Officially addicted... 12:26

To Reeces. Delicious and moorish combination of chocolate and peanut butter...

The problem is they are rare in the UK. Frequent enough to satisfy my recurring desire but rare in enough to justify buying them at every shop I see them because they are 'a special treat'. Unfortunately I haven't managed to kick this habit in the ol' US of A... Where they have them in every shop.

Reece's overdoses are becoming a fairly occurrence in my life. Where can I get help for this? Is rehab too extreme? I think they are pretty fashionable over here...(rehab...not Reece's addictions).

Note to Self 13:23

Don't forget this.

Location:E Cesar Chavez St,Austin,United States

Want to go to this... 15:22

Wondering if I'm being boring by going to British stuff though? Curious to see how well received it is though!

Location:E 4th St,Austin,United States

Goodbye SXSW virginity 16:51

It's windy but sunny and very warm. Sitting by the pool outside my hotel room having just completely my first half-day at SXSW. Gearing up for the evenings festivities (apparently it's epic).

Figured I should just offload the days events...

Met up with a lovely lady from Epitaph that Dude introduced me to. We went for a pancake breakfast and to pick up our SXSW badges. Picking up the badge was a bit like being herded like cattle...but it's done. Not sure I can be bothered queuing for wristbands for private parties though...queues round the block when I could be checking out other bands? Probably not!

Nabbed the free 'goody bag'. Ditched most of the contents. Hit up the Trade Show and got my geek on. Met lots of cool people, found lots of useful services, companies we could work with, talked to some competition (shhhh)....

Met a cool guy from Peace and Love, went away with some music to listen to and an invite to talk more business later. Plus the knowledge that Sweden has an awesome festival that I've never been to. Must correct this.

That was me tired, so scooted upstairs to crash on a giant bean bag and watch Jessica Lea Mayfield (beautiful, love Kiss Me Again...one of my favourite songs at the moment...favorite?) also caught the tail end of a guy called James Vincent McMorrow, a bit Kings of Leony but more soulful....really liked it. One to add to the ol' Spotify playlist!




That was me exhausted....Took a walk around the busy streets of SXSW to get my bearings. Grabbed a slider (found out what a 'slider' is...basically a 'mini' burger...which is like a normal burger for me and therefore perfect)...accompanied by possibly the best fries IN THE WORLD. Recommend these folk.

Now back in the hotel regenerating my energy so I can hit up the streets of Austin tonight and not pass out after drinking too much Jamiesons (story for another time...or probably never).

This Must be how Icarus Felt.... 21:19

So today was the day I flew to Austin for SXSW. All on my lonesome. Nervous, jet lagged and feeling a bit sick, I got a lift to Bob Hope airport from the lovely Dude (will get to it eventually) to set off on what would be my 3rd and 4th flights in one week. Good job I'm not absolutely fucking terrified of flying.

There was a glimmer of hope...American Airlines usually has Wifi on the flights. Awesome, I thought. I shall use this time to do some this blogging lark I'm trying to get into. I got all geared up to distract myself from my impending doom (death-by-horrible-plane-accident) by emersing myself in the blogosphere (I hate that word...but I just had to try it out). Alas, there was no Wifi (shame on you, American Airlines). Intent to stick to my plan in some way...I got out my little diary, scribbling my thoughts down like a true...err...diary-keeper-type-person.

I thought it was worth typing it up...so as to be doing it properly...or something.

11.20am tuesday 15th march

Pretty terrified. Though also very glad Dude has (very kindly) made the effort to introduce me (digitally) to some lovely folk that I can meet up with in Austin. Makes it slightly less intimidating but somehow I need to put on my super-confident, networking, friend-making persona (does this exist? It's gonna have to)...No idea what to expect...thinking I might just hide in my hotel room for the five days and cry in a corner.

11.35am tuesday 15th march

I hate take-off. Finding it reassuring to stare at the bracket holding the 'fasten seatbelt' light. I love how the shaking off take-off has caused it half fall off the ceiling. This plane is awesome and safe... The mountains look mind-blowing though. I was recently asked how I could sit in the window seat (I always sit in the window seat) when I'm terrified of flying. Thinking about it...I find the concept of air travel almost impossible to comprehend that I find the view to be distractingly surreal. That and if I'm going to die....I want to know about it.

12.06pm tuesday 15th march

Terrifyingly close to a very small child. It hasn't gone off yet, but there's still plenty of time. I bought a gigantic Mexican cobb salad from the airport. I'm pretty sure it was intended for four people to share but it was the smallest 'food' they had. I feel glutinous and sick, having eaten so much, yet it doesn't actually look like I've done any damage at all to the damn thing. Get it out of my sight. Time for Battlestar Galactica. Hopefully laptop battery will survive the flight.


17.00pm tuesday 15th march

Flight from Dallas delayed (what a surprise). Annoying since I'm stuck on the plane now and decided to be a good girl and not sneak out of the airport for a cigarette.

17.15pm tuesday 15th march

Sat NEXT to a small child. Actually NEXT to. It has gone off. Is there anything worse than being trapped on a plane next to a screaming child? They know exactly what kind of impending doom they are in for and do a very good job of reminding me....and annoying me at the same time. Also 'surrounded' by a Brit band and their troupe. Quite comforting to hear the accent, even though they are loud and a bit irritating. They look like hipsters. They are called Brother. It's a ridiculous name for a band in this day and age....they are never going get the Google ranking they need to beat Brother. Annoyingly they are quite good. They're doing a SXSW Showcase tomorrow night...might go.

17.42pm tuesday 15th march

Wish I had gone for a cig. Taking off now. Going to die. Going to die. (Please don't let me die, I don't want to die on a plane).

Lee Hunters Catchy Song of the Week 21:08

I'm not sure if this will actually be a weekly thing (it probably won't). But my friend Lee presented it as such...I find this song hilarious. And ridiculously catchy...So here it is.

Tommy Gun by Royal Republic

Am I doing the right thing? 19:19

How do I find out? Who do I ask? Can someone send me a magic 8-ball?

"I think 2Pac had more to do with it...." 17:47

My first social outing in LA was with, he who shall be named, Dude (will explain later...like everything else...honest)....to see Chuck Ragan play at a place called Alex's Bar (reckon it's owned by Alex?).

I liked the bar. It had a nice atmosphere...despite being in Longbeach...which smelled pretty bad and, I am informed, is not a particularly nice place. Apparently Snoop Dogg is from round there somewhere...which I actually find surprising. I always figured he was really a middle-class white girl just pretending to be ghetto. Or was that Kate Nash? I forget.


Anyway, it was technically a business trip...honest. Great night, great gig, great people.

Some pictures....

Chuck!



Joe....I think....best moustache EVER.


Jonny "2 Bags" Wickersham (I think)....best beard EVER.

Cool t-shirt....

Also playing was a lovely musical lady called Audra Mae. She was awesome. Amazing voice. Amazing songs.

Mostly I'm just proud I managed to stay awake until midnight despite being completely jet lagged. I might have cheated with some '5 hr energy' or whatever it's called. THE STUFF ACTUALLY WORKS.

Frank Turner: Music Teacher Extraordinaire 17:42

Frank teaching a friend to play a song (I probably should know what song it is...but I'll just hold my hands up and say I don't). Random video from the 'secret Manchester charity gig' at Trof Fallowfield. Since said friend is possibly the biggest Frank-Super-Fan in the world I thought it was pretty sweet. So giddy.

Fast forward 6000 miles & 240 hours 17:22

I'm in Los Angeles. It's sunny. I've done stuff. So far so good. I might go back and fill in some gaps since I've been too super busy or burnt out to do very much bar the necessary and snooze.

Necessary things done:

• Been to AT&T store...bought 3 month phone plan that doesn't work.
• Been to Ikea to get desk
• Been grocery shopping (really freaky...everything is the same....but different)
• Been back to AT&T to complain about phone plan (they weren't very useful so I still have to go back on Monday...Fail! Might put up some useful information about phone plans later...not sure how I feel about providing useful information though)
• Went to TMobile to discover they have the perfect-plan-of-all-time.
• Went back to Ikea because one set of legs for the desk were a different colour from the other...Doh! (color, color, color)
• Went to about 1000 different shops looking for UK to US plug adapters. Eventually found one.
  
• Set up desk, chair, officey area etc (admittedly with help)
• Unpacked things, tidied things, settled in.
• Made a ham & mustard sandwich and realised that the bread over here is really different. (realized?)
• Used aforementioned desk...replied to emails, finished wireframes...that sort of worky stuff that is the essence of my whole trip.

Overall feeling productive. And freaked out. Productive, freaked out, a tiny bit homesick and really warm (warm is good). iPhone says it's 18 degrees here compared to -1 in Manchester. Win.


Picture of my lovely new work area.

While the bath is running... 11:43

You'll see when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it's just gone. And you can never get it back. It's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I miss the idea of it. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place.

Take a nap, zen fire ze missiles. 11:08

As much as I would like to fool myself that I am currently a lady of leisure...I AM STRESSED. With my departure date fast approaching I am feeling frantic about the list of 'to do's' that I am trying to work through. I'm finishing my day today at 7pm...and while that might not seem late...I'm exhausted from the sheer amount of brain activity that is currently required of me!

Things achieved today (from memory because I have deleted them off my list...what would I do without lists):

• Got dressed
  
• Went to the Apple shop to sort 'things' out, found no help there. Managed to half sort 'things' out at home. Not going to go into what 'things' are because I will end up ranting about how annoying it is!
• Had a lunch meeting with a couple of awesome programmers (tres exciting)
• Called hospital to change appointment for after return in June
• Called camera insurance folk
• Called bank to make sure my card doesn't get blocked in LA
• Paid some money to other bank to make sure they stop ringing me
• Resolved business card delivery catastrophe
• Sent amends and related amended imagery to programmer for our site (feels so weird being the client!)
• Wrote to freelancers and compiled details into a nice little file entitled 'freelancers'
• Sorted out Dropbox sharing
• Sorted out RingCentral stuff (absolute nightmare)
• Ate a bagel
  
• Arranged pick up of snake for re-homing (sad times, she is 11 and too old to move across the pond really)
• Wrote back to lots of lovely friends via Facebook & email (it's not a chore...I love them to bits and I want to do it...but also very time consuming!)
• Realised I have OD'd on caffeine (ouch)
  
• Read through half of business plan in progress

It doesn't sound like much. But it is. Also, I had an evening off last night to go to a comedy show (some test pilot for Jason Cook)...it wasn't very good but it meant a late night and a sleep deprived me today. Just to make it more difficult for myself. Resolving to have a bubble bath and get an early night tonight. Must remember to look after self.

ON A GOOD NOTE....

Feeling brilliant about having achieved so much, despite being exhausted. Started compiling schedule for SXSW either yesterday or the day before (yes, my brain is that frazzled)...which is insanely exciting. It also looks like Queens of the Stone Age are playing a random late night gig there at some point. I'm not the most hardcore fan, but I like them and their UK tour sold out in minutes over here...so that's quite nice. Also a ton more good bands. More on that later....bath time.

(N.B. This video should clear up any confusion over the title of this post)

It's a hard knock life for me. 04:26

So yesterday was essentially my 'first day of freedom'. And how did I spend it? Sleeping mostly. I must have needed it. Once I was out of bed though (working from bed is awesome), I got my anxiety on. We set up our laptops side by side on the kitchen table and started crossing things off the list of 'to-do's' at an alarming rate. There are A LOT of to dos. I might share a list at some point.

(Noticing there are quite a lot of things that I am thinking about sharing but have yet to do...like what this whole ordeal is about in the first place. I WILL get there. This is a fine example of how hard my brain is to pin down and why I probably shouldn't be allowed to write a blog).

Second day of freedom and I am still working from bed. Though I have emailed/messaged a number of people regarding outsourcing freelancers (BIG TICK), am writing an entry on here (tick), and have replied to all my mates on Facebook - maintenance of social relationships is very important with a move like this. The idea of losing friends = terrifying. Must work my arse off to keep in touch with the folk I love.

Today I will...

• Get out of bed
• Go to the gym
• Go to the doctors (have to sort out all sorts of medical things for the initial 3 month trip!)
• Do some work...which things to tick off list today I don't know. I'll probably try and do something 'hard' so it's out of the way.
• Finish working earlyish (lets say 4pm...it's a hard life) and go to town to meet friend for cocktails.
• Go to comedy show with lots of lovely people...

Really....HARD LIFE. I'm sure it's going to be seriously hard work when I hit the ground in LA though.....

FYI, not so scared today...totally excited. Winwinwin.