photos of a sunny Valencia

Valencia's easily grown on me. virtually never having gone there before this year, this was a nice discovery. yeah, hipsters galore, but it's a pretty street and the bustling sidewalks and chill atmosphere is just-- well, it's nice to walk around here when i need a break from work.

and that parrot? the sidewalk art is always pretty detailed and ironic, humorous (Ron Swanson decal and a guy with a tv for a head are the most memorable) but THIS. the colors. all i need to really say about this one.

new name..... BIG SMILE!

it's a spontaneous little change to the blog site formally known as Mess of an Authoress. now i am fully comfortable with my writing blog, being led by example through the new title with which i have SO many personal connections.

so i hope you like it, and as for today, life goes on as always. just read the new title, and get into the groove of the good life.

this means that SOON, i shall start changing the name on the Facebook page as well as merging my personal and writing tumblr together to create BIG SMILE.

XD

weather post, mood forecast

yeah San Francisco is great. born and raised in the Bay and it's always seem fantastic for me. but getting older, the veil is lifted, and the weather-- kinda sucks.

it'd be alright if it were consistent, and not sporadically switch up with clouds or fog or dropped temperatures by 10 degrees. all in all, it's seasonal-- cold when it's winter and fucking HOT when it's springtime. but summertime and fall switch places, usually, like some contracted spite for the people who live out here. i'm only making a fuss because you're never prepared with the right clothes is all i'm saying.

it's seemingly warm outside now, writing this from USF. but in a few minutes the fog might burst in or the heat'll turn up so intense due to low winds-- or none at all. especially as a commuter from the East Bay, i changed outfits last minute from a skirt to jeans and now the skirt would have made sense right about now. damn.

but thank God for the warmth today, or for being warm when i still got out here in a light top and cardi. sunshine really does do it for people. it feels like a different entity too from the suburbs or countryside. sunny urbanism is like, to me, shelves-- shelves stacked with stores and restaurants and countless activities you want to tackle under your sunglasses and a grin. but when i woke up this morning, the sun brightened the sky to a lush pale blue over the treetops of my neighborhood on the outskirts of a mountain which i can see from my window-- you don't want to do anything than just let the heat hit your shoulder and sit outside and sniff the air that smells damp in a nice, mineral way.

it doesn't really matter whatever the hell i'm saying in this post, but sun is sun and it just sets the mood for all the right ways-- even when i've gotten on the wrong clothes.

i think i seriously have one of the best internships ever.

if it weren't for McSweeney's, i don't think i'd ever get the once in a lifetime chance to meet a band-- not just any band, but my own favorite band-- THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT.

going backstage, i met up with Mikel, Anna, and Steven from TATE and got a really awkward (on my part for being so nervous) but honest and insightful interview about these guys. this interview shall hopefully go into publication soon in an upcoming issue for The Believer, published by McSweeney's.

and as if the interview was enough, i got to just take it easy, have lunch, some salad and jambalaya with Noah and Steven-- no big. not only did i get to hear about radio shows, Coachella, and kittens, but i got to ask the two of them insight on being a band on the road that would help me write my new short story, "Break."






the best perk was getting to be front row ahead of like, everyone else later that night.

 

so to myself, let this be a reminder of the following, to remember for forever:

- i can accomplish anything. if i didn't put it up to myself to go out and track down the publicist, i'd probably have a horrid and distorted view of my limits.

- have faith, more of it in this case. i really have to stop being timid and shy. this was when i had to do my best to put all this aside and just have fun, enjoy the moment.

- if this happened, just keep on forward and remember just what other exciting opportunities can happen in my lifetime. i am young, and so i am still ready for the impossible in the rest of my life

and a shout out to Matt, who made this beyond any doubt the best Christmas present i could ever ask for!

song to get us through a gorgeous sunny day in the Bay.

Frank Turner, "Recovery" (2013)