Field Notes: Los Angeles

And having an offline birthday

Mar 21, 2025

I like to celebrate my birthday by going on trips. It doesn’t matter how far I am going —it only matters that I am exploring a new place in the world. This month I turned 28, and I wanted to celebrate it by doing what I love the most: listening to live music, eating great food, and wandering for hours away from the clouds of Vancouver. I booked tickets to see Nathy Peluso in Los Angeles and spent a few extra days checking off places on my bucket list.

For the past couple of birthday trips, I have been disconnecting from social media and kept most of my adventures for myself. For a long time what motivated me to visit a new place, to try a new experience was that I was going to post about it on social media. It is a bit embarrassing to recognize that now but it’s the truth. This is something I wrote on my birthday last year:

Not documenting my 27th birthday trip on social media felt excruciating. There is this saying that goes ‘If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’. If I wasn’t posting about all the fun I was having for my birthday, was I really having fun?

The utopia of a life offline

Florencia Ornelas

April 14, 2024

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Not posting anything on my stories during this trip didn’t feel as bad and I think it will get better over time. I often think about all the experiences we embarked on when we were children, before social media. All the road trips, all the dinners, the holidays that never made it to the Internet. Those were the best times of our lives. We weren’t pretending to have fun, or look interesting or rich, we were just being ourselves, enjoying the present moment.

This trip felt very special and I felt at home, and it was just what I needed to welcome Spring. Here are the highlights of these sunny days we spent in LA that didn’t make it to stories and that I will always treasure!

Seeing Yoshimoto Nara’s exhibition — My Imperfect Self

The exhibition will be open to the public until March 2025. It moved me in ways I am still trying to comprehend, and I hope I can see Nara’s work in person again someday.

mesmerized, in awe, feeling so much gratitude, etc etc :,)

Nathy Peluso Live

I signed up for a concert, and what I got was a life-changing experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nathy appeared on The Novo stage at 8:45 on Saturday, March 15th, dressed in full Marine Serre. From watching a lot of YouTube videos, I knew that Nathy’s concerts seemed very intimate and that she enjoys taking time to sit down and speak to the audience. But being there live felt like a dream. It was like listening to that cool auntie who is very wise for her age, and whom you love and admire because she is the most authentic person you know. From Nathy’s art, I’ve learned to love myself more, to take care of my creative gifts, and to stay loyal to my dreams. I highly recommend that you listen to her music, specifically her album Grasa.

Very very good food!

We tried Courage Bagels (and saw a coyote while eating our bagels haha), ate amazing Mexican food, and visited Canyon coffee ( I loved it so much that went back three times).