flâneur

“I felt like that pinhole that couldn’t let all the light in.”

altered.substack.com · 2,364 words · saved by 1 readers

I wrote over three hundred pages in my journal between August and December. Here are my favorite excerpts, lightly edited and arranged chronologically below. AUG 10 2025 If you don’t want people to pedestalize you then tell the truth. Make it ugly because it is. The exact things I wish to hide are the ones I need to show. AUG 11 2025 But then again, if you put your heart into it, there is no way it can be ugly. Even if it may be unpopular, it will never be ugly. Someone like me will find it, the way I like looking at dusty, discarded objects in flea markets and vintage shops to inherit another person’s cherished possessions. AUG 18 2025 We lock up our wishes for ourselves in other people, and throw the keys away in the labyrinths of our subconscious. AUG 20 2025 The problem is not when the work is difficult. All things worth their salt require sweat. The problem is when the work is difficult and it is not worth the difficulty for you to do, and you lie to yourself to keep it going. AUG

I wrote over three hundred pages in my journal between August and December. Here are my favorite excerpts, lightly edited and arranged chronologically below. “The Hotel Room” by Esperanza Manzanera AUG 10 2025 If you don’t want people to pedestalize you then tell the truth. Make it ugly because it is. The exact things I wish to hide are the ones I need to show. AUG 11 2025 But then again, if you put your heart into it, there is no way it can be ugly. Even if it may be unpopular, it will never be ugly. Someone like me will find it, the way I like looking at dusty, discarded objects in…

saved by

related reading