I N T H E N I G H T K I T C H E N 3.15.2001
SXSW A quick and harried account of SXSW without too much exposition: Friday Got up at 4 a.m. to meet the cab at 4:45 to get on my plane at 6. Arrived in Austin after too long in Dallas to find that I couldn't find anyone and that I had forgotten my cell phone. I called everyone from the pay phone and no one answered except Scott (Dallas) who was still and hour or so away. I was meeting up with the evolt.org admin group at the Capitol Marriott and we were all sharing three rooms for the weekend. I finally got ahold of some people and went upstairs. Erika I already knew as she is here in Portland and is on the POWW list with me, also on the admin group for that. Thirteen of the twenty-four admins for evolt.org were converging in this hotel. A small group had met before in DC but everyone's face was new to me, including Jeff who lives here in Portland but I have not met. People kept coming to the room door and for some inexplicable reason, I kept answering. It was confusing. People who I have emailed with for three or more years and here they were -- flesh and blood and talking. I'm still parsing this. Friday night when we had all finally gathered and drank some whiskey, we went out to eat at Miguel's. There was some worry that we had missed our reservation and wouldn't be able to find a seat but we were worried over nothing. The place was empty until the Salsa dancing started. We sat at a long table in the back of the restaurant and had decent tex-mex and beer. We talked about forming as a not-for-profit and what was involved in this. We talked about creating formal structure within our group and how we will handle incoming money and donations. We ate cake. Scott and I threw cake on each other. I took some photos. Back at the Marriott we attempted to vote for our board of directors (which I think we did) while drinking beers, smoking cigarettes, smoking other things and talking, talking, talking. It was a lot of fun but by about 3 a.m. we had to kick people out. I was dog tired from being up nearly 24 hours and it was far, far too smoky in there. + + + Saturday I woke up pretty early and got some breakfast with some of the evolters. We had people there from far and wide and all age ranges. Canada, Scotland, Iceland & America were represented. We were missing UK, New Zealand, Australia & Chile. Hopefully, we'll find a more common meeting ground next year. Adrian (Buffalo), Elfur (Iceland) and I went to the convention center and got our passes. We wandered around for awhile and then went back to the hotel. Saturday night was our open meeting where anyone and everyone could come and hang out with the evolt crowd. Not too many took us up on it but the people that came out were cool. One of them was a former evolt admin who also frequented a local webdev list in L.A. (Web405). He and I had met there. We're trying to re-recruit him. The Ginger Man was great because it had lots of outdoor seating. However, the beer was pretty pricey ("Marlene, you did not pay 30 bucks a pitcher, did you?") and they had very little food. After devouring everything they did offer, many of us went next door and brought back cheeseburgers. Mmmmm... carbohydrates and protein.... All of us were very drunk that night. I continually accused Dave of being Canadian (he is) and he and I weaved in and out of the crowd on 6th street on the way home. Martin sang songs and I tried desperately to remember more than four verses of dirty college ditties. I had evolt.org stamps made before I left and we stamped anyone and anything that would stand still. We stamped money, too, so let me know if you get any of ours. Afterwards, many stayed up to chat but I just couldn't. I intended to get into my pajamas and slippers and go down to one of the other rooms but I made the mistake of sitting on the edge of the bed and then laying on the bed and then crawling under the covers. + + + Sunday Breakfast with everyone. Several people were leaving today and Elfur and Adrian and I had panels to attend. Poor Dave was none too happy in the morning and clearly the most hung over. Our waiter was an annoying queen. The first day's panels pretty much sucked. The highlight was meeting the two Jeffries, Veen & Zeldman. They were at the New Riders/Borders booth signing autographs and meeting people. First, Adrian and Elfur and I were there. Adrian had a mission -- to kick Veen's ass for not including the browser archive in his book which has a chapter devoted to browsers. This idea of ass-kicking was clearly thwarted when Veen stood up -- he's like eight feet tall. Zeldman, by contrast, was about five feet tall. I told Adrian that if he had tried to do some ass-kicking that Veen would have held him down while Zeldman kicked him in the shins. We did a little guerrilla-marketing by stamping their hands with our logo. Strangely, as we talked to them fellow evolters converged from all parts of the trade show. It was as though we had a homing beacon. For dinner we went to Stubbs. Mmmmm... barbeque. Afterwards, we went to Fray Cafe at Ruta Maya where I got up and did the open mic thing. I told about my apartment in L.A. I think it went over okay. If there's an audio of it I'll link to it eventually. Adrian, Emily (Kansas) and Martin (Scotland) all got up and did short bits. There we met Derek Powazek and I saw an assortment of characters that I would have liked to meet but didn't -- Heather Champ, John Styn, Lance Arthur, Shauna Wright and others. We swarmed (as we are wont to do) Taylor at the end and talked/debated with him about the monkeyjunkies mailing list and Wired and how evolt was created and why Taylor shouldn't be such a sourpuss about it anymore. He didn't get stamped. We wandered home and got caught in the most torrential downpour -- full on lightening, thunder and hail! We took shelter under the Stubbs awning and waited it out. + + + Monday Most everyone left this day and those that stayed scattered. Adrian and Marlene with friends, Elfur to another hotel and me to my brother's. Monday night I went out with my brother and we went to a few bars. I met a couple of his friends who all think that my brother is a freak -- I would have expected nothing less. He's studying to be an EMT, something which I can't fathom. We nearly got in a car wreck on the ride home. It was so close to us that I felt as though I was watching a movie. This guy was tailgating and when he had barely enough room he zoomed up to pass us on the right. My brother said, "Okay, c'mon drunk man" and I looked over my right shoulder just to seem him loose control and slam into the right side guardrail. He then crossed the freeway and slammed into the center dividers. I could hear cars squealing on their brakes to avoid him. As I looked out the back while my bro called 911, I saw him drift across the three lanes again. Creepy. + + + Tuesday More panels. I'd go into them but it would be too tedious and I don't want to write that much. There was some good ones Monday and Tuesday which actually gave me some things to think about. They guy that does Once Upon A Forest was there and practically preaching which was very entertaining. I also went to Powazek's presentation which made me want to possibly buy his book. I saw Megnut and Kottke but didn't introduce myself to them either. After the panels ended, Adrian and Elf and I went out to the balcony and Matt Haughey turned up and introduced himself. He runs Metafilter and I've been posting there rather voraciously for the last couple months. Very nice guy -- I would've loved to have stayed and chatted but my brother was coming to pick me up. Which, as it turns out was too bad as he pretty much ditched me after dinner. Yeah. + + + Wednesday I was so ready to leave Austin. I have a whole rant about airports but that'll have to wait another time. 3.13.2001
There's this one thing that I love about being away from T. for a period of time. My body kind of forgets what he's like. And when I see him again, I am shocked at the physical warmth of him. It's a sensation you can only appreciate when you have gone without.
quickie I'm still in Austin. I leave early tomorrow morning. I've only been on a computer twice at the convention center and then just briefly. I'm at my brother's and he's off attending to a drunk friend. I can't wait to get home and kiss T. I miss him a bunch. I'm pretty tired. Slightly overwhelmed but pretty much punch-drunk still over this entire weekend. I'm really glad I did it but I'm really hoping the financial effects won't linger. I met a ton of people who I have been emailing with for years. People with sites that I respect. People with sites that I visit every day. People who have been only text to me for over three years. It's ... well, it's hard to verbalize. I'll need to think it over for a couple days. I have a lot of work to do when I get home and I'm inspired to make some life changes. Things are gonna happen this year. Good or bad, it's going to be interesting. And, right now, I feel like I can handle it. Yes. Later. 
|