south by south... wet

rainy day in austin. even with a full day and nights' worth of festival left, it's a bit quieter than it has been. if anyone else feels like i do, this mix of sad to leave and ready to, then that might explain it.

last night was by far my favorite night of the festival. hell, it was my favorite day overall. jose gonzalez in the morning, los abandoned (my surprise favorites for friday) and tapes n tapes (i take that back, these guys are my friday favorite) early afternoon, those crazy-ass cliff people at clap your hands, POSTERS, a little bit of nada surf from the alley behind the stage, silversun pickups, headlights, the elected (rilo kiley guy's side project... they're okay), and rogue wave to top off the night. we tried getting into some crazy virgin records party on the 24th floor of another hilton downtown, but that was a horrible idea. place was packed shoulder to shoulder with, as polyvinyl intern seth hubbard put it, "with every kind of person i hate." we met and talked with this british couple on the first floor, who made it to the party and back out before we could even figure out the elevators. they walk out of the room almost laughing at how ridiculous it was and begged us not to waste our time with it. "let's put it this way," british guy says, "i'd rather be lying in the street drinking my own piss..."

so we just chalked it up as a bad idea and turned in for the night. mark stayed, though, only seth and i went back to the hotel. my tiny floor space was a welcome sight. i cuddled up with my pillows and blanket and went straight to sleep.

woke up today and packed up my bag. polyvinyl's checking out today, and flying back after the headlights and aloha show i just dropped mark and seth off at. i'm going to meet up with leslie at some point today and crash with her tonight. i'm okay being on my own for the day, most of my day yesterday was spent roaming these streets and pubs by myself, and it was great. i think not only did the festival itself warm up over the latter half of the week, but the crowd has as well. i don't know how many people i've met in the past couple days, hopped around with, ate with, buddied up with on drunken walks home. i didn't want to admit it before, but i was pretty intimidated my first night in town. so much to take in. yesterday was much better. today's a little off, but i think rain and exhaustion have set this mood. we're all still on the same page, which is incredibly cool.

the bass player from silversun pickups just walked by me. i saw her last night after the show and couldn't help interrupting her phone call to tell her she how awesome she is. i wasn't rude, but i made my point. heh. i just saw them again, actually, around the corner at that same patio bar and grill i saw tapes n tapes at yesterday. they had free crab cakes and spinach fondu dip, and little spicy quesadilla triangles, all throughout the first few bands' sets, which was perfect. i've been pretty good, but not good enough, with my money this week. i've got all day and tonight to get through before driving home, and by my estimate, i've got just about enough for gas and food. the adventure never ends.

i am a little depressed to see mark go. we hung out with this girl jessica, from some corner of the industry or another, last night from nada surf 'till headlights. she thought it was "cute" that we were doing everything together (she was just talking to be talking, i think she wanted to hook up with mark but was keeping me close for a plan b), but it's like i told her, he and i both work so much, and during opposite hours, that we really don't see much of each other, even though we live together. hanging out with mark is like slowly chiseling our ways into another mind just as screwed up as our own. he's got incredible ambition and ideals, and i really love that i got to absorb a little more of it than usual this week. we spent most of last night venue-hopping together, the two of us and jessica. she ditched us at headlights though, when another dude came along, so we headed over to red eye fly to catch rogue wave. we stuck to the back of the place, though, tired, and shot shit for most of the show. kicked back on the patio deck with a couple of tall lone stars, the pbr of texas, the elected and rogue wave playing away up front. such a great time.

but i am, kind of, ready to go home. my wallet and i are both spent, and i feel like we'll both be wading through the day. i'm still open for anything, though. you never know what the hell can happen in a day, especially here. mm. that gives me a bit of a smile. today could be really awesome, come to think of it.

i have a ton of pictures from last night but blogger isn't letting me upload them. even one of that stupid jessica girl getting the inside of her lower lip tattooed with a cupcake. a goddamn cupcake. she was from new jersey, which might explain that...

i'm done typing. time is wasting, music is playing. and some guy with a cart just dumped a huge box of splenda packets on me. i think it's time i go. :)