"... I’d rather paint people’s eyes than cathedrals, for there’s something in the eyes that isn’t in the cathedral — although it’s solemn and although it’s impressive — to my mind the soul of a person ... is more interesting

To Theo van Gogh. Antwerp, Saturday, 19 December 1885.

went to SF DMV to get my cali license, the only incentive for getting it is to enter museums and parks for free without pulling up my lease on my phone. the dmv building is exactly how i imagined it to look like. went on the appointment line, and it was 3x shorter. felt good abou myself, at least until it was finally my turn, and i realized i was missing two proof of residency documents.

decided to walked 20 min (7 blocks) to park branch library to get them printed. went through the panhandle to have a look-see. the houses on oak street are nice, i like the colors. many people were running here and walking their dogs. it's nice here, much quieter than chinatown. less noise and mess as well. the houses here have so much personality, each of them are different. it's like the resident's big sign that say s "this is who i am". the landed houses in malaysia are usually all the same, it's copy paste.

walked 20 min back and turns out the system was down. felt annoyed and frustrated that i went through all that effort, but i can always come back again. decided to check out haight street since i'm already here.

passed by the "things lucky" shop and bought a jadeite and ammonite. i like how the guy at the store said "the stone chooses you" when i asked how to choose a good stone.

passed by a clothing store with no signs and was intrigued, it was only after i entered did i realize it was 2nd street. i really liked the 2nd street in shibuya, tokyo. there were so many good selections. i would love to go back to tokyo again.

passed by a dozen more thrift stores and shops with tiny trinkets along haight st. finally checked out the two bookstores on my list: borderland (horror books) and booksmith. a blue cover book, with a golden circle containing the letters: vincent van gogh creative inspiration caught my eye. it contains van gogh's sketches and quotes from his book of letters. you read one of them at the start. here's another one i fancy a lot.

"Almost no one knows that the secret of beautiful work is to a large extent good faith and sincere feeling"

– To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, between Monday, 4 and Saturday, 9 December 1882

today was a fun mini adventure. i like exploring the streets of sf. sometimes i wish i wasn't alone. because i start to get in my head a lot, and i struggle to snap out of it. but having the freedom to explore and do whatever i want, is a luxury, not a tragedy.