made a trip to the v&a for the first time in a while;
found some unexplored or perhaps new areas of the museum, including their fashion (through history) collection.
some favourites pictured, from left to right: 1954 balmain hand painted silk dress, 1953 norman hartnell beaded dress, 1940 schiaparelli embroidered lily crepe dress
first crochet lily completed, many more flowers to come soon.
made some crochet coasters too, gifted to my friends.
notable watches of the month:
blue, derek jarman, 1993
"a densely interwoven soundtrack of voices, sound effects and music attempt to convey a portrait of Derek Jarman's experiences with AIDS"
honestly i wasn't originally expecting to be able to sit through
this but it was terrifyingly captivating and impactful in its minimalism
the holdovers, alexander payne, 2023
"A cranky history teacher at a prep school is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a grieving cook and a troubled student who has no place to go."
refer to film review page here for review. a wonderfully warm and rewatchable film, that i think may hold a special place in my heart
^ letterboxd year in review: i watched asteroid city when it was first released but i wasn't really drawn to it which put me off anderson's other films for a while. however later in the year, after he released his shorts (which i adored and is almost certainly why he's my most watched director), i watched more of his older work which didn't feel as heavily visually stylised, which i preferred.
a good month in film. >
i started writing in a journal again; i think the last time i consistently kept a diary was over three years ago.
i enjoy documenting my life but i've increasingly realised that neocities really isn't the perfect place for that - instead, neocities will become more of a place to document interests and to record slightly ambiguous thoughts that don't quite fit into a diary.
this month *, it's something that had been built up to for a very long time but i can't do anything about it anymore so really i just need to get a grip and get over it. hoping for * to happen in february or march
not a great month for productivity/studying, which hopefully will change in the next few months, but i picked up crochet, read lots of interesting articles and essays, and watched too many films
i made a few crochet doilies to learn the basics of crochet; i can't seem to stop now. planning to make a stargazer lily bouquet over the next few months, with sprigs of geranium and tiny ferns. filet crochet is also high on the list, i'm very partial to the idea of a filet crochet placemat spelling out cunt in calligraphy
things i liked about barcelona
- the street art, there were so many beautiful works throughout the city. this 
particular work was positioned next to a larger kiss mural comprised of thousands of smaller tiles with photographs of personal moments sent in from random people. i liked the blue tile painting because it appears to be clearly painted by an actual person so it felt more intimate; it's been through multiple fixes simply from random artists after people have destroyed the work by drawing dicks over it presumably with homophobic intent and i think it tells a certain simple story of resilience and love
- whatever gaudi was doing. i liked seeing his work because it was full of colourful painted tiles and stained glass and those are the things i absolutely must have in my house when i'm older. i was worried about sagrada familia being a shitty tourist trap but it definitely wasn't, (but we did have lunch at a shitty tourist trap restaurant just outside the cathedral) the inside was so incredible, esp the stained glass windows which exploit the natural light to beautifully illuminate the cathedral. crazy what people managed to do in the name of religion. only downside was that at one point my nose started bleeding
- montserrat. we spent the day visiting their monastery (again, crazy what people managed to do in the name of religion) then hiking up the mountains (i did this in a miniskirt and legwarmers because i was anticipating little stone stairs not steep rocky slopes) which was honestly such a fun journey and so worth it for the views
- the chocolate croissants in our hotel, and the hotel itself, which was situated in central barcelona and had pretty architecture that my mother didn't like (terracotta flooring, warm dim lighting & a dark green tiled bathroom)
- the christmas lights at night, the city seemed so alive at night moreso than during the day and there were so many interesting people which often left me in a state of sonder. it made me decide that i really fucking love big cities and that i definitely would like to live in one at some point when i'm older. building on this i thought that barcelona in particular had really good city planning regarding walkability and public transport in comparison to other major cities ive visited eg. london.
- improved my relationship with my parents
2024
in:
hedonism,
carefully picked perfumes,
cocktails,
utilising emojis including memojis,
critical thinking and media literacy,
reading/writing long form media,
colorful or patterned tights,
philomena cunk,
arguing and discourse,
lego but big architectural sets not the little cutesy sets,
music theory,
dark desaturated purples/blues/greens, bjork
out:
the conservative party,
hello kitty,
arthritis,
nietzche,
daily "little treat" culture,
timothee chalamet,
t*ylor swift,
synthetic furs and leather,
formula 1 and cars in general especially elon musk and his fuckass ugly cybertruck,
xl bullies and other big angry looking slobbering dogs,
thatcherism, lana del rey's lyricism
an excerpt from the last days of judas iscariot
other happenings
- a mildly alarming level of rotting. picked up crochet and gel nail art
- * interview. interesting and odd experience but surprisingly enjoyable
- film night!
i picked up a copy of sylvia plath's journal in a bookshop after reading various excerpts online and read the first ten or so pages and have been thoroughly convinced to read the entire thing
for the third year in a row, i finished the year off with writing a ten page letter to myself reflecting on the past year but also on the upcoming one too.
i was too sick (spent the majority of the day curled up in bed playing the nyt crossword) to go to my friend's nye party so i stayed at home and watched the fireworks with my family at night.
2024 will definitely be a year of some of the biggest changes in my life (university and moving out) but i hope it is kind to me.