july 2 qew
"To be cringe is to be free."
My friend said this today while we were speeding away to a mystery destination that I assumed was near the IKEA she and I patronize when we want to eat, catch up, and walk around a bit but what was actually a different IKEA in a different city altogether. The drive was good and the conversation was lively and for a while there I forgot about the things that were bothering me and just remembered how fun it can be to just be a guy in a passenger seat in a car going 110km down the highway
The vibing and IKEA time was needed. Things have felt too tense recently. It's the world, the economy, and politics, sure, but it's also the heat and the humidity. It's oppressive, unnatural, and anthropogenic, by which I mean Mr. Guillotine is so, so hungry and he wants to do some slicey slicey and it's cruel to not feed your pets.
H and I go to IKEA when we need to be the world-class yakkers we are in a free range situation. IKEA became our thing years and years ago when we went to one with a friend and I did an impromptu photoshoot. We called it Ünhäppy Hipsters. The bit was that I would ask them to do a pose in and around some furniture and then write a caption.
Examples:
[kitchen countertop, sink, backsplash, etc]
"The perfect blandness of the kitchen's furnishings was echoed in James's decision to name his daughter after himself."
[jewelry stand adorned with baubles and an old lady hat]
Their marriage was doomed from the point he moved his mother in. She had been dead for years."
[child's bed w/ racing cars on the sheets]
"We wanted to give our son the impression that he's going somewhere."
Anyway, to be cringe is to be free.
I love IKEA. It's a real deal love. I spent a lot of time at IKEA when I was a kid and as sad and fucked up as this is, some of my favourite memories of being a kid happened there. As a grown-up, my mom and I would go to IKEA for lunch sometimes. It was our place to hang out, talk shit, and get stuff four our respective homes while also being far away from my dad. One of the first times my mom ever saw me drunk was at an IKEA, but I submit that this was their fault. The beers were cheap and no one was counting.
My partner helped me remember this love a few years ago when we got together. One of the first times I ever visited the apartment I now live in, I was gobsmacked by the sheer maximalism of the place. There was so much stuff, and the stuff was cool and design-y. My partner helped me understand that design was for everyone, and that my deep, deep love for functional design was not weird. I should have known that, of course, but sometimes dudes just default to dude programming. For years I insisted I was a minimalist because something about the aesthetic was really calming and soothing to me. It took being with the right person for me to be able to be honest and to admit that I really like stuff and have been collecting awesome stuff my whole life.
There's more of story to tell but you're going to have to wait for it because I'm tired as fuck and there are KAFFEREP cookies in my eyeline.
🌲 gonna
🌼 go
🌱 touch eat
🌳 grass cookie
🌷 now
Be good to yourself.
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