ACL Blues: Why I am sniffling after Austin City Limits 2008
by Brittanie in Life and Learning / 10.01.08
What do I miss most about the festival? My health. 3 Days of intense standing, listening and sweating, as well as breathing in massive amounts of dust created by stampeding herds of humans, did some serious damage to my 25-yr-old immune system. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Lost & Found is forever an oxymoron to me. If it’s lost, it’s not found. And if it’s found then someone is going to keep it. I lost my iPhone. Someone found it. The institution of Lost & Found and good karma was not enough to get it back to me. Now I miss much more than just my health. I miss my life support.
This weekend I learned how very easily you could fall victim to the ACL blues. To help you avoid my misfortune, I suggest you follow these rules for your next festival experience.
1. Bring hand sanitizer and use it!
It’s one thing to be prepared but if you’re not actively practicing good health then you might as well have left it at home. Usually festivals will have sanitizer stations, but these run out fast and once they’re out, you’re attempts to get something out of it are counteractive since it’s been touched by 100’s of others who didn’t get to clean their hands. Nasty. Bring your own.
2. Bring your own toilet paper to porta-potties.
If you’re a girl, you know why. The drip-dry method is not fun.
3. Do not overindulge at the EATS festival grounds.
Getting sloppy and eating without first washing your hands can definitely pave way for bacteria invasion.
4. Take extra care of your valuables, especially the ones that cost a month in rent.
Have special pockets for special items. Keep it organized. Don’t hastily place things in your backpack but rather be conscious of all your belongings.
5. Do not share drinks with your friends.
Because they’ve shared drinks with their friends, and you know what that means….
6. Bring a ski mask and goggles, or some other form of face protection.
You want to avoid as many foreign objects as possible from entering your body. A lot of people are allergic to dust and it can definitely make your body go into overdrive to remove it.
7. Swim at your own risk!
If you’re downstream guess what else is in your water? That’s right, someone else’s pee. *Poot, pleh, pleth* (my attempt at an onomatopoeia for sputtering)
8. Get close to your favorite bands but not too close!
The closer you get, the denser the crowd which means you’re standing right on top of Joe Blows.
9. An apple a day keeps the doctor away!
The old wives’ tale that still holds true. My friend ate one daily at the festival and he’s in better shape than me. I decided to eat power bars instead and made up my own rhyme: One bar a day til my health fades away.
10. Stay clean.
Shower at the end of the night! It kind of goes without saying but try not to go downtown or out after the festival without showering. Your sweat and nastiness won’t be pleasant for the people around you and drinking heavily could deplete your immune system to the point of no return. Best to drink when clean.
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I agree. The dust this year was outrageous. So much dust that I needed to use my athsma inhaler. Also, you are right about the hand sanitizer. Maybe I caught my nasty stomach flu from the ACL Festival nasty porta-potty. I also thought that it could have been food poisoning. A lot of those vendors have never handled that type of volume before and they might have had some food preparation issues.
I also lost my iPhone but actually received a call from staff saying “we found your phone”. when I went to the lost and found area on the last day of the event’ I was told all items were moved to a central location and that I would have to call in. There is no phone # for L&F listed on the web site. I have E-mailed the site listed and filled out the lost item form multiple times but have received no response. If they would have at least responded with “Sorry we can’t find it” i would have been Ok… but the no response leaves me feeling like they really just don’t care…this event makes a huge amount of money ..they really need to address all these issues.