Hey. C’est moi.

 It has been a few years. Since I last discussed into the void here I attended grad school for architecture at the University of Washington, finished the Master’s program by the skin of my teeth, graduated into a global pandemic (I would not recommend this), gave away most of my worldly possessions, and am now flâneur-ing around Europe on the slim budget of my life savings.

Allow me to reintroduce myself : I am the artist, Gaston.

My interests include ; architecture, sustainability, art, vintage fashions, antiques, and flâneries. All while consuming massive quantities of tea.

“I know where I’m from, but I don’t know where I’m going.” I recently heard this line at a video playing at the Tate Museum in Liverpool, and it rang strong in me.

In
the film Casablanca, when Rick is questioned on his nationality he
responds that his is a “drunkard,” insinuating that he has renounced his
American nationality for that of someone who owns and runs a bar. From
my early childhood of living in Hawai’i and moving to Montana, I have
struggled with not fitting in and not feeling as though I am “American.”
I never lived in the town where I was born, and I’ve never lived near
extended family, so there has never been this idea that I am “of”
someplace. I wish that Rick’s response of drunkard didn’t have the
connection with alcoholism because I love this idea of not being “from”
someplace but creating the place that fits you. For years, I thought this place for me was Seattle, but from my grad school experiences and a constant stream of friends moving away, Seattle stopped being
the place for me to grow. I’m excited to find where this current wandering adventure
takes me.

Commuters returning home at sunset on the Parisian Metro.

I’m looking forward to trying this longer form of journaling into the void again.