I came.
I saw.
I...fell asleep in my car.

Such are the decidedly unmongerous details of my trip to SXSW to hang with the likes of Chuck(e)D, swiateck, shiv and Whiney. Here is my tale of woe:

The night before, I stayed up into the wee hours playing Scrabble with the in-laws, thinking a late night would be solid preparation for a marathon mongering session the following night. Unfortunately, that plan backfired when my 3-year-old rousted me out of an all-too-brief slumber well before the ass crack of dawn. Not. Good.

I knew I was in trouble when I started nodding off during the Friday afternoon drive from San Antonio to Austin. Upon my arrival, things started off well, but my eyelids grew heavier as the night progressed.

A combination of Shiner Bock, Jackalope meat and a Bataan death march of a walk to and from Whiney's gig (in what turned out to be distant rural east Texas) all combined to be my undoing by the time my enormous ass met the chaise lounge upstairs at the Apple Bar.

We drunk dialed DayStar, but we really weren't drunk enough for it to have been worth Jen's while (and for that, we heartily apologize). We subsequently tried (and failed) to drunk dial pumachik and SpontaneousPoet only to reach their respective voice mails. Shortly thereafter, Colin and Jon started making their play for some coeds down from Oklahoma State University, while I desperately wished for Alex's eyelid-opening contraption from A Clockwork Orange.

By the time 11 rolled around, I decided it best to avoid the indignity of falling asleep in a bar -- especially since doing so 20 years ago in that very same neighborhood had resulted in my immediate ejection from the premises -- so I ducked out to my rental car and snoozed away until Colin returned home at 3:30, at which time he tucked me in to his Coleman air matress.

Colin, Chad and Jon are all mongers of the highest order -- especially Colin. It occurred to me that perhaps he and Sen. LooGAR have recently undergone some sort of Freaky Friday-style karmic swap. While Dave has gone from bathing in soup to domestic bliss, Colin has done just the opposite.

Meanwhile, it's almost 10...this old fart's gotta get to bed soon.

it was nice talking to you and shiv!
i had completely forgotten to expect a call from you fellas..... it was a fun surprise!

disappointed in the lack of drunkenness? certainly not....only that i didn't get to experience swiateck and colin as well.

Our semi-sober chat was the highlight of my night. My apologies for falling asleep before making good on the promise of a completely unsober follow-up call.

[quote="FT"Colin, Chad and Jon are all mongers of the highest order -- especially Colin. It occurred to me that perhaps he and Sen. LooGAR have recently undergone some sort of Freaky Friday-style karmic swap. While Dave has gone from bathing in soup to domestic bliss, Colin has done just the opposite.[/quote]

This has occurred to me as well.

FRIGHTENING

There is always next time. And there is always the reverse drunken dial, right Bob?

Indeed, and I am fully expecting you to make it so. I really enjoyed our chat this morning. Sorry I was so distracted, but riding in a '69 Beetle driven by a still-buzzed monger during a driving rainstorm kept me from adequately focusing on the task at hand. There WILL be a next time!

I, also, enjoyed it.

Also...

eggggcellent

you woman'd it.

hey i called back when i just started my drinkning... and yeah. if you guys called me 2 hours later, it would've been good times. unfortunatley when you called, my battery waws dead so i didn't get the message iuntil a bit later.

rarararar

Miscalculation on the rental car, Bobbo. You coulda adjusted the seat in your mongering van, put on a fine DVD and slipped into a coma. Way to let your wife and kids take the reliable, safe truckster

Poor Bob...sorry that I missed you on Friday. My phone decided to lose service on Friday and hadn't realized it until almost midnight. By the time I had it restored on Saturday morning, battery was near death.