end of summer, paint blobs & print journalism.
thesis hangovers, catching up, remembering passwords etc.
Hello again! Yes! I’m still here!
It is currently coming to the end of the Italian summer, the evenings are still sticky-warm, in Rome every so often there is the smell of a sort-of-far-off fire in the air (an all too common occurrence in the summer here unfortunately), most shops and cafes were resolutely shut for the August holidays (it’s a thing), and some are tentatively beginning to open their doors.
I feel I had a sort of thesis hangover, which I know sounds so dramatic, but it’s how it felt. I most certainly burnt myself out. It’s only now, that I am slowly trying to build a routine back up. The summer has been absolutely lovely, and in general, I am so very grateful for all of the opportunities I had this year with the masters, and for the beautiful things I’ve seen. But I definitely do feel a bit fizzled out, and crave some form of routine now, and I want to prioritise health.
One of the things with habits (I am told) is that part of the formation of them involves falling out of them, and then subsequently getting back to them again. And this is exactly what has been happening. While living in Slovenia in the spring, I slowly started to form a habit of yoga every night, writing in a journal each day of everything I am grateful for and everything I am proud of. I started running again (well, once), eating well (mostly). I started listening to music again, watching some series that had depth (rather than just stuff to distract me). I was reading more, and more concentrated on my studies too.
Then I moved back to Rome in May and these things ended up not being prioritised. This was while also in the midst of finishing my thesis and conducting interviews for that; I also had about 3 big ish assignments for my courses still to do; I was also writing a long-form article for a magazine and had to conduct interviews for that too; had an Italian language exam; a journalism course once a week; and a paper and presentation for a conference in Kyrgyzstan to prepare for. It was all a bit nuts and I grew very pale from how much time I spent inside, starting very early, finishing late etc. I found it so hard to balance this and somehow trying to be sociable on weekends, other things than just staring at a screen. Needless to say, I fell off the bandwagon with the ‘good health / rounded person’ habits a bit. I was eating total rubbish, and then when I was finally on holiday and able to relax, I ate even more (delicious, amazing, wonderful but) unhealthy food. I didn’t do any real form of movement for months.
So here we go again, back to getting into a routine, back to some form of ‘normality’ and back to this newsletter!
These months I’m getting back to my laptop (the famous going back to remembering what your passwords were), easing myself back into the freelance journalism world of pitching, and trying to structure my new life post-master.
(If you need to catch up on my posts here from during my master: this one is from my semester in Venice ; from the end of the Venice semester ; from the start of my semester in Slovenia ; mid Slovenia semester)
I plan on trying to make (what I understand was a viral TikTok) ‘Green Goddess Salad’, and this week I am starting Elif Shafak’s book ‘10 minutes and 38 seconds in This Strange World’. It’s my ‘book club’ book (well, reading and discussing books on WhatsApp with a few friends, which started in lockdown but we have recently picked it back up).
Articles
One of the things I’ve been really enjoying is reading print articles. I feel I (we all?) process them better somehow. I took out some subscriptions to more ‘literary’-style magazines and it’s been great. Would highly recommend switching off social media a bit and picking up a broadsheet newspaper or (quality?) magazine. Or even a light silly magazine. Just something not on a screen.
Here are a few articles I found interesting:
Video / TV / Film
Chrissstttiiine (Christine Nguyen) [YouTube]
I used to watch a lot of her around 2014-2019, especially her uniform videos. But I have been really enjoying her of late and her curated videos of her very chill art vibes life in LA.
Leena Norms [YouTube]
- on how relationships have become a bit of a part of our ‘personal brand’
Paint colour blob mixing videos [Instagram]
I got obsessed. Also this other artist who can mix the colours perfectly.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty [Film]
It’s 10 years old now. I don’t think I had ever seen it and to be honest I thought it would be basically Zoolander and wasn’t in the mood. I thought it would be very young-male-humour-coded and didn’t think I would rate it at all. But actually I found it really nice to watch, especially given where I’m at. It felt very appropriate with its themes of imagination, monotony of corporate life, the end of the analogue era (I hope that maybe there will be a bit of reverting back), the importance of learning and honing a craft that you care about, being humble, mutual respect with colleagues, jumping fully into life. Of course it’s not the deepest art-house film ever, but I found it a nice light, comforting evening watch when I’m in the midst of making life decisions and over-thinking. (Also a lesson in there for me to not be so judgemental of films before I’ve even seen them.)
A few things I noted down from pre-summer:
This 1960s series is just adorable.
Again, more 1960s vibes except New York and Italy and black and white.
Podcasts
Dr. Eviane Leidig discusses the far-right, specifically female influencers online, and it’s super interesting.
How tech flattened personal taste, with Kyle Chayka - Doing it Right with Pandora Sykes
Just getting into this whole series to be honest…
Still often listening to Changes, Sidetracked, Sentimental / Continental Garbage and Dial-a-Dilemma.
Music
Vampire Weekend’s new (ish) album - “Only God Was Above Us”
I was first alerted to their new album through this review in the New Yorker. My teenagerhood was obsessed with Vampire Weekend (especially their 2008 album).
I was really enjoying it (songs Connect, Classical and Prep-School Gangsters and Gen-X Cops and were my faves). Then sent it to a friend who is extremely widely and well-cultured (in the sense that she knows a LOT of art, music, theatre, books etc, much much more than myself), who kinda lolled at the lyrics here. So now I realise I might be a bit basic and silly for liking this, but there you go. Make of it what you will.
This song (Only Solution by Fulltone) was on in a cafe in Slovenia (I was doing an online course in Art Therapy from a really cool cafe/ arts co-working space called Center Rog / GOAT STORY cafe). I really enjoyed working there and with this song on in the background. Especially when the clarinet kicks in around 00:; and even more at about
Random items
An honorary mention should go to Marvis Toothpaste - limited floral editions and Gülsha Rosewater Spray (not an ad, just things I have been liking).
Hope you’re all feeling good, taking care of yourselves and feeling alive. Until next time x
X (Twitter) · LinkedIn · Instagram · Threads