What's that? You DID notice? Well damn...

I remember, a long time ago, the day that my husband realized that even though he didn't really notice other people's shoes, they were noticing his. It's kind of a strange revelation, really, that something you couldn't care less about is actually something you are being judged by. So why am I writing in my blog at 1am on a Friday night?

Well, it turns out, people are watching. I'm at South by Southwest, a festival that is in many ways an excuse to drink and hang out between various talks and panel discussions. With topics ranging from the future of media to "how not to be a douchebag," the festival really runs the whole gamut. I've already been exposed to some really cool ideas and technologies and I'm learning a ton in a field that, frankly, I have tons to learn about. That said, I'm also learning that things that haven't mattered to me at all until now are suddenly things I'm being measured by. For example, mine is the lone, basic flip-top phone in a sea of smart phones--suddenly I'm a dork among dorks (and no, that doesn't make me cool at all). I am also not terribly witty on Twitter nor, I'm sorry to admit, in this blog. I'm also noticing, though, that when I admit that I don't know which open-source code they're talking about, or if I need a refresher on what LAMP stands for, people don't look at me like I have two heads, as would happen in the opera world if I had to ask someone what opera "Una furtiva lagrima" came from. I'm also noticing that everyone has been wonderfully open and welcoming. Can it be that despite all my terrible failings as a tech geek, I actually belong here?

I'll be trying to find out over the next few days. Stay tuned but please, avert your eyes from my cell phone.