It's not a game, it's a way of life

South by South West has officially begun and I have a seriously full slate of screenings, press conferences and parties to hit. It's a tough life eh? Actually, running around the city with a raging hangover isn't the most fun in the world and putting together coherent sentences is more than a little tricky. But it's all part of the experience.

So my friend Chris Tilly got here on Wednesday, in for the festival too. He has taken to Austin like a duck to water, but I've come to expect nothing less of the lad. That boy knows how to come home with a story like no other. First night with my Brit sidekick in Austin we headed to a bar where one of Travis' friends, Mike, was DJing. Met loads of Trav's friends including this girl Shannon and her husband Cali. Ok, so Cali is a professional body modifier and Shannon a professional dominatrix. I didn't for a second hide my total intrigue as both explained their jobs to me. Wow. Not even sure I can possibly do justice to how much of the rest of the evening was spent with my jaw on the floor.



Much alcohol was consumed and new friends made. Oh and I started busting out some London town moves on the dance floor. It wasn't tragic or anything, but it wasn't very cool. But you gotta dance like no ones watching, right?

We survived the night at least and I think Tilly was in seventh heaven having met a Shannon - I kinda suspect he had a crush on her and god knows what sordid activity he'd get up to given the opportunity. One suspect he'd be biting off a little more than he could chew...

Next day was the day of the Disc Golf. Hangovers ahoy, bags loaded up with discs and beer we headed out to the course with another couple of Travis' friends, Dennis and Terry. It was a stunning day and there was a large group of us (10) out for a 18 hole round.



Let me say this, if you want to understand Austinites all you need do is join them for a round of disc golf. Quirky, laid back, eccentric, easy-going...any variation of this comes some what close to describing where these guys are coming from. It's not just a game, it's a way of life.

I'll try and explain disc golf here as briefly as possible. Like normal golf there is a tee-ing off place, and there is a hole. You shout 'four' if it looks like your frisbee is gonna hit someone - and with 10 of us playing there's a good chance. Each hole has a par number, though on the course we are playing every one is a par three. You drive with a driving disc, putt with a putter etc. Ok, I've started to make it sound boring. My bag was full of beers, I was wondering around in beautiful sunshine, and there was not a trouble in mind.







"There's no such thing as a bad round of disc golf except when you lose a disc." I'm telling you, they love their disc golf in Austin. So anyways, I do ok, so I'm told. 13 over par was my final figure. Not bad at all I feel.



After disc golf, most of the group headed over to a friend's house for BBQ where me a Chris ate brisquite for the first time. I have no idea if that's how you spell that, but I know it's smoked beef. I have no interest in wiki-ing it right now. Let me tell you this though, the guys here know how to make good salsa. Boy do they.

In other news, I discovered a new drive-through...yep, drive-through banking.



And by the way, I haven't mentioned how outrageously huge everything in Texas is. Everything in Texas is bigger, even, as Trav has told me like 3 times already, the state capitol building. It's in the Texas constitution. Go look it up people.

Lacking photos cos of my crappy camera. Will get them up asap.