studio city
3.89 miles
blackberries are so yummy. i suppose i could just do a lil walk in each of the la neighborhoods. i dunno still. i don’t even know if this walk was really in studio city. but the writing is trying to happen.
walking in la did surprisingly happen this weekend. i walked from atwater to elysian valley (frogtown) on a lil bar hop with the girls on friday, i took a quick post-lunch stroll in ktown on staurday, and today, sunday, my friend boog (who has been a strong encourager of the walking and the writing) and i trekked around studio city for a lil while, as the sun set on what felt like the first summer day of la this year (in february, yes).
i finally finished watching insecure and the pink flamingo makes me think of the dunes and the scenery.
felt an urge to check my texts just now, have felt more chained to my phone than usual, can’t separate the endless todos of life from the todos of work from the dopamine hits of silly videos and sillier texts. i used to be a worse texter and i think i was a better listener when that was the case. i separate from work more than most grad students do but also i am always thinking about work. even my notes app is full of todo lists and grocery lists next to ramblings i thought could be profound next to impromptu lab notes next to angry sad thankful lil rants.
my dad said something to me about how one ought to just expect to pay 1k on a car every year, and this has been in my mind the past couple of the weeks (he also told me to do my taxes which has not stuck quite as much). the little things of cleaning groceries laundry cooking can feel harder than they are sometimes, but changing my expectations to remember that these are just the things one must do every week… i dunno, feels sillier when i write it down. but changing (lowering, in a sense) the expectations always seems to help my brain i feel.
suits is in la now? also yellotail BELLY.
on thursday night i stayed up past 2am to start and finish a book, something i haven’t done in far too long. the book was a very large expanse of sea by tahareh mafi, and i cried kinda all through reading it. a story of a girl who is scared to let anyone in, who is bullied for her hijab, who falls for a boy she doesn’t want to fall for. my attention span while reading has seriously dwindled (re: above), so it truly feels so delicious to not be able to put a book down. i am unable to deny that i love a good ya romance— i love a good love story, i love how strong the feelings are, the precious and uncomplicated honesty.
ah yes, the river of la
a meal with a good friend sandwiched by walking with that same friend is exactly what i want out of my weekends. as always, the streets were pretty unwalkable, the sidewalk disappeared twice on us, the sound of cars whooshing by on ventura blvd not the most pleasant (maybe i am just complaining, ny has cars too). but it was quite nice to see the la landscape at a slower pace than usual: the pastel storefronts, the trickle of the la river, the mountains in the background and the hill of homes in the foreground, right above the street we were walking along. and yes, the stars came out when the sun was long gone on this clear night after a warm day, and the stars are always good in la, at least when there is not smog.
an admittedly abominable attempt to capture orion, and a strava screenshot which is embarassing because too many runners follow me now