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in a conversation the other day, i proposed that there are two types of people: those people who love what they know, and those people who love what they don’t.  there are people who straddle both camps, of course, and those are pretty much the most balanced among us.

people who love what they know are grounded.  they’re good at what they do, and they take care of it, and they appreciate everything that seems familiar.  they find a lot of comfort in routine and are satisfied easily.  i envy them in lots of ways because the restlessness i often feel is something they probably don’t understand.  relief.  but sometimes these people have a hard time breaking free; some don’t.  they must plan things to an extreme degree if they are to change.  if what they’re good at happens to be destructive in some way, they are trapped.

people who love what they don’t know are adventurous.  they explore new places and foods and interactions.  they dream of what else exists out there and are bored by routine.  they thrive on new.  i envy them in lots of ways because they have fascinating stories and experiences to speak of, and their ambitions permeate their lives holistically.  but sometimes these people have a hard time finding peace in the little things that are real.  they can be thought of as escape artists, perpetually unfulfilled.

mix the two, and i’d like to think that’s where i live.  (and probably where the majority of people live, too, to one degree or another).  a nice balance between a snooze and a rave.

and more.  and here’s why:

* bronwen is brilliant.  i met her in grad school, and we manage to keep tabs on each other occasionally.  a weekend talking nonstop with her — well, when not split up listening to our preferred bands at the festival — and over a giant turkey burger at hoovers (or over millions of buttermilk cookies care of her radass mom) was just what we both needed.  it’s always crazy special when you have people in your life that you can see less than you’d like, but getting together is totally kickass.  i’m finding that, as i get older, i’m doing a good job of recognizing which relationships carry drama (and avoiding them) and which can carry on without constant reassurance/attention.

* austin seems pretty hip.  we didn’t get downtown on sixth street and the other places that hold pretty people in their spaces. but what i did see seemed like a great balance between big city and small, quirky town.

* competent people ran the festival.  the whole organization of austin city limits was unbelievably amazingly organized.  we hopped on the bus both ways, everyone helping out was civil and happy, and there was literally a line of bathrooms all around the perimeter of the festival.  coming from virgin music festival, which this year for some reason had a less-than-stellar lineup plus seemingly TONS of drunken idiots everywhere, i was pleasantly surprised that 60k+ people at austin city limits and the whole atmosphere was so… PLEASANT.  it did get super packed at mgmt, but the concert was SO RADASS that i didn’t care.

* the music blew my mindhole.  specifically the freddy jones band, which i’ve listened to since finding their cd in a box marked “free” at the tiffin heritage festival circa 1995.  the drummer gave me his phone number, which was sort of hilarious since i didn’t ask for it and thought, wait this dude wants to hang out with me? (ps later i got the phone number (i didn’t ask for ) of the guy who sat us at dinner late friday night — his girlfriend was our waitress.  with that kind of pattern, maybe i SHOULD move to austin…)  plus mgmt, sharon jones & the dap kings, NERD, jose gonzales, and iron & wine were all tremendous.  css was sort of disappointing.

* finally, the whole weekend wouldn’t have been possible without bronwen opening up her (parents’) house to me, for gaby’s not giving me a voucher on southwest because i was an admirable maid of honor to her, for kmac’s GIVING me his ticket because he couldn’t make it, and for robin’s understanding when i double booked that weekend like a giant moron and had to make a choice that WASNT going to athens and hanging with her (and a few other cool cats) for homecoming.

good friends, good music, good food, good talks…

perfect.