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im a big fan of inconveniencing myself for the vibe. For example, buying a 1965 Dodge Dart and pronouncing it my daily driver was maybe not the most reasonable choice… However, It’s a beautiful piece of machinery & I wouldn’t trade the daily micro-nuisances for anything. I think it’s important to romanticize your life. Making my daily tasks more difficult and beautiful adds a certain flavor to things I can’t really describe. I’ve never been one for efficiency.
May 4, 2023
Related Recs
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Technically I’m using this term wrong—it’s from the “marshmallow experiment” (iykyk). But in the last year, I have been developing a stronger muscle for delayed gratification as a counter to instant gratification. We live in a very wild moment in modernity / late-stage capitalism where seemingly everything we desire (to own, to know) is at our fingertips. And I’m not entirely convinced we were meant to live like this. Yearning, waiting, longing for something, being patient—these are an important part of the human experience. So why deny ourselves the distinct pleasure of waiting for or working toward something by instantly having it? Slowing down is very very good for us and part of what keeps me going.
Here are some ways I practice my delayed gratification:
🕐 film photography, it takes a long while to finish a roll and more time to get the pictures developed
⏲️ borrowing media from the library (bonus points for requesting the library purchase something for me, then hoping and waiting with no guarantee)
🕰️ buying myself a present and then not opening it until the right moment. both of the gold charms that i wear daily i waited a couple of months to open to mark major life milestones
⏰ making sourdough bread. i have to decide three days in advance that i want to bake it and start feeding my starter so she’s ready to bake with.
⏱️ keeping a wishlist instead of buying something the second i want it. this gives me time to consider the purpose it serves, determine if i already own something similar (especially clothing), figure out if i can get by borrowing it (books! music! tools!), and ultimately save up for it. also our shopping impulses are often a response to something deeper inside of us, which is how we often accumulate so much stuff!
💌 sending letters / having pen pals, which gives us the chance to slow down our responsiveness and availability. i love anticipating their letters and sitting down to draft my own.
🪷 having an orchid in my house. she blooms once a year, but i nurture her throughout the year to reach that moment each spring.
Mar 25, 2025
all those packed, roughed up journals and dingy carhart jackets and suitcases covered in stickers you see on pinterest were not created by overconsuming a bunch of bullshit from amazon and decorating them in one night! they're were made from months and years of real and genuine love and use of the objects. curate your aesthetics slowly and more mindfully instead of trying to disingenuously copying everything you see on pinterest for an instant gratification. those tiktoks you see of brand new planners overflowing with random junk is not realistic and impractical. decorate however you want but do it genuinely for yourself, not to recreate an aesthetic you think you need. your stuff will look better in the end if you love it truly and well!!
Jan 3, 2025
If it grabs my attention, I bring it home. Even if I don’t have a place in mind for it, my excitement for the object itself spurs great creative energy for reexamining room arrangements that I’ve grown accustomed to. This big ass ceramic piece is a welcomed challenge
Apr 27, 2024
Top Recs from @avalon-lurks
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Not sure why people stopped doing this. It was actually a really popular and socially accepted family activity in the 1920's. The perfect silence and peace coupled with some of the best and most aesthetically pleasing pieces of art (statues, paintings, stained glass, the fonts on the tombstones) are constant sources of inspiration for me. It's important to me to speak and research the names i see so they never truly die, there are so many forgotten stories it's insane. Cemetery Recommendations: Spend a whole day at Forest Lawn in Glendale, make sure you go inside the hall of crucifixion & the great mausoleum. Angelus Rosedale and The Westwood Memorial Park are my other favorites.
May 4, 2023
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the patron saint of the sexy, intellectual, thottie and untasteful-tasteful L.A. woman. I refer to her as the bimbo Joan Didion (i mean that in the least reductive way possible) The summer i discovered this book i was working a dead end retail job on Sunset Blvd. and literally got fired for reading it on the clock. she's a genius. the blueprint.
May 4, 2023
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i want the last 4 minutes and 6 seconds of my life to be watching this video with the volume at full blast. this is what i want ushering me into the next life.
May 4, 2023