SXSW 04: The first 24 hours 2004

Friday midday - In the air between SF and LA

Totally blew it and left the house when I should have been arriving at the airport. Perhaps my body is so opposed to getting up at 5am that it blocks me from setting the alarm correctly. I took the F-line trolley car and a SamTrans bus to the airport, blithely unaware. Once at the airport I realized my miscalcation. A kind woman in the long checkin line reminded me of self-checkin and with a little additional help from the staff over there (where my reservation wasn't recognized at first) I got my boarding passes 20 minutes before flight time.The only problem was I was carrying 3 bags and you're only allowed 2 carryon items. Fortunately, I have a soft suitcase and I had packed it loosely enough that I could fit my laptop case inside it. Wearing two jackets and thanking my good fortune that the gate was nearby and the line at security short, I dashed onto the plane. I was the second to last person on board and my luck continued to hold with an empty seat beside mine so there was extra underseat space to stash my stuff. All the way through I've been guiltily thinking "Poor planning on my part does not constitute an emergency on their part."

If my hotel offers massage services, I am sorely tempted to avail myself of them. The march last night was worth it, but my arms and shoulders are aching from holding up my sign and carrying luggage isn't helping. It doesn't really matter though because it all worked out and I won't miss Brad's party.

***

Saturday morning - Hotel Room

And what a lovely party it was. Saw old friends (Mike! Jay! Nikolai! Wes! Leia! Leonard! Steve & Heather!!!) and made a couple new ones. Ate some tasty food and had two yummy margaritas (one for me, one for Judith back in SF). As ever, Break Bread With Brad was a great time and if it is the highlight of the trip, it will be a very good trip indeed.

After dinner we headed over to Polly Esther's for karaoke. I made one exceedingly foolish error which I sorely regret. No, it wasn't high-kicking to Brad's rendition of "Lil Bitty Pissant Country Place" from "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". No, it wasn't cage-dancing with Brad as [someone - ah, it was a trio of random Texan women] sang [something - of course, how could I forget? "I Love Rock n Roll"] [Hey, they were strong margaritas and I'm just waking up; Brad'll remember. - Nope, Rannie did]. No, it wasn't singing (because this time I was smart and acknowledged that my voice was completely shot by second-hand smoke and had the wisdom to choose Tom Waits' "The Piano Has Been Drinking" as my song).

My bad choice was that as we were leaving the Iron Cactus, heading out into the slightly damp evening, I didn't then peel the requisite "Hello, my URL is..." nametag off the lapel of my beloved pink corduroy jacket. Later, after the party was moving on to conversation in the lobby of the Omni, I did try to and discovered that the gummy paper had fused to the fabric and the bold blue ink with which I had carefully written METAGRRRL was starting to soak through. I will see if the housekeeping team here at my hotel can work any miracles, but I fear I may need to do some embroidery or something to camoflage the damage. Drat!
It's just a jacket and I have a new quest to find or create another like it, but it still bummed me out a bit.

The nice thing about web pals is that when you're kinda down at 3a.m. sometimes they can still be there for you. Back in my room at the hotel as I was cleaning new business cards out of my wallet, resigning myself to the now imperfect nature of my jacket and trying to stop fretting before I went to bed, my mood was much improved by having my new friend Colin play the guitar for me.

The Kick! kickball game was supposed to start 20 minutes ago, so I better take a shower, get dressed and get out there in time to go to lunch with everyone.

Panels? Uh, yeah, yeah. I'll probably register and go to a panel one of these days. I hear there's a convention going on somewhere around here.

Comments

SXSW 04: The first 24 hours

Friday midday - In the air between SF and LA

Totally blew it and left the house when I should have been arriving at the airport. Perhaps my body is so opposed to getting up at 5am that it blocks me from setting the alarm correctly. I took the F-line trolley car and a SamTrans bus to the airport, blithely unaware. Once at the airport I realized my miscalcation. A kind woman in the long checkin line reminded me of self-checkin and with a little additional help from the staff over there (where my reservation wasn't recognized at first) I got my boarding passes 20 minutes before flight time.The only problem was I was carrying 3 bags and you're only allowed 2 carryon items. Fortunately, I have a soft suitcase and I had packed it loosely enough that I could fit my laptop case inside it. Wearing two jackets and thanking my good fortune that the gate was nearby and the line at security short, I dashed onto the plane. I was the second to last person on board and my luck continued to hold with an empty seat beside mine so there was extra underseat space to stash my stuff. All the way through I've been guiltily thinking "Poor planning on my part does not constitute an emergency on their part."

If my hotel offers massage services, I am sorely tempted to avail myself of them. The march last night was worth it, but my arms and shoulders are aching from holding up my sign and carrying luggage isn't helping. It doesn't really matter though because it all worked out and I won't miss Brad's party.

***

Saturday morning - Hotel Room

And what a lovely party it was. Saw old friends (Mike! Jay! Nikolai! Wes! Leia! Leonard! Steve & Heather!!!) and made a couple new ones. Ate some tasty food and had two yummy margaritas (one for me, one for Judith back in SF). As ever, Break Bread With Brad was a great time and if it is the highlight of the trip, it will be a very good trip indeed.

After dinner we headed over to Polly Esther's for karaoke. I made one exceedingly foolish error which I sorely regret. No, it wasn't high-kicking to Brad's rendition of "Lil Bitty Pissant Country Place" from "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". No, it wasn't cage-dancing with Brad as [someone - ah, it was a trio of random Texan women] sang [something - of course, how could I forget? "I Love Rock n Roll"] [Hey, they were strong margaritas and I'm just waking up; Brad'll remember. - Nope, Rannie did]. No, it wasn't singing (because this time I was smart and acknowledged that my voice was completely shot by second-hand smoke and had the wisdom to choose Tom Waits' "The Piano Has Been Drinking" as my song).

My bad choice was that as we were leaving the Iron Cactus, heading out into the slightly damp evening, I didn't then peel the requisite "Hello, my URL is..." nametag off the lapel of my beloved pink corduroy jacket. Later, after the party was moving on to conversation in the lobby of the Omni, I did try to and discovered that the gummy paper had fused to the fabric and the bold blue ink with which I had carefully written METAGRRRL was starting to soak through. I will see if the housekeeping team here at my hotel can work any miracles, but I fear I may need to do some embroidery or something to camoflage the damage. Drat!
It's just a jacket and I have a new quest to find or create another like it, but it still bummed me out a bit.

The nice thing about web pals is that when you're kinda down at 3a.m. sometimes they can still be there for you. Back in my room at the hotel as I was cleaning new business cards out of my wallet, resigning myself to the now imperfect nature of my jacket and trying to stop fretting before I went to bed, my mood was much improved by having my new friend Colin play the guitar for me.

The Kick! kickball game was supposed to start 20 minutes ago, so I better take a shower, get dressed and get out there in time to go to lunch with everyone.

Panels? Uh, yeah, yeah. I'll probably register and go to a panel one of these days. I hear there's a convention going on somewhere around here.

« Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. | Main | SXSW 04: The rest of day 2 »

Blog (noun) A weblog or similar brief journal usually containing links and commentary thereon. Term coined by Peter Merholz.
Visit Typepad or Blogger to start your own. (I began with hand coding, then switched to Blogger when it first became available, then to Movable Type when I wanted more control over my weblog and to have it hosted at a place of my choosing (Hurricane Electric). Now I use Typepad, built by the same folks who made Movable Type and I love it).

You may write to Dinah @ this domain.

Except where otherwise noted all content is copyright 1965-2012 Dinah Sanders. Please do not repost my writing or other creations elsewhere. Instead, copy a tiny bit and link to the rest. Thanks! Images are copyright of their original creators. MetaGrrrl logo and photos by Dinah are copyright 1965-2012 Dinah Sanders. Inkspot Books and the Inkspot logo have been Service Marks of Dinah Sanders since 1993.