Thoughts from Austin, Round Rock and Welcome to Night Vale Live Once More

I’m starting to wonder what I did to deserve friends that will do such things for me. Once again, Amber managed to get us tickets to see Welcome to Night Vale: Live this time in Austin. The trip wasn’t very long but the trip was fun and as always, I feel like I’ve learned a lot about myself and those I call my friends.

• Traffic is weird in Texas and going to Austin is a constant reminder that even though in theory this place isn’t far it takes sometimes way too long to get there.
• Buc-ee’s is still wonderful.
  • So I talk about Buc-ee’s a lot and I think it’s hilarious that so many people that I know and care about will never know or understand how wonderful this place is.
  • Also I need the “Killing my liver while floating on the river” tank top.
• There’s nothing like bringing bottles of booze with you to a hotel room. Makes you feel ritzy and by ritzy, I mean probably going to do questionable nerd things and that you (I) are (am) too old for this.
• If you see more than one Corvette in the parking lot of your hotel, there’s probably a thing going on.
  • The thing going on was a giant Corvette race thing.
• Hampton Inns are surprisingly nice.
  • They’re Hilton properties so I expect that but they’re very nice.
• Amber has never been to a Waffle House.
  • This fact shocked me.
• Amber is a great friend and I love her like a sister but she is blunt sometimes and so much more direct than I am that she really catches me off guard. She’s very authentic and I appreciate that about her but she can sometimes say truths about me that cut me to my core.
  • I want to work on taking her word to heart and knowing she doesn’t mean it as a cruel thing, she’s just trying to help me grow.
• Fun fact: there’s nothing on TV anymore but My Cat from Hell and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
• Midnight, Texas is apparently just hillbilly Constantine.
  • Additional fun fact: Amber and I have many opinions on both shows.
• There’s nothing like trying to cosplay as someone who you feel no one else would notice.
  • Like, really. Night Vale is a rough thing to cosplay out in public.
    • Amber said it best: “You can’t go out dressed as a bloody glowing cloud covered in dead animals and expect people to get it.”
• Fun fact: it will start raining as soon as you put on 5 layers of concealer and foundation. And then it will stop as soon as you get into the car.
• The Paramount Theater in Austin is pretty but not as nice as the Majestic.
  • But they had snacks and hipster popcorn so it was a win.
• There were a lot of kids at this show…I’ve never considered Night Vale to be a mature show but lots of kids…too many kids.
• That being said though: Austin audiences are…a different bunch. The crowd was for sure more rowdy this time.
  • Additionally, there was a woman who climbed over 2 rows of antique seating and then spread her legs over the empty seat below her. I was floored.
• No spoilers about the show but at the risk of sounding like an huge brat (it was a birthday gift, after all) I’ll say this about the show: it wasn’t my favorite. It wasn’t bad. At its core, it’s still a show I love but it didn’t floor me the way Ghost Stories did.
  • The weather was quite good though. The artist was entertaining and rhythmic and eccentric.
    • Also “rhythmic accordion solo” are now words I can say I strung together.
    • Also lots of intense percussive foot stomping.
• Parking in Austin makes me angry.
• Sonic is not real food, but it is delicious once you’re half a bottle of champagne into the evening.
• Live PD is a confusing jaunt between almost boring cop stories to very over-blown drama.
  • Like it does really feel like police propaganda a little. It’s a lot of cops doing very non-dramatic things and in a world where it seems that the police are now only involved in scandal, it was sort of nice to see them just do their jobs and no one get unnecessarily hurt or die.
• Jasmine Green Tea with Elderflower Liquor and Ginger Vodka is magical.
  • If you have any cocktail name suggestions: leave them in the comments below.
• Round Rock is a magical place full of delicious food.
• Round Rock Doughnuts is wonderful. I didn’t want to leave.
  • Though I feel bad for the church and Cuban spot next to the small donut shop.

• SALT LICK BBQ IS DELICIOUS AND I DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE.

  

  • Even though Amber and I had a heavy conversation about personal responsibility to family over how awful families can be as well as gentrification and how difficult it is just to be of color in America.
  • Oh and I got free cobbler because birthday weekend.
• There’s nothing like getting new Converse.
  • Fun fact, I showed these shoes to TJ and he said we could no longer be friends afterwards because the shoes were too cool.
• Amber gets antsy on the road trip home.
• Discussing drug and club culture and its relationship to techno is depressing but necessary.
• Traffic in Texas is still awful.
• Finding something opened past 5 on Sunday is difficult:
  • Context: my power went out due to a storm in San Antonio so I didn’t feel like going home to a hot/dark house. So I drove around for 2 hours somehow past the trip and it was damn near impossible to find anything that was still opened.

I had a great time in Austin and I had a wonderful birthday and birthday weekend. I’m grateful for friendships, fun and making memories.

Rest easy, readership. Rest easy. And thank you for the birthday wishes.