Future Fest: Ryan Goes Sober (Part 1)

Date Occurred: June 27

Note: This will be the longest FR I’ve ever made. It was 12 hour event with so many important occurrences that all added up to make the night what it was. Even after rereading it and cutting out the stuff that wasn’t really important, there is still quite a bit. That said, I know you guys will enjoy it. This will be in two parts, the second being much better than the first. I didn’t plan it that way, but most of my nights hit their climax toward their end. If you just want to skip to the second part, I won’t hold it against you.

And as usual, criticism of my both writing style and performance is ALWAYS welcome.

It was finally time Future Fest, a massive electronic music festival that I have been waiting for since the beginning of June. Along with it being the best 12 consecutive hours of my life up that point, it caused me to realize multiple (positive) things about myself. For the first time in awhile I would be partying completely sober. It made all the difference.

Arrival to 12 AM

I arrived at the venue (a giant warehouse-like building) at 5:45 PM. The doors didn’t open until 8, but I wanted to park in a place that didn’t require a telescope to see the venue. I was supposed to meet up with a friend, [Leroy], and his crew, but they were not there yet. Fine by me, the venue hadn’t opened yet and I still needed to pick up my ticket.

Before I got into game, I used to stand quietly in line and keep to myself. Now, I can’t stay in line for ten minutes without striking up a conversation with the people next to me. The two guys in front of me, [Mike and Lee], were students at UNT and came down to Austin just for Future Fest. Since I was from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, I used this to establish common ground. We joked about how much it sucked waiting in line on such a hot day (it was over 100 degrees). I told them it wouldn’t matter because everyone going to be sweaty and nasty once the dancing started. The two of them told me I could hang out with them by their van after I picked up my ticket.

I showed up at their van and let Mike introduce me (it gives more social proof than if I had done it myself) to all of his friends. He had an interesting crew of people. [Jason and Earl] were recent highschool graduates who in a band with [Todd], who as still in highschool. The “leader” of the group, [Will], was also a recent highschool graduate and the owner of the van (a classic Volkswagen). It turned out that they were all from Austin. Mike and Lee were just attending UNT as students. Earl was attending a community college with hopes of transferring to UT.

Despite being so young, these guys knew how to party. It wasn’t long before we were all having a good time and attracting other people to our van. A girl came by and asked us all to sign her beach ball. One guy, who was in the Navy, came over with an interesting gift for us.

Having spent 4 years in Austin, I’m no stranger to the rave scene. However, all of my experience with raving had been in upscale nightclubs in downtown Austin. Ecstasy was everywhere, but that was pretty much the only thing you’d see there. To my surprise, he guy from the Navy offered us coke in board daylight in front of lots of people. Will took him up on the offer and the two of them did a line in his van. It shocked me at first, after a few minutes I stopped worrying. If no one else cared, neither would I.

Seeing the line of people at the door getting longer and longer, Jason, Earl, Todd, and I decided to go wait in line. Will and Mike decided to stay at the van. Lee went to pick up some more people. While in line, the three told me about their band and how they were about to start recording their second album. After a few minutes, two people who knew Todd came up to us: a guy, [Tim], and his girlfriend, [Rosy].

I’m only mentioning them because Rosy would provide us with one of the funniest events at the party—and possibly one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life. Rosy saw one of her friends from 100 yards away and shouted out her name. Both Rosy and her friend are incredibly fat and they are also wearing bikinis (standard rave attire, apparently). As soon as her friend sees Rosy, the two of them start running towards each other across their field like couples in those cheesy romantic movies. Imagine this: Two incredible fat girls running to each other at full speed. Since they are wearing bikinis, fat in all kinds of places is moving and jiggling in all directions. And finally the two of them uniting and chubby embrace.

Jason, Todd, and I saw the whole thing and we probably could have heard them huffing and puffing afterwards if we weren’t laughing so hard. Earl, whose back was turned to the “show,” wanted to know what was so funny. We told him he missed it and it was time to go inside. Let Future Fest begin!

The four of us cheered as the first blast of cool air hit our faces. Thank science for air conditioning! The reason I like dance parties is because it is really easy to get in state. The energy is naturally high and if you have other high-energy people with you it makes things easier. Mystery says the dancefloor is a trap, but I’ve never had anything but good experiences on the dancefloor. We started up a dance circle and a random girl (and HB6) joined us. We didn’t talk, just danced. (I would eventually see her again and get a picture with her).

After a few minutes of dancing I told the guys I was going to look around the venue. Besides, I had to find a bathroom. I was feeling better because of the dancing, but still too shy to talk to girls. Like I said, this was my first time doing sober cold approaches in months.

While I was looking for the bathroom, I passed by a body-paint stand where a topless woman (HB5), [Boobie Girl 1], was getting painted. One nipple was painted and, much to my excitement, the other wasn’t. I got to see one of her boobs in all its natural, unpainted glory. And that was all it took. I hadn’t talked to a girl yet and I had already seen some boobies. I knew it was going to be a good night.

I continued to explore the building. The place was huge. Not only was there a massive dancefloor inside, but there were two more outside. Each played a different kind of music—all electronic, just different genres. There was also an upstairs dancefloor. On my way back to reunite with the group, I got opened by a guy, [Fred], and the girl he was with. He asked me if this was my first rave.

I guess I stood out more than I anticipated. I was wearing navy blue cargo shorts and blue, short-sleeved button-down with a white under shit underneath, night-club attire. My raving gear consisted of two glowsticks, a glow necklace, and a pair of those infamous Kanye West sunglasses (unlike Kanye’s, mine lit up). Since I was in unfamiliar territory, my goal was to blend in. Ironically, by trying to blend in I ended up standing out. Because I was wearing nice clothing that didn’t glow in the dark, light with up LED displays (yes, there are shirts that do this), or didn’t reflect light, I was different. I was remarkable for being so unremarkable.

Fred and I talked and he told me I needed a rave name. He dubbed me “Autobot” and gave me one of his bracelets with a small Transformers toy attached to it. We held hands, fingers interlocked, and he transferred the bracelet from his wrist to mine while chanting, “Peace, love, and raving. You are [my real name] no longer, you are now Autobot!”

The last significant event that occurred before midnight was me stopping by the body-paint stand again. This time a hot redhead (HB9), [Boobie Girl 2], was getting painting. As some of you know, I have fetish for redheads. She was just getting started so both her beautiful, redhead-pink nipples were exposed. I was in heaven. That was my first time ever seeing a redhead’s nipples in real life. The night could have ended right there and I would have been happy. I “watched the artist work” for a good ten minutes, taking one last look back as I finally decided to walk away. I would be seeing her again.

To be continued...