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I finally went swimming in Barton Springs yesterday, which it only took me just shy of 6 months of living right next to it to get around to taking a dip in one of Austin's most famous attractions. Though in my defense, the water is REALLY cold and swimming in that in the middle of February didn't seem like the best idea in the world. And then it has rained almost every day this summer, until this past week, so that also limited the opportunities to check it out.
Swimming is one of those activities I really like when I'm doing it, and I swear I'm going to do it more often, but then it ends up being another year or two before I get back into the pool. I was actually trying to figure out with a friend the last time I was in a city owned pool before yesterday, and it was probably back when I was in middle school. And the last time I'd been in a pool in general was two years ago when I was interning in Portland. I did go to Lake Travis twice this summer though, and Schlitterbahn last summer (and planning to go next week actually) so I haven't been out of the water totally. And I actually went back to Barton Springs today again after work, and I'm trying to make it a semi-regular occurrence while it's still warm. It's one of the most relaxing things I've done in a long long time, particularly after a long day stuck in a cube staring at a computer monitor. The water feels amazing since it's so fresh and clean, it's literally like swimming in bottled water. And then dry off while reading a book on the grass. Now that's the life!
Speaking of books, I did pick up Harry Potter at midnight, but didn't get to read it all in one sitting since I had a friend (who also went trekking to Wally World with me to pick up his copy) staying with me that weekend. So cramming in some reading after getting home from going out downtown, and then early mornings, I was able to finish it by Sunday night. Quite a good fitting to the end of the series, and I'm sad that's the last one in the series. I never thought I'd like a fantasy book, but it really is a great read.
They make Heelies for adults! I'm very tempted to get a pair, I've always been a bit miffed that I missed that whole fad since I would totally have a pair if I were only born about a decade earlier. It looks awfully fun, plus how suave would it be to roll up to a girl and say "Hey Baby, how's it rolling?".
I wouldn't seriously ever actually do that... nope, not at all.
For all the people who say feminism has no place in the modern world since all the bigotry between the sexes have been corrected and it's a complete non-issue. There's still a LONG way to go before women are truly treated equal in peoples minds, even if legally they do have equal rights.
This pretty much sums it up
Flugtag is coming to Austin! Ever since seeing the commercials I've been wanting to see one in real life, and now Redbull is holding one right downtown. Expect a bunch of pictures... hopefully I'll get some good shots.
I've updated the music page with an amazing artist that my friend Candice told me about, named A Fine Frenzy. The CD is excellent, and she's coming to Austin in September which makes it all the better. And speaking of women who play piano, Tori Amos is coming to Austin in November which I can't wait for. And with Bjork and Regina Spektor coming for ACL Fest this year, now all I need is Ani Difranco to make her way here and my list of female singer-songwriters to see in concert before I die will be complete.
I also got see a really neat documentary last night named The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters which dives into the sordid underworld of competitive classic gaming. In this case, on the game Donkey Kong. It's in very very very limited release right now (just LA, NYC, Seattle, and Austin) but because the Alamo Drafthouse is the best movie theater in the whole wide world, they had Steve Weibe, the main protagonist of the movie, along with a few other people who had screen time, in the theater last night. There was supposed to be a Q&A after the show to ask him questions, but he was caught up in a game of Donkey Kong to try and improve on his record. Anyways, if you live in Austin you should definitely see it, and it's supposed to gain wider release over the next few weeks. It's a really accurate portrayal of the uber-nerd subculture, in particular the arrogance and just general obsessiveness that many geeks possess. It also got a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Apparently it's also supposed to be remade into a 'based-on-true-events' type comedy with Will Ferrell, in the same vein as that Nascar movie he did.
Saturday I went to Austin's 1st Annual Ice Cream Festival to eat way too much ice cream. I got some B&J's, and some sort of all organic gelato that was pretty tasty. Though really, once you've had Amy's Ice Cream, you can never go back to anything else. But since you can't taste the ice creamy deliciousness over the internet, here's some YouTube videos to give a sense of the style of the place.
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