February 28, 2010

unconference.

I spent most of Saturday at Videocamp Austin, a conference coordinated by the up-and-comers over at Reel Social Media and Lights. Camera. Help. who created a great participant-driven event that was informative, fun and got me all fired up about video production. And I did some guest blogging on their site during the event, so mosey on over there to see what I had to say and learn about the resources that were presented.

I spent most of Saturday night at the after-party for Videocamp, and let me tell you social media and video production folks are hilarious. Also, several of them really know how to shake their asses. We met up at Annie's West on 6th Street, where once again I was amazed and confused by my bar tab. Listen up Los Angeles: I had two cocktails at a swanky bar in the heart of downtown, and I had to buy another drink to meet the $10 credit card minimum. You could learn something from this town.

February 3, 2010

pew pew, pew pew!

I've been in Texas less than a month and I'm already shootin' guns. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm going to drop the "g" in shooting any time I'm using that verb to talk about me and guns in Texas.

We went to Red's Indoor Range, where ladies get free gun rentals on Mondays, and shooting is half price. Sometimes it pays to be a lady. A gun-totin' lady. I went with two other noobs who didn't know how to handle guns really, either, so there was no one to make fun of the girl from California who doesn't know how to work the safety. None of us knew how to work the safety. Which maybe should have been cause for a little more concern on everyone's part. The man with the awesome moustache who hands out the guns asked us to fill out a little yes/no questionnaire, and seeing that two of us had never shot a gun before, he gave us a minute long tutorial on how to load and shoot the guns, then sent us off to get headphones, armed and confused.

I decided to go with something small and unintimidating since I've never even held a gun before, and the .22 I rented seemed to be just the thing. It was like shooting a cap gun, only dangerous. Oh, and see that crazy looking gun that's as long as I am tall sitting there next to me? That's the AK the boys rented. It was the loudest thing anyone was shooting that night. I'm pretty sure a gun like that could overthrow a government all by itself.

Verdict: Shootin' is awesome. I'm going back on Monday, and I think I'm gonna shoot something bigger and louder.