 june 23
time: 7:05pm
eating & drinking: fresh raspberries
feeling: flu & throat ache
Two days ago a thunderstorm woke me up at 6.30. Walked a friend to the train station, she looked at the laggy departure screen and said “imagine looking for your train’s time and getting an epileptic attack instead”.
I get anxiety about lost time more often than I’d like, wondering if I wasted my life or if I should have done something drastically different, frantically comparing where I am with the superficial idea I have of my peers’ life. My satisfaction or appreciation or happiness over plain regular life happenings scratches against the hazy, very poorly defined and general idea of how being an adult should have been when I was younger, that I somehow still have instilled in my brain. Not even about a successful adult, rather a more grounded one. Someone who acknowledged that adulthood was actually going to happen, who is able to rationalise the future. There’s this memory I obsessively go back to, in kind of a voyeuristic way— when I was 17 during summer in a gross part of my country, a high school friend’s uncle, an insufferable 40-something year old, looked at us through the rearview mirror and said “enjoy your summer break now that you can” with a voice that was just plain butthurt. First and last time I looked at him with the intent of doing so. It felt like a mini half epiphany: looking at him living his life was like watching a kid rage on a videogame he can’t beat. I knew it had to do with something I was gonna struggle with later on, but couldn’t put my finger on it. I can now: it’s about not feeling that much compatible with life, feeling like I’m looking in the wrong direction but can’t turn around. I don’t rage about it though, I’m not mad. I don’t know why he was mad

date: 28 may 23
time: 12:48am
eating & drinking: minty water
feeling: flu
the weather is getting better. The kindergarten near my house is having their first end of the year party since 2019. I know that because they screamed it through a speaker the other day. I never even realised that until this morning, while I was brushing my teeth to kids music coming from a distance and was like ah. It’s been a while since I had this experience. The rain and weirdly low temperature of the last weeks seem to have discouraged plants from invading my apartment with their pollen, which sucks. Fluffy pollen is such a joy if you don’t get asthma from it

date: 20 may 23
time: 4:57pm
eating & drinking: warm water with lemon
feeling: okay with a slight backache
I haven’t posted since winter break. The break itself was sad, super lonely. I took care of a friend’s cats, laid on her bed during Christmas evening looking at the apartment in front of hers where there was a guy who dressed up as Santa for his little kids. Made me happy. I ate vanilla biscuits. When I went back to uni my Chinese class group and Japanese class group solidified, so I started spending the majority of my time there. Social life in uni is like a balm. Studying in the ugly library with pictures of Buddha statues on the walls and eating outside looking at small groups of white collar workers slowly getting into the canteen one after another, never ever looking at us. I always go back to the idea of making the blind spot I ended up in society my personal hidden space, as if I wanted to hide all along. The distance between that spot and my current social life, though, is shorter than ever. No one makes me feel more out of place than people who completely match the part of the world they live in. Yet I always surrounded myself with them, hoping to fix the cracks. Not anymore.
We’re currently having a very rainy May. I smell wet jasmine bushes and weed combined more frequently that I could have ever imagined. Yesterday I went to Chinatown with a friend and we had what we call Reagan noodles, aka Wuhan noodles, 热干面 (re gan mian) and passion fruit iced tea. So good

date: 9 dec 22
time: 9:41pm
eating & drinking: chamomile
feeling: frozen
- more catsitting for the photography professor, more photography books. This time I liked
Martin Parr & The Anonymous Project
I Hear the Silence In All This Empty Space
- passed by a little square with stunning tall ginkgo trees, full of bright golden leaves. Couldn’t stop staring
- politician from my country said he supports shops and bars refusing card payments because he “enjoys walking to the ATM”
- thank god this year, once again since 2020, the local priest won’t come to our house to bless it (throwing holy water on our faces and on anything in the proximity of the entrance). They sent us a letter to let us know. Turquoise font on white paper.

date: 24 nov 22
time: 5:18pm
eating & drinking: perfectly ripe banana
feeling: wiggly
- gotta buy a new pair of converse
- on Wednesdays we have a 16-18pm Chinese class. The university scheduled two of these classes on the same day, 12-14 and 16-18. The professor explains the exact same things in both lessons, and from what I could gather the university decided to do so that students can choose which lesson fits their schedule best, because we all have different classes from one another. Except that most of the student care more about getting home in time rather than skipping a class or not, so the 12-14 class is literally full of people to the point there aren’t even enough seats, and the 16-18 class is empty. There’s me and 4 people I know, and then usually 5 to 7 other people (the same ones, it’s just that they don’t come every time). It’s amazing! It's almost like a private lesson, and it’s so relaxing. I have friendly people sitting around me making me laugh, my coat on my legs to keep me warm, and a huge glass wall through which we see the sky slowly turn orange, red and then black. Our little group is the last one leaving for the day, and the corridors are so quiet and huge when we finish.
I feel a bit sorry that our professor has to stay for 11 people, I assume that if it wasn’t for us she could leave at 14? Maybe? But I think she likes us, because last week she invited us to a museum with her Chinese friends :) it was really nice, I liked staying with them and the art was beautiful (my favourite being the panting of a group of little fluffy chicks), and then! She invited us to go with them to have dinner, to coincidentally one of my very favourite restaurants ever. It was so fun and I also had the best soup of my life. It had some passion fruit inside!!!!!!!!

date: 5 nov 22
time: 10:37pm
eating & drinking: chamomile
feeling: weeeeeee
- this morning I woke up before the sunrise and made myself a cup of tea. I sat in the living room to drink it, with my cat. The radio was on at a very low volume, and at one point they aired this song, Allt tekur sinn tíma. It was really nice. The radio host said the title means “everything has its own time”, which was a good sentence to hear in that moment
- I changed the layout. I hope you like it :)
- brandy melville USA is literally selling olive oil on their website wtf?

date: 30 oct 22
time: 17:04pm
eating & drinking: strawberry tea
feeling: sparkling toothpaste
today my favourite claw clip broke :( it was just transparent pink plastic but really glossy and cute. rip. I just finished cat sitting for this photography professor and he has the coolest photography books ever. These are some of my favourite ones:
うたたね
Once
Pictures from home

date: 29 oct 22
time: 13:17pm
eating & drinking: innocent green smoothie and pistachio biscuits
feeling: autumnal
thinking about making an avocado toast with feta(v), pomegranate and mint. I'm looking for a new perfume. It has to be cheap and sweet. I spent my whole life using the opposite of that, expensive and "grown up" or whatever, not necessairly bitter, just not something that smelt like candy. My absolute favourites were La Violette by Annick Goutal (more powdery than sweet), violet is my favourite scent, and Blanche by Byredo. I also have one by L'Occitane my best friend gifted me, they named it Thé Vert but it's the least green tea smelling scent I've ever smelled, haha. But great nonetheless! Very up my alley. Now I'm using a Daisy sample (Marc Jacobs) and looking for similar scents. On Pinterest I saw the cutest little bottle named "Strawberry Vanilla" and that's exactly what I need. 11€ stuff that smells like candy and vanilla.

date: 7 oct 22
time: 22:12pm
eating & drinking: chamomile
listening to: sunset rollercoaster
feeling: ^L^
this morning I wore my favourite cardigan, went cat sitting, had Japanese and Chinese class sitting next to nice people, ate apple cake and drank juice with one of them, studied with one of them in an empty(!) study room, went cat sitting again, had dinner (pizza!) with an old friend. :^)

date: 26 sept 22
time: 12:32am
eating & drinking: dark chocolate
listening to: Lets' Desserts : Cute and Sweet Music, 달달하고 귀여운 음악 모음, 브이로그 음악
feeling: s[HE'S] br[OK]en
- fascists just keep respawning huh
- I’ve had have some real, super annoying phobia of flying since some time now, so yesterday I went to the closest airport to see some planes take off. There were no fricking windows on the runway, barely any windows at all?! I swear it looked like an underground station or something. I went to that airport several times and never noticed that. They were selling bottles of water full of grapefruit slices for €4. What a scam. I’ll try to go to the bigger one, but it’s pretty distant from the city. It’s funny because when I was younger I frequently dreamt of being a hostess
- I just bought a little bottle of Hawaiian red clay salt, it was 80% off. Usually salt just tastes like salt, but sometimes I find actually interesting types that have their very own flavour. For example, the Hawaiian bamboo jade salt is actually amazing, it has a very strong matcha aftertaste and I like to use it on my caramelised brussel sprouts. The website suggests to “sprinkle it on sushi”.. uhh. Uhm. Not too sure about that. I also wanna try the Nobu dry miso seasoning, but I need to think on what to use it on

date: 10 sept 22
time: 11:47pm
eating & drinking: water
listening to: /
feeling: mellow
it’s been one week since I tested positive to covid. I haven’t taken so many paracetamol tablets in my life, and I have weird cravings, and a high-ish fever with literally 0 physical discomfort which makes me feel like it’s just hot outside, but besides from that I’m fine. I’m living on strawberry popsicles and transcribing Chinese interviews like my life depends on it

date: 21 aug 22
time: 1:51pm
eating & drinking: chocolate biscuits and Fuji water
listening to: nothing
feeling: actual tachycardia
- I feel like sometimes life is about raising your hand first when someone asks who wants something cool instead of politely waiting and getting the third choice. I never did that. “Fortune favours the bold”, which is kind of what deranged extroverts use for their instagram bio/captions to excuse their lack of self control, but is it objectively wrong? I don’t think so
- I always finish working at 9pm, in a not very nice suburban area. The metro’s stop isn’t underground, and every night I sit there waiting for my train for 10 minutes looking at the dark and at the mosquitos looking like cute little sparkles when they reflect the platform’s lights, and listening to the cicadas. To get to the metro I always have to walk by a little corner store in front of a big sad tree with lots of drunk men sitting under it. They just sit there in the dark, talking and drinking beer. They smell really bad

date: 10 aug 22
time: 4:23pm
eating & drinking: mineral water
listening to: nothing
feeling: humid train coach
- a lot of things that seemed relevant while they were happening don’t feel that necessary to write about anymore. I mostly feel detached from everything, except for some random times when it feels like my brain opens its curtains and I see and feel everything: I do everything for those moments. Last time was yesterday, when I crouched in front of a very low shelf looking for a cat. She was sleeping there, inside of a box covered in florentine paper. The silence of the house, her gentle snoring and the paper smell turned the switch on in my brain for some time. I have to keep going
- there’s been a huge fire some weeks ago not far from the house I’m working in. I could see it from the rooftop terrace. I’ve never seen such a big fire in my life. It was in an apartment on the last floor, and I saw it spread from one room to two other ones. Luckily everyone was ok, I don’t even think anyone got even injured!
- I really like the house I’m working at, btw. It’s on the 8th floor and then there’s a staircase that takes you to the 9th floor which is one room and the rooftop terrace, which is big, with lots of plants. Every single evening I take a shower and go on the terrace, sit on the edge and look at the dome. It’s so calm. There are two cute light blue/green churches and a lot of houses. I look at it until the dome and the white houses around it become pink, then orange, then blue. I go downstairs when it’s dark, feed the cats, go back home with the bike
- I went to another exam, like in May. Written, thank god. I sat down and wrote. For the first time since elementary school, I felt like I actually somewhat belonged there. The cracked acqua walls and the sun burned grass outside.. finally, a place that doesn’t swarm with careerism and the need to paint a thick layer of gloss on everything and everyone. God. The middle class’ dreams are little parasites that suck the life out everything. Oh my god. I sound like Pasolini

date: 10 may 22
time: 9:29pm
eating & drinking: herbal infuse
listening to: Valentine by DIIV
feeling: green heart
- pollen season is here. My whole house is full of little white fluffs. Inside my tea cups, under my bed, in the shower. It's so cute
- I wanna read Claudine à l'école again. I honestly don’t understand why people say it’s erotic literature, it’s literally not. I keep thinking about this one line, like since literal years. And it’s not even clear in my mind anymore, but it’s about how much Claudine loved her old, provincial school which was about to be demolished so they could have built a new one. I loved my schools too, the classrooms and the bathrooms. Staying alone was a relief, but it also made me feel guilty. My schools were old too, with lots of things from the 80’s and 90’s, lots of desks and walls covered in writings from the past generations of students, and even carvings. I hope they're still there
- I found a twitter profile that angrily documents all the trash left on the street and the incorrect parkings in my neighbourhood. They post daily, sometimes even more than once. Their tone and expectations are extremely boomer-like, but not objectively wrong

date: 26 apr 22
time: 1:13pm
eating & drinking: cappuccino
listening to: the clock
feeling: ♨️ (◡_◡) again
another soothing place - I went catsitting for another person and between his house and mine there’s a big area with lots of buildings of the Polytechnic and the cancer institute. The streets are huge with very tall trees, and during the weekends it’s always empty. Big streets upon big streets with no one around and no one in the buildings. It’s so green and a bit grey. It’s very close to the apartment where I grew up, and I remember my parents brought me there to ride my bike because there were barely any cars around. On the northern part of this big mass of empty streets there’s a dead end one, the last one before the railway, on Saturday mornings there’s always a street market, and in the evening all the vendors go away leaving it ridiculously littered with squashed fruits and veggies, empty shoe boxes and hangers, and gross fish parts and liquids on the very end of the road. It was so nice riding my bike there, seeing the early sunset on the railway and the trash, lol. Damn I miss that neighbourhood. I wish I could buy a house there one day, but the indies took over and the prices skyrocketed. Love that for me ^_^

date: 20 apr 22
time: 7:27pm
eating & drinking: water
listening to: nothing
feeling: ♨️ (◡_◡)
I’m catsitting at one of my “regulars”. They live 2 tube stops from my house, which is between the actual city and the suburbs around it. This place in the suburbs. I know it very well because my hs best friend lived here. The house looks like a furniture showroom, kind of like Ikea but more modern and less warm. Everything is light grey and white with a lot of stainless steel and a black marble counter. It’s spotless and silent and it smells like new things. There is nothing hung on the walls and barely any useless object. The only clock in sight is the oven’s one. Lots of empty spaces with colourful cat toys scattered all over the grey floor. In the bathroom there’s a cartoonish drawing of a blue strawberry sticked on a cabinet. It looks so out of place.
There is something extremely soothing about these suburbs, and about the silence of this house and the gentle humming of the interstate nearby. Just like the concept of “too late”. When it’s too late, you can just be yourself

date: 11 mar 22
time: 2:22pm :^)
eating & drinking: Tropicana multivitamin boost
listening to: James Harpham - Oriental Dolls
feeling: pensive
yesterday I ate chocolate and raspberry ice cream on a bench. I got up only when it was dark and freezing. Some trees are already blooming, there was one literally brimming of white flowers in the distance. I have so many happy, calm memories like this, just me and the things and sounds around me

date: 14 feb 22
time: 18:36pm
eating & drinking: tea
listening to: can't listen to music rn
feeling: sticky
today, in the late morning, I sat an oral exam. It was hard, horrible, I’ve spent the last week having night terrors and feeling like I had needles on my back. I’m so dizzy and I hate myself for that. I still can’t snap out of it. I got a good grade, but I have no idea on how the exam actually went, no idea on how I came across nor on how I sounded like. I wish I did, but there’s no way to know. I just have to keep doing this and I’ll improve.

date: 6 feb 22
time: 1:01pm
eating & drinking: cappuccino
listening to: I lost something in the hills by Sibylle Baier
feeling: bouncy castle
purposefully missing the cultural niche references that people throw at me in a conversation to probe my cultural level has been a very good idea so far. god I hate them

date: 20 january 22
time: 1:42pm
eating & drinking: pizza
listening to: the clock's ticking :-)
feeling: brain fog for days
- two days ago I had my booster. I didn’t expect to get sick, but here I am. Actually today I’m doing much better, but yesterday it was pretty bad. This time I went to an actual hospital to get it (for the 2 actual vaccines I went to a school lmao, it was summer so they used it as a vaccine hub). The hospital is huge and kind of outside of the city, so I had to take the tube and then their own mini connection shuttle. While on the shuttle, I passed a private house that had lots of chickens and geese in the garden.. and a peacock! I think the shuttle scared him so he opened all of his feathers, it was stunning! Anyway, this time there were also several kids waiting for their jabs. They seemed super chill, when I was a child I was terrified of vaccines, especially because we got most of them during school hours, without parents or a warning. The teachers were just like “hey you guys need to go to the nurses’ for a sec”.. oh the horror. I guess they didn’t want us to overthink it, but it was kind of brutal lol.
- I just logged into my tumblr and apparently 2 years ago I wrote this: “in general my win to lose ratio is 1 in 5 and I just have to deal with it”.... woah

date: 15 january 22
time: 9:25pm
eating & drinking: fennel infuse in a Olympics mug (Athens, 2004)
listening to: the radio
feeling: 😤⏰IT’S GRIND TIME 😈🏃(NOT!)
- I came back home so late from my volunteer job + cat sitting (like at 9.30pm) and I didn’t even feel like having dinner, I just immediately went in the shower. I stayed in my dark bathroom under the hot water for a while and at one point I heard my neighbour coming back home. He went to his kitchen, which is behind my bathroom’s wall, and started cooking and humming a sweet melody. It made me happy.
- latest thought: I always wondered what kept me tied to the pursue of an education when everything about it makes me go insane. I thought it had to be my privilege inertially pushing me, boredom, an emotional need to keep my student status to never grow into the worker/adult one. Deep down all of these reasons irritated me, but I just considered them valid anyway, because why would I trust myself. Anyway, today, like, literally today, I was like, what if I just want to make it right? I know that I like to study, deep down I do. But competition, careerism, depression + etc and the typical fast paced rhythm of school and its study schedule, and then horrible classmates and professors totally screwed it for me, especially as I want to adapt to whatever is up around me at all costs.
I’m sorry if I keep rambling about school. I always do. This is why I created this cesspool, to throw in my ever so constant stale ruminations about the same old 2 things.

date: 2 janaury 2022
time: 01:19am
eating & drinking: craving cucumber crackers
listening to: my neighbour watching a film
feeling: hazy
I hope you all had a nice new year’s eve and that are all safe and healthy. Have you wrote any resolutions yet? I have, I’m very into them. I know that you can decide to do/start something whenever you want, but I like to do it when presumably a lot of other people are doing the same. Here’s my list:
1. be honest with myself (this was on my 2021 list too. It brought lots of good things, so I’m keeping it)
2. go to China
3. go back to London
4. stay with K a lot
5. pottery class
That’s it! More diary thoughts that got accumulated in between my food induced comas:
- why is it that sometimes positively challenging a concept as a supporter of the ideology of such concept isn’t welcomed and perceived as a weak spot from which the ones who disagree with it can somehow find a way to prove their point?
- yesterday afternoon there were a lot of railway employees roaming around the village with their uniforms still on. It was like seeing grown up school kids. They were always in small groups, happily chatting. Not sure why they were here

date: 25 december 2021
time: 3:17pm
eating & drinking: sparkling water
listening to: the town's church bells blasting xmas tunes
feeling: a hard thing that breaks open in one single big crack

I’m currently food drunk on the sofa. Christmas day is always a big boiling pot of emotions for me. ..
I hope you're all doing great ♡

date: 30 october 2021
time: 6:21pm
eating & drinking: satsuma mandarin
listening to: Anniemal - Annie
feeling: girl (derogatory)
what if my dreams were supposed to be something else? We certainly have to adapt to the world we live in to function, especially if we want to bring something good into our community. Selfish dreams and insignificant dreams. Should I have them? All of my dreams are extremely functional, and after all, why should I have dreams that take me nowhere but to an unsharable, unsellable happiness? A place that’s only mine.......................

date: 15 october 2021
time: 10:03pm
eating & drinking: very old earl gray
listening to: the clock and the occasional train outside of the window
feeling: Windows aquarium screensaver
- I’ve always felt like my romantic love made the recipient dirty. I still do
- I wish I actually knew how to talk about politics instead of just cosplaying it
- a lot of anti vaccine passport protests in my city. I don’t understand them. I’ve tried and I guess I’ll still try, but it’s just so insane. I mean yeah maybe there could have been other ways? But I have the strong feeling it’s just not about that... everything reeks of negationism
- I wanna go to nobu


date: 13 october 2021
time: 2:03pm
eating & drinking: pepsi
listening to: linguistic professor
feeling: crying girl in the class of a manic dance teacher who runs her after school course like it’s the navy
the other day I went to get a mani with my other cousin. Just for the records, I have two cousins, D and Emma (well, three, but the third lives in New Jersey and ignores me). They’re all girls. This time I was with D. I got french tips, she got baby pink :^) ...every single time I’m with D we always end up talking trash of our other cousin, the NJ one. It feels like a guilty pleasure. It’s a long story, but she’s perfect, that’s why she’s in the united states, lol. She’s not naturally perfect— she was able to fully betray herself and her needs in order to gain status. Idk if I’m making sense or if I sound like a populist. I always wanted to sacrifice myself to a sort of capitalistic idol, an ideal, more specifically a high earning PhD. After definitely ruling out I didn’t have the natural talent to achieve such positions by mere hard work, I knew I had to start thinking of sacrifices (sacrifice as self harm. Quote: “I felt like I was trading pieces of myself for hamburgers. Strips of my thigh to bait the hook”), and my way was already paved by her. Our nature can’t be changed (by nature I mean a specific idea I have of the concept of “nature”— apologists of any crappy ideal &Co, stay away from me), but it can be twisted and squeezed, often resulting in painful and awkward contortions. I pity her and rot in envy every time I think of her grotesque little figure perched in a condo with a Statue of Liberty view

date: 10 october 2021
time: 00:06am
eating & drinking: mineral water
listening to: Sweet Valley Slumber Party - Racing Hearts
feeling: the good cop
- today I went to my cousin’s house. We see each other often but not for a very long
time— usually around 3hrs. Today after the usual hours I went to her house and stayed for lunch and then we stayed together until dinner. I came home at 7.30pm. Time went by so quickly! We talked about a lot of stuff, some serious things too. We went over a lot of old documents and letters of our grandparents, lots of sad stuff regarding concentration camps and religious mysticism. Hm. We also talked about my professor, the one I’m about to have a crush on. The other professor he’s always with is my aunt’s friend, etc etc. Interesting. I wish I was childish enough to hope to be invited to a dinner where they’re all there and to be interesting enough to catch my professor’s attention, like in the fan fictions I used to read when I was younger. Not to sound tragic, but I feel like I have no right to think of him. And also, the more I grow, the less confident I feel about my abilities to say something that will make me stand out. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
- today I also bought the book I mentioned in my last entry, Heaven by Mieko Kawakami. It’s amazing. I’m saving the ending for tomorrow, as I don’t want to have nightmares. It’s pretty crude

date: 7 october 2021
time: 12:05am
eating & drinking: a multivitamin tab and a plum
listening to: the weeknd
feeling: like, bad
- yesterday my professor said the sentence “the mainstream idea of success and career in capitalism”. I’m trying so, so hard to not develop a crush on him. Sweet baby jesus please keep me free from the burden of unrequited love. I beg you. don’t do this to me
- every single time I meet someone new I feel like I have to justify myself and excuse my existence
- the friction between the ideal world and the real world is the cringiest feeling I’ve ever experienced in my life and I can’t find a way out
- I wanna buy the book “Heaven” by Mieko Kawakami. I found it in a bookshop like 2 weeks ago and didn’t find it particularly interesting but I’ve been thinking about it ever since so I guess it is interesting after all. And also the new book by Peter Cameron. But I also have to study so I guess I’ll leave them for the Christmas holidays or something like that
- I told you about the guy I met at the polls, the one I had a crush on, right? Well something funny I left out is that we started talking about all the people we probably both know (we grew up in the same area and have the same age) and he literally knows all of my middle school bullies hahahah. I kept saying names and he was like “aw he was such a good friend” and I was like 👁👄👁 hahahahahahah I wanna perish

date: 6 october 2021
time: 10:45am
eating & drinking: matcha chewing gum
listening to: my professor
feeling: the chewed chewing gum I’m chewing right now
POST ELECTIONS ENTRY
it’s been three very intense days. It was my first time working at the polls and I didn’t expect it to be so energy draining. The first day was alright, but the other two were almost uninterrupted work from 7am to 23pm (1st day) and midnight (2nd day) with 5 other strangers in a small classroom. The night between the second and third day I just dreamt their faces. Another interesting thing is that after a while, the voters started to look the same, to the point where when I saw some of them coming towards our poll station I thought they just forgot something, but no, they were new people. The turnout ended up being super low, we saw only around 45% of the people we had in our lists. But my fav (not fav in general, just in these elections) won! Him and his party won every single thing they could win, wow wow wow. Also, I am so incredibly grateful to this random man (either a municipality worker or someone from a political party), during the last 3-4 hours of the last day 3 of the people in my station started getting super confused and frustrated, and this guy realised it and sat next to me so I could keep working! When we were done I honestly wanted to hug him but I didn’t want him to think I was crazy lmao. But like, no one was paying him for that, he literally sat next to me for like 1 hour? 2 hours? helping me out and I didn’t even specifically ask him to. I don’t think I’ll ever forget him :’-)
I’m also seriously considering joining the local club of my favourite party and see if there’s something interesting I can do :)
Last but not least, I had/have a crush on a boy that was working with me at my poll station, and I think he liked me as well? But now we won’t see each other anymore and idk if I should text him. He’s very different from me and very different from all the types of boys I usually like. Idk. Tyts :)

date: 2 october 2021
time: 9:33am
eating & drinking: soy latte, again
listening to: teen suicide - falling in love
feeling: bullied and neglected small pet of a spoiled 7yo girl who will later be the proof of her early signs of sociopathic tendencies
- wow, it’s already October! I have no clothes. The first week of uni was intense, but in a different way than the “intense” I’m used to. I think I’ll be able to elaborate on this only later
- my professor said this: “after all, merit is the survival of the fittest”, and I was like, oh, right. I’ve always seen merit as something inherently good, but I guess it’s not. Like, especially in random settings like uni or work (by random I mean, there’s tons of people with so many different backgrounds and stories) everyone starts from the same line but with different baggages, and the ones who make it are usually the privileged ones. And obviously I knew this, but again, I never thought about my ideas on merit. Hhmmmmmmm

date: 27 september 2021
time: 11:05pm
eating & drinking: soy latte
listening to: teen suicide - grim reaper
feeling: confused worm
- I’m going to be a scrutiniser for the upcoming mayoral elections! I’m very excited
- today I’m starting uni again, new degree and everything. It feels awful but I can’t waste more time (and money) on my old degree. The only thing that kept me there was a sort of gambling mentality: “I can’t let the years/love/dedication I’ve spent on this go to waste, I’m going to make it soon”, etc. Not gonna happen. Or maybe yes. But I just feel like it’s not worth it anymore. I’m tiiirreeedd of pulling the lever. The admission test’s results are indecently public, with your full name, date of birth and everything, which is upsetting but also great for realising I’m not the only older girl in uni: the eldest was born in 1967! And there are a lot of students who were born in the first years of the ‘90s, which makes me feel even better
- yesterday I had lunch with my cousin in one of our favourite restaurants. It was nice :) I had: avocado toast (with chopped mint, lemon juice and chili flakes), caponata (it’s a Sicilian dish) and cherry tomato, pepper and strawberry gazpacho and a glass of iced flower tea. Which is kind of what I always get, lol
- also, it’s autumn, which means seasonal depression but also a lot of amazing things, like roasted pumpkin and chestnuts, stunning orange and red parks, hot teas, etc, etc. I’m determined to make the most out of it and enjoy it as much as I can. I also have to start making my gingerbread biscuits at one point, people are already starting to ask about them! :’)

date: 31 august 2021
time: 3:31pm
eating & drinking: innocent smoothie (strawberry, cherry, apple, guarana, flax seeds, vitamins)
listening to: just another diamond day by Vashti Bunyan
feeling: lost
tomorrow will be September. The air is already crispier, it’s sunny but not hot, such a lovely weather.. yet I still have to learn to enjoy this summer-autumn transition. It brings back too many horrible memories, which is annoying because they’re in the past and nothing can actually bring those times back to reality, but I can’t control it (yet). I’m not eating much. I try to drink at least a smoothie and some juice every single day, and take my vitamins, so I won’t feel completely crappy. These days feel like just big blobs of time. Tomorrow I’ll have dinner with my cousin though :)
Also, speaking of food— the tart came out great! (last diary entry). It was better without the rocket, at least for my taste. And I added black pepper in the cheese, along with fresh thyme.
Anyway, I also miss my mum. Sorry if this diary entry is especially depressing. Maybe I just have to wait for uni to start again and everything will feel less weird. Stardew Valley is helping me a little bit, it’s such a lovely game! I didn’t expect it to be so nice. Guess who I’m gonna marry?! Well, you can’t guess because you don’t know me, but if you did you would have guessed Elliott and would have been right, haha

date: 23 august 2021
time: 11:36pm
eating & drinking: sparkling water with ice
listening to: Kid Francescoli - The Player
feeling: sunset lipgloss
2 days ago I had my second dose of Pfizer. Everything was going super well until yesterday night when I woke up with a super high fever lol. I didn’t sleep at all, took paracetamol, in the late morning I went cat sitting, came back home, collapsed, woke up again with another high fever, took paracetamol, collapsed, ate dinner, went to sleep. And today I was completely fine! Whew. Also, tomorrow I’ll try to make a tart. They’re super easy actually, you just have to buy pre made puff pastry and throw random ingredients on it. I'll declutter my closet tomorrow

date: 6 august 2021
time: 00:18am
eating & drinking: extra mint chewing gum
listening to: anti MLM video
feeling: Hermione Granger punching Draco Malfoy, but in a hermioneXdraco fanfiction
I’ll be back at the seaside tomorrow. There, everything is perfect. The air is warm and dense and I can wear a tight dress and make my hair shiny and I feel like I fit in the happy scenario. It’s pointless, but it makes me feel calmer.

I think the point is that I almost feel in control.

date: 4 july 2021
time: 11:44am
eating & drinking: oat milk latte
listening to: bisou magique
feeling: wasp bite on eye
just came back from the seaside. I cut my hair really short and looked at a lot of sunsets on my own, and I went to stunning places as always. I’ve known those places for all of my life and sometimes I can’t see how stunning they are anymore. It takes like, a particularly hard hike at midday that makes me sit down exhausted on the dirt path surrounded by jasmine bushes in full bloom on a lazuli sea with aqua patches and I’m like “oh ok, I’m here”.
I’m very avoidant. I’m more scared than curious. If it’s not perfect I don’t want it, and not because I’m a bitch. I wouldn’t care about perfection if it didn’t guarantee safety. My friends are *perfect*. Our relationships are smoother than oil and idyllic and deep, and I think everything is supposed to be like that. It’s not. I mean, nothing is supposed to be like that. Uhm. So yeah, anyway, I’m making a lot of plans. For uni and for next summer, and for stuff I want to do with Emma. St. Barth, the swimming costumes shop, gave me a huge serotonin kick. I never really liked it, and I don’t even like shopping, but now they have this soft aesthetic I’d die for. There’s this patchwork shirt… uuuuggghhhh. And the 3 colour bucket hat. And the shop assistants act so manic and it totally matches my mood and I feel like when I finally get to the cash register I have dilated pupils and foam in my mouth (ↀДↀ)✧ oh capitalism I hate you

date: 2 apr 2021
time: 09:57pm
eating & drinking: lychee mogu mogu
listening to: Escapade by Noir Disco
feeling: teeth grinding
- I tried vegan salmon sushi. Not bad!
- I honestly feel like right wing politics are just cults of fear
- I have some cool recipes for easter! Very excited about that
- the magazine that published my last poem had a lovely zoom presentation and I could have asked them to be there and read my poem 2 everyone but I didn’t even join the zoom call. I hate myself so much♡♡

date: 2 mar 2021
time: 11:45pm
eating & drinking: water
listening to: one direction (don't @ me)
feeling: empty bladder
- Soon we'll have a zoom/facetime call to celebrate Claire’s graduation and I have to come up with a cool cocktail idea :)
- Something that’s very soothing to me is the certainty that time doesn’t stop for anyone (duh). So I HAVE to go forward. That’s one of my phobias or whatever, to go forward, but it’s literally the only thing we can do? I can’t possibly do what I want (stay still), and even better, so much better, no one else can. I feel like I’m going to be the target audience of botox in 5 years.. neat

date: 14 feb 2021
time: 12:19
eating & drinking: my heart out
listening to: nothing
feeling: puddle


date: 5 feb 2021
time: 13:27
eating & drinking: carrot cake and Innocent smoothie “blue spark” (guava, pineapple, apple, blue spirulina, vitamins)
listening to: Maybe by Ricewine
feeling: Nickelodeon eye rolling
oh to:
- be (actually) seen
- know how to handle school flashbacks
- get over the “mark/accomplishment = only self worth” thing
- accept being normal and below average
- stop seeking redemption for being “faulty” and stop being horrified at one’s faultiness - the modern Cinderella story is the bullied/weird/quiet child that becomes CEO of her bullies and it’s as farfetched as the original one. Some revenges (like the ones I’ve been dreaming of) are just public pardons

date: 17 jan 2021
time: 11:50pm
eating & drinking: earl grey
listening to: Gabriel Fauré - 3 Nocturnes, No. 1
feeling: Swiss prairie on fire (arson)
I think I need to change my uni course.
It’s already too late, but better late than never I guess. I’m such a dumb idiot. It's the script thing

date: 4 jan 2021
time: 09:01am
eating & drinking: latte and a piece of toast with almond butter
listening to: outside of my window
feeling: wah wah
When it comes to guilt, it’s really not about other people. Feeling bad/discomfort or having an unproductive day (or week.. or month) makes me feel so ashamed about my own depression with myself that I shut it down, I don’t acknowledge it and call myself lazy. But I don’t particularly care if other people notice it. I mean I do, but way less. Same thing with my classes, especially Chinese conversation. I’ve always thought I was competing with the two girls that are better than me.. but I’m just competing with my best day. I know this sounds better than competing with other people (you know when they say “Don’t Compare Your Beginning to Someone Else’s Middle” etc, etc) or even healthy, but it’s not. It doesn’t feel like it, at least. I have to deal with the fact I’m not a robot. Anyway. Thinking of buying some new books or whatever

date: 1 jan 2021
time: 13:30
eating & drinking: gingerbread cookies I baked yesterday
listening to: the Vienna New Year's Concert
feeling: trying
Happy New Year everyone! Do you make a new year’s resolution list? I do, I really like it. I make some resolutions for every month as they pass by, and a long list of resolutions for the new year. I don’t always go through with them, but they help with my mental clarity. My most important 2021 resolution is to be honest with myself. I wrote it on my 2020 resolutions list as well, and it was honestly one of the best things I’ve forced myself to do. I came to the realisation that I don’t really live authentically, I somehow write a sort of general script in my head (I know this sounds like something you only could do consciously, but.. I don’t really do it intentionally. I think it was the only way of life I knew. Idk) and force it on my reality, without checking if it’s actually a possibility or not, and especially without assessing if I’m able to make it or not. I don’t know if I’m making sense, but I’m tired of it. I need to listen to my intuition more, and to acknowledge my abilities and weaknesses, and not base everything on What I Think It Should Be. It’s sad and in general not beneficial at all. I get further and further from my core, my real self.. well, I guess that was the plan.
On a lighter note! I received a Switch and Animal Crossing NH for Christmas, and I’ve been glued to it ever since. I’m visiting Claire's island every evening, and it’s just amazing. Nothing will ever top my beloved Wild World, but New Horizon is just adorable

date: 15 dec 2020
time: 11:46pm
eating & drinking: Innocent smoothie “mega mango”
listening to: immersing into Hector Gachan's entire discography once again
feeling: anime sky
I love being the last volunteer and closing our shelter. I can see the sun setting from the windows, and recently the sky always becomes a very rich cue of purple. I have to mop the floors with water and bleach and wait until they dry (doesn’t take that long). In the meantime I bring a kitten with me at the front and cuddle, looking at the sunset. It’s perfect every time, and it makes me so happy.

date: 10 dec 2020
time: 00:41am
eating & drinking: water
listening to: you'll know in a sec
feeling: overwhelmed
I was listening to a Stardew Valley soundtrack playlist on youtube to chill and when it ended it automatically passed onto the next video which somehow was the Nintendogs soundtrack and I had the most violent transcendental experience of my life

date: 7 dec 2020
time: 22:11pm :-)
eating & drinking: nothing, but craving crêpes
listening to: the radio (classical) #2
feeling: broken ping pong ball
Normal people don’t exist and struggles are subjective. The temptation to become my own parody and bash random people that innocently lived all of their lives somewhat stress free is too strong though, so I kind of have to start my entry saying that. I’ve always expected to bloom in a very specific way. A redeeming type of blooming, A-type of blooming, a way to ask sorry to the world for the way I am. Shred all of my identity to become the Ideal, a walking billboard that says “I’ve changed, and I feel amazing!”. But no matter how many layers I tear and throw away, very much unfortunately the same exact ones will grow up, endlessly, lol. I can’t be someone I’m not. I can fake it, maybe even fool everyone, but that’s no different from self harm. Sad.

date: 6 dec 2020
time: about to have luncheon
eating & drinking: plain green tea
listening to: the radio (classical)
feeling: thankful
Me and my childhood friend, C, decided to see each other every thursday at the park. We became best friends when we were 6 years old. Recently, the more I see her, the more I like myself. She reminds me of how much I loved life before depression got to me (between 11 and 15 years old- I know it’s a long period, but I’m not sure when it started). I’ve spent my whole teenage years trying to erase myself, and I did succeed in cancelling a lot of parts of myself ^_^ amazing, right? Ugh. I thought they were lost forever, but ~self recognition through the other~ is real! And I’m finding back those pieces in the stupid bs we laugh about every thursday. :-)

date: 5 dec 2020
time: 00:56am
eating & drinking: melon tea (cold.. ugh)
listening to: amour plastique
feeling: chocolate bunny who’s being eaten only because it’s melting
I can’t sleep and I’ve spent the last 3 hours thinking of all the boys I’ve ever had a huge crush on. Isn’t it super creepy I keep dreaming about that man I met in Rome once? How would you feel if a girl dreamt about you 3 nights per week? Creeped out I assume. Anyway. Today I bought a stack of mini packets of chili doritos for 0.45cents each. I was a bit embarrassed when I piled them on the counter, but the cashier didn’t flinch. Also, I’d do anything for my dorito loving body, so it’s whatever.

date: 3 dec 2020
time: 11:47pm
eating & drinking: lemon green tea
listening to: 王菲《給自己的情書》
feeling: don't tell anyone
today I bought a bottle of Johnson’s Baby “bedtime baby bath” shower gel (I love it but it sucks. This is the last time I don’t go to Lush and buy an eco friendly soap), a blue candle and some beer. I had a shower, used the new shower gel, loved it, ate dinner. I tried to make a portrait after dinner, with chalk and pencils, but I got bored. Maybe it’s because I’m not into Kit Harington and I was drawing him.
It’s been raining for the whole day. There are some scents and sounds that are crystallised into my mind and that pop up whenever I encounter the slightest trigger, one of that being today's rain. My city's rainy days smell cold, like rotten leaves and like bus and car smog. Another trigger is the slight headache I get when I wake up too early and too abruptly. Today I experienced both of them at the same time, in front of my open window. It should have been a warming moment, me, groggy with my cup of tea, inside of a cozy bedroom while it rains, and in a way, it was, but it also took me back for the millionth time to the sounds, smells and feelings of when I was in high school. The early morning rain, the overcrowded underground, the loneliness, the fear: when I came home at 2pm I was already exhausted, no energy left to study. It went on for 7 long years, and when it was over I didn’t cheer. For what? My teenage years were gone into that weird, sad black hole and I was left with nothing. I was suddenly in my 20s, with no experiences whatsoever, blurry memories and a prescription to antidepressants and Xanax. I did get angry with myself: couldn’t you have created your own, secret world instead of letting yourself be so ridiculously exposed to any single thing? You should have asked for help. You should have tried to make more friends. You shouldn’t have been so lame in class, what were your classmates supposed to do with that personality? You should have embraced your oddness, made it into something cool. Some classmates liked to describe me as “dead”. In a way, they weren’t completely wrong. Some odd people like me have a spark inside of themselves that saves them, I didn’t. I let everything push me down, and made “being normal” (whatever that means) my only life reason, for whatever reason. I kept walking straight, and instead of looking inside of myself I kept trying to adapt to the version of “normal” I had in my mind, a Frankenstein of every Most Popular Girl of the Class I’ve ever met. Bad idea.

uh oh, you reached the end