Diary 37
09.03.23
Spent Saturday riding bikes around the city past midnight, feeling limitless. Then as we neared the beach the wind grew fierce, and suddenly I was pedaling hard, leaning against each gust to keep from blowing over. But holy shit, it was beautiful. Ocean spray in my face, cold and damp, the dark, horizon-less sky on my left and the city lights on my right. Every second made me grateful to be alive. Hobbled home afterwards with pleasantly achy thighs.
09.04.23
Visited Sagrada Familia today. I’m not a huge fan of Gaudi’s work, but witnessing the building in person was spectacular. The outside walls composed of rough stones and carvings that were sort of Picasso-esque, the inside colorful and geometric, like looking through a kaleidoscope.
I’ve personally fallen in love with the Catedral de Barcelona, an ancient Gothic cathedral a few minutes away from where we’re staying. Construction on it started in 1298 and was finished in the early 1500s, and it’s age is probably best pronounced in the sound of it’s bells.
PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE
Objects of the moment:
01. A well-worn pair of leather Justin boots
02. A tin of European butter cookies
03. A rattlesnake sheath by Wildcraft Knives
04. A dainty silver necklace from Istanbul
SEPTEMBER PLAYLIST
Girl from the North Country, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
Mountain Mamas (A true story), Zara Alexandra
Both of My Hands, Riddy Arman
Flowers On My Bedside, Bella White
Dogs of Mexico, Senora May
Gentle On My Mind, Glen Campbell
Dance Me to the End of Love, Leonard Cohen
Rosemary, The Good Gollies
Soft Skin, Mountain Man
Oh Sun / Pale Night / Forgetting Reel, Mama’s Broke
Freight Train, Fred Eaglesmith
Whole New Mess, Angel Olsen
September Fields, Frazey Ford
09.08.23
There have been numerous instances, walking the streets of Barcelona, where I’ve hallucinated seeing someone I know. I’ll pass a stranger and they’ll look at me with my Filipino grandpa’s eyes, or my coworker’s face, and each time it startles me. I’m not sure what this mechanism is, my brain looking for someone familiar in a place so foreign.
09.09.23
Went to an Israeli restaurant for dinner. Tore from half a loaf of Challah to start, followed by Cauliflower Shwarma (topped with tahini, pomegranate seeds & crushed pistachios), and Schnitzel paired with a sweet, cinnamony coleslaw.
09.10.23
Roamed the Cementiri de Montjuïc, Barcelona’s main cemetery. It’s 57 acres of burial niches and neo-Gothic mausoleums spiraling up into the hills. Stunning architecture here. Lots of ornate stone and metalwork, dried flowers, rosaries.
09.12.23
Took the metro to visit one of JT’s childhood friends who lives on the outskirts of the city. “Our neighborhood looks mean, but she ain’t that mean” his friend texted on our way there. I sat on the train thinking about the grittier neighborhoods of Chicago, remembering what it was like to live there, faintly nostalgic.
Spent the evening sitting on their rooftop drinking wine, barbequing, telling old stories and writing new ones. It was the kind of dinner that effortlessly stretched further and further into the night, no sense of time, just fluid conversation, endless food and drinks.
09.14.23
El Cortico— made to order empanadas, owned by a lively old Dominican woman who’s there everyday cooking with her son, feels like you’re sitting in someone’s kitchen
El Rincón— steakhouse that was always empty, but served a delicious flank steak that was tender and bloody
Honest Greens— health food, H2O bar, always playing house music
Syrah— coffee shop, the whole milk they use is rich and creamy and comes in a bag
Federal Café— breakfast/lunch, came here mostly for a greek yogurt parfait with muddled berries and macadamia nuts
Eclipse II, Tomaž Šalamun
I will take nails,
long nails
and hammer them into my body.
Very very gently,
very very slowly,
so it will last longer.
I will draw up a precise plan.
I will upholster myself every day
say two square inches for instance.
Then I will set fire to everything.
It will burn for a long time,
it will burn for seven days.
Only the nails will remain,
all welded together and rusty.
So I will remain.
So I will survive everything.
