#18 | Music & People
“Aight, cut me some slack,” I tell myself for not writing a daily post for the past two days.
I’ve been out and about in Chicago for the past couple days hanging with my sister and our Cal friends, and so literally haven’t had time to write. “Out and about” means I haven’t opened my laptop for the past couple days because we’ve been out exploring Chicago, the bars and club scenes (wooo 21+!!!), and (of course) Lollapalooza.
For all the singing, dancing, eating, and drinking (mostly water, actually), it’s been a mentally relaxing vacation. Music is and always will be a go-to stress relief and form of enjoyment, especially when the artists are so gifted (looking at you, Sampha) that they move me. But friends and family are so much more important. It’s amazing to have fun with my sister — the most hard-working and intelligent person I know — for a weekend at a place I never thought I’d be — Chicago, and more specifically, Lollapalooza.
Lolla itself was a push out of my comfort zone. I went for a single day (Sunday) and still felt physically and mentally exhausted at the end. There’s a lot of walking from one stage to another, many genres and artists to fit into a schedule, and people buzzing by, never for you to see again. There’s a lot you want to fit into 10 hours, and not enough time. I guess that’s why people get 4-day tickets. Because Lolla is in the summer in a very accessible Chicago, there’s all types of people coming to the event. Most are college students and high schoolers (or even younger), but there are many older people too (which is great!).
It’s a little overwhelming to be surrounded by people you don’t know and never will, but comforting that you’re all into the same music (validating your music choices) and you’ll never know these people (so you can go all out and have fun — legally, of course). Life is so interesting, and I’m super thankful my sister bought us tickets for my birthday and our friends could come out for the weekend. It was a great push outside of my comfort zone, and a beautiful event to spend with the people I care about most — my family and friends.

