Austin, TX.

I'm sitting in the kitchen of the hostel in Austin, Texas as I write this post on my phone.

This past month has been such a roller coaster ride - I'm not even exaggerating. I've hit rock bottom, the lowest of lows, and now.. I've never been better. Maybe I'll talk a bit about that sometime. But right now, I'm in the middle of SXSW, the huge music conference/festival in Austin. Panels from 11am to 6pm daily. The rest of the city comes alive at 7, 8pm with too many bands/artists. 

I don't know why exactly, but I've been doing this recently - throwing myself into a city I've never been before without finding out anything about it (well.. except the weather). Not sure if I recommend it.. It's probably a real stupid thing to do. 

Because of that, I get a real sense of excitement. I get to experience fear. I get to feel out of place. Eventually, I get to adapt to this. To the vibe, the mentality, the different cultures from all over the world. I get 2 days though. 2 days to go from a stranger/traveler to a local. Sort of. 

It's day 3 and I'm no longer afraid of getting harassed or mugged in the streets. I'm not as afraid of strange men trying to figure out my life goals as I was yesterday. The people who come out at 8 are no longer just people from the movies about spring break. In my mind they are now people who live in the present, who love to have fun, and most of all, they are people who have an undying love for music. Live music. And they are the reason musicians are able to put food on the table. 

Some of them are also people who have been rejected by society. This is where they can have tattoos all over their arms and legs without getting judged for them. This is where they can have pink and green hair. This is where they can let go of who they are in the day. 

What I've seen here is acceptance. Though I'm probably never going to have a tattoo, or dye my hair pink and green, or puke on the floor of a conference room (yes, this happened to the girl sitting behind me today hahah, presumably due to drinking the night before), I can see why people do those things. Yes, the Asian culture is still relatively conservative. But being here in America, if there's one most important thing I've learned about people and myself here, it's acceptance. 

And not just accepting differences, but accepting that we all have flaws, (including myself), we all have pains, and we've all gone through that phase where we wonder if we matter, if we fit in, if we're accepted. And this, from 8pm onwards, is the one place, one time, we can be whoever the heck we want to be. And that's empowering. Now if only we could do the same in the day.. 

Now, at 8pm, the second half of my third day is about to begin. The artists and bands are about to come alive on stage and the crowds are about to go wild. 

This is what life is, isn't it? It's not about the past. It's about now. It's about tomorrow. 

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