loose change

monday piece from the airport 🙂 and surely the first time i’ve begun one before dawn! i am sleepy. i left for LAX this morning at 4:10. i’m going to meet my lovely family in hawaii for a very indulgent birthday trip for dad. what a treat!

the terminal is crowded. i’m often surprised by this now when i travel; airports are really firing on all cylinders and have been for a decent while post-pandemic! (post-pandemic still maintains its irony after being in circulation for a year) right now an extremely caucasian older couple is standing underneath the monitor at our gate to snap a selfie pre-boarding. the coffee bean line has consistently remained 30 people long since they opened. the guy sitting next to me waited something like 25 minutes for his coffee. i didn’t have any coffee this morning because i recently read that you’re not supposed to drink it on an empty stomach, and because i want to sleep on the plane.

all of a sudden, airports started exclusively selling these tall aluminum bottles of water and no other options. not even glass! it started w that brand kopu, but now smartwater and dasani are marketing this way too. the bottles are all identical. it feels so stupid to me? like just stick to one brand and sell it if they’re all gonna be the same? i hate these bottles because they don’t last well! the aluminum in the lid corrodes every time you recap it and it leaves a blackish residue. and the largest one you can get is only 18 fl oz. it’s my fault i’m bothered by this because i forgot to bring my waterbottle from home.

one of my latest observations has been the emergence of Cool Girls everywhere. these girls are cool by society’s definition. you can tell from one glance that they’re trying to be cool, and that it’s working. there are new trends: statement sneakers, statement glasses, layering (esp. defunct layering–it isn’t tactical nor even practical), mules, platforms (bonus points for uggs or adidas or birks), white everything (also incl. ivory and cream), baggy t-shirt OR baggy jeans but RARELY both at once unless you want to seem punky, natural makeup and messy-but-done hair. loafers are almost effectively on their way OUT even though they’ve only been in for a year and change!

these are the girls who look like they smell really good, or like they smell clean. i feel like people have also coined this style as dressing for not the male gaze. but the trends are being so rapidly consumed in southern california that it feels like a forced evolution of the male gaze toward a style that fully embodies the feminine instead of purely objectifying it. whatever it is, it’s kind of intimidating! esp when the wearer has a 310 or 323 area code. there’s also something about it that’s kind of transparent and pointless and, at worst, gimmicky. a cultural shift! i want to look like a Cool Girl but i don’t want to put all of the effort into it. i also feel like a generally stinky person, like i don’t wake up or go to bed smelling like freshly laundered linen.

i was talking to kolby and brook and amy yesterday about people-watching. we quickly found out that kolby’s definition of it is entirely different than ours–we like to be invisible and believe we are the sole observers. kolby is an active participant with his observed people. it’s always important to remember that if you’re in a position to watch, you’re likely being watched back by somebody who thinks they’re just as inconspicuous as you do.

after a medium-length day of travel kevin and annie picked me up at the airport and whisked me away to our destination! we stopped on the way to get poke and mai tais and groceries for dinner.

in this week’s New Things:

i began playing piano again, awkwardly but surely, which felt like a big milestone in terms of recovery. i worked a couple shifts at the restaurant this weekend which was just perfect–a lot has changed at the straunt but the people are the same, which is really all you can ask for. it brought me a lot of joy to be back with my gorgeous friends and colleagues!

there’s a lot going on and evolving all of the time and what remains most pertinent is our duties to love one another and to be good to ourselves in order to receive and sustain that love. i am thankful for my community! and striving always to be kinder to myself. thank you for reading! not a very eventful piece but one that i’d been looking forward to writing. the SIXTEENTH monday piece! i’m blown away at the way time passes.

all my love until next week – xxo r