Quarantine Diary #1

Quarantine day-xx

I stopped keeping count of quarantine ages ago. Some of things I initially picked up to relieve some the boredom are now long forgotten - now I can't remember half of the title of the books I started reading (and rereading). Norwegian Wood was one of them, but I'm stuck at Chapter 7 and have no idea when I can go again because I really can't deal with other people's emotions right now, let alone fictional characters', at the moment. I also spend an abundant of my time staring out of the window. Also, most of my clothes' status are now reduced to rags since my goal at the moment is just to keep myself properly clothed.

A Useless Guide To Petak Sembilan

Long long ago, when the world was as normal as it could be, my friends and I took a little trip to Petak Sembilan, the Chinatown of Jakarta. 

All of us live pretty far away from Petak Sembilan and are not at all familiar with the area, so we did a little research on how to get there, and ended up getting directions from this nice man who asked for a picture. Which was proven pretty useless since we're bad at taking (and remembering) directions anyway. Eventually we got to Petak Sembilan but it was a bit different that what we imagined. We did manage to find the famous Kopi Es Tak Kie though. 

It got hot real quick and we ended up going to PIK that day. There wasn't much to do at PIK, so we booked a Grabcar to Bintaro and had dinner at Taman Jajan Bintaro.

Happy friend after his happy dinner at Taman Jajan Bintaro!

The Strange Library

A few crappy pictures I took the first time I experimented with 35mm photography. I like to pass these off as 'aesthetically mediocre', a part of my very own strange library (no offense, Murakami). Taken with a Yashica T2 and Kodak Colorplus 200.

NY Photo Diary

A short summation of things I find interesting during my trip to New York (and Washington DC) earlier this year. 

For me, it was one thing to see the White House up close, but it was another thing to be able to see what sort of things happened around it. I happen to witness a protest up close, a real, the only thing I'd usually see only on my Twitter feed kind of protest. It was moving and rather funny because just then a family of five, all wearing bright red MAGA caps, walked right in front of me shouting and laughing, saying how 'ridiculous' the protesters are.

I also got to visit the 9/11 Memorial. There was this large wall consisting of missing person posters, a sight that I know I would never be able to forget. It was a little scary how the museum made me feel alone when in fact it was pretty crowded when I visited.

America is, was, my Mecca. I grow up loving all things that come from America and I wish to reside and work in New York one day, maybe work for Vogue and live in a classic little apartment. I used to imagine going out in a trench coat and stopping by at my favorite deli for my 'usual'. How can I not love America? It houses everything I love - the sitcoms I grew up watching, the streets and buildings that I promise I would visit one day. And oh, I love McDonalds.

When I got there though, naturally I started to question everything. I'm starting to wonder why I adore America. I don't exactly love it as the older I get the more I can see just how ridiculous America is. The stares I get from people on the streets, the dirty eye a security guard gave me, the loud "Ch*nk!" a cyclist gave me in Washington DC, the tired, lifeless soul stare the Pinkberry cashier also gave me. 

As I got to my hotel after a long day of visiting the Statue of Liberty, I mentally cringed at the words I uttered to my boyfriend via Whatsapp earlier that day. 

"I saw the Statue of Liberty! Look at her! She sets off troops to wars and welcomes them home!"

I've never been more embarrassed of myself.

My favorite would be the Washington National Gallery of Art. Aside from the fact that it was once featured on Night at The Museum, the place is really nice and really beautiful. I made it my own goal to live here someday.