ACL Fest is coming!

it is my favorite time of year.  seriously.  even more than christmas in NYC.  even more than halloween at my house.  and definitely more than valentine's day with mono in my apartment.  

ACL Fest has come back!

this will be my sixth year going to all three days, and i cannot wait.  something about this year feels so right.  maybe it's the fall weather that has triggered some sort of excitement that it will be cooler.  maybe it's the promise of some new bands that will surely amaze me.  maybe it's the memories with old and new friends that are sure to come.

and maybe it is the pure bliss that comes from sitting in the sun, listening to inspiring and beautiful music, and for one weekend throwing everything else behind you.  it's you, the breeze and the music.  ah!  there is nothing better.  nothing.

i rode my bike down to zilker to get my wrist band, and all i could think of was how happy i was about this weekend.  the stages are set up, the tents and merch being set out, the sky the bluest i've seen in a long while.  i've never felt more pure and true bliss.  i slipped my wrist band on and felt invincible.

which brings me to another story.  last sunday, it was so busy i had to park at 2nd and guadalupe and hoof it to 4th and trinity (which if you know austin, yeah, it's a hike).  but as i walked around in the mid-80s weather, strolling along the 2nd street district, watching people eat brunch, drink mimosas, laugh; pretty women in oversized sunglasses and tiny sundresses, babies wobbling on cobble sidewalks, i felt this wave of happiness like i haven't felt in a long time.  this peace.  i walked past the children's museum, the W hotel site, the future site of ACL studios, and as i turned my head, there was the capital and frost bank in the distance.

and i cried.  i connected with the city.  something felt so home yet so far away from me.  i haven't been out to really get to know this city.  i'd spent over a year working downtown and living in the famous 78704 zip code and yet i never got to really know her.  and i want to.  i live in a city that could take me somewhere.  and i need to feed off that.  i don't know where i'm going, but i need to relish in the present.

i watched the office premiere, and i have to say, i can't feel happy for pam and jim.  i can't.  i'm not sure i believe in marriage.  or even relationships for that matter.  my sabbatical has turned out to be a welcomed and overwhelmingly beautiful lifestyle, and i don't even want a boyfriend, or even to have sex again.  or for that matter to ever get married, and kids seem like a pain.  i'm fine the way my life is.  relationships are band-aids for some sort of insecurity.  prove otherwise, i dare you.