I like schedules…

I like to do lists…

I had the afternoon off from work so I got started on my SXSW 2010 Game plan.

Where do we start?

1)Bands -  M has pasted the list of SXSW Showcasing Artists to a Google docs spreadsheet.  From there we download the torrent and begin rating the bands (somewhere along the lines of “sucks balls” to “I would give an organ to see that band”).  If there are too many in the “I want to see this so bad”  we make an attempt to check out more songs by the band to determine the new ranking.

From there I have been using the wretched my.SXSW feature to save the list of bands I am interested in checking out.  The only perk is that it exports to Google Calendar.  I can make sure that all this gets added to sched when the time comes.

2) Schedules- Now there are a few scheduling tools out there. The best one available so far is Sched.org.  Unfortunately they don’t have the 2010 schedule up right now.  In the interim there are a few tools/sites M and I are using to get a head start on RSVP’s and such.

(edited 2/27)I built a Google calendar to share which has all of the day parties that have been listed on Donewaiting.com/sxsw, Do512.com’s SXSW Edition,  and Austinist’s SXSW guide (M has also been cruising the Twitter).  If it is on the calendar, it means that M and I are RSVP’d and ready to go.  Right now the plan is to RSVP for everything and sort it all out later when sched is back.

I had dinner with some friends this evening, and I begun lamenting about how horrible my life is, how lonely I am, how I am unchallenged, ect. All because a friend tried asking me that very question.

But you know, that’s not really a good way to look at it.  I know it, even if I don’t act like it all the time, that it will get better.  I will finish school, I will end up doing something I want to be doing instead of this limbo stage… *it will get better*.

I’ve been feeling kind of shitty lately, well really for a while, and I’m not sure.

Let’s see I could make this into a rant about all that truly sucks in my life right now, but I feel it would be better for my emotional health to really try to think about all the thinks I do love.

Here’s my list:

1. My dog: He’s been my best friend for a long time, and days when I talk to no-one at school, or anywhere else, I always have him.  Even if he cannot respond in kind, there’s some part of me that realizes it doesn’t matter if he responds or not.  It’s more about me telling him stuff, really any stuff, that makes me feel the slightest modicum better.
2. My friends (I’ve been through worse, yes, but now I feel like this rough patch is truly being helped by long, if not unnecessary conversations with my friends.)  Even if they are tired to death of hearing my woes, they’ll listen, and it’s that listening that’s my “therapy” so to speak.
3. My family, I guess really I mean my aunt.  She’s seen a lot more than I have and the wisdom or experience is really helpful.  That being said I’m not trying to discount my family.  Sometimes it’s a little harder to share certain things with them though.
4. School: I don’t really like anyone I go to school with, but it’s pretty easy to get my A’s. I’m not saying that it’s boring.  All I have to do is my work, and it’s interesting and I get my A’s, just because it’s not super challenging doesn’t mean I don’t like it.  On top of that, it’s something to occupy my mind.

Maybe it’s not about waiting for it to get better though, there’s something to be said about taking positive action toward the course you want to see yourself on.  And even if I don’t feel like it will get better now, maybe I should try to take that stock in the things that I *do* have.

I read a study the other day saying that people in the Netherlands (or maybe it was Denmark) were the happiest in the world.  They have the most trust in society, are hard workers who do their job because they like it, not necessarily for the money, and seem to have the most stable emotional health of anyone in the world.  When asked how they are, the thing they say all the time is “It could be worse.”

I think that’s perhaps the best way to look at things.  It is totally true, and at the same time takes some stock in your present situation now.  I’ve been trying to say that when people ask how I am.  Sometimes I can’t say that, sometime I feel horrible, but most of the time I’ve been able to say it.  Maybe if I can say that more often I’ll finally live by and realize the repercussions of that statement.

So, dear readers, I really don’t know what I love about my life the most right now.  And I not really sure I ever will, but it could be worse, right?

In the meantime, I have a friend who’s woman WANTS him to grow some facial hair.  I have no clue why.  He is totally opposed to the idea.  I think he has grown a ridiculous soul patch to appease her.

For those of you on the hunt for dudes with ’staches, Misprint magazine is hosting their 4th Annual Beard and Moustache Contest on February 19th at the Mohawk

We planned to meet for dinner at 6 and assumed it would be smooth sailing from there.  The hostess informed us there was a two hour wait.  We decided to go to Eastside Showroom and drink for a bit in the hopes we would get the call that our table was ready.  It was there we made the best decision ever.  Jettison the car and keep drinking all night.  I started my evening with Scotch, M and the Jew decided on fancy cocktails.

After an hour and a half we decided to head back to the restaurant.  The table wasn’t ready yet (but lucky for us there were seats at the bar).  A half hour later, we were seated (and very tipsy).  Was the wait worth it?  Yes, it was.  We ordered the steamed artichoke with drawn butter (although it tasted more like brown butter to me and M). [BTW.There aren't many vegetarian items on the menu].  I settled on the potato leak soup with endives(cream based) and the ratatouille (vegan).   I was impressed with both dishes.   I was starving by this point and still managed to savor my meal. The meat eaters at the table recommend the duck and the scallops.   Price-wise, we did well.  Between 5 of us we managed to kill two bottles of wine (the Bordeaux was my favorite), and have dinner and dessert for $250 (incl. tip).

M, the Jew, and myself decided that even though we were tipsy and full of tasty french food, we needed to go out.  We hitched a ride to Sidebar.  Then the night gets a little blurry.  I was thankful for sensible footwear as we stumbled to the cab.

The chart shows that:

Men don’t write black women back. Or rather, they write them back far less often than they should. Black women reply the most, yet get by far the fewest replies. Essentially every race—including other blacks—singles them out for the cold shoulder.

My first instinct was to delete my profile and end my Don Quixote type search.  But then I figured that I should keep on in the name of science.  It’s a lot like casting bottled messages out to sea.

I sent the dudes and email not to long ago asking if they have looked at the numbers by location.

Stay tuned.

• Sunday 1/3 - Sally Crewe @ Club Deville
• Tuesday 1/5- Cruiserweight @ Red 7
• Wednesday 1/6 - Brothers and Sisters, The Laughing, Oh No Oh My @ Emos
• Friday 1/8  - Ume @ Emos, Corto Maltese @ Club Deville
• Saturday 1/9- T-Bird and the Breaks @ Mohawk

This year in live music: Broken Social Scene, Lymbyc Systym, The Submarines,  SXSW (Flosstradamus, Asobi Seksu, Titus Andronicus, Chairlift, the DJs from the Hood Internet, Kanye West, Big Sean, GLC Consequence, Really Do, Tony Williams, Mr. Hudson, Kid Cudi, Common, Erykah Badu, Buck65, B.Dolan, Sleep, Sage Francis, the Obits, Handsome Furs, American Analog Set, the Rosebuds, Bishop Allen, Au Revoir Simone, These Arms are Snakes, Cursive,  Passion Pit,  the Soft Pack, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Matt and Kim, Amplive, Franki Chan and Curt from Flosstradamus, and Echo and the Bunnymen),  Crystal Castles, Loxsly, the Dears, Great Northern, Passion Pit, Harlem Shakes, Clues, Explosions in the Sky , De La Soul, El Ten Eleven , Free Press Summerfest (Broken Social Scene, Explosions in the Sky, Prince Paul, Voxtrot), Los Campesinos!, Broken Social Scene,   FFF Fest (Royal Bangs, Crystal Antlers, Foot Patrol, Sugar and Gold, Vega, MC Chris, Neon Indian, Yeasayer, Les Savy Fav, Pharcyde, Atlas Sound, Why?, Broadcast, Dj Numark,  Lucero, MIssion of Burma, Buraka Som Sistema, GZA, Kid Sister ) Regina Spektor, Hockey, and Pheonix.

This year in non-live music: I am still having Last.fm iPod scrobbling issues.  Here’s to this year’s new albums that kept me awake at my desk. NASA, Mos Def, Amanda Blank, Del tha Funky Homosapien, Discovery, Walkmen, Headlights, Passion Pit, Yo La Tengo, Heartless Bastards, Animal Collective,…

This year in Sewing: I entered the Little Black Dress Contest and helped a friend who is writing a book on green clothing design.

This year on the interwebs: I am still bad about updating Twitter.  I have fallen in love with hulu and the hood internet.

This year in Movies: (theater) SXSW (RIP: A Remix Manifesto,  500 days of Summer,  Died Young, Stayed Pretty, The Time of Their Lives, Yes Men Fix the World,  Alexander the Last, and  I Love You, Man), Inglorious Basterds, Up in the Air, (dvd)Persepolis,  Thank You for Smoking, Fast Food Nation, The Yes Men.

This year in Books: Goodreads This is what I read: Story of the Eye-Georges, Bataille, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper- Diablo Cody, He’s Just not that into You- Greg Behrendt, Fast Food Nation- Eric Schlosser, The Other Side of Thirty- M.A. Thakor, The Manual- Steve Santagati, Another Roadside Attraction- Tom Robbins, Love is a Mix Tape- Rob Sheffield, Even Cowgirls get the Blues- Tom Robbins, Choke- Chuck Palahniuk, High Fidelity- Nick Hornby,

Here is the list of things I neglected to do in 2009 along with excuses for not doing them:

1. More bike rides (and maybe a bike with gears). No new bikes.  I did go on a few long rides though. I would bike more if I weren’t allergic to outside.
   
2. A jumble of personal goals: tolerance, being a better person, being more trusting, baggage reduction, etc… I haven’t made things worse (At least I don’t think I did).
3. Design for another fashion show.  Hopefully Stitch, when it returns. Stitch did not return this year.
4. Demolish the back porch and fix the fence. Those are still there.  The plan is to ditch the whole house.
5. Road trip. Didn’t happen.  I flew to Seattle instead.

2010 will be my 33rd year.   My Yenta says it should be one of the best.

We drank, we danced, yet we couldn’t help wondering… What about the the bounty that the vocoder brought us?  T-Pain… Little Wayne?  What about Outcast?  Hey Ya anyone? What about the Hey Ya of 2006? Gnarles Barkley’s Crazy.  As much as I hate to say it, where were the Black Eyed Peas and Fergie? 2000s were filled with some booty shakin (and milkshakin‘) music for the most part.

It wasn’t until the late aughties that disco and new wave made their triumphant return (Gaga, MGMT, etc…)  But where was Cut Copy? Bloc Party? Passion Pit? Pheonix? Ratatat? Ghostland? MSTRKRFT? NASA? All of the hipster dance anthems of the aughties.

I would like to think that the music deficit was based on the availability of the songs on kareoke and video and not on a lack of knowledge about 2000s club music.  What say you Action Pack?

I recently saw Up in the Air with my Yenta (yes, I have a Yenta now).  I will save you from the details since I don’t want to clog this post up with spoiler alert warnings.  I will say that the film was brilliant.  But what else would you expect from the man that gave us Juno and Thank You for Smoking.

Back to the backpack…

George Clooney’s character (the lovable asshole), is a motivational speaker.  His pitch is about a backpack (I am still trying to figure out if the backpack speech has anything to do with the book by John Bytheway.)

How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you’re carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life… you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV… the backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. You go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home… I want you to stuff it all into that backpack.

He gets you to think about what you want to carry around.  Do you feel the weight?  Do you feel the straps digging into your shoulders? Then he asks you to set the backpack on fire.  What things do you save?

As a homeowner I am realizing the amount of useless crap one can acquire over time.  I have started purging the unnecessary items in the hopes of selling my house and moving somewhere smaller in the next year.

Part two of the speech deals with people (no, he doesn’t ask you to set them on fire)…

Now I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office… and then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your brothers, your sisters, your children, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack, feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks.

As much as we hate to admit it people are sharks.  For the most part, many of us are competitive and looking to get to the top of the food chain. Granted many of us have been able to adapt to less shark-like behavior, but it is still there (I don’t think it is necessarily a bad thing).  Hopefully the people in your backpack are people that that don’t hold you back.  They inspire you to be a better person, to go for the gold, to move with purpose.

So, over the next few days think about what is in your backpack.  I am still taking inventory of what’s in mine.

This got me wondering…Why can’t civilians get the same deal as Government officials and celebrities.  They have people to run damage control.  They can go into a press conference and not have to talk about certain things. Or, should they decided to talk about one of these touchy topics, they only have to say it once, and then they are done.

As a friend, I have decided not to ask these people what happened or why these things occurred.  It’s not my business.  Besides, it is pretty obvious that they are not in a good place right now.  I merely listen and ask what do they need.   You should do the same.