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Starting Already

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It should come as no surprise that as I get closer to moving, there are going to be things I get to hear about and become really sad that I won’t be able to do. KLRU has an Engaging Speaker series that will be featuring Anne Lamott in May. That one really got me, she’s someone I’ve always wanted to see speak.

People are already reminding me of all the fun things they themselves will be doing that I won’t be around for; the summer weather and the boating, the going to Zilker, the cookouts, the Mexican food.

In order to get over missing the old, we bought a guide book to Seattle to get us excited about the new. I’m already comparing it to New Zealand, and getting excited about the hiking, biking, and camping we’ll get to do. There’s the ferries, the islands, Canada, a mention of how close we would be to CHINA, the parks, the water, I want to travel the entire state and beyond. It seems to go without saying that a new adventure should win over a place you’ve lived forever, but Austin is, I think, one of the best cities in the US and it will be hard to leave, despite the excitement of Seattle.

My favorite person in the universe, my grandmother, all the way off in CT, and a woman who has been through more surgeries and new hips than anyone ever and is now a breast cancer SURVIVOR, has already let me know that when she comes she wants to go to Victoria. Ma’am. So there’s a lot to look forward to. Quit telling me how miserable I’ll be without you and 6th St. and margaritas. I’m hitting the Pacific Northwest.


www.johann-sandra.com

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Let’s Get Packing

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One summer, I think when I was a sophomore at UT, I threw everything I had in a storage unit and moved to Wimberley to stay with an Aunt. By the end of that summer, thinking things were going to be fine, I moved into a new place, with a new roommate, and took my chances. Despite it feeling a little like Christmas to have my most treasured possessions returned to me – books and posters, I was in college – things from that point on went horribly, horribly wrong.

Now, facing a similar situation, but at a different stage in my life, I keep having flashbacks. We’ve almost moved all the junk in our garage and things we don’t need out of our place already. We’ve opted for a fully furnished type place in Seattle, so we’re not even taking the art on the walls. I have a lot of “those” things, that writers and comedians alike joke about – I’ll see you next time I move. Packing photos and furniture away is strange. MK keeps having to convince me the place won’t burn down. But more than that, history repeats itself. What if we get up there and MK decides he’s bi-polar, lies, cheats, steals, and goes off the deep end and escapes in a stolen car like that horrible roommate?

Well, maybe I’m overreacting slightly, but I can’t get over how that messed with my head back then. I used to never second guess anyone, or worry about anything. Now this life change has me getting nervous. I don’t like it. I’ll be fine when we get up there, it’s this next month that’s going to take some medication to get through.

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Global Warming

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Al Gore posted this message on his website:

 

I know from personal experience that the only thing that will make Washington really take notice and do something to solve the climate crisis is the prospect of millions of committed citizens taking action. It’s time to join together and make that happen.

Sign the postcard to your representative demanding real action on global warming below and I’ll personally deliver it to Washington in March. I’ll keep you up to date on how things are going by email.

 

Here’s the link where you can fill out the petition, it’s real and worth your time!

 

Message To Congress


www.boiseweekly.com

Come on, help the polar bears.

 

Unknown's avatar

SXSW Was Dangerous, I Was Right!

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“With no less than three of the biggest after parties at this year’s SXSW abruptly shut down, it’s no wonder that we’ve been hearing all sorts of crazy conspiracy theories. But much as we’d love to blame this year’s spate of buzzkilling closures on curmudgeonly old muckety-mucks, the evidence seems to point to something far less interesting: lack of permits.At least that was the case with FactoryPeople‘s Thursday night rager, “La Chic Disco Boum,” and the IHeartComix/Triple 5 Soul Friday night “Blow Out,” both of which were shut down by fire marshals not long after they began. Vice Magazine‘s end-of-SXSW-orgy, on the other hand, succumbed under the collective weight of its hard-partying hipster clientèle — literally, as pieces of the main balcony at the Elks Lodge collapsed. Miraculously, no one was injured.” -from the austinist.com

We missed Factory People AND iheartcomix, and don’t feel so bad we didn’t go wait in line if they ended up shut down. The Vice party absolutely cracked me up. The story was, after the guest list was full, you could be awarded an entry if you wrote them a begging haiku. Not only that, but the party was moved from the original location the night of. And they still managed to break things!

These are things I’m not sorry I missed, and further reason I’m convinced we had the best experience ever!


www.i.a.cnn.net.com

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For Snippy’s Readers

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Since our dear friend snippy is going to be gone for a while, and I get a ton of her traffic as well, I thought I’d share with you some research that I found out about Italy, so we can imagine her trip more clearly:

Fun Facts About Italy

  • Italy is slightly larger than Arizona.
  • Almost 20% of Italy’s population is over 65 years old.
  • The average Italian makes $26,700 a year, however those in the more prosperous north make almost $40,000
  • The thermometer is an Italian invention.
  • The average Italian consumes half a pound of bread a day.
  • With almost 40 million visitors, Italy is the fourth most visited country in the world.
  • The average Italian is 41 years old.
  • The average Italian consumes 26 gallons of wine a year.
  • Italy has more hotel rooms than any other nation in Europe.
  • Italians used to be known for having large families, however Italy is now known for having Europe’s lowest birthrate.
  • Italian families save more money than the Japanese and Germans, and three times more than Americans do.
  • The average Italian consumes 25 kilograms of pasta a year.
  • Italy imports over 75% of its energy.
  • “Ars longa, vita brevis” is a common saying in Italy. It means “art is long, life is short” and reflects the Italian love of leisure.
  • Italy has a resident foreign population of 1.27 million.
  • The national sport of Italy is soccer (known as football outside of America).

So what can we presume for our friend’s trip other than that IF she returns, it will be on the arm of a former soccer-playing man, over 40, who will subsist on bread, pasta, and wine, she will have no babies and she will be more leisurely? Nah, but we all hope she has a good trip!

from lifeinitaly.com

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Official Announcement

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Now we’ll be chronicling a journey. MK and I have decided that when our lease is up on April 30th, we will definitely be moving to Seattle, for at least 6 months. We’ve talked about it for months – but that’s how we do anything – but finally we went ahead and got the storage unit and started packing, so even though we don’t know where we’re going to be living yet, it won’t be in Austin!

SXSW last week was a great memory to have of the city on my way out for a little while. Our ability to live anywhere made the decision tricky, but we were engaged in Seattle and really enjoyed the time we spent there.


www.worldphotoarchive.com

I’m hoping that all our friends and family will be able to visit us there, and also that I get to live it up while I’m still in Austin, making even more great memories to take with me. Mom, if you’re in shock: thanks for actually reading this again, I know you’ve been tuning me out since the first time I mentioned (free!) alcohol. And no, I’m not doing this to be as far from you as possible, even though I think it is.

Unknown's avatar

SXSW Aftermath

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Cyanide & Happiness

The illness is real. I’m one of many Austinites with “Post SXSW Alcoholic Binge Disorder”.

Here’s a glimpse of the symptoms:

  • Looking in cupboards for booze
  • Asking if you ‘need a wristband’ before you go in anywhere
  • Ringing in the ears
  • Sore feet
  • No food in house
  • Half empty water bottles appear to be breeding in house and car
  • Purse full of stickers and flyers
  • The shakes
  • Missing shoes
  • Greasy hair
  • Putting on night club clothes instead of getting ready for bed
  • Spending all day reading blog coverage and streaming new music

Those are just the beginning. And there’s no cure I’m aware of…

Unknown's avatar

SXSW Night (And Day!) Seven

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Bloody Mary. Those two words were music to my ears – cliche appropriate due to the ringing also in my ears by now – Saturday at 12 at La Feria with KD. Anxious to head back downtown, we met everyone out at Red7. Again, with some amazing luck, we made it in the door right before the 2 hour line planted itself there for the rest of the afternoon. Words I also loved hearing, in response to “Who are we here to see?”: “It’s the David Cross showcase.” Perfect.

We saw the bands Deerhunter, The Ponys, The Black Lips, and The Walkmen. We got to see David Cross perform, as well as Brain Posehn and (I think, but may have to edit this list later) Bob Odenkirk, Zack Galifianakis, and the girl that does the news on SNL that isn’t Tina Fey.

Here’s David Cross. I saw him listening and performing, my friends E and P took a pic with him (I’m so jealous!):

dc.jpg dcp.jpg david-cross-and-friends.jpg

I really like the music that Deerhunter played, but I felt awful that I could not take my eyes off the lead singer. “The skinniest man on the face of the Earth,” claim the MySpacers. “He suffers from Marfan syndrome, try not to insult him,” others retort. The 1 in 5,000 Americans affected are typically tall, thin, and at risk of heart problems. Source(s): MySpace, March of Dimes, pitchforkmedia.com.

deer.jpg

The Ponys were decent, The Black Lips better, and The Walkmen, whom I’ve seen before, couldn’t really project fully enough the perfect way the vocals and the vintage instruments compliment each other. Outside seemed to be tough, and with 800 bands and all that equipment, I’m sure the sound guys were toast.

walkmemn.jpg

I did get to have my photo taken with Brian Posehn:

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All that work drinking and rocking made us hungry. We went for sushi

sushi.jpg And got a ‘boatload’:sushi2.jpg

Here’s one more Frost Bank Tower pic:

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From there we were headed to a party that ended up being canceled, so we re-routed our group to Firehouse, to see DJ Chicken George.

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It wasn’t like we forgot about St. Patrick’s Day either, there was plenty of that everywhere.

fun2.jpg

That about wrapped it up. We made it out each day, and now it is time to relax. We’ll all be going through party and drink withdrawals, and missing live music. I think it is safe to say that SXSW has been one of the best things I’ve finally been able to experience. It opened my eyes to so much new music to listen to, so much to think about, and so many new friends that I’m still in overload. I didn’t leave the house today, and it’s going to be tough to get back on schedule.

It’s cute that we all make jokes about the mad influx of hipsters, but our city has to embrace this week, this party we throw. It’s that good.

Unknown's avatar

SXSW Night (And Day!) Six

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Friday started out bright and early at around 2, meeting up with the crew at the Little Radio party at the Red Eyed Fly. It wasn’t all that happening, but I did pick up a koozie and a free CD from them. We wandered from there when the music started to make us doze off a bit. We got in to Emo’s at the most perfect time, hardly having to wait in the line that was forming. You know the day is going to be good when you start with Sparks for breakfast:

sparks.jpg

The bands we saw were absolutely great. Menomena, Girl Talk, and Peter, Bjorn, and John, the band I’d been hearing all the buzz about.

I really liked the sound of Menomena (Men-oh-mean-ah, not mahnamahna, like I kept saying). Girl Talk I had never heard of, but whenever a guy gets on a stage with just a computer I’m always wondering what he’s really doing up there. It also seems odd to me that all those super scene-y people listen to all the pop music, I pictured them turning up their noses in disgust, but the were all dancing fools. Peter, Bjorn, and John didn’t really do it for me, but I’ll still be checking out the CD, realizing I’ll probably enjoy it at home with some wine instead of at an outdoor stage with a woman talking behind me the whole time and knocking me in the head with her camera. I also will call them PB and J. That makes me laugh.

pbnj.jpg

*IMPORTANT PART OF THIS STORY THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ:*

I got introduced to some new friends and we were all just standing in the street when what to my wondrous eyes should appear than PEREZ HILTON, with bright pink dyed hair:

perez.jpg

Does it look like I chased him down and forced a photo? Well, that’s because I did. He’s the most famous blogger I can think of, and he now graces the pages here at somegosoftly.

*END IMPORTANT PART OF THIS STORY.*

People are always taking pictures with the Frost Bank Tower in them, I figured I’d get you all one:

frost.jpg

JC and I then checked out a band here at the outside Pure Volume stage, then met KD, and had some Brick Oven for dinner and saw some of the UT game on our way to the Diesel party. There we saw another great line up: David Vandervelde, The Epochs, Illinois, Matt & Kim, Tokyo Police Club, and Girl Talk again. I would recommend all of that music. The party was great and the (free!) drinks were nice. It might have been a little too much for some people, it got a little dirty in there:

hall.jpg

You may be thinking to yourself, that place doesn’t look very full or fun. It got crazy packed and turned into a giant party, but I took this pic while Girl Talk was on, so everyone was dancing.

Let me show you before he started:

before.jpg

And then after:

after.jpg

That’s right, people rushed the stage. Girls were in prom dresses. Everyone shook their moneymakers. Good times were had. Shirts were removed. From men and women. (No pics of that, sorry!)

We managed to make it outside after all that craziness and viewed the phenomenon of the free ice cream truck. It certainly became the hit of the week. It’s sad to realize there’s only one more day of this to go…

Unknown's avatar

SXSW Night Five

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You can’t handle this. What a week it’s been already. Last night started out perfect. I made it in time to KD’s to see the end of the big Duke upset. We rounded up the crew, bigger and better with friends in town for the shows, and headed out to this party. On the way, we managed to go in two wrong entrances, the first of which scored is free stuff, no complaints. Finally we found the right gate.

How do we miss this:

gate.jpg

if this is right next to it?

bigguy.jpg

There was also a MOON BOUNCE, in case you missed that on the flyer. I didn’t get a good picture, but if you don’t know what they look like you had a horrible childhood.

There were astronauts.

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Dancing astronauts.

dance.jpg

There was free wine. Chairs. Fun music. We heard Kanye West’s DJ friend. We ran into what I’m guessing made our group total 20 people. I shut my phone off. That may be the smartest thing I’ve done yet. This is us smiling, phone free:

cute.jpg lnco.jpg uconn.jpg

(we were doin’ ‘uconn’ in that last one, my other CT friend and I)

This is a picture to make snippy mad about having her drinking issues keeping her from meeting us out, she might like monkeys a little bit, and there were some:

monkeys.jpg

After all the wine and music we could take in one place, JC, KD and I headed out to the Pure Volume party. There were more (free!) drinks, enough to get us all dancing, shouting and screaming.

kdjc.jpg

And I’m really having a good time meeting strangers and taking pictures. Look how excited they were to meet us:

strangeres.jpg

The Pure Volume party was an after hours party. They kept the liquor flowing until KD realized she had to be up in a few hours and we made our way back to the car. We may never know what happened at 3:15 that night, but something must have broken, they let us out of the hotel garage without paying. That’s right it was (free!) parking. To go with our (free!) drinks. How can you beat that?

The music report lacks a little substance, but we saw the bands on the flyer, some DJs, nothing that stood out to me. Maybe we’ll work on that tomorrow…