galina - Tumblr blog

[galina]

Debris of a dinner party, which is to say, debris of love

[galina]

Winter, Marylebone, low dappled light

[galina]

hi! Read the caption on your recent post. You're one of the people whose posts made me see the optimism when I was suffering through dark times. I just wanna say... true, there's so much darkness, but truer still that there's so much love, kindness, softness. These things are not part of grand narratives. These things will still always puncture the grand narratives. They are like grass, or as Deleuze and Guattari say, rhizomes. They are everywhere. Their ripples are everywhere. They are in the midst of grand narratives too. We just don't get to see them.

hello! I loved that at first I thought you were instructing me to read my caption, and I love how sweet this message is, and I especially love that you brought deleuze into this – that is so art school of you (intended as compliment). and you're right: there's always good stuff everywhere even when we don't see it. what a fantastic reminder x

[galina]

When nothing else works, dressing up with a big bow doesn't hurt 🎀

[galina]

I underestimated the task of answering my backlog... Aaaaah

[galina]

I looove your photos.

Thank you!

[galina]

Greetings, I wish to pose a question to you. Do you make notes (to help you recall characters) while reading a book, and do you make an analysis after you have completed it? If so, could you kindly provide an example or instruction on accomplishing this?

greeeeeetings! no, I don't do any of that. but I will write down quotes a really like every now and again – for a project, like this, or I have a common place book, like this :- )

[galina]

hello! sorry if you've answered this before, i couldn't find it in your home tag, but i was wondering where you got your bedsheets/duvet cover from? such a lovely rust color!

I can't exactly remember but I think they're either from the supermarket or dunelm or somewhere like that!

[galina]

your lifestyle seems so classy and elegant and sophisticated (at least your aesthetic online, i'm not making any assumptions about the parts of your life you don't share). if you're comfortable answering, did you grow up in that kind of environment or was it something you more so chose for yourself as an adult? do you have any advice for someone who didn't grow up feeling "cultured" and finds all the coffee and restaurants and art a bit intimidating but wants to be a part of that world?

I wrote something about this a little while ago, and it's a really interesting topic. it definitely started as an adult for me. I think I probably don't have the answer but here's a ramble.

for me liking 'nice things' started out kind of like a little joke with myself and then it turned into a whole lifestyle. my parents didn't have much money, we didn't go to fancy restaurants, we didn't drink tea or eat little sandwiches or really go out to eat ever to be honest. but they were young immigrant punks who loved heavy music and books and writing and they encouraged me to lean into my innate weirdness. I think what they didn't have in finance they made up for with imagination. it was tumultuous and unsteady, but it was multi-cultural, which is a huge privilege.

specifically on restaurants, I think a lot of that is J – he is even more open-minded than I am and comes from even fewer experiences like that (his words). he's unimpressed by fancy, but he's also unafraid of niceness. he hates when people take themselves too seriously, and helps me to do stuff I would never do because he see it like a kind of prank. like, we'll go somewhere a bit posh, and I'll be freaking out and sweating and looking to bolt and J will just be like, we're hoodwinking them. we're playing them like a piano. it's cosplay. it's a magic trick. it's hilarious and it puts me totally at ease. I remember the first time he took me to a nice restaurant, I was so overwhelmed – but I loved it, the food was amazing and we had a wonderful time because he was like, don't stress, you're allowed to enjoy it.

so I suppose my advice is to just enjoy that you are different and marvel at the idea that your great great great grandma (or even your mum) would think "this is bananas". like, you're you, and you're looking at the art, or eating the food, and that's great, doesn't matter how you got there. something about how james murphy said that pretentiousness is a great way to get cultured because you start out pretending to read something to be cool and then you actually do read it and so on and so on. or how dan fox said pretentiousness can help us overcome the fear of the new and the different in order to create cultural diversity. something like that.

[galina]

hi! i noticed you got a fellow stagg ekg. are you happy with it so far? also i was wondering if you are still enjoying your wilfa svart? ty!

hello! the fellow kettle was a wedding gift – I would never have bought one for myself but I love it. I think I've said this before: you don't need a fancy kettle to make a great cup of coffee, but it's one of those things that's really nice to have and I enjoy using it every day. I am suuuper concerned the matte black finish will get dinked or worn away over time but I try and tell myself it's just part of using and loving things. also 10/10 for the fact I can use the little screen to play a tiny game of snake???

the wilfa svart grinder is the thing I've bought that has elevated my coffee at home more than any other one thing. I got an amazing deal on it at the time (some 5, 6 years ago or something) and it is a dream. 10/10 also and I would buy it again, and again, and again because grinding beans from fresh and getting an amazing cuppa is so joy-inducing

[galina]

It's been a cold, crisp, clear weekend. Pink evening light and a very light dusting of snow making everything glitter. We decided to stay in the city with our friends this year for the holidays. J surprised me by grabbing a huge tree from our local community stall. Anything to brighten these long dark winter nights ✨

[galina]

We walked out in oolong rain far beyond the city lights

[galina]

Cameron Awkward-Rich, 'Meditations in an Emergency', from Dispatch: Poems by Cameron Awkward-Rich

[galina]

Sundays in Soho: taxis gleam lazy over the crook of denham st, crisp clear sunlight strikes my cheek, bitter cold—flotsam of cigarettes piled up at the curb—smell of stale beer, rubber, pastry—squeezing the glass door of bar italia where strangers, who are immediately friendly, are ending their night or starting their day with espresso—berwick st is still asleep under cobbles—in the devonshire they wave away my money, I nurse my guinness at the window, watching dogs and coats and glittering rickshaws—feeling the day could go anywhere from here

[galina]

Baby, we have too much language

[galina]

June Jordan, 'Intifada Incantation: Poem #8 for b.b.L', from Kissing God Goodbye

[galina]

In hundreds of thousands we put feet on the ground, voices in the air, strangers' hands clasping each other tightly, eyes ahead focused on love, compassion, hope, sunlight breaks through