[South By Southwest = SXSW]
On my third night in Austin I saw a sticker that said: "SXSW: An excuse for a 10-day bender." and I thought that was extremely accurate.
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Ok, I've been sitting on this Data Sheet/Trip Report for over a year now. I was convinced that my 2014 trip to SXSW was a fluke, just a one-off, and I didn't want to come on here guns blazing and raving about SXSW just because I had a fun few days.
Well, 2015 proved even more incredible than last year, and I'm finally ready to blow the lid off SXSW as the greatest party you've never been to.
Never in my life have I seen such a high concentration of beautiful girls in North America. Not in New York, not Montreal, not Miami, not anywhere. Never in my life have I seen such an enormous volume of people partying in the streets as I did during SXSW. It could not have defied my expectations any further: I expected SXSW to be Geekfest 2000, but for two years running, it's been nothing short of a raging party and absolute fuckfest.
Wall to wall people on the streets, all day every day. Starting around 10a.m. and extending to 3a.m., you can't look more than a hundred feet without seeing a group of bangable girls. Multiple times a day I find myself saying "I can't believe this is real life."
It's that good.
Perhaps I am dwelling on this point too much, but it is important to drive home how much of a party scene Austin has been the last two weeks.
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Austin is ground zero for gorgeous, young white girls. It's the pussy breadbasket for the rest of the country, of that I am certain. Austin itself is literally oozing with sexy girls. Not just white girls but black girls, latinas, hipsters, and everything in between. Having read other Austin data sheets on the forum, of which there are only a few, it seems that Austin is something of a hidden gem in the states. Of course, SXSW brings a flux of new people and events to the city, but locals reassured me time and time again that the scene is typically not much different after SXSW leaves town.
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First up, what exactly IS SXSW? This seems to be a point of confusion for a lot of people. To keep it short: it's a 2 week festival that brings together Tech, Film, and Music in Austin, and roughly 150k+ people attend.
The first week dedicated to tech and film, the latter dedicated to music, with 1-2 days of "convergence" between the segments. All day there are seminars and events and workshops related to each of these fields; every hotel in the city is geared toward showcasing these seminars, and there are hundreds each day. From inspirational speeches to marketing seminars, what's the latest app, new film premieres, etc. The entire city is wholly consumed by SXSW. Every city block has something going on related to the festival.
Everyone who is anyone presents and all night there are parties thrown by brands and companies and the rest of the city. One night you might be at the Spotify House watching Odesza perform (for free) and the next you'll be at a Busta Rhymes pop up show, and the day after you'll walk by Vinny Chase and his posse on the street right after seeing Henry Rollins interviewed at a convergence seminar. There is an endless amount of cool shit happening day in day out.
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I'm going to include a couple memorable stories from my trip, and also break down the city a bit further. I'll end with my overall thoughts and changes I'll make for next year.
But first, here are my numbers:
5 nights
44 miles walked (according to app on my phone. Yeah, there is a lot of walking at South by)
25 numbers (maybe more? I didn't save them)
7 meetups
6 make outs
3 bangs
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Day 1:
Much like last year, I knew I had to hit the ground running. I spent the plane ride mapping out my moves and selecting which seminars I'd attend. In the ride from the airport to downtown, I fire up Tinder and start rolling in the matches. Within a few hours I've got 20 matches, a few numbers, and 4 tentative plans to meet up with girls that night.
My online game is airtight in 2015, and I use this to my advantage.
I land at 2pm, meetup with the friends I'm staying with, then head out on the town around 4. By 6pm I'm chilling with this 21 year old redhead UT student. After half an hour she asks me "wanna make out?" and we do. (Great line from her, by the way.) Long story short I don't get the bang, but it's only 8pm and the city is just starting to catch fire.
Hell, the city catches fire every night!
I wander up and down 6th, girls eye fucking me left and right, and I felt like it was on. Popped into random bars, did my approaches, chilled with some girls, but nothing was hooking. At the next bar I start approaching, getting nowhere fast, and eventually notice two girls by themselves. My approach was horrendous, but the girls here - they are so sweet, so nice - that they engage me despite my shit approach. We talked, got more drinks, girl 1 left me to talk with girl 2. It wasn’t moving the direction I wanted it to go, so I grabbed her number and left the bar solo.
Around 11pm I get a text this girl I had numbed closed on Tinder that afternoon. "My friends just went to get food, but I'm still out" she tells me. I've done this shit long enough now to know what she is really telling me! We meet up within 15 minutes, and it's Game On.
She's a fucking cutie little 22 year old UT Senior. Tiny, slim, long hair, the works. My kind of girl. She tells me about this bar, the Aquarium, where there are fish tanks. Cool, sounds dope, let's go check it out. On the way there a drunk guy stops us, and, almost as if I had paid the guy, he starts complementing us on "what a gorgeous couple" we are and how "you both look so good together." The girl and I are laughing because we know he's hammered, but that little encounter created an extremely fun mood between the two of us and I knew at that point the bang was mine to lose.
We are making out right away at Aquarium, in front of the whole crowd, which is usually not my style but I don't really seem to give a shit.
Now here is where everything I thought I knew about women and the game gets turned on its head. The whole time we are making out, I am thinking "extraction." As in, where am I going to take this girl to bang her? I'm staying with friends, so that's a no go. The only option, I think, is to go to her place.
So I stop the make out and say "let's get out of here." And she says…"well, where do you want to go?" To me this was a silly reply, but I say let's go to her place. "It's too far, and my roommates are there." She says. I am thinking "Fuck! I'm about to lose this bang due to logistics." I know I have to keep things moving or I'll lose her, so for whatever reason I look at her and half-jokingly say "let's go make out in a dark alley." She doesn't pick up on the joke part, and she agrees outright.
10 minutes later we're a few blocks away in a dark alley near some dumpsters making out. I flip her around and kiss the back of her neck, and start fingering her. It occurs to me then that I can bang this girl right here, right now. I don't NEED to take her home, or even to a bed, I can just fuck her in this alley. I pull her pants down, and mine, put on a condom, and bang her. I could tell she had been waiting for me to do this for awhile, and that the idea of fucking in an alley wasn't a big deal to her. By midnight we are walking back to 6th street, and she bails to meet back up with her friends…
That bang really changed my perspective. I have been so stuck in the mindset of having to go through certain steps to get the bang, the last of which is getting the girl to a private place. It never occurred to me that a private place can also just be a dark alley in the middle of a city. Sure, we could have bounced back to her place and dealt with her roommmates, but it wasn't necessary. It would have been too much effort, and a big waste of time. The thought of doing that didn't even cross her mind, and I'm glad I didn't call a taxi to take us back to hers.
All in all, I banged this girl in about 90 minutes after meeting her, and only 9 hours after having landed in Austin.
That singular experience is representative of SXSW for me, and the following few nights were not much different. I texted my friend to let him know what just went down.
His response?
"God bless SXSW."
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Day 2-3:
The next few days were a blur of tech/film sessions, live music, amazing food, and lots of fucking. I banged two additional girls (one 22, one 28) and I ended up banging the alley girl again too, this time at her place while partying with her hot college friends. That was a fun as hell night that I'll have to break down in another thread. I learned a lot about college girls that night.
Anyway, the second 22 year old I banged wasn't as hot as the first, but she had a good body and it was some of the best sex I've had in probably a month or so. I could tell she didn't fuck that often, and she was super into me and her pussy felt great. Nice girl. We met at like 4pm and by 8pm I was already back out on the town. Fun fun fun.
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Day 4:
Day 4 is the day I’ll be replaying in my head for some time to come.
After the morning and daytime tech presentations started winding down, I noticed that the scene outside was beginning to warm up. Smoked up and drank with the crew I'd been staying with, then walked over to Rainey Street, or what I think locals call 4th street/warehouse district. This is a dope spot, one of the most unique setups I’ve seen in any city in the US or beyond. The city took a bunch of small homes on a 5 block long street, and turned them into bars and clubs. So what you get is a house party atmosphere; but one that is open to the public.
I walk into the coolest looking house, and immediately notice two cute blondes by themselves. I start making excuses in my head for why I shouldn’t approach them. I hesitate. I think “what am I going to say to them?” and “it’s really loud in here, how will we even have a conversation?” and “maybe I’ll just wait a minute to see what else materializes.” But my rational brain was slowly overpowered by my will, and I find my feet walking toward them, seemingly out of my own conscious control. I walk up and ask them if they know what band is playing later. Stupid fucking question, I thought, but I was proud of myself for walking up and saying something to them. (I've already banged 3 girls in Austin at this point, why I am still nervous to approach is beyond me.)
Amazingly, they hooked. We do the typical getting to know you chat, and I bounce them both up to the bar for a new drink. Blonde #1 is one of those girls that will haunt me for years to come - not in the way that I am sweating her or dwelling on our interaction, but truly haunted by the memory of the feeling she instilled in me. It is a rare thing, almost profound, to meet the kind of girl who you immediately connect with, and can feel deep in your being.
It’s in her eyes, the way she looks at me. The attraction is primal, I’m convinced that humans are tuned to pickup these clues, and I felt so good around her, and her around me. She had high cheek bones and a slim trim figure. She touched my forearm, bumped her hips into mine as we talked. It was a rare moment where I felt something beyond a basic attraction for a girl; I want to sleep with her, but I want so much more than that. Call me a romantic, but for guys that have felt this, they will know what I’m talking about. The moment where the connection is so real that game goes away, and you can just be there with her. It’s the kind of shit I live for.
And then she comments to me “oh yeah, I love Brazil, my boyfriend and I visited last summer.” Heart. broken. But she still is giving me the look. She revealed that her boyfriend was back home, and she was in town for 2 weeks by herself simply for SXSW. I have always been a proponent of creating my own reality; if I believe something can happen, then it can happen. Her being in a relationship did not affect my state or my game, and I am convinced, for better or for worse, that we would have banged had her friend not been there to bear witness.
So, I did the only thing I could do, and started working on blonde friend #2. I did not feel the connection with her, and went back into traditional game mode. I remembered my training, if you will, and knew all the steps to take. We ditch blonde #1, go to another bar. She sits next to me, I grab her hand and put it on my leg. She’s flirting, asking me questions. Things are moving in the right direction. I bounce her into the street and start walking her home, to the hotel she was staying at. I tell her “Let’s hang out for a bit, but I have to be up really early so I can’t stay long.” This line always works for me, and before I know it, I’m in her room in her bed.
First the shoes come off, then more layers. The light goes out, and we start making out. She stops me. She moves away from me. “I can’t do this,” she tells me. “I have a boyfriend. I’m so sorry.” She goes on, “we fought recently and I thought if I cheated on him I would feel better, but I just can’t do it, I’m sorry.” I went into damage control. “Stand up.” so she did. “Grab my hands” and she did. “Do you want to kiss me?” I ask, as I pull her closer. She wants to, but her hamster is in overdrive, and she pulls herself away. She changes her tone a bit, and tells me I have to go. It was game over. I was so. fucking. close. She tells me it was nice to meet you (fuck my life) and I leave her place. She tells me to text her. Unbelievable!
Whatever.
I’m grinding, I still feel good, there is sex in the air. So at 1 a.m. I walk back to dirty 6th street and start approaching girls, hoping for a hook. Every one of my approaches hooks, which I remember is unique to Austin, and doesn’t necessarily mean very much. It is the one kiss of death for this city. The people are so friendly, the girls so easy to approach, that it leads to an unproductive atmosphere of everyone talking to everyone, and nobody making progress. When it becomes so easy to approach, then the value of the cold approach diminishes and standing out requires a different style of game - one that I struggled to crack.
I eventually stumble across a couple stunning babes at the bar, surrounded by 3 nerdy orbiter IRT's who are hilariously and very clearly not getting anywhere with them, but the girls are loving the attention, and are engaging the nerds. The guys are physically blocking me out, nearly frothing at the mouth over them. But one of the girls makes eye contact with me, and I realize she looks Polish. Really, really Polish.
I take the chance and spit out some of the only Polish I know at her. And...damn! It was like someone had blown a whistle that only she could hear. She gave me this look that I’ll never forget; this sort of stunned confusion and immense arrousal. The kind of look a girl gives you after you’ve given her a squirting orgasm for the first time, and up until that point she had no idea such a thing was possible. She slowly lifts up her arm and points to the ring on her finger. She’s fuckin’ married! I start laughing my ass off, just at the moment the nerdy guy gets in my face and tells me “hey buddy, see that door over there? There’s lots of girls out there, why don’t you go talk to them instead.” I’m still laughing and don’t acknowledge the schulb’s cheap attempt to get in my face, give a smirk to the girl, and her one to me, and I walk myself home.
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Day 5:
After 4 straight days of waking up early and going to seminars, eating out of food trucks, and partying until 3a.m….I am surprisingly fired up! The energy is palpable and consuming. I'm ready to go! Around noon I am watching some live jazz on 6th, day drinking with a couple friends I'd made in days prior.
Around 4pm I meet up with this girl and her friend. Blonde girl that was taller than me and wearing a short black dress. Wide hips and very very sexy. I wrote about this encounter in the Player's Log thread, but I don't think many guys read that so I'll break it down here too.
We are chilling hard, doing shots, roaming the city, dancing, and she is super hooked on me, and me on her. We meet up with my crew, and at one point we're 10-strong going at it. We start walking around Congress St., her and I at the back of the pack, and as we turn a corner we find two dozen fresh red roses lying on the sidewalk, totally abandoned.
So, she picks them up, gives me half, and we walk around for the next half hour handing them out to random strangers, mostly girls and couples, one by one. The smiles on people's faces were incredible! Many people told us that we had just made their entire week. I have never done a random act of kindness before. It was one of the most genuine experiences I've had in my life. Very very cool, and very fun to share that experience with a girl.
Before I know it, it's midnight, and I've been making out with and hanging with this girl for the past 7 hours. Time passed fast that night. I am trying to bounce her somewhere to bang, but it's not happening. Her friend is visiting from out of town, and is cockblocking hard. She couldn't have me over! And, since I'm staying with friends, I couldn't have her over. She told me that if the circumstances were different, "I would have taken you home and ravaged you hours ago." Well, thanks for the ego boost, but at 12:30 she takes off and I'm left on 6th trying to see what I can drum up.
I follow the bass and sneak my way into an amazing concert at Empire/Control Room (Bouncer at Empire is asking $$$ to get in to see the show, so I just go into Control room for free, and walk around back into Empire. I suppose people don't know you can do this.)
Anyway, a girl from a previous night texts me. A nice surprise, a great sign of interest. And she is also at Empire! I find her at the bar, but her friends are drunk and are blocking me out. I could tell she was both bored and horny, but my energy was at .01% and I couldn’t isolate her or deal with staving off her friends.
So, for the last half hour before the bar closes, I simply just let go. I grab a drink, weasel my way to the front row of the show, cock my head back in relaxation and I close my eyes. And I think to myself...Dear Austin, it was nice to meet you.
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DATA SHEET
If I Did It Again:
1. Only run "let's meet up tonight" game. Whether day game or tinder, girls in Austin during SXSW are looking to party 7 nights a week. No time for dates, it's 100% "where are you going tonight, let's meet up!" game. It worked tremendously well for me, and I would focus on this exclusively next year.
2. Rent a hotel room. 100% of Austin hotels are booked 4-6+ months in advance of SXSW (no exaggeration), so the chances of getting a logistically solid place are nearly zero. However someone is getting them, so I know it's possible.
3. Find a wingman!! Social circle game is dominant in Austin, and often girls are traveling in groups or pairs. Without a wingman it can be hard to pull off getting anywhere with these girls. Also, despite the volume of people, rolling solo can be mentally exhausting, and I feel like if I had a wingman, I would have been in a more playful mood, and more motivated to approach hotter girls.
4. Stronger intent. In a city where everyone wants to be your friend, there is great value in showing strong sexual intent from the beginning of an interaction. Direct game might work better here, would love to hear from locals on this. Girls want to party during SXSW, both locals and visitors. They want to get fucked and have a good time. Knowing that I banged one girl in 90mins, I know I could have banged more in the same or less time.
5. More day game. Way more day game! I had been wrapped up in the conferences and presentations during the day (which are very worthwhile, by the way), but this would have been a great time to drum up some numbers or go for more instadates. That said, the seminars are excellent, and I'm glad I attended so many.
6. Continue experimenting with style. In 2014 I went with the blazer + pocket square look, and it didn't work that well for me. Too out of place. This year I was v-necks, jeans, and shiny leather boots, and it worked a lot better. I am not a hipster or punk rocker but those guys seem to do really well in Austin with the younger girls.
7. Better Focus. I was so overwhelmed by the sights and sounds that I lost my focus, and fell into the frame of the event and other people, rather than creating my own story.
8. Better mental prep. Every day I left the apartment at 10a.m. and did not return until 3 a.m. That is 16-17 hours straight of being out and about, for 5 straight days. I was on full adrenaline and was fine, but more planning for this would have helped me stay in the zone a little bit more.
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Observations:
1. People here are the friendliest I’ve ever met. But this sometimes works against players, since it becomes harder to stand out.
2. Austin parties hard. The concentration of bars and nightlife is unique and fosters an amazing nightlife scene. Every single bar was packed with people from 6pm-2am. Limitless opportunities for miles in every direction. Only in NYC have I seen such density and volume of talent over such a wide area. It really is impossible to describe.
3. I didn’t see a single street or bar fight the entire trip. With such a huge volume of drunk people, it seemed inevitable to stumble across some shit. It was almost bizarrely laid back. But I liked that!
4. I didn’t see more than 2 or 3 guys making out with girls in any bar/club. At the end of the night, it seemed as if a vast majority of girls left alone. I wonder why this was? Maybe it was just my own limited observations.
5. The food in Austin is baller! Amazing BBQ and southern eats.
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Recommendations:
1. If you're under the age of 25, you're a fool if you don't go to SXSW in 2016. Go for the music session.
2. Guys that are 25-35, you're going to have the time of your life. Go for the Film or Tech sessions.
3. Guys 35+ will be a little out of place (it's a super young crowd) but if you're confident rolling solo then you'll be fine. Go whenever.
4. It's easy to figure out where to go, because you can go anywhere and find a party. Start at 6th and Red River and follow your gut.
6th Street: aka Dirty 6th. This place is a riot, it's maybe 12 blocks of city street closed down to traffic, and is plastered with people. Felt like being in Times Square at rush hour. Bars and live music everywhere, it's hard to go wrong here. The crowd is pretty young.
East Side: I am glad I knew some locals, because this is a super fun area of town, but doesn't have many if any tourists. Across the highway from downtown. Hotel Vegas is a dope spot, lots of girls and music.
Rainey Street: Aforementioned house party spot. It was better in 2014 than in 2015, but you should put it on your list.
Favorite spot: Empire/Control Room. Great music every time I went, and lots of girls to approach. Not as many as other places, but a great balance and a fun place to spend a few hours.
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Overall, SXSW is an incredible few days. For two years running it is the biggest party I’ve been to, and I truly did make some great friends and got to experience lots of awesome food and music that I didn’t write about. It was worth the trip, and I will be back next year!
For the love of god, please come out with me next year!
On my third night in Austin I saw a sticker that said: "SXSW: An excuse for a 10-day bender." and I thought that was extremely accurate.
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Ok, I've been sitting on this Data Sheet/Trip Report for over a year now. I was convinced that my 2014 trip to SXSW was a fluke, just a one-off, and I didn't want to come on here guns blazing and raving about SXSW just because I had a fun few days.
Well, 2015 proved even more incredible than last year, and I'm finally ready to blow the lid off SXSW as the greatest party you've never been to.
Never in my life have I seen such a high concentration of beautiful girls in North America. Not in New York, not Montreal, not Miami, not anywhere. Never in my life have I seen such an enormous volume of people partying in the streets as I did during SXSW. It could not have defied my expectations any further: I expected SXSW to be Geekfest 2000, but for two years running, it's been nothing short of a raging party and absolute fuckfest.
Wall to wall people on the streets, all day every day. Starting around 10a.m. and extending to 3a.m., you can't look more than a hundred feet without seeing a group of bangable girls. Multiple times a day I find myself saying "I can't believe this is real life."
It's that good.
Perhaps I am dwelling on this point too much, but it is important to drive home how much of a party scene Austin has been the last two weeks.
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Austin is ground zero for gorgeous, young white girls. It's the pussy breadbasket for the rest of the country, of that I am certain. Austin itself is literally oozing with sexy girls. Not just white girls but black girls, latinas, hipsters, and everything in between. Having read other Austin data sheets on the forum, of which there are only a few, it seems that Austin is something of a hidden gem in the states. Of course, SXSW brings a flux of new people and events to the city, but locals reassured me time and time again that the scene is typically not much different after SXSW leaves town.
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First up, what exactly IS SXSW? This seems to be a point of confusion for a lot of people. To keep it short: it's a 2 week festival that brings together Tech, Film, and Music in Austin, and roughly 150k+ people attend.
The first week dedicated to tech and film, the latter dedicated to music, with 1-2 days of "convergence" between the segments. All day there are seminars and events and workshops related to each of these fields; every hotel in the city is geared toward showcasing these seminars, and there are hundreds each day. From inspirational speeches to marketing seminars, what's the latest app, new film premieres, etc. The entire city is wholly consumed by SXSW. Every city block has something going on related to the festival.
Everyone who is anyone presents and all night there are parties thrown by brands and companies and the rest of the city. One night you might be at the Spotify House watching Odesza perform (for free) and the next you'll be at a Busta Rhymes pop up show, and the day after you'll walk by Vinny Chase and his posse on the street right after seeing Henry Rollins interviewed at a convergence seminar. There is an endless amount of cool shit happening day in day out.
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I'm going to include a couple memorable stories from my trip, and also break down the city a bit further. I'll end with my overall thoughts and changes I'll make for next year.
But first, here are my numbers:
5 nights
44 miles walked (according to app on my phone. Yeah, there is a lot of walking at South by)
25 numbers (maybe more? I didn't save them)
7 meetups
6 make outs
3 bangs
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Day 1:
Much like last year, I knew I had to hit the ground running. I spent the plane ride mapping out my moves and selecting which seminars I'd attend. In the ride from the airport to downtown, I fire up Tinder and start rolling in the matches. Within a few hours I've got 20 matches, a few numbers, and 4 tentative plans to meet up with girls that night.
My online game is airtight in 2015, and I use this to my advantage.
I land at 2pm, meetup with the friends I'm staying with, then head out on the town around 4. By 6pm I'm chilling with this 21 year old redhead UT student. After half an hour she asks me "wanna make out?" and we do. (Great line from her, by the way.) Long story short I don't get the bang, but it's only 8pm and the city is just starting to catch fire.
Hell, the city catches fire every night!
I wander up and down 6th, girls eye fucking me left and right, and I felt like it was on. Popped into random bars, did my approaches, chilled with some girls, but nothing was hooking. At the next bar I start approaching, getting nowhere fast, and eventually notice two girls by themselves. My approach was horrendous, but the girls here - they are so sweet, so nice - that they engage me despite my shit approach. We talked, got more drinks, girl 1 left me to talk with girl 2. It wasn’t moving the direction I wanted it to go, so I grabbed her number and left the bar solo.
Around 11pm I get a text this girl I had numbed closed on Tinder that afternoon. "My friends just went to get food, but I'm still out" she tells me. I've done this shit long enough now to know what she is really telling me! We meet up within 15 minutes, and it's Game On.
She's a fucking cutie little 22 year old UT Senior. Tiny, slim, long hair, the works. My kind of girl. She tells me about this bar, the Aquarium, where there are fish tanks. Cool, sounds dope, let's go check it out. On the way there a drunk guy stops us, and, almost as if I had paid the guy, he starts complementing us on "what a gorgeous couple" we are and how "you both look so good together." The girl and I are laughing because we know he's hammered, but that little encounter created an extremely fun mood between the two of us and I knew at that point the bang was mine to lose.
We are making out right away at Aquarium, in front of the whole crowd, which is usually not my style but I don't really seem to give a shit.
Now here is where everything I thought I knew about women and the game gets turned on its head. The whole time we are making out, I am thinking "extraction." As in, where am I going to take this girl to bang her? I'm staying with friends, so that's a no go. The only option, I think, is to go to her place.
So I stop the make out and say "let's get out of here." And she says…"well, where do you want to go?" To me this was a silly reply, but I say let's go to her place. "It's too far, and my roommates are there." She says. I am thinking "Fuck! I'm about to lose this bang due to logistics." I know I have to keep things moving or I'll lose her, so for whatever reason I look at her and half-jokingly say "let's go make out in a dark alley." She doesn't pick up on the joke part, and she agrees outright.
10 minutes later we're a few blocks away in a dark alley near some dumpsters making out. I flip her around and kiss the back of her neck, and start fingering her. It occurs to me then that I can bang this girl right here, right now. I don't NEED to take her home, or even to a bed, I can just fuck her in this alley. I pull her pants down, and mine, put on a condom, and bang her. I could tell she had been waiting for me to do this for awhile, and that the idea of fucking in an alley wasn't a big deal to her. By midnight we are walking back to 6th street, and she bails to meet back up with her friends…
That bang really changed my perspective. I have been so stuck in the mindset of having to go through certain steps to get the bang, the last of which is getting the girl to a private place. It never occurred to me that a private place can also just be a dark alley in the middle of a city. Sure, we could have bounced back to her place and dealt with her roommmates, but it wasn't necessary. It would have been too much effort, and a big waste of time. The thought of doing that didn't even cross her mind, and I'm glad I didn't call a taxi to take us back to hers.
All in all, I banged this girl in about 90 minutes after meeting her, and only 9 hours after having landed in Austin.
That singular experience is representative of SXSW for me, and the following few nights were not much different. I texted my friend to let him know what just went down.
His response?
"God bless SXSW."
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Day 2-3:
The next few days were a blur of tech/film sessions, live music, amazing food, and lots of fucking. I banged two additional girls (one 22, one 28) and I ended up banging the alley girl again too, this time at her place while partying with her hot college friends. That was a fun as hell night that I'll have to break down in another thread. I learned a lot about college girls that night.
Anyway, the second 22 year old I banged wasn't as hot as the first, but she had a good body and it was some of the best sex I've had in probably a month or so. I could tell she didn't fuck that often, and she was super into me and her pussy felt great. Nice girl. We met at like 4pm and by 8pm I was already back out on the town. Fun fun fun.
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Day 4:
Day 4 is the day I’ll be replaying in my head for some time to come.
After the morning and daytime tech presentations started winding down, I noticed that the scene outside was beginning to warm up. Smoked up and drank with the crew I'd been staying with, then walked over to Rainey Street, or what I think locals call 4th street/warehouse district. This is a dope spot, one of the most unique setups I’ve seen in any city in the US or beyond. The city took a bunch of small homes on a 5 block long street, and turned them into bars and clubs. So what you get is a house party atmosphere; but one that is open to the public.
I walk into the coolest looking house, and immediately notice two cute blondes by themselves. I start making excuses in my head for why I shouldn’t approach them. I hesitate. I think “what am I going to say to them?” and “it’s really loud in here, how will we even have a conversation?” and “maybe I’ll just wait a minute to see what else materializes.” But my rational brain was slowly overpowered by my will, and I find my feet walking toward them, seemingly out of my own conscious control. I walk up and ask them if they know what band is playing later. Stupid fucking question, I thought, but I was proud of myself for walking up and saying something to them. (I've already banged 3 girls in Austin at this point, why I am still nervous to approach is beyond me.)
Amazingly, they hooked. We do the typical getting to know you chat, and I bounce them both up to the bar for a new drink. Blonde #1 is one of those girls that will haunt me for years to come - not in the way that I am sweating her or dwelling on our interaction, but truly haunted by the memory of the feeling she instilled in me. It is a rare thing, almost profound, to meet the kind of girl who you immediately connect with, and can feel deep in your being.
It’s in her eyes, the way she looks at me. The attraction is primal, I’m convinced that humans are tuned to pickup these clues, and I felt so good around her, and her around me. She had high cheek bones and a slim trim figure. She touched my forearm, bumped her hips into mine as we talked. It was a rare moment where I felt something beyond a basic attraction for a girl; I want to sleep with her, but I want so much more than that. Call me a romantic, but for guys that have felt this, they will know what I’m talking about. The moment where the connection is so real that game goes away, and you can just be there with her. It’s the kind of shit I live for.
And then she comments to me “oh yeah, I love Brazil, my boyfriend and I visited last summer.” Heart. broken. But she still is giving me the look. She revealed that her boyfriend was back home, and she was in town for 2 weeks by herself simply for SXSW. I have always been a proponent of creating my own reality; if I believe something can happen, then it can happen. Her being in a relationship did not affect my state or my game, and I am convinced, for better or for worse, that we would have banged had her friend not been there to bear witness.
So, I did the only thing I could do, and started working on blonde friend #2. I did not feel the connection with her, and went back into traditional game mode. I remembered my training, if you will, and knew all the steps to take. We ditch blonde #1, go to another bar. She sits next to me, I grab her hand and put it on my leg. She’s flirting, asking me questions. Things are moving in the right direction. I bounce her into the street and start walking her home, to the hotel she was staying at. I tell her “Let’s hang out for a bit, but I have to be up really early so I can’t stay long.” This line always works for me, and before I know it, I’m in her room in her bed.
First the shoes come off, then more layers. The light goes out, and we start making out. She stops me. She moves away from me. “I can’t do this,” she tells me. “I have a boyfriend. I’m so sorry.” She goes on, “we fought recently and I thought if I cheated on him I would feel better, but I just can’t do it, I’m sorry.” I went into damage control. “Stand up.” so she did. “Grab my hands” and she did. “Do you want to kiss me?” I ask, as I pull her closer. She wants to, but her hamster is in overdrive, and she pulls herself away. She changes her tone a bit, and tells me I have to go. It was game over. I was so. fucking. close. She tells me it was nice to meet you (fuck my life) and I leave her place. She tells me to text her. Unbelievable!
Whatever.
I’m grinding, I still feel good, there is sex in the air. So at 1 a.m. I walk back to dirty 6th street and start approaching girls, hoping for a hook. Every one of my approaches hooks, which I remember is unique to Austin, and doesn’t necessarily mean very much. It is the one kiss of death for this city. The people are so friendly, the girls so easy to approach, that it leads to an unproductive atmosphere of everyone talking to everyone, and nobody making progress. When it becomes so easy to approach, then the value of the cold approach diminishes and standing out requires a different style of game - one that I struggled to crack.
I eventually stumble across a couple stunning babes at the bar, surrounded by 3 nerdy orbiter IRT's who are hilariously and very clearly not getting anywhere with them, but the girls are loving the attention, and are engaging the nerds. The guys are physically blocking me out, nearly frothing at the mouth over them. But one of the girls makes eye contact with me, and I realize she looks Polish. Really, really Polish.
I take the chance and spit out some of the only Polish I know at her. And...damn! It was like someone had blown a whistle that only she could hear. She gave me this look that I’ll never forget; this sort of stunned confusion and immense arrousal. The kind of look a girl gives you after you’ve given her a squirting orgasm for the first time, and up until that point she had no idea such a thing was possible. She slowly lifts up her arm and points to the ring on her finger. She’s fuckin’ married! I start laughing my ass off, just at the moment the nerdy guy gets in my face and tells me “hey buddy, see that door over there? There’s lots of girls out there, why don’t you go talk to them instead.” I’m still laughing and don’t acknowledge the schulb’s cheap attempt to get in my face, give a smirk to the girl, and her one to me, and I walk myself home.
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Day 5:
After 4 straight days of waking up early and going to seminars, eating out of food trucks, and partying until 3a.m….I am surprisingly fired up! The energy is palpable and consuming. I'm ready to go! Around noon I am watching some live jazz on 6th, day drinking with a couple friends I'd made in days prior.
Around 4pm I meet up with this girl and her friend. Blonde girl that was taller than me and wearing a short black dress. Wide hips and very very sexy. I wrote about this encounter in the Player's Log thread, but I don't think many guys read that so I'll break it down here too.
We are chilling hard, doing shots, roaming the city, dancing, and she is super hooked on me, and me on her. We meet up with my crew, and at one point we're 10-strong going at it. We start walking around Congress St., her and I at the back of the pack, and as we turn a corner we find two dozen fresh red roses lying on the sidewalk, totally abandoned.
So, she picks them up, gives me half, and we walk around for the next half hour handing them out to random strangers, mostly girls and couples, one by one. The smiles on people's faces were incredible! Many people told us that we had just made their entire week. I have never done a random act of kindness before. It was one of the most genuine experiences I've had in my life. Very very cool, and very fun to share that experience with a girl.
Before I know it, it's midnight, and I've been making out with and hanging with this girl for the past 7 hours. Time passed fast that night. I am trying to bounce her somewhere to bang, but it's not happening. Her friend is visiting from out of town, and is cockblocking hard. She couldn't have me over! And, since I'm staying with friends, I couldn't have her over. She told me that if the circumstances were different, "I would have taken you home and ravaged you hours ago." Well, thanks for the ego boost, but at 12:30 she takes off and I'm left on 6th trying to see what I can drum up.
I follow the bass and sneak my way into an amazing concert at Empire/Control Room (Bouncer at Empire is asking $$$ to get in to see the show, so I just go into Control room for free, and walk around back into Empire. I suppose people don't know you can do this.)
Anyway, a girl from a previous night texts me. A nice surprise, a great sign of interest. And she is also at Empire! I find her at the bar, but her friends are drunk and are blocking me out. I could tell she was both bored and horny, but my energy was at .01% and I couldn’t isolate her or deal with staving off her friends.
So, for the last half hour before the bar closes, I simply just let go. I grab a drink, weasel my way to the front row of the show, cock my head back in relaxation and I close my eyes. And I think to myself...Dear Austin, it was nice to meet you.
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DATA SHEET
If I Did It Again:
1. Only run "let's meet up tonight" game. Whether day game or tinder, girls in Austin during SXSW are looking to party 7 nights a week. No time for dates, it's 100% "where are you going tonight, let's meet up!" game. It worked tremendously well for me, and I would focus on this exclusively next year.
2. Rent a hotel room. 100% of Austin hotels are booked 4-6+ months in advance of SXSW (no exaggeration), so the chances of getting a logistically solid place are nearly zero. However someone is getting them, so I know it's possible.
3. Find a wingman!! Social circle game is dominant in Austin, and often girls are traveling in groups or pairs. Without a wingman it can be hard to pull off getting anywhere with these girls. Also, despite the volume of people, rolling solo can be mentally exhausting, and I feel like if I had a wingman, I would have been in a more playful mood, and more motivated to approach hotter girls.
4. Stronger intent. In a city where everyone wants to be your friend, there is great value in showing strong sexual intent from the beginning of an interaction. Direct game might work better here, would love to hear from locals on this. Girls want to party during SXSW, both locals and visitors. They want to get fucked and have a good time. Knowing that I banged one girl in 90mins, I know I could have banged more in the same or less time.
5. More day game. Way more day game! I had been wrapped up in the conferences and presentations during the day (which are very worthwhile, by the way), but this would have been a great time to drum up some numbers or go for more instadates. That said, the seminars are excellent, and I'm glad I attended so many.
6. Continue experimenting with style. In 2014 I went with the blazer + pocket square look, and it didn't work that well for me. Too out of place. This year I was v-necks, jeans, and shiny leather boots, and it worked a lot better. I am not a hipster or punk rocker but those guys seem to do really well in Austin with the younger girls.
7. Better Focus. I was so overwhelmed by the sights and sounds that I lost my focus, and fell into the frame of the event and other people, rather than creating my own story.
8. Better mental prep. Every day I left the apartment at 10a.m. and did not return until 3 a.m. That is 16-17 hours straight of being out and about, for 5 straight days. I was on full adrenaline and was fine, but more planning for this would have helped me stay in the zone a little bit more.
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Observations:
1. People here are the friendliest I’ve ever met. But this sometimes works against players, since it becomes harder to stand out.
2. Austin parties hard. The concentration of bars and nightlife is unique and fosters an amazing nightlife scene. Every single bar was packed with people from 6pm-2am. Limitless opportunities for miles in every direction. Only in NYC have I seen such density and volume of talent over such a wide area. It really is impossible to describe.
3. I didn’t see a single street or bar fight the entire trip. With such a huge volume of drunk people, it seemed inevitable to stumble across some shit. It was almost bizarrely laid back. But I liked that!
4. I didn’t see more than 2 or 3 guys making out with girls in any bar/club. At the end of the night, it seemed as if a vast majority of girls left alone. I wonder why this was? Maybe it was just my own limited observations.
5. The food in Austin is baller! Amazing BBQ and southern eats.
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Recommendations:
1. If you're under the age of 25, you're a fool if you don't go to SXSW in 2016. Go for the music session.
2. Guys that are 25-35, you're going to have the time of your life. Go for the Film or Tech sessions.
3. Guys 35+ will be a little out of place (it's a super young crowd) but if you're confident rolling solo then you'll be fine. Go whenever.
4. It's easy to figure out where to go, because you can go anywhere and find a party. Start at 6th and Red River and follow your gut.
6th Street: aka Dirty 6th. This place is a riot, it's maybe 12 blocks of city street closed down to traffic, and is plastered with people. Felt like being in Times Square at rush hour. Bars and live music everywhere, it's hard to go wrong here. The crowd is pretty young.
East Side: I am glad I knew some locals, because this is a super fun area of town, but doesn't have many if any tourists. Across the highway from downtown. Hotel Vegas is a dope spot, lots of girls and music.
Rainey Street: Aforementioned house party spot. It was better in 2014 than in 2015, but you should put it on your list.
Favorite spot: Empire/Control Room. Great music every time I went, and lots of girls to approach. Not as many as other places, but a great balance and a fun place to spend a few hours.
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Overall, SXSW is an incredible few days. For two years running it is the biggest party I’ve been to, and I truly did make some great friends and got to experience lots of awesome food and music that I didn’t write about. It was worth the trip, and I will be back next year!
For the love of god, please come out with me next year!