I’m not a developer. (Oh, boy, am I not—more on that later.)

I’m not a gamer, animator, early adopter, Mac fanboy, social network guru, internet celebrity or famous author/change agent/superstah with a new book to shill.

But here’s the dirty little secret of the South by Southwest Interactive Festival: you don’t have to be a Real Geek to love it.

I didn’t know what to expect at my first SXSW, two years ago. And, outside of creating some schmancy new blog cards (upon which I neglected to place my phone number—on purpose!), I didn’t do much in the way of preparation. I went with an open mind, the better for the cosmos to stick a wedge in there and crack it the fuck open.

It turned out to be a very good plan, the not-planning. In fact, it worked out so well, I’m doing it again, with a few minor adjustments:

1. This time, I’m going solo.

No BF, no SXSW Gold Pass. It’s interactive only, and one big, fat, glorious, piggy king-sized bed.

Don’t get me wrong—I love traveling with The BF, and by “traveling,” I mean exploring the turf, sharing experiences and having sex in motel rooms.

But I will be forced to get out there more and mingle. Having the Gold Pass (i.e., access to all the offerings of the SXSW Film Fest) and having a movie-freak companion meant I missed out on a lot of the schmoozing and boozing I hear tell happens outside the panels themselves.

Plus, communicatrix was pretty new to the internets a couple of years ago, and social media hadn’t really taken off yet. I knew one or two people going in, and met one or two more. This time, I’m excited to meet up with a whole slew (for me) of people, including Chris, Michael, Becky, Adam, Merlin, Alissa, Eric, Sean, Scott (who took this most excellent shot of the terrifying Podcast Pickle) and (your name here*).

2. I’m also planning…a little.

My natural tendency is to schedule myself down to the pee break, so I like to use vacation—which I characterize as me not doing my normal routine at home, not me sitting on a beach with a fruity drink—to mix things up.

I’ve made some oh-so tentative plans with a few people, and put their mobile numbers in my phone. I am also planning to be a total weinerdoodle and hole up in my hotel room alone with the cable TV on Thursday night. Because I know how tiring SXSW can be, and I want to experience as much as I can.

But other than that, the planning, as such, includes only one other thing:

3. An exciting and long-delayed image overhaul.

Watch this space, is all I’m saying…

xxx
c

*I’m serious, people—if you read this, and you’re going, for chrissakes, contact me! Who knows when we’ll get this chance again?

Image of the Famed Podcast Pickle by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

TOPICS: communicatrix, SXSW, SXSW2008.

This entry was posted by the communicatrix on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at and is filed under The Quotidian Ones. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.