Banned in DC

Banned in DC

4/7

Spent the whole day trying to pack and still missed a ton of shit.

Our AC has been on the fritz and one of my dads friends came over to fix it. I was watching youtube videos, trying to clean up my room and find my camera.

I got the bus pass so I wouldn't take uber/lyft but it would take like 2 1/2 hour bus ride to get to the new flixbus stop on freedom drive. But it wasn't until i got there that i realized that I hadn't brought my charger so i went to dollar quarter tree and spent $5 on another cord and $1.25 for a diet coke and slim jim each (not bad).

The bus came around 6:30pm and we got to DC at 3am.

I listened to a bunch of podcasts downloaded on my phone because there's no wifi on the bus and no chargers! I love flixbus! I listened to a podcast about the Dyatlov Pass and the Isabella Rossellini episode of You Must Remember This.

At midnight we got to Warfield, VA and stopped at the gas station. I got two donuts and coffee in my carter mug. I took a photo of the donut and sent it to my brother.

4/8

At Union Station from 3am to 6am. I get a sandwich and a hash brown. The hash brown was $3! (i'm sorry how much of this blog is just me complaining about how expensive shit is) The sandwich was free because I used points for them. Pays to be a scab?

The cashier tells me my name is pretty. There's very few seats at Union now. I sit on the floor. I reflect on how hatred of the poor and homeless makes everyone stupid. A shirtless man comes by and asks me for money. I say i don't have any, but then he shakes my hand. I'm not afraid even though i do recognize there's some degree of danger. How do we bridge the gap while keeping ourselves safe at the same time?

I take the red line to Metro Center and then the silver line to Smithsonian. I'm listening to a horror podcast while I walk down Independence Ave, and then walk back the other way because i'm going in the wrong direction.

I was super disappointed to realize that there were no cherry blossoms. Also that it was freezing compared to Charlotte.

I took the blue line back to Metro Center and then the red line all the way to Woodley Park/Adams Morgan. I walked from the stop to the zoo and saw a lot of parents with kids taking them to school, shooting mail into blue boxes. Also there were still some cherry blossoms there and I took a couple photos.

When I got to the zoo I went down the asia trail-- but there weren't any animals out. I guess it's too cold for them. There were no elephants for example. The only animals that I got to see were the red pandas and the giant pandas. There are two of them: Bao Li and Qing Bao. At a time when Sino-American relations are strained, it was nice to see how scientists could still collaborate on this project.

I couldn't really tell which panda was which, they are both in seperate enclosures perhaps to make it easer to tell them apart but I couldn't do it. The first panda just ate a bunch of bamboo, not moving much, but I think that's mainly what they do because they need to eat a lot of it to survive. The second panda was a lot more active. The panda would do a little routine of running towards a grided window doing a little flip and then running down a little ridge and then running back to the top to do it over again. Occasionally this panda would try to climb trees or a play structure nearby. I assume that this panda is Qing Bao since climbing is what she's known for.

I took the red line to Dupont Circle.

I went to a bookstore called Kramers and here are some books i looked at:

Afterwards I took the bus from Dupont Circle to Georgetown. I've never gone to Georgetown before. I don't think I'd go back to be honest. I went to this place called Cafe Georgetown that I heard did custom lattes but when I got there the vibes were just off. I got a london fog latte and then caught another bus to near Mt Vernon Square. I wanted something cheap so I went to a pupuseria, what i didn't realize is that pupusas cost $4 now and that their miller lite's are like $7 each.

I was sitting in the restaurant reading panda facts when the tv up front started showing coverage of a building collapse in the Dominican Republic.

The flixbus did not have chargers at all so I kept using my portable charger but it was dying. The MLK library was only a couple blocks from the pupusa place so I walked down there. I got a coffee ($1 for 8oz almost $3 for 12, sounds about right). I charged my phone and ipad.

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The National Portrait Gallery is just across the street. I walked over there and called one of my friends who I had tried to catch up with on the first. I was sitting in the Kogod Courtyard, cross legged and then when we were done I went into the museum store.

4/9

Got on the bus in DC at around 10pm. I'm in Raleigh right now. Everyone is being extra annoying, why do specifically latino's think that it's okay to listen to their stupid videos on full blast? This stupid bitch next to me is listening to Rauw Alejandro on full blast, no headphones. The stupid bitch on the other side of me is also listening to their drama video, no headphones. It be your own people fr.

Other than that I managed to sleep a little. It's 3:30 and they got us off the bus to do a driver transfer, which I don't really understand. We didn't stop at any gas stations, I would've maybe got a slim jim if we had. But the raleigh stop for some reason sells food (i think it's the only one i've ever seen that actually sells food and is not just vending machine dependent. I'm planning on getting something in 5 hours in Charlotte, but maybe we'll stop somewhere closer to then? Not holding my breath though.

It wouldn't be a trip if i hadn't lost something. Unfortunately it was my id. Fortunately, in NC you can get a duplicate online, allegedly. I'll believe it when I see it in the mail. Everything burecratic always seems to be a lot harder than I expect.

I got to Charlotte at 8:30 and wanted lunch so I walked from the bus stop to Halfpenny Cafe to get a tuna sandwich. I drank the diet coke I bought on monday at Dollar Quarter Tree.

Afterwards I went to a coffee shop and felt better. I did enjoy DC and sort of wish I had stayed one more day, but I have so much to do in Charlotte that it just wouldn't have made sense. But also everything about DC pisses me off, I felt almost a relief to be back. I got some cookies from the grocery store next door and drank my coffee trying to work on my zine and also watched a couple episodes of Harry's Law. I'm on like the 5th episode and shit got really serious. Also tomorrow is a new episode of Matlock!

I've been shopping quite a lot even though I would really rather save money. But why should I pretend that i don't like things? I love things very, very much.

I managed to find an amp at guitar center for about $80 and I bought a cord for $20 (i'm cleaning up the numbers but yes it totaled to around $101)

At reclectic I saw a pair of shoes that were ugly cute. I didn't mean to look for shoes since I bought a pair a week back but they felt comfortable. Theyre also Doc Martens! They're like a goth version of those uggs everyones wearing right now (which by the way I'm not exaggerating when I say EVERYONE was wearing those shoes at this store!)

I got to the studio and was still tired. I watched this youtuber called Kris Atomic who lives on a narrowboat. My life is so domestic and dreary, I wish it was a little more interesting like that.

I'm gonna go home and tomorrow gonna get right to work on zines and comics. But today I'm not gonna worry as much about it because well, i'm super tired.

4/10

Didn't do much today except respond to dm's and texts. I am notoriously bad at that. But I also really care about wording and hate to be misconstrued so I try to write things very clearly and it takes a while to get to that point for me. Also, I am just simply an avoidant person.

I read an old copy of National Geographic from the database about the original pandas at the Smithsonian Zoo. Their names were Hsing-Hsing and Ling Ling and they were given to the zoo as a gift in 1972 to the US under the Nixon adminstration. The pandas were universally beloved, but unfortunately they died in the 90s without any offspring. This wasn't in the magazine but I did more research because I'm so fascinated by this panda world. They were replaced by Mei Xiang and Tian Tian at the National Zoo a year later, who's offspring Bao Bao is actually the mother of Bao Li! All pandas in current day are simply rented out by china at the price of a million dollars a year which means eventually Bao Li and Qing Bao will have to return to China though in 10 years who knows if there will even be an america or a china anymore (joking, obviously but who fucking know)

I can write this here because my sister will never read this but I got news that she got a scholarship! I'm so proud of her, they havent told her yet because they're planning a surprise but i'm not sure when they'll say.

I worked a little on my zine. Dear Diary Zine fest is fast approaching and I need to get my shit together, and stop focusing on pandas. But also would I be me if I didn't care about pandas?

4/11

Woke up pretty late but I did manage to do something, at least.

My friend asked me to take some copies of her magazines since she's moving house. We brought it to my studio, I think it was around 11 boxes. I only got copies from around 1971 to 1985. I also got some copies of her Our State collection. Our State is a magazine that is specifically dedicated to the state of North Carolina-- hence "our" state. I like it because it gives me ideas for so called "micro-adventures".

I actually noticed she had a copy of the Nat Geo from 1972 I was looking at yesterday. She also has a copy of the famous 1985 issue with the Sharbat Gula portrait, "the afghan girl" with the piercing pools of turquoise, but it has a bunch of dark marks on the cover unfortunately. I still really love it. I think a lot of the magazines will be used for collaging but certain issues will simply be cherished, and the rest are issues that i'll just read through and try to learn more about the world from. Another project on the list, oy vey.

It was pretty dreary uptown but I got a pizza and a diet coke for dinner before heading to a coffee shop and trying to get some work done on my zines (unfortunately not much got done).

I went back to the studio and organized the boxes and other things.

4/12

feeling like such a loser today.

i haven't gotten anything done for comics or zines the way i said i would. on the plus side i haven't had a drink since tuesday but i have a feeling today will be the day.

i went to buy groceries at food lion and walmart. i bought a new sketchbook and had to stop myself from buying new markers or pens because i know i have so many already.

thinking through all these zines i have right now.

i watched Dinner In America again. i don't know. been feeling sort of sad lately. hopefully better days will come. i thought of naming the new issue of dromo "seasons of hope", but decided against it. i think "anger is an energy" might be more fitting.

4/13

In 2025 Holi, the hindu festival of colors, love, and spring, fell on March 14th. However due to reported bad weather, which turned out to be bad weather for only a couple hours before turning into very amazing weather, our local temple cancelled and rescheduled the festival for today.

My mom is the one who realized that this was going on near our house because the temple is literally down the road. We were able to walk up there together. She absolutely did not want to get any colors on her and mainly just went to spectate. I however absolutely did want to get covered in color.

I guess i've never mentioned this but I don't have a lot of friends. I'm usually by myself all the time and I'm fine, but today i felt it very vividly.

People were there in groups and throwing colors, taking selfies with each other. I wish i had a group of friends to be a kid for a day with, chasing each other throwing colors. Maybe someday. But today strangers made sure I had a fraction of that. People were really kind and would come up to me and throw colors or ask me if i wanted powder and put it on my face or hat. I had fun.

There were a couple of vendors there and food stalls, I ended up ordering falooda and trying it for the first time. I really liked it.

I also ordered dabeli to take home and try with my mom. It's spicy potato patty with other crunchy stuff on a pav bun. It was good, but I don't enjoy spicy things so it was little painful to eat.

then i went with my frind who im still helping move to pack up some magazines... i took tgem to my studio and i think that should be the end of that or at least i hope it is i had to take like the shortest shrower of my life to get the color off of me