march 16 continues...

a million digeri gathered in the lobby and attempted to determine dinner plans and parties. i was overwhelmed. someone gave me a zanex, for recreational anti-depressant use (a basic chemical stoned feeling).

with carl, david pescovitz, caroline from chickclick, janelle brown from salon, ariana french, jason calacanis of silicon alley reporter, eric hellweg from business 2.0, douglas rushkoff and doug block
i went to an italian place, maybe one of the 15 nicest places in austin to eat. people clad mostly in black, a few from new york and some from san francisco, we drank and ate good food, talked about our work and joked about each other; some left the table to snort cocaine, some to smoke cigarettes. there was a lot of leftover food and a large enough bill; a kind gentleman from the silicon alley reporter picked up the tab and i felt quite kinded.

i ordered a double shot of herradura (not italian exactly but a calculated alcohol dosage) and the pork tenderloin over garlic mashed potatoes with awesome sauteed spinach in garlic. more garlic than i usually use. and noticable pepper. jason told me to sautee portobello slices briefly in olive oil and a dash of butter to flavour, and then pour that over spinach to cook the spinch just a little and serve it like that. he thought that before my roasted chickens might lighten up the meal a little somehow.

douglas shared many tv-management insights and somehow we worked over the 4 questions from passover that he recited with pesco. it seemed fitting.

we wandered over somehow to bruce sterling's house - he'd invited the near-whole of south by southwest to his 1912/frank lloyd writey custom designed/build admirable family pad. respected but unread pat cadigan science fiction author i should know better, bruce sterling holding court in his office, showing off computer crime books, ru serius and his wonderful welcome-matt-flinging ladyfriend eve, demi-stars and the 13 year old dj, who may have put on eminem more than once, though it may have been carl. adam powell told me about fugazi with the most incredible fervent look in his eyes, as he is want to do describing a trip to eat a burrito. paul with recent videos of me gathered persistenly at http://www.spring.net/ threw out occasional questions, still in his rather large but not laden vest-of-many pockets. jon lebkowsky i've felt somehow has been most host-behind-the-scenes all along and he was there looking quite impish in eyebrows and friendly in his belly, smiled much and suggested i think seriously about repurposing my web ramblings into a sellable book. his tome on netpolitics should be rescued from academic press in time for a presidential-era publishing this november if possible i suggested. joey anuff of suck did the usual rib-tickling rundown of myself or whoever availed. the woman from the ACTlab here described the collaboratively written opera she'd organized and had just seen performed. never having done opera before she was prompted by sandy stone to do something new first and therein find the necessary knomwledge. bruce sterling's youngest daughter of maybe 3 was eating candy necklace beads that had been already separated from the string. i sat near her on the wooden stairs and tried mimicry to initiate play - she had none of it and steadily rolled away from my ovations of friendship, beginning a slow moan that threatened to become a cry. a guy who's name slips me and i'm too tired to find his card had long red hair and a longer attention span than i for the subject at hand between us - managing web site collections of links. another fellow, jeff? can't recall; he mentioned wanting to auction me off on ebay. joey said a famous VC had auctioned off an hour of his time there and i should try that too. of my party carl david and ariana were leaving after 10 minutes. they invited my departure as well but i could not stand to leave a nice group gathered here under a writerly umbrella for casual chatting in pleasant audible surroundings so i abandoned any party hopping for 90 minutes wandering happy at the sterlings.

his office was lined with books, many his, many cyber, much eclectica. sterling has a quite old mac (fewer wiz bang - maybe more work), while his daughter of 3 has a powerful PC that he is sure to be kicked off of if she catches him on it when she has work to do.

over his desk, much like howard, strikingly like howard, sterling had a large ganesha. at first he dodged acknowledging the significance, but he came to share a dream of a visitation by a three foot high rat in some clothes the day he cleaned and installed the large painted statue (rat being the messenger of ganesh and the title of a story by a fellow i did not note and do not recall).

later i paused in the kitchen a moment to say thanks yous ands goods byes to him my host. i introduced myself and sterling mentioned my hair change. somehow origin came up and he mentioned that garriot was an astronaut's sun who had famous halloween parties at his castle every few years.

there was a large hammock outside between the house and my ride. i jumped in, it was a broad sweep, many feet between the anchors. amidst my late-evening breeze riding sterling ran by and snatched up an attached rope to pull me to exciting heights cackling something resembling "appropriate use"

joey and ashleigh, it was her birthday, rode me and doug downtown. joey does not stop making me laugh.

when i got hotel-home amy had written me like 10 fevered and pissed off messages this morning trying to find a zip drive that had been sitting under our desk for like two months unused and kicked around a little so i finally disengaged it and stashed it away in the closet, where she didn't remember i think i told her, amy i stuck the drives in the closet. and sure it's convenient to remember that i did notify her but it's also true that i tell her stuff a lot that she disregards and then later demands to know from me. i appreciate her insights, but sometimes i'm dismayed that she has to visit other realms while in my presence to get them. i think as we live together more and i grow a little mellower i'll learn to talk less constantly just because there's a beautiful body there. that way when we do talk sometimes it will seem less like i am pulling her out of her important daydreaming and more like we are actually communicating.

and then 3.30am i'm retiring this entry; carl, maura and ariana catch up with me after having paid per view "they got mail" and they had found a sympathetic security guard to key us into the rooftop lap pool and now-quiet hottub. a nice muscle relaxant after hours of cramped keyboarding, and now at 4.30 i feel totally ready to sleep.

nine hours i return to oakland.