#28: am I going to get punched in the face?

and an ode to sabrina carpenter

Apr 01, 2024

hi hi hi sisters ♡

first off, thank you to everyone who texted me wishing me luck and checking in on my test I took this week! it meant the world to me. I now have to wait 5 weeks to find out my score, so we shall see! I feel pretty neutral to the test in general, so I have no idea what that means, but if I don’t pass I can take it again and go from there!

some good ol’ fashioned spring cleaning. after my test this week, I took the next day to go through my closet and switch out my winter clothes for my spring and summer clothes and go through my drawers and get rid of junk that I didnt need anymore! mainly I also just needed to reorganize how things were put away, and now I just have to hope that I stick with how it is all organized haha

but it was really nice to do and my room does feel fresher!

movies: started off this week of movies with the royal tenenbaums, I had never seen it before and it was delightful. I NEED the zebra print wallpaper in my house, bjørn and I even found it online haha. I really enjoyed the film, I will say however, I am just so intrigued by gwyenth paltrow as a human being and persona. like she just seems so other worldly to me, and to think that she is an actress, a pretty famous one, feels so separate from her being an entrepreneur and influencer. idk how to explain it. bjørn and i finished the LOTR: return of the king, and holy cow I sobbed sobbed sobbed the final third of the movie. STUNNING. BREATHTAKING. MOVING. INSPIRING. no notes. it was perfection and deserved every oscar it won. I h8 myself for waiting 27 years to watch these films, BUT I will say, it was really cool to experience them for the first time as an adult. bjørn and I watched titanic because he had never seen it before. that movie also holds up! soooo good and beautiful. and then for movie church we watched the princess diaries 2, also a fantastic movie!

music: beyonce dropped her ~~country~~ cuntry album. I was pleasantly surprised to see a beautiful cover of blackbird. I also really liked her song with miley cyrus. two stunning voices together. I would have low key loved to see some more collabs, but it was a damn good album. I will say I think 16 carriages is highly underrated and needs more love.

in my mind: reading little women and am loving it. I am also listening to water for elephants and the guy that does the voice reading for the older man’s perspective is CRACKING ME UP. he sounds like the old man from Up and I love it!

for those that have been chronically online this past week, specifically on tiktok, you might have been met with a plethora of videos of girls in new york city sharing experiences of being punched in the face ◡̈ quite literally there have been anywhere from 6-12+ videos of different girls talking about being punched in the head, or being grabbed and almost punched, from a couple of different men. as far as i’m aware, it was done by a couple of different men, not just like a BUNCH of men (still not good, but like makes me feel a little bit better). and I know at least one of the two men have been arrested

what I think is the craziest thing about it all is that this has been happening during the middle of the day and in areas that are deemed as safe. a few of the instances happened in the Soho/Union Square area and a couple of the other ones happened near Madison Ave and 44th and then Times Square area (so generally midtown). but purely in the middle of the day and in areas that are densely populated!!

dont get me wrong, for every video I saw of a girl having been punched, there were like 5 videos of girls either giving advice for how to be self-aware and how to protect yourself and also a funny video of how to prep to go on a walk. so like social media also did what it always does and helps make you feel better about a somewhat scary situation.

but it has had me thinking about my personal safety. I only ever wear one airpod in my ear when I’m out and about so I can be aware of sounds around me. I also try hard to not be on my phone while walking around, except thats hard sometimes when you need to navigate, so like that can’t be completely avoidable. I do have some pepper spray on me, but honestly I don’t trust myself to use it properly and not spray myself. I did take a self defense class back in provo before I moved to new york, and that was helpful, but I dont remember much at all. i did add a whistle to my bag, so i can at least make some more noise if needed. but like, heres the thing, we don’t know how we will actually act and respond in a situation of threat until it happens. YES, practicing how to be aware and how to take control of a situation will help your instincts be on guard when you are put in a scary situation, but like what else can be done to be better aware situationally and prepared to be on guard for a perpetrator?

maybe my interaction with that man that threw a shoe at me a couple of weeks ago was good prep for a situation that could happen to me in the future. I know that instead of screaming like “help” or something, its important to be aggressive and yell “go away” “get back” and so on. I don’t have answers, just lots of thoughts.

tiktok: I really loved this video, a lovely reminder for our younger selves; thanks alyssa for this one, ASK FRIENDS FOR FAVORS, it connects us

pinterest: I need this print; MAJOR mood; inspo for some linocuts

instagram: I would love to bathe in these tubs; she can do no wrong; am I attracted to him??; I repeat, she can do no wrong; I never ran into him but here are some memes

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