Showing posts with label personal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal. Show all posts

where do i put all my shame?

i was trying to sleep the other night. i usally go to bed around 2 AM, despite always saying "i'll go to bed earlier tomorrow." and in a moment a thought just hit me:

"what if i don't have to make myself feel like this? what if i stopped shaming myself for not already being who i think i'm supposed to be?

what if i just let myself be?"

i know none of this is a crazy revelation. it's something any therapist could tell you. in fact, it was the main thing me and my therapist talked about during 2021. well, that and my transition. but despite talking to her, knowing what she was saying was objectively correct, a part of me, deep down inside, didn't believe it. i couldn't possibly believe that all those years of shame were completely useless. "surely," i thought, "surely all my self hatred will prove itself to be useful eventually, right?"

well, no. it didn't.

nonetheless, it was something that i believed was too important to let go of. the constant shaming had become a part of me, an instinct as natural as breathing. i couldn't be too much, or take up any space, or let myself speak for too long. 

the culture certainly didn't help. shame is a powerful tool, and no one knows this better than fascists. they use this to dehumanize marginalised voices, to illicit disgust and fear about us, not only in the minds of apolitical citizens but also, within ourselves. as Ken Moffat writes in his 2012 essay, Shame and Men:A Queer Perspective on Masculinity,  "[insulting] is rather a performative gesture by the aggressor inscribing the power to hurt, and the power to mark one’s consciousness."

but the troubling part is, we are seeing the same attitudes in supposedly progressive spaces. the current internet is built to make you shame and exclude anyone who isn't like you. and anyone can fall victim to this mentality, regardless of political convictions. ultimately though, you turn off the screen, and all that's left is you and the shame, with nowhere to go but inside your head.

for some time now, i've tried my best to push back against the fear and shame. there were moments where it became suffocating. not only that, but i realised shame was actively hindering my progress. the Future Me i had propped up on a pedestal kept getting further and further away, because every time i failed to meet my own expectations i convinced myself i could never be that person. the blanket of shame was a protective shield i used to avoid change. i became a self-fulfilling profecy. "if i'm fucked anyway, why even bother?"

but it doesn't have to be that way. i know it didn't use to be that way. when i was a very small child, i didn't care so much. i just let myself exist as i was. and as much as i mourn those days sometimes, i know i can't turn back time and revert all the things that have led me to be neurotic and scared. i don't want to, either. the shame is a part of me now. i am who i am, for better or for worse, thanks to it. 

and maybe, that's been the issue all along. i've tried to repress the shame while not realising that i am a whole person. i cannot exorcise the shame because it is me. 

and yes, i am lazy, and angry, and annoying, and all the other things i tell myself i can't stand about myself. but would that be so bad? perhaps, i need to be less scared of being these things, and more open to experience all aspects of myself, including the negative ones. 

to go back to childhood is impossible, but i can try to look at the world and myself with the same enthusiasm and kindness.

happy new year everyone, i hope 2026 is full of joy and surprises. 

love,

devon.

p.d: a poem and the first sunrise of the year :] 



late october #LYFE (⁠=⁠^⁠・⁠ェ⁠・⁠^⁠=⁠)

heyyy 

so i was gonna write a life update but I didn't know where to start and i saw a cat on my walk home SO picture of the cat:
idk why it's horizontal i was gonna fix it on my computer but i got lazy LOL whateverr

rn its drizzling a little but its still a nice temperature. this incoming week i have two awesome sewing projects that i want to start making. one is for my halloween costume which also has some other kinds of crafting involved 👀 i hope it turns out cool or at least trashy chic ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

i also have to finish some school projects which i am not exactly THRILLED about.. however if i start working tomorrow on my personal projects ill be in a sewing #mood for the rest of my day sooo ill use my motivation to get some things done.

wow this turned out longer than i thought LMAO. anyways there's a dunkin donut in my kitchen calling my name rn. see yall 

P.D: my outfit this weekend (i stayed at marios house on friday and didnt have time to go to my place and change </3 im in my pjs now tho) and some piccys

LUX HYPE POST

yall,

i have to post smth about this RN before i forget. i am super hype abt LUX and idk why LOL. 

leaving an article here (in Spanish) abt the teasers.

that's it!! ill have to make a follow up post once i can explain why im excited and what im hoping for + why i love her LMAO. thnx for reading all this <3333

dev.

P.S a lil photo dump of good pics i made/saved recently only for myself. but yall can watch I GUESS (jk it took me a bit bc blogger mobile is ass So pLz watch my pics.. ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ) 

retrospectiva de mi vida: 2019 - 2025

hola.
me ha dado #fomo no participar en esta "trend" de estados de Whatsapp (aunque ya ha pasado un rato) pero lo que quería decir era extenso y no me gusta el formato de texto de los estados así que aquí estamos. para eso tengo un blog supongo.

otra parte de mí no quería hacer una retrospectiva de mi vida en parte porque siento que he tenido una adolescencia aburrida. me doy cuenta que pasaba mucho tiempo solo, en internet, dibujando o escuchando música. 
el otro día leí un tweet que decía "tus 20 son para darte cuenta de que crecer como una chica muy solitaria te acompañará por mucho más tiempo del que te gustaría." ahora tengo una pareja a la que amo y un grupo de amigos estable al que quiero mucho y en el que encajo. y aún con todo, en mi pasado sigue esa chica solitaria que alguna vez fui.

gracias isaak por iniciar la trend y a todos mis amigos que participaron. he aprendido mucho de vosotros. 

2019

dos cosas se me vienen a la cabeza pensando en este año: la canción sophia de clairo y el álbum death of a bachelor de panic! at the disco. 
en 2018 me dejé de llevar con mi mejor amiga del colegio. este año salí del armario como lesbiana a mis amigos y (desastroso) a mi madre. intentaba ser masc pero mi estilo no estaba nada desarrollado, me vestía como un estereotipo lésbico con ropa del bershka. tenía un grupo de amigos en el instituto, aunque la mayoría eran tíos cisheteros y no me sentía del todo parte del grupo.

también tuve mi primera (y única) novia, una amiga a la que también le gustaban twenty one pilots, p!atd y esas vainas. hasta me hizo un cd con canciones titulado "this is my jam." todavía conservo el cd aunque llevo años sin escucharlo. nuestra relación duró un total de dos meses. durante ese tiempo, solo íbamos de la mano y nos dábamos picos, todo muy inocente. 
en retrospectiva, es fácil decir que no llegó a nada porque yo estaba haciendo roleplay de "uwu tumblr lesbian" y no había descubierto mi orientación real, aunque lo agradezco porque mi autoestima era demasiado baja como para tener algo serio. igual está feo decirlo, pero me arrepiento de esa relación más que nada porque no pudimos mantener la amistad después de la ruptura. quedamos unas pocas veces después de eso, pero ya está. 


2020

a finales de 2019 y principios de 2020, empecé a probar identificarme como no binario. al principio todavía usaba mi deadname de forma acortada, pero luego me lo cambié a devon, aunque poca gente lo sabía. seguía identificándome como lesbiana e incluso me empezó a gustar otra chica, otra lesbiana de mi curso que vestía medio guay. luego empezó la cuarentena, no la veía nunca y apenas sabía como iniciar conversaciones por instagram. obviamente, nunca fuimos nada, aunque sospecho que ella sabía que me gustaba. era bastante extraño.

la cuarentena también fue medio rara. al principio estuve bien, con bajones ocasionales pero nada del otro mundo. pasaba mucho tiempo en internet, jugando al ACNH, dibujando, politizando. me empezó a gustar mucho poppy, aunque ya no la escucho y le sigo teniendo resentimiento por cancelar el concierto en madrid después de postponerlo dos veces.
pero luego, llegó lo peor. me empezaron a dar ataques de pánico en mi habitación, estaba muy irritable y harto de convivir con mis padres y mi hermana, dejaba todos mis deberes para el último momento. 
me sentía super agobiado porque no tenía ni idea de que hacer con mi futuro. echaba de menos existir en otro ambiente que no fuera el internet o mi casa. me empecé a cortar. 

en verano, cuando ya se podía salir, me calmé un poco. el poder ver a mis amigos me tranquilizó bastante. salía casi todos los días y cuando no, hablaba con mis mutuals (shoutout winter.) escuchaba 100 gecs todo el rato y me volví más transgénero. les dije a mis padres que era trans y me mandaron a una terapeuta. me sirvió para entenderme un poco más y cortarme menos, pero no mucho.

empecé a ser fan del dream smp y a día de hoy no me he recuperado del daño cerebral que me causó. también experimenté con mi pelo y me teñí el flequillo por primera vez. mi estilo estaba completamente sacado de pinterest y tiktok, y no me escondo. llevaba camiseta negra con una camiseta de manga larga de rayas debajo, tenía una cadena en el pantalón, eyeliner muy grande, usaba filtros indie kid y hacía collares de colores (que todavía uso). en fin, muy de la época.


2021

este es el año que me hice gótico y el primero en el que puedo decir que empecé a ser guay. o al menos edgy. comenzó mi obsesión con the cure, y a partir de ahí escuché mucha música nueva para mi. desarrollé mi estilo y empecé a comprar en el humana compulsivamente. 

a pesar de que seguía teniendo los mismos amigos que antes de la cuarentena (con pocos cambios) pasé mucho tiempo solo, sobre todo en verano. ví muchas pelis en mi ordenador por la noche. me ví bojack horseman, me arregló y arruinó al mismo tiempo. iba a la biblioteca y pillaba cds que no me había escuchado y libros nuevos cada pocas semanas. luego leía los libros en el parque mientras fumaba cigarros sueltos (comprados ilegalmente en el bazar de legazpi) porque sentía que era algo que tenía que hacer. iba a manifestaciones solo y alguna vez me hicieron fotos en la calle y en nuevos ministerios por mis pintas. compraba cds y ropa con mi paga o simplemente paseaba por el centro. algunos días no tenía energía para nada y solo me quedaba en mi cama viendo tiktoks hasta las tantas.

por supuesto, iba a nuevos ministerios. la primera vez me invitó sara porque nos hicimos mutuals en instagram y conocí a alaris ese día. me lo pasé muy bien, y me sentí incluido a pesar de que no hablé mucho. la otra vez que fui, conocí a adrián, y recuerdo que dijo que le gustaba mi pelo (llevaba pinchos.) también me hice un mohawk y me teñí mechas rojas después. 
este año ya había aceptado que me gustaban los tíos, aunque decía que era bisexual, e intente ligar con algunos. más que nada porque sentía que tenía que tener una época de liarme con gente a lo loco. no se dio el caso.

en septiembre, me empezó a gustar mario. ya habíamos hablado alguna vez, pero no éramos amigos cercanos. en octubre, con la excusa de ir a un botellón después, le invité a mi casa. nos liamos en mi sofá y empezamos a salir esa misma noche. 
fue repentino. no me dí cuenta de que me gustaba hasta poco antes de que empezase el curso y todo tuvo sentido. ver esa época ahora es un poco extraño porque no tenía ni idea de lo que iba a ser de nosotros, ni de lo mucho que le iba a acabar queriendo. 


2022

recuerdo quedar mucho y hablar con mario por teléfono muy a menudo. también íbamos a botellones con la gente del cervantes y del gran capitán, que eran bastante aburridos. íbamos al madrid río, nos poníamos todos en círculos separados con al menos 1 altavoz, a veces había un poco de baile. más que nada eran una excusa para beber. acababan pronto porque seguíamos teniendo una hora de llegada. mario me presentó a antón y a matías, y oficialmente dejé de hablar con todo mi grupo de amigos anterior menos lucía. 
las razones fueron varias. se habían creado secciones dentro de ese grupo. llevaban tiempo hablando mal de otras personas fuera del grupo, pero ahora hablaban mal unos de otros, y la gota que colmó el vaso fue que intentaran hacer que mario y yo rompieramos porque él no les caía bien y no querían que viniera conmigo a las quedadas y pues... una edad.

en marzo, salió The Batman y la fuí a ver con mario. me intoxiqué con galletas de hachís (ni siquiera marihuana) y mis padres me odiaron durante un tiempo. me teñí el pelo de negro por primera vez. 
en abril, fui a una fiesta de disfraces en nuevos ministerios. ahí, conocí a isaak gracias a que los dos íbamos disfrazados del riddler. me sigue dando mucha ternura que ese sea el origen de nuestra amistad.

como ya no me llevaba con la gente del instituto, salía mucho con antón, matías, lucía e isaak (aka deivid freskisimo). también se unió ana, y el resto del año seguimos saliendo mucho. en verano, empecé la testo, vino winter a españa y fue super guay poder conocerla en persona después de dos años de amistad online. creo que la segunda mitad del año fue mejor.


2023

por algún motivo recuerdo poco de este año. no sé si es porque pasé demasiado tiempo con gente que prefiero olvidar (2 individuos en concreto) o porque no paso nada muy destacable. veamos. 

cumplí 18 y me hice mi primer piercing. me gradué del instituto. fui a la evau y entré en el doble grado (big mistake. HUGE.) viajé con mario a granada y me lo pasé genial. volvió winter a españa. me cambié el género y nombre en el dni.

no es que no pasara nada destacable, sino que pasaron un Montón de cosas. es difícil recordar como me sentí en cada momento. recuerdo mucha ansiedad e inseguridad respecto a mi futuro. de nuevo, no sabía que carrera elegir ni si me iba a dar la nota. durante la primera mitad del año era todo un poco así, exámenes y preocupaciones. una vez pasó el curso y acabé todo, solo recuerdo divertirme y querer salir de casa lo máximo posible. no me sentía para nada adulto, quería estirar la inmadurez de los 18 hasta que no pudiera más.
fue un año curioso, lleno de cambio, nuevas experiencias y decisiones impulsivas. por ejemplo, me teñí el pelo de rosa en septiembre después de un sueño en el que encontraba un bote de tinte rosa en una casa enorme.

también en septiembre entré en la universidad, en bellas artes + diseño y gestión de moda. no estaba listo para lo que me esperaba. 
había momentos divertidos, como charlar con mis compañeras en el taller mientras pintabamos o esculpíamos. luego, momentos no tan divertidos, como suspender los tres exámenes de dibujo técnico antes de rendirme. 
a finales de año, salió Now and Then y me empecé a obsesionar con los beatles por completo.



2024

este año sufrí menos por la universidad. en el segundo cuatri de mi primer año ya no estaba tan estresado (más que nada porque no había dibujo técnico) pero seguía sin estar seguro de mi futuro en esa carrera. tenía una confianza fuera de las clases que flojeaba una vez entraba. me empezó a gustar menos mi arte, y las únicas clases que me gustaban realmente eran ilustración de moda e historia de la moda. 
aún así, estaba decidido a acabar ese año sin tener que repetir ninguna asignatura, mucho menos el curso entero.

fue el año de salir, ir a conciertos, ver pelis con mario, y pasarlo bien. en verano fui a pontevedra con mis amigos y se sintió como el primer gran viaje de mi etapa adulta, aunque ya había viajado sin mis padres y pontevedra no está Tan lejos. también se creó el grupo de maestro puff (que en origen era solo de la fiesta swag.) creo que fue uno de los mejores veranos de mi vida. no solo en términos de diversión (que obviamente me lo pasé genial) sino en términos emocionales. estaba más en paz con el mundo y conmigo mismo. tuve claro que mario era (y es) el amor de mi vida y que eso no iba a cambiar.

decidí dejar el doble grado y pasarme solo a moda porque eso era lo que más me estaba amargando. me dió un poco de pena no ver tanto a mis amigas de bellas artes, pero al final tenía que poner mi salud mental por delante. como ya inicié la tradición el año anterior, me teñí el pelo de azul de forma impulsiva. ah y vi a PAUL MCCARTNEY EN VIVO!!!!!!!! única vez del texto que uso todo mayúscula y es muy necesario.



2025

bueno, por fin, hemos llegado al año del señor 2025. enero fue mi mes más depresivo. me sentía distante, desinteresado (a pesar de que tenía que estudiar para exámenes), y amargado en general. solo quería practicar la guitarra y procrastinar lo máximo posible.
después de los exámenes me teñí las raíces en casa y luego usé tinte naranja y salió regular. cumplí mis 20 e hice una fiesta en mi casa. me lo pasé bien pero el problema con hacer una fiesta en tu propia casa es que tienes que estar pendiente de muchas cosas a la vez.

cumplir 20 se sintió como cumplir 19: no es tan importante como los 18, ni tan insignificante como los 17. solo es un número redondo y por eso asusta más. pero realmente no he cambiado tanto. 
creo que me he relajado bastante en comparación con 2023 por ejemplo, cuando estaba más obsesionado con hacer planes del tipo "ir a un pueblo en medio de la nada y beber hasta las 6." no digo que no este dispuesto a hacer esas cosas (me queda vida por delante), pero más bien quiero centrarme en hacer arte, sacarme la carrera y hacer lo que pueda por ser feliz.



he estado un poco decaído también estas semanas. espero que el sol y la semana santa me salven.

gracias por leer,

devon.

a visit to the museum and so long, frank lloyd wright

the other day, i went to the museum of the decorative arts in madrid.

 i originally went there to see an exhibit about the works of gianni versace, which was fantastic albeit a little short. there were valentino, chanel, ysl and of course, versace clothes on display, along with decorative objects like porcelain jars, silver candleholders and so on, following the theme of each room of the exhibition. after walking through all the rooms twice, in a state of both awe and admiration at the delicate craftmanship of the items that surrounded me, i decided to see the rest of the museum since i didn't have any plans that afternoon. plus, it was free.

opposite to the versace exhibit, a sign pointed to the entrance of an exhibit about the evolution of design throughout the ninteenth and twentieth centuries that caught my eye, so i walked in.

the exhibit was definitely aimed at a more specialised public than the versace one, with a lot of technical terms explaining every detail in the small signs next to the objects in display, which varied greatly from each other in size and appearance. all of them were typical household items: cups, plates, chairs, and tables abounded, some prettier than others, but all of them on elevated pedestals, given the same reverence and space that would be offered to a picasso painting. 

in a room off to the right, with an entrance so poorly lit i almost skipped it entirely, there was a window pane, designed by non other than frank lloyd wright. 

of course, my first thought wasn't "wow, i can't believe this window was designed by the american architect frank lloyd wright!" it was "oh, it's that guy from the simon and garfunkel song." which is a separate but equally nerdy statement. i took a picture of the sign next to it. not only because i thought it was kinda funny but also because "so long, frank lloyd wright" is one of, if not my absolute favourite simon and garfunkel song of all time.

as i stated previously, frank lloyd wright was an american architect born in 1867 who revolutionized design and architecture with his unique vision. he created the term organic architecture to describe a philosophy of architecture that promotes the harmony between man-made creations and nature, partly inspired by elements of japanese architecture. 

this is best exemplified by his most well known work: the kaufmann residence, also known as fallingwater. the house is built right above a waterfall, in the middle of a forest in pennsylvania. he also was responsible for the creation of other important buildings, like the guggenheim museum in new york.


one would assume the song is an homage to the architect, recorded ten years after his passing in 1959.

except, no. it absolutely is not. 

in fact, it has so nothing to do with frank lloyd wright that the entirety of the above section is the result of a surface level wikipedia read (please don't use me as a source). 

according to paul simon, art garfunkel wanted him to write a song about frank lloyd wright since, as an architecture major, he was a fan of his work. but, much like me, paul didn't know a thing about the man. so while the song is adressed to him, it's not really about him. instead, the duo, lead by art, sing in harmony about endless laughter and harmonies that no longer exist, of the bond between the narrator and frank lloyd wright weakening sooner than expected. so soon, so soon.

the gentle guitar melody of the beginning is then joined by percussion and string, but proceeds to dissolve into a solo lead by a meandering flute as the violins get farther and farther away.

a voice in the distance says "so long, artie!" so long, so long. 

the instrumental fades away slowly, like a distant memory. 

and that's what it is really about. the fragility of human connection, the way in which we hold people and moments close in our minds, fondly remembering even when we can see the relationship withering away into nothingness, because sometimes we still love them even when we know it's just not the same anymore.

the narrator is not angry about losing frank lloyd wright. he is not resigned either. he has come to terms with the fact that "all of the nights [they]'d harmonize till dawn" are far behind them. he knows it's happening and acts upon it by choosing to remember the good parts and most importantly, by letting go. all of it, encapsulated in very few words, some repeated over and over.

bridge over troubled water, released in 1970, is the last album simon and garfunkel ever made as a duo. they have reunited later for live shows and what not, but at the time they weren't getting along. as a matter of fact, their friendship has continued to be rocky throughout the years. so no, this song is not an homage to frank lloyd wright. but it is an homage to paul simon and art garfunkels relationship, a eulogy to their work together. a goodbye. 


i think i have a hard time with goodbyes. or rather, i have a hard time saying goodbye to relationships that don't end with a tornado, but with a gust of wind blowing us away from eachother. when i hear this song,  i remember the people i no longer have anything in common with. the people i let go of, and the people that let go of me. and while before, the memory of them would've made me regretful in some way or another, i now find something more akin to acceptance.

so while it may not be objectively (whatever that means) the best simon and garfunkel song of all time, i don't care! it gets to me in a very specific way. if you haven't heard it, please do. you may not feel the same way i do about it, but i hope you can at least understand where i'm coming from a bit better. 

a reddit post i made in 2020

hi.

i found this at 3am while scrubbing my old reddit account clean on a whim and decided to archive it here. its poorly written and not really much of a story. but i don't care because it meant something to 2020 me, and it still means something to me now.

so, here it is, unedited.

_________________


i know no ones gonna see this. but here are some things i learned about my grandad today

my grandad died before i was born. he was an avid smoker, and died of lung cancer because of this. i never met him. most of the things written here i already knew, but i didnt dare to interrupt my mom while she said them.

it was late when i woke up, but i made no effort to stand from where i was on my bed. my mom came into my room and raised the blinds. she looked at the unfinished drawing on my desk, and told my dad, who also came in to see it as well. it wasn't impressive. im not the best artist. my dad said "theres the artist your dad wanted". and my mom, nostalgic as ever, starts to tell me about him.

he was studying odontology before dropping out and becoming a professor. since his parents didn't want to pay for those studies he abandoned, he started to sell books.

he was good with languages and loved literature. he knew french, english and german. he wrote a lot of stories, some of which were transcribed into a blog my aunt made. he often took his students on field trips to a nearby river. when he retired, he joined a theatre club. he always told anecdotes to my mother and her siblings.

what really motivated me to tell this whole thing to random people on the internet though, was what my mom said next.

"he always wanted us to be creative. artists. he would be proud of you."

i think

i want him to be proud of me.


_________________

i still want him to be proud of me.

a walk in the park with me and a sundae

i was coming back from college, bored, listening to music on my tiny knockoff airpods. my commute usually takes about 1 hour, depending on whether or not the buses decide to run on time (most of the time they don´t.)
as soon as i got to my stop, i woke up the sleeping guy next to me so he could let me get out of my window seat, and as i walked from the narrow bus corridor onto the street, i felt drained from having been at uni all day and at the same time, unproductive. like i hadn't done enough.

i'm used to that paradoxical feeling by now, but it hasn't always been this way. i used to be able to go from school straight home, where i would play alone for hours, without a hint of self deprecation in my mind. i didn't think i was wasting my time. i didn't think i should be doing something more useful. i just played with whatever was available for me: first my dolls, then my nintendo ds, and then, my very own computer. 
and while part of me wants to blame it on social media like a boomer, and while it's true that being stuck in a doom scrolling spiral every other day does not help, i think that lingering feeling of guilt is just part of growing up, in a way. you get off from work, and still you have to do things, you have to be a productive member of society at all times. even your hobbies have to be profitable now. relaxing all year round is a luxury reserved to few, while most of us have to settle for the weekends and 7 days of paid vacation (if you get to be so lucky.)

so, the first thing i did when i walked away from the bus stop was buying myself a sundae. i thought it would cheer me up, that it would distract me from that guilt, and while it helped, what truly worked was the simple act of taking a walk home instead of taking a second, shorter bus ride home, which is what i normally do. 

my neighbourhood is ugly. im not going to be dishonest here and tell you i live in a beautiful suburb surrounded by gorgeous architectural masterpieces. no, the place i live in is objectively, kinda ugly. 
the houses are regular, boring apartment buildings that were created between the 1970s and the early 2000s for working class families that either lived in shacks or elsewhere. they don't have any remarkable features, to the point where a lot of them look pretty much the same. sometimes, the walls have graffitis that no one has bothered to clean up in years.

but here's the thing. to these people, and to me, it is home. the chinese restaurant that has been there as long as i've been alive, the corner stores, the playgrounds: all those things are so familiar, and walking through these streets, these plain, boring, ugly streets is as well. even if i don't personally know the grandma crossing the side walk over there, or the man jay walking in front of me, i know that i share these spaces with them, and that makes me happy in a way i don't know how to describe. so i don't want it to be a beautiful landscape, because then it wouldn't feel like the same place, it wouldn't feel real. in fact, i can only hope it never becomes pretty, because the minute the kebab shop gets turned into a minimalist coffee shop with exposed brick walls named "brewstop" is the minute an entire family gets evicted for not being able to pay rent.

later, i took a turn and found myself in a large park that i used to go to quite a lot as a kid, but that i hadn't been to in a while. it surprised me how it had stayed pretty much the same, though it shouldn't have given that not much changes over here. 

the park is right next to a massive highway, one of the most important ones in madrid, and because of that there's a tall fence separating the two. the cynic in me thinks the city council only put a park here to make it seem like they give a shit about contamination, like somehow this measly patch of grass and trees would clean up all the junk created by hundreds of cars every single day. the romantic in me thinks its a great contrast, an interesting mix between the dull, grey city life and the lively touch of the natural world. of course, i tend to agree with the cynic.
it was quite empty there, and i only walked past a couple of strangers (and a few bunnies!) before leaving.

by the time i got home, the guilt i was previously dealing with had disappeared under the spring sun. and i know that this probably won't last forever, that maybe in a week i will be feeling exactly like i did when i stepped out of that bus. but i don't care. because i took myself out for a walk and dammnit i felt good afterwards, and i will repeat that process however many times i need to until i get it through my thick skull that i am allowed to simply exist without being productive. 

that is all for now. bye!