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Today, Halo brings you the truly first normal-posting entry of the dreamwidth! Where I talk about my day, the shops I went to, what I ate, plus some thoughts on the nature of change, gentrification, humanity and all that casual stuff. No traumadumping or venting to be seen... just Gojo Satoru, living in the moment...
Featuring: pictures! A new innovative technology in sharing thoughts and moments.
(I tried to put this under a read more but it didn't work... very sorry, I am just a girl, and I cannot be bothered to spend three hours troubleshooting this. Here we go!)
So! In order to make sure I remembered the events of my day, I took little notes in my note app on what happened, and will be repeating some of them verbatim for the sake of comedic effect, because I am very funny and you should love me super duper dearly.
Wow! An image. Technology is truly incredible. This is revolutionary.
(My favourite was the candy wonderland, by the way! The blue one... this too is SatoSugu-)
After that, we decided to get a proper lunch! We walked down the street and poked our head into a few restaurants. The first place we went to was a North Indian cuisine place aaaaand there was a dying cockroach right by the door. Which does not bode well for an establishment of the dining sort! I thought it was already dead and tried to kick it out of the door, which made it very apparent that it was not yet deceased when it wiggled around. We told the woman behind the counter, and she simply did not care. I have to give it to her: absolute power move there. We decided to move on (would've even if not for the cockroach, truly, there's simply too much to see) and dropped by a Thai place that was closing up for a few hours to prepare for the dinner rush, then crossed the road, walked past another Indian place not yet open, and visited a little indoor food court by a movie theatre.
We saw FIVE other bubble tea places on the way! I don't know how any of those businesses survive with the sheer amount of variety on offer.
The little food court had sushi, Korean BBQ, Ben and Jerry's, Mexican... but in the end, we decided to get bao! Namely because they had fries with sriracha mayo in a combo deal with the bao and I love my fries. They were sort of medicore, unfortunately, but the bao was sooooo good, it was totally worth it. I wanted to get dumplings afterwards, but didn't really have the room... next time! We looked at the other places a little (there was a fancy Japanese restaurant, closed, that charged a whole $70 for a 32 piece sushi platter... yeeeeesh) and I wrote down a note for March to bring her boyfriend here when our partner system visits, since there's burgers and bingsu in the same place (and she loves both).
Second image! The bao and chips. One of the bao was soy chicken (and something? Don't recall, whoopsie) and the other was mushroom and tofu. The chicken one was soooo good, definitely the better of the two, but both were great.
We walked back the way we came, and I mentioned that I could suuuper go for a second bubble tea of the lighter, fruitier variety, so our mother suggested we visit one of the less popular bubble tea stores (she felt bad for one that had no customers when we walked past). They had bingsu! So, we decided to try it. She considered the mango, I made a comment about eyeing off the strawberry (I was sooo full and somehow mango seemed like a more filling flavour at the time? It's so good though, I love mango. I was just about to exploooode, they should invent a body that can eat limitless amounts of food without any consequence and then let me try every food in the universe, I think. I would make a tier list. I would make categories and develop a multi-level ranking system to determine which foods are the best and why. I should be a food critic, this is my dream job...) so she got that! I got a smaller watermelon bubble tea and the cup was SO cute (and the star-shaped jelly too! Aahhh, it's soooo cute, all food should be this cute), so here are some more pictures of the bingsu and the cup!
It was suuuper tasty! Not much to say about this part beyond truly... yum.
After that, we went to a second-hand charity shop! Always great, because you can find clothes we can actually afford without supporting fast fashion, albeit, there's never anything in our size... But, I found a cute little blue jacket for myself, as well as a white dressing gown and some loose white pants. A lot of the clothes we own are in darker colours since more people lean that way, but I prefer whites and blues! So, it's nice to finally have something that's mine, given I front a lot and didn't have anything else beforehand. I've been stealing Marcy's crop-top and earrings for aaaages, which works, since we're basically the same person, but! I don't know. I like fluffier things. I'm Marcy: Day Mode. I do have a picture of me in said jacket, but I'm not going to be making this post private and don't reaaaally want a public selfie of us floating around, so I'll keep that for just me and my friends and my Twitter followers, sowwy!
We went to the supermarket after that, grabbed some food. I got some prawns! I had them when I got home. It took whole minutes of struggling to open the box, only for them to be pretty mediocre as far as prawns go, and I put too much of the sauce in my sauce bowl... A whole mess. But, they were only $10, so it's pretty okay, I think. They didn't have any of our favourite matcha bread today either! A loss. Likely because we went later in the day than usual. Hopefully next week...
Then, we headed home! So, that's the end of my not-really-that-bad adventure out on the town, which leads me to my next segment!
I talked a little with my darling Vivi about it, and wanted to share my thoughts on change and the nature of people renovating and doer-uppering buildings, gentrifying, etc. Taking an old building, essentially, and stripping it off what it was in order to make way for something new. I talked to Vivi about how we feel it relates to colonisation and the white colonial need to simply strip personality and culture from everything in order to make it sleek, modern, profitable and "trendy", and how it's ultimately a tragedy because of how much humanity is lost.
I love old places. I love old buildings, a little derelict, lived in and loved, that you can look at and imagine how the previous lives that have inhabited that space played out — when you can look at an old garden of a big, expensive house, and know that while it's a little run-down now, there was a time where children played, and you wonder if maybe that big old tree had a tire swing, and daydream about the parties that were held at the gazebo, and the couples that held hands on the bench by the rose garden. I don't think preserving these things and leaving them stuck in time does them any service either, of course. It's in the nature of life and rebirth for things to change. But, there's such a difference between moving into a space, making use of it and giving it new life, and killing it to make way for something new.
I really, really love modern, new stuff too. I mean, it's my aesthetic, completely. I love sleek things, I love futuristic vibes! I am software, beep boop, and I like those little McMansions admittedly a liiiiittle too much. However, I simply can't stand them when they've been built on the grave of something that was beautiful, that was loved and lived in, that held the memories of those who lived there beforehand. It's somewhat dystopian, I think, to erase the rugged, honest and humane past for the sake of a future that's sleek, contemporary and, above all, marketable. It's bland and boring too, of course, but I can't help thinking about the wider cultural context, of how we live in a society (joker voice) that's constantly promoting a sense of cruel individualism in which people believe they owe nobody anything, yet destroys individuality ruthlessly. Everything and everyone must conform, and yet you needn't care for anyone else. You are the main character, and everyone else is an NPC — yet you must play the game a very particular way, because any deviation from the norm is to be ridiculed.
Or, perhaps it's not that deep, and I'm simply waffling! I do love to waffle. I love saying words. I love the sound of my own voice, except it's not my voice, it's my stream of consciousness, and I am wont to inflict it on those around me. Get Haloed, you're welcome.
Anywayyyy, that's all from me! I'm going to go organise things into list and categories now.
Featuring: pictures! A new innovative technology in sharing thoughts and moments.
(I tried to put this under a read more but it didn't work... very sorry, I am just a girl, and I cannot be bothered to spend three hours troubleshooting this. Here we go!)
So! In order to make sure I remembered the events of my day, I took little notes in my note app on what happened, and will be repeating some of them verbatim for the sake of comedic effect, because I am very funny and you should love me super duper dearly.
Today was Thursday! Which for us, is the one regular day of the week where we get time outside of our enclosure and interact with another human (our mother) face-to-face and be reminded we are real and corporeal. Yippee! Our usual routine is going to a Westfield shopping centre/plaza/mall (they're a branch of shopping centres across Australia) about fifteen or so minutes from where we live. We get bubble tea, visit a Dangerfield (alternative clothing and accessory shop; we've gotten a loooot of earrings and stuff there, and a few shirts. But their clothes are super expensive so it's a treat for sure! Said as though we haven't spent easily over $300 on earrings... this is what happens when you're a system and eeeeveryone insists on having their own pair, sheesh), get lunch at the food court and then go to the supermarket for groceries! Sometimes we drop by this little anime and gaming merchandise store to see what they've got, too. But today, I wanted to be adventurous! So I suggested we go down to this street in town called the Parade, walk around, buy some food and see what there is to see.
First up, we visited a bubble tea place, Chatime! I got a premium pearl tea and popcorn? I still haven't opened the popcorn to see what that's about, but when I saw "bubble tea popcorn" on the menu... I mean, how do you nooooot get that to try it? That's so weird! I wonder if it's sweet... maybe I'll try some after I finish this entry, but I've eaten so much today, whoops.
I have a note from when we were waiting for our bubble tea that just says, "they're playing My Heart Will Go On. IT'S THE RECORDER COVER? WHERE AM I" which I think is worth sharing.
We then went to the ice cream place next door! I got three flavours: candy wonderland, cookie dough and milo! I mentioned in my notes getting free samples for vanilla and cheesecake, to which I expanded, "I loooove free samples, but they should have a guide to how many flavours are socially acceptable for me to try", only to later discover, upon mum comparing the prices on the menu and her receipt... that my samples were not in fact free. This is the problem with this country! They have no notice disclaiming that your ice cream samples (a NECESSARY part of any ice cream experience, in my very correct and likewise humble and eloquent and educated and intelligent opinion) would not be free, and you would naturally presume they are, because I best not be paying for a tiny little bit of ice cream on a stick, Janette, not when three scoops of ice cream are $10... and then you get slogged with the bill! My samples were at least fifty cents each... The state of this economy... Despicable...
Anyway, here's our first picture! Of my ice cream, bubble tea, and the mysterious, still yet to be tasted bubble tea popcorn...
First up, we visited a bubble tea place, Chatime! I got a premium pearl tea and popcorn? I still haven't opened the popcorn to see what that's about, but when I saw "bubble tea popcorn" on the menu... I mean, how do you nooooot get that to try it? That's so weird! I wonder if it's sweet... maybe I'll try some after I finish this entry, but I've eaten so much today, whoops.
I have a note from when we were waiting for our bubble tea that just says, "they're playing My Heart Will Go On. IT'S THE RECORDER COVER? WHERE AM I" which I think is worth sharing.
We then went to the ice cream place next door! I got three flavours: candy wonderland, cookie dough and milo! I mentioned in my notes getting free samples for vanilla and cheesecake, to which I expanded, "I loooove free samples, but they should have a guide to how many flavours are socially acceptable for me to try", only to later discover, upon mum comparing the prices on the menu and her receipt... that my samples were not in fact free. This is the problem with this country! They have no notice disclaiming that your ice cream samples (a NECESSARY part of any ice cream experience, in my very correct and likewise humble and eloquent and educated and intelligent opinion) would not be free, and you would naturally presume they are, because I best not be paying for a tiny little bit of ice cream on a stick, Janette, not when three scoops of ice cream are $10... and then you get slogged with the bill! My samples were at least fifty cents each... The state of this economy... Despicable...
Anyway, here's our first picture! Of my ice cream, bubble tea, and the mysterious, still yet to be tasted bubble tea popcorn...
Wow! An image. Technology is truly incredible. This is revolutionary.
(My favourite was the candy wonderland, by the way! The blue one... this too is SatoSugu-)
After that, we decided to get a proper lunch! We walked down the street and poked our head into a few restaurants. The first place we went to was a North Indian cuisine place aaaaand there was a dying cockroach right by the door. Which does not bode well for an establishment of the dining sort! I thought it was already dead and tried to kick it out of the door, which made it very apparent that it was not yet deceased when it wiggled around. We told the woman behind the counter, and she simply did not care. I have to give it to her: absolute power move there. We decided to move on (would've even if not for the cockroach, truly, there's simply too much to see) and dropped by a Thai place that was closing up for a few hours to prepare for the dinner rush, then crossed the road, walked past another Indian place not yet open, and visited a little indoor food court by a movie theatre.
We saw FIVE other bubble tea places on the way! I don't know how any of those businesses survive with the sheer amount of variety on offer.
The little food court had sushi, Korean BBQ, Ben and Jerry's, Mexican... but in the end, we decided to get bao! Namely because they had fries with sriracha mayo in a combo deal with the bao and I love my fries. They were sort of medicore, unfortunately, but the bao was sooooo good, it was totally worth it. I wanted to get dumplings afterwards, but didn't really have the room... next time! We looked at the other places a little (there was a fancy Japanese restaurant, closed, that charged a whole $70 for a 32 piece sushi platter... yeeeeesh) and I wrote down a note for March to bring her boyfriend here when our partner system visits, since there's burgers and bingsu in the same place (and she loves both).
Second image! The bao and chips. One of the bao was soy chicken (and something? Don't recall, whoopsie) and the other was mushroom and tofu. The chicken one was soooo good, definitely the better of the two, but both were great.
We walked back the way we came, and I mentioned that I could suuuper go for a second bubble tea of the lighter, fruitier variety, so our mother suggested we visit one of the less popular bubble tea stores (she felt bad for one that had no customers when we walked past). They had bingsu! So, we decided to try it. She considered the mango, I made a comment about eyeing off the strawberry (I was sooo full and somehow mango seemed like a more filling flavour at the time? It's so good though, I love mango. I was just about to exploooode, they should invent a body that can eat limitless amounts of food without any consequence and then let me try every food in the universe, I think. I would make a tier list. I would make categories and develop a multi-level ranking system to determine which foods are the best and why. I should be a food critic, this is my dream job...) so she got that! I got a smaller watermelon bubble tea and the cup was SO cute (and the star-shaped jelly too! Aahhh, it's soooo cute, all food should be this cute), so here are some more pictures of the bingsu and the cup!
It was suuuper tasty! Not much to say about this part beyond truly... yum.
After that, we went to a second-hand charity shop! Always great, because you can find clothes we can actually afford without supporting fast fashion, albeit, there's never anything in our size... But, I found a cute little blue jacket for myself, as well as a white dressing gown and some loose white pants. A lot of the clothes we own are in darker colours since more people lean that way, but I prefer whites and blues! So, it's nice to finally have something that's mine, given I front a lot and didn't have anything else beforehand. I've been stealing Marcy's crop-top and earrings for aaaages, which works, since we're basically the same person, but! I don't know. I like fluffier things. I'm Marcy: Day Mode. I do have a picture of me in said jacket, but I'm not going to be making this post private and don't reaaaally want a public selfie of us floating around, so I'll keep that for just me and my friends and my Twitter followers, sowwy!
We went to the supermarket after that, grabbed some food. I got some prawns! I had them when I got home. It took whole minutes of struggling to open the box, only for them to be pretty mediocre as far as prawns go, and I put too much of the sauce in my sauce bowl... A whole mess. But, they were only $10, so it's pretty okay, I think. They didn't have any of our favourite matcha bread today either! A loss. Likely because we went later in the day than usual. Hopefully next week...
Then, we headed home! So, that's the end of my not-really-that-bad adventure out on the town, which leads me to my next segment!
I talked a little with my darling Vivi about it, and wanted to share my thoughts on change and the nature of people renovating and doer-uppering buildings, gentrifying, etc. Taking an old building, essentially, and stripping it off what it was in order to make way for something new. I talked to Vivi about how we feel it relates to colonisation and the white colonial need to simply strip personality and culture from everything in order to make it sleek, modern, profitable and "trendy", and how it's ultimately a tragedy because of how much humanity is lost.
I love old places. I love old buildings, a little derelict, lived in and loved, that you can look at and imagine how the previous lives that have inhabited that space played out — when you can look at an old garden of a big, expensive house, and know that while it's a little run-down now, there was a time where children played, and you wonder if maybe that big old tree had a tire swing, and daydream about the parties that were held at the gazebo, and the couples that held hands on the bench by the rose garden. I don't think preserving these things and leaving them stuck in time does them any service either, of course. It's in the nature of life and rebirth for things to change. But, there's such a difference between moving into a space, making use of it and giving it new life, and killing it to make way for something new.
I really, really love modern, new stuff too. I mean, it's my aesthetic, completely. I love sleek things, I love futuristic vibes! I am software, beep boop, and I like those little McMansions admittedly a liiiiittle too much. However, I simply can't stand them when they've been built on the grave of something that was beautiful, that was loved and lived in, that held the memories of those who lived there beforehand. It's somewhat dystopian, I think, to erase the rugged, honest and humane past for the sake of a future that's sleek, contemporary and, above all, marketable. It's bland and boring too, of course, but I can't help thinking about the wider cultural context, of how we live in a society (joker voice) that's constantly promoting a sense of cruel individualism in which people believe they owe nobody anything, yet destroys individuality ruthlessly. Everything and everyone must conform, and yet you needn't care for anyone else. You are the main character, and everyone else is an NPC — yet you must play the game a very particular way, because any deviation from the norm is to be ridiculed.
Or, perhaps it's not that deep, and I'm simply waffling! I do love to waffle. I love saying words. I love the sound of my own voice, except it's not my voice, it's my stream of consciousness, and I am wont to inflict it on those around me. Get Haloed, you're welcome.
Anywayyyy, that's all from me! I'm going to go organise things into list and categories now.
