SXSW days one and two

DAY ONE [Thursday 16th]

Where I stayed Wednesday night: CC's apt, Brooklyn
Number of drunk roommates and roomates' guests running around brandishing vibrators: 3
Hours of sleep: maybe two and a half
Airline flown: American Airlines from LaGuardia to Austin
Layovers: one, in Houston
Number of people that actually got off in Houston: about five
Vehicle that met us at Austin airport: a big dumb red truck, as abound in Texas
Degrees warmer Austin was than the temps we'd left in NY: at least 30
Number of NY kids [or peeps Lauren knew] we ran into within a couple hours of being in Austin: hmm... Heath Miller, Evan and Doug Steel Train, Josh Madden and John er... let's just sum it up with "a whole bunch"
Number of bats seen flying out from the South Congress bridge: Hundreds. Thousands, maybe. Way too many to even count.
Meals eaten: one, in a 20-hour day
Free drinks nabbed: not as many as we should have
Rawkstahs and bands encountered: stood next to the Fiery Furnaces at baggage claim, walked past Belle & Sebastian in the airport, made eye contact with Stuart Murdoch, got a somewhat disarming grin from him [swoon. again.] Queens Of The Stone Age brushed past us as we were standing on the corner of 6th and Congress. And of course all the band kids Lauren knows; ArmyNavy and Socratic are the only ones springing to mind right now. That actually played: Lucero, Film School, Spinto Band, Steel Train, Carina Round. Walked past the bar where Boy Kill Boy were sound checking - playing Back Again and all I could do was squeak and grab Lauren's arm. I *love* that song.

DAY TWO [Friday 17th]

Where we stayed: Paul's apartment, on an air mattress
How much rent he pays for a big two bed-two bath, nice balcony apt in Austin: about 860ish
How much you'd pay for something similar in NY: I dread to think
Time we woke up: super late, which was nice
Shows we had on our list of things to do: the Jane mag party, the My Chem/Lifetime show at Emos, ArmyNavy wherever they were playing, the Stolen Transmission party
Shows we actually went to: the Jane mag party where the line was half a block long but we cut in with a kid Lauren knew about 15 people from the front, and the Stolen Transmission party which we arrived at early after leaving the Jane mag party with Joe and Ryan Nightmare of You and Jenne, then said we needed to use the bathrooms real bad to get in as it wasn't actually open yet
Number of people we knew that were also already there even though the party hadn't started: the usual suspects really
Free drinks nabbed: a lot of vodka-diet dr peppers at the Jane mag party [tasted like cough syrup but they were free so we choked them down] and about three large vodka-redbulls at the ST party at the Redbull House
Coolest thing about the Jane mag party: a baby being carried around on his dad's shoulders, wearing massive earphones to protect his ears, and looking like he was having a blast
Bands encountered: Film School [tail end of their set, again], Of Montreal [brilliant], Mates of State, Nada Surf [the bass player chainsmoked throughout the entire set], Nightmare of You, Boy Kill Boy [swoon, and so good], Lady Sovereign was bopping around the ST party [she's tiny!] and numerous others that I walked past thinking "you look kinda familiar but I have no idea who you are" - and no doubt others that I walked past even more oblivious than that. You couldn't throw a stone without hitting a band of some sort at South by.
Best outfit: the wedding dress the lead singer of Of Montreal wore on stage to start their set