SxSW

Hey, did you know that South By Southwest isn’t actually the compass direction? If your sister were a sailor, like mine is, you’d know that it should be Southwest By South.

Anyway, I’m in Austin for SxSWi, which is pretty fantastic. The interactive track has had a bunch of great social media speakers and panels, which have led to great chats afterward. I’m lucky enough to have this amazing job in new media and community management, but to most people I meet, I do something or other with the internet. It’s great to talk with folks who are also doing jobs that didn’t exist a few years ago.

The indie section at Screenburn is stunning, with a great bunch of developers. The indiePub pavilion hits my indie checklist for both an indie game that looks and plays like a AAA title and an indie game that’s mind-blowingly weird.

And early-spring Austin is just gorgeous.

Plus I’m staying at Allison’s house! Allison and I became friends my freshman year of college, when our then-boyfriends, Eric and J, were roommates.  Allison and J got married a few years ago, and now they’re expecting a baby! (Eric and I didn’t exactly work out romantically, but he’d still be my speed dial one, if phones still had speed dial.)  It’s great to be with Allison again, whether she’s taking me on the tour of Austin hotspots or we’re sitting in her kitchen in the middle of the night.