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Living for Today

After missing South by Southwest last year, I have short window to go this year. I'm talking one whole day and that day is tomorrow. A number of friends and colleagues who live out of state (and hundreds of miles away from Texas) will be only three hours from me this week. Since I didn't bother looking into getting a place to stay or a wristband, I'm taking the cheapest route possible: pay for a tank of gas, hope to find a decent parking space and just wing it for a few hours.

Why I'm going tomorrow is because of two parties: one runs between noon and 6 and the other runs from 4-7. I'd be stupid not to go, so I'm just going down there. On paper, driving six hours total for eight hours of fun seems weird, but I've done this trip before for even fewer hours of fun.

In 2002, Nick and I drove from Fort Worth to Austin and back in one day/late night. The reason? To see Belle & Sebastian on their Storytelling tour. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen and I don't regret the trip at all. Last year, I drove down to Round Rock just to interview Aaron for a few hours. Yes, I went out of my way, but I needed to get out of town for a few hours and hang out with someone I had not hung out with in a few years. Again, it was totally worth my time.

So that leads me to my point. With my life being very touch and go with a lot of waiting around right now, I need something like this. I might be spend as much time in my car as I will hanging out and dodging the constant marketing, but I know this will be worth my time.

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