Descending upon Austin, Texas on the 17th of March, the expectations brought upon the all-encompassing journey that is SXSW are at an extreme high. Press scurrying to the Austin Convention Center to get their badges, kids RSVP’ing to any free unofficial festival events they can, and the hard-knock artist/promoter trying to get a second of attention from passer-bys on Sixth Street. What is missing from that entire spiel is the sense of euphoric confusion there is in terms of just walking around Austin. Day 1 surely brought an introduction to the madness and ended it in a fashion that wasn’t just great, but the perfect wake-up to call to the joy that this festival brings.

Arriving with the nuisance that traffic would be an issue (and paying $15 more than a regular cab ride), the badge pick-up was no sweat. Within …