feeling old

I made it through the first day of FAT Festival without any trouble other than sore legs from standing all day. My guide, Best (yes, seriously), met me a little before 2 and we took a taxi (about $8) out to the convention center. I'd say the average age of the attendees was about 17 but I did see a handful of other adult non-Thai people so I wasn't the only one there. I think some of them were performers though. It was basically what I expected. Lots of tables with merchandise, a food section, and with 4 stages indoors and a number of other loudspeakers it was pretty cacophonous in there. Best wasn't exactly thrilled to be there but he was a good sport for the most part. He was out late the night before though and I think all the noise was really wearing him down. He said they have a sheet at the tour office where everyone records the strangest place there have ever taken a guest and now he has something to put there. I felt a bit out of place but it didn't bother me much to be surrounded by all of the Thai youth. :-)

Because there are so many bands they have to try and keep to the schedule which means that if anyone goes over or they have technical issues the acts later have to get cut shorter. Everyone basically gets to play 4 or 5 or 6 songs depending. The headliners' stage gets an hour though so they can play a little more.

I enjoyed SoundLanding the most. They seemed to really have a good time. I don't think they have performed for many crowds that size. It is interesting to see the variety of levels of polish. Some acts just stand in place but others are much more comfortable on the big stage and project and play to the crowd.

Today I will be on my own. We came back last night via the shuttle that runs between the SkyTrain/Subway and the venue so my plan is to use that today and avoid having to deal with a cab on my own.

I would post some photos, but for some reason my SD card reader has gone kaput. I am pretty bummed about that, but hopefully I can manage to get it going again, or maybe I need to take a trip to the Sony store to find a replacement. I just took my little camera yesterday but after seeing all the people there with SLRs and camcorders yesterday I will take my SLR along today to get some better pictures.

I got hit with a bout of stomach trouble Friday evening. It hit me pretty quick and kind of put a damper on my evening plans. After we had dinner I came back here and went to bed which was probably wise. I am feeling quite a bit better now. I took a couple of the cipros I brought with me that my doctor wisely prescribed.