daisy's 2023 recap (part 1)
I felt pretty uninspired to write this week so this is sort of a cop out
January: The True Meaning of Real Estate
I traveled in Spain for two weeks and visited Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Granada, and Segovia. Admittedly, I don’t have a strong appreciation for architecture. The science and beauty of it all is sort of lost on me, and all buildings homogenize as “real estate” in my mind.
But I really liked the architecture here.
I saw Roman aqueducts for the first time. Back in middle school, Hightower always emphasized how foundational they were for the Roman Empire, what crazy feats of engineering they were. I am now realizing while writing this that I think about the Roman Empire as much as the average man does. My Roman Empire is the Roman Empire.
I’m not a huge fan of churches. Is this a hot take? Idk. Most of the ones in Europe look the same to me, and they’re a bit ironic to me: a contradiction between the preaching of charity and the abundance of wealth institutionalized religion holds. I recently learned about megachurches in Texas, and that was kind of wild. Contradicting what I just said, I lowkey want to visit one. Like fuck a Broadway musical, let’s go see the Megachurch Christmas Special. All that to say that as a self-proclaimed church-hater, I was captivated by Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. I feel that architecture nowadays has gone cold. I could probably write an entirely different essay on how all new apartment complexes look the same and how we’ll probably never see the emergence of new brownstones again, but there are a couple out there already like this Bloomberg one that’s hidden behind their paywall or this one not hidden behind a paywall. I mean, you can’t even call it architecture. There’s no design behind it, just profit-loss statements; the Curbed article uses the term “fast-casual architecture,” which I think is so apt. And even apart from housing, much of modern architecture that is supposed to be artistic resemble spaceships: weirdly angular, shiny, metal, lifeless as well.
Reversing from my tangent, Gaudi’s works are so full of life. I think it speaks to an artist’s humility that they are so willing to follow nature’s rules when creating something that is manmade. When I was in the Sagrada Familia, I truly felt like I was standing in a giant forest. The canopy formed by how the columns connect to ceiling. The way that the sunlight seeps in through stained glass.
February: Icy
Jason and I did a polar plunge at Ludlow Falls. It was like 50 deg out, which was considered nice and warm for February, but of course, water has high heat capacity, so it was still fucking freezing. Jason was brave and really did plunge, but I think I did a quick dip before I jumped out from the pain. I really miss the nature in Ithaca.
March
I don’t remember much of this month. I think I was just trying to enjoy the last few months of school. Drinks were drank. I tried kava for the first time; it had a super mellow effect but did calm me.
April: Paradise
Ithaca was so gorgeous this month. I went hiking/swimming pretty frequently. Catherine was taking her magic mushrooms class, so we went into the wilderness to find fungi with her. Along the lines of fungi, I think I also watched The Last of Us this month, although I only made it halfway. I was severely disappointed at the lack of Clickers (or what I like to simply call, “mushroom people”). The show felt like it dragged on forever. I guess I’m not a huge appreciator because I never played the game and also dislike apocalyptic themes in general. In the least edgy way, I’d be okay with being a zombie-esque person.
There’s a snake in the last picture where I’m taking a selfie - can you spot it? 🤭
I loved my life this month. If the temperatures were above 75, I would bring my hammock, a book, and a lemon rosemary cocktail to the Slope, take a nap, and listen to Troye Sivan’s Blue Neighborhood album. I made an abundance of rosemary syrup because Anabel’s was selling these big bundles. The cocktail was so good: herbaceous and citrusy. My naps were so restful because I wasn’t stressed about a thing. I listened to “EASE” so much (I’m surprised it didn’t make it onto my Spotify Wrapped).
May: Plagued
I got extremely sick this month, which was ass because it was graduation month lol. I’d never been that sick in my life; I lost my voice for like three weeks and woke up in cold sweats and all that. I took multiple COVID tests, but they all came back negative. I often wonder if I have ever gotten COVID and just not produced whatever COVID tests detect.
But before my body died, I went on a wine tour with Irisa, Ben, and Catherine and vomited. That was the last time I’ve thrown up from drinking. I think there’s something nauseating about white wine for me. I’m a red wine drinker now. Anyways, thank you all for taking care of me.
I canoed with Irisa on Beebe Lake. Someone we met on the lake found the cutest frog. I want to kayak and canoe more. It’s one of my favorite activities.
June: I Get Thoreau
I went hiking in Banff. I should have packed warmer clothes because it was still freezing up there. I know it’s always chilly up there, but I thought it was going to be more temperate because it was June idk.
Banff is a dream. Maybe we should consider visiting here instead of Montana.
We hiked in the glacial region of Jasper National Park. Lichun insisted that I take some action shots of him tossing a snowball up and down. I liked this picture I took of Rain. In ten years, this region will no longer look like this; the snow and ice will have melted.
Rain and I ate an ungodly amount of salami, bread, and pickles. I imagine this is the type of diet that gave sailors scurvy back in the day. I’m a little over it as you can see but now that I’m writing this, I’m kind of craving that combination.
I was going to write a deeper essay this week but couldn’t bring myself to it. Happy holidays, all! ho ho ho
Merry Christmas Daisy!!! ❤️❤️