beyond sxsw / by vanessa

Hands down my favorite time of the year to be in Austin is during SXSW. The city is teeming w/ musical effervescence and it's the only time of the year where the usually ubiquitous college guys in their layered American Eagle gear are outnumbered by shaggy jet black-haired rockers weighing about a buck-o-two. Celebrities abound, and my neighborhood with its trendy coffee shops and slightly avant-garde clothing stores becomes packed to capacity. And yes, I love this! Except this year. On the heels of an exhausting trip to DC I couldn't quite get into the swing of sxsw. In fact, I missed Wednesday and Thursday nights all together owing to the fact that I was physically beyond drained. In years past that would have been scandalous. I rallied Friday night to little avail but managed to catch Bloc Party at Stubb's which I dug. Then Saturday after getting up to teach a 7 a.m. class (ouch), I hit the Tillery St day show for one of my favorites, Palaxy Tracks. Amazingly I made it through long enough that last night to catch Robbers on High Street (given that I opted out of Spoon this was especially welcomed) and Ambulance Ltd. Good thing when I'm tired I still have an appetite. We all hit Magnolia after the shows, for which I'm still paying. But back to retrospection. My friend April said this was her favorite sxsw ever and I do wish I had felt that same enthusiasm. The thing is I just didn't have the energy this time around for something that in the past has come so naturally. Even last year, had I missed something akin to this year's highly regarded Sleater Kinney set, I would have lost it. This year -- boy was I thankful for my sleep. Please tell me I'm not turning grandma. (Nothing against grandmas -- I love mine.)

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I'm Hawaii-bound! V. exciting! I get to assist at the Level 1 bootcamp which I'm beyond psyched about. I remember my Level 1 almost two years ago and how much it changed the course of my life and so I can't wait to go back! This time around my friend Heidi is going (fingers crossed, application is still in) and Malia, Becca, and Danean from the studio will also be there. I hope they find it as enriching as I did (err, after I got over the first few days in which I was *sure* I couldn't make it the whole week).