March SXSW Weekend 2011

I had to change the name. Limiting my adventures to just Sunday was just silly. Too much pressure to make especially Sundays fulfilling. So its about the whole weekend now pretty much as it has been the entire time, just more words in the title.

Well I didn't think this one through.

I never think about planning around the NCAA tournament when I really love it more than most things in life. Like that one time when I studied abroad in the spring of 2006 and missed the craziest tournament in history. Lucky for me that turned out all right because I had pretty much the best time of not only my life but pretty much anyone else who has ever lived. Fact. I lack the ability to delay gratification so I went and just had a lifetime's worth of fun in 5 months time. But it was worth it.

Anyway. This weekend missing the tournament was worth it too. Once I got this job in DC and had a steady income I started thinking about where I might live in the future because that is what I do. I can't sit still in life and along with lacking the ability to delay gratification (you know like that psychology experiment with the kids and the marshmallows. No? Here it is. Maybe I could have scored better on the SAT.) I also lack the ability to accept security and contentedness. I blame that semester abroad.

I went to Austin for SXSW this weekend. Or at least one day because awhile ago I added it to a list of places that might be fun to live based on what other cool people have to say about it. And way back then I found out when SXSW was because I also thought that might be fun to attend. So I planned this weekend long before I realized the best weekend in sports also coincided with it.

So on St. Patrick's Day I fly from Baltimore to Austin sleeping literally every minute of the flights because I can and you know it because you are probably only reading this hoping I fail at overcoming my sleep ability and don't leave the house on the weekend. I would too. So I get there and my aunt and uncle who got me this job in DC regardless of how much they tell you I did it on my own pick me up from the airport. We are staying like right off of the other UT's campus so we eat on what would be this UT's equivalent of The UT's The Strip at a place way cooler than anywhere at The UT called The Hole in the Wall. They have legitimate chefs in their kitchen so I consume one of the best burgers I have ever had without being even slightly hyperbolic. It's SXSW so there is music--81 bands in 4 days at this place to be exact--and we see two: Lost Brothers and Sweet Jane, both of which are delightful.

The Strokes were playing a free concert that night so we headed down to the river to check it out. I was skeptical because I am a music snob, but it was awesome. I have never been to a real concert with more than like 100 people before so this was different (this article says maybe 25000 people). Fireworks over the river followed, which were also surprisingly impressive. I lacked a childhood so have never been impressed by fireworks.

Then we made it up to 6th St. where all the Mardi Gras-like craziness is and we bounced around drinking and listening to random bands until we ended up at a microbrewery after having a polacko taco (sausage in a tortilla) at an electro-laptop music stage where we landed by accident.

We move on and find a pizza place next to 512 where one of my current favorite bands, Toro y Moi,  is playing. Normally you need a SXSW wristband or pay a cover but its 130am so its free. Do you watch the hit NBC comedy Parks and Recreation? You should. The band is from South Carolina and so is Aziz Ansari, from Parks and Recreation, so he's there, natually. Here's proof (whoop there it is; my aunt with Aziz Ansari):

Austin is incredibly undersourced for this many people cab-wise and three hours later we're back at the hotel.

SXSW is just as crazy during the day so we don't stay long on Friday after driving around for like one hour looking for parking and head back to Boerne, TX. (We watched Tennessee's demolition before this but that will be hereafter unmentioned.) My aunt and uncle got really lucky after moving from DC to find a group of bar regulars like on Cheers at this place called the Dodging Duck where everyone is incredibly nice, we get free beer, and the people say things like, "So and so, who is now deceased, unfortunately." And I am thinking this is how life should be and that I hope I am the deceased so I don't outlive my friends. Or do I want to be able to be all wise-like and say things like "Franklin, who is deceased, unfortunately"? I don't think I have a say in these types of things. 

So my uncle and I end up staying up till like 330 chewing the fat, drinking the growlers we got filled there and consequently we wake up at 130 the next day. It was Tejano day in San Antonio, which means a lot of Mexican-Texans congregating in Market Square listening to Tejano music (for which they have a Grammy award and the winner was performing there) with lots of taco-like food. We get gigantic deep-fried turkey legs and I make it official by getting a pig intestine taco and a plate of regular tacos too. Then we stop at a couple more places in San Antonio, including another microbrewery at which we fill up another growler, which my uncle and I drink staying up till 3 chewing the fat again.

I have never had chicken-fried steak so we go to a hole in the wall place in Bulverde, TX where the cook has american flag MC Hammer pants, NASCAR is on the tv and there are things posted that describe Barry Obama as a "post turtle" (someone that doesn't know how he got there, doesn't belong there, and was put there by a bunch of dumbasses. Fucking Texas.). So I consume a virtually 14 pound chicken-fried steak and I decide not to eat for the next week in hopes that my pants will fit again. Then we stop at brewpub three of three in the San Antonio area and head back to the house to sit down and relax for the first time in three days. After another excellent dinner my aunt and uncle and I stay up till 2 waxing regular about DC past, present, and future as they lived here for 30 something years.

Then they pack me some classic Texas BBQ sandwiches for the road and I get on the plane back to reality. Unfortunately. But not for my cholesterol.

Austin is fun but not the type of fun that I think I could call my home if I am still trying to find a place to live after DC. But, let's be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing in life and will probably be here forever, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But goal number one is finding a sugarmomma and wherever she takes me I will follow. But I played my odds here. What, did you think I ended up here merely because DC has like the best job market in the country and this is where I found a job? Hardly.