Circa 2014 - This is not a thing I will ever figure out.

For some reason, my mind is taking me back to the blog posts I wrote after attending South By Southwest in Austin in 2014.

So, here's a throwback post.

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Saturday, March 8, 2014

Geek Central.

I love writing. I love things that make me laugh. When those two things combine, my little mind explodes of The Awesome and I just can't handle it anymore.

That happened to me today.

I got to hear Seth Meyers speak today at SXSW. For a little more than an hour, I basked in the happiness of the conversation that included comedy, writing, failure, the collaborative process, and random other things.

I didn't know what to expect, but I was hoping to hear about his transition from SNL to Late Night. I wasn't disappointed. He did talk about that. But what I wasn't expecting was hearing him speak for an hour on how much he loved writing and how many times he has failed in life.

Background, for those who don't know: Seth was on Saturday Night Live for 12 years before taking over Jimmy Fallon's Late Night (Jimmy Fallon now hosts The Tonight Show. For the record, I'll always like Jimmy Fallon, too, because of his thank-you notes).

I remember watching the last episode of SNL that Seth Meyers was on earlier this year. I remember thinking, "God, it's the end of an era."

I had to wait in line/in the room for a couple of hours to hear him speak. I'm not sorry I did.

Lovingly stolen from the Interwebs.

I didn't write down all of the wonderful quotes he said, I didn't Tweet much, and I didn't even Facebook that much. I sat on the edge of my seat, laughed harder than I've laughed in a long time, and smiled more than I've smiled this year.

Weekend Update has always been my favorite part of SNL. I've always liked Seth Meyers and I always will after hearing him speak.

Some quotes he said:

"When you're young, that's the perfect time to fail."

"This is not a thing I will ever figure out. Perfection is crazy. Improvement is what you want."

"People are like, 'What do you want to do when it's over?' And I'm like, 'Does it ever have to be over?'"

"It's never easy coming up with ideas."

"Giving yourself a deadline is really important."

"My survival will always be as a writer."

Not stolen. I took this photo!

Other things he said:

- An NPR employee asked him what news sources he reads to get material for his show. I was expecting The New York Times and morning talk shows to be his answer. His real answer? Twitter.

- He was hired on SNL as an actor originally, but transitioned into writing. He said he didn't like doing skits, but loved writing skits.

- The last skit he wrote for SNL bombed. He talked about failure quite a bit, which is something I wasn't expecting. I guess everyone fails.

- I can't even explain how funny he is. You can tell he doesn't even have to try. It's just something that's in his personality. He said that even after spending 12 years on the show, there was never one recipe for success. Some things work and some things don't. When they don't, you move on to the next thing that might work and forget about the thing that didn't work.

While waiting in line to hear him speak, we got to see a video of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson speak to an audience a floor below us.

Um, that was also mind-blowingly amazing.

Background: He's the astrophysicist who demoted Pluto as a planet.

Also stolen from the Interwebs.

What I didn't know: He's so freaking normal it hurts. He doesn't talk down to people who don't understand science and he's willing to explain things in really simple terms.

My Twitter feed exploded with his quotes.

"A scientist is a kid who never grew up."

"If you think the price of college is expensive, try the cost of ignorance."

"This is SXSW Interactive. This is geek central right here."

"You don't want to do an experiment that's longer than your life expectancy..."

"Some lessons need to be learned first-hand."

"There is so much to be impressed with in the universe. Don't be distracted by things that are not impressive."

"One reason we should go into space because you know the dinosaurs would have if they could have."

"Carbon is Jon Stewart's favorite element. It's the slut of the periodic table."

"I wonder if we're smart enough to figure out the universe. We define ourselves as intelligent. But we came up with that test."

"It's the darkest before dawn. No, it's not. It's darkest when the sun is farthest from the horizon."

"Good teachers are first in line for the cloning machine."

"I always tell teachers, be the kind of teacher that teacher was to you."

"Keep letting your kids break stuff. It is a source of curiosity."

"To remain curious is to remain young."

Part 2 - A love like that

Part dos of this here blog post is dedicated to the amazing people I met at the Eric Church concert.

I went to this concert solo, and I was really nervous about it. I was nervous about parking in the parking garage, I was nervous about getting lost in the parking garage, and I was nervous about finding the theater in a huge casino.

It turns out I had nothing to be nervous about.

I left my Rolling Stone in the car, so I had to go back and get it. I walked right to my car, so there were no issues getting lost there. (Parking garages and I don't get along.)

Once I picked my spot by the stage, I stood there and listened to other people's conversations. I smiled when they told jokes, but I didn't feel comfortable inserting myself into the conversation.

The couples around me were all recently empty nesters. They did not know each other, so they did their introductions and said how old their kids were and how great life is now that the kids are gone.

Ha.

The couples agreed at this stage in life is the best stage. It's even better than pre-kids, they said, because now they have disposable income that they didn't have before in life.

Three couples, six people, drinking beer and having a great time on a Saturday night...and then there's little lonely Monica, standing there awkwardly not talking to anyone.

The guy beside me nudged me, and asked me if I was ready for some EC.

I said yes.

We struck up a conversation. They are from Idaho and they lost count of how many Eric Church concerts they've been to.

They're going to the show in Oregon next week.

This is what they do on the weekends, they told me. They fly to wherever Eric Church is playing, and they always get pit tickets.

Being in the pit is the key, the man told me.

I told him that I had never been in the pit at an EC concert before.

My new found friend told me that from now on, I'll never sit in the seats again.

He was right.

I appreciate that this couple adopted me at the concert and included me in their circle of people.

They said their kids were 24 and 22, and they were not yet 50 years old.

I saw how close they were and how loving they acted towards each other. I love the fact that they both love concerts and have a blast going to them together.

As the concert ended and I said goodbye to my concert buddies, I thought to myself, man, I hope I find a love like that some day.

Part 1 - Going to Church

If you want to know how my adult life is going, here is a pretty good example.

About a month ago, I worked pretty hard all night. I bragged to people that I adulted successfully.

I got my tires replaced, fixed the AC in my car, replaced the tail lights and replaced the windshield wipers.

I was especially proud of the windshield wipers. I put them on myself after YouTubing the directions.

When I booked this Eric Church road trip to Oklahoma/Texas, I was pretty confident about my car.

When I was returning from my trip, I was driving north of Oklahoma City in pouring rain on the interstate.

My car was running perfect. I had just gone to Church, and I was in a fantastic mood.

As I was driving 70ish miles an hour down the road, my windshield wiper blades flew off my car.

My first two thoughts were:

• Well that was 40 bucks well spent. 
• This is the definition of adulthood. 

I stopped in Wichita on the way back to buy new windshield wiper blades, and this time I asked the guy at the car shop to put them on.

Live and learn, people. Sometimes lessons are learned the hard way.

(If you're wondering what I did on the interstate in the pouring rain with no wipers, I kept on driving. It seemed like the safest thing to do.)

This happened at the end of the trip. Why am I starting off this here blog post with the end?

To quote my favorite book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven:

It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.

These boots.

Pit.

Ps, I have no idea how many parts will be in this series of blog posts. I'm making this up as I go along, as I do with most other things in life.