fatrockstar

I got to the Convention Center on Friday around 11 a.m. thanks to zachdms who was running the Super Smash Bros tournament that day.

Funny thing about Friday -- it was hot. I dressed a little more professionally than I needed to because it was perfect for crappy weather and instantly regretted it. Air conditioning? Hah. By the time I got to the top floor to stand in the Will Call line I could already feel sweat dripping down the small of my back. I could only strip down so much.

In line I met a reviewer named Omaha Sternberg and had a nice conversation about what to look forward to at the conference. She and I would cross paths a time or two during the weekend. Sharp lady.

I found a table and sat down to review the contents of the year's swag bag. Not five minutes later I was joined by two guys in military fatigues. Something seemed out of place to me but I didn't think too hard about it considering the diversity of the crowds. It turns out they weren't military, but BOOTH BABES for the XBox 360's Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway. They asked a lot of questions about PAX and what to expect of the crowds, and I filled them in on a few things (like Gamerstench). I got their names and for the life of me have not been able to remember them beyond that first day, even though I talked to them several times over the weekend as they worked. At any rate, Kotaku.com got a pic of them. I have stolen it and put it ( behind the cut along with some of the pictures that never made it past LiveJournal's email post feature. )

Aftermath

Once the Omegathon was done and a winner declared, the event was over. A picture was taken of the group for posterity, and I await its arrival in my inbox. I ducked out of a post-event dinner in Magnolia because I'm exhausted. I will probably sleep most of the day on Monday, as will the rest of my new friends.

You know, there were so many people at PAX I'm amazed at the people I *did* manage to bump into there. mischief_wa was there for a few hours, I ran into an old coworker of Garret's (and later went out of my way to avoid his wife), Amanda was there working the LoTR:Online booth, and later I ran into Rob and Takahisa from my last team at MS. Unfortunately, I managed to miss seeing zachdms again, and my old college buddy Chris attended the entire weekend and I never saw him. If Garret was there at all I missed him completely, but I don't think he was.

And now I sleep.

It's nearly 3 am, and the only reason I'm up is because Grady needed me to give him laptime and skritches before bed.

Some of the pictures I took didn't post successfully, so I had to re-send and edit the dates on them. This made them invisible on my friends' page for some reason. If you're interested in seeing my "booth babe" inaugural photo and a shot of something cute Johnathan Coulton did during his set, you'll have to check out my ElJay's main page.

Just sayin'.

Still at PAX... I have to endure Freezepop before Coulton goes on. Freezepop sucked last year. I hope they learned from that.

I have been recruited.





...and yeah, I wasn't that enthusiastic about it at first. It did, however, introduce me to some really nice people and gave me something else to do besides standing in a big room full of people I don't know all queuing up for something that wouldn't start for another hour and a half. I also got to walk up to a number of people and put temporary tattoos on them while singing the birthday song. One guy was tickled enough to have his friend take a picture of me doing it. I'll explain later.

I got a free t-shirt out of the deal, which was generous of them. And no, I have no idea why the guy behind me is dressed up like one of the apostles. He smelled nice, and that's pretty much all I need to know about that.

Well, the end of the week is upon me and still no offer. I followed up with my recruiter and a couple of other contacts and it's the same all around: Hiring managers all ran off to get a head start on the three-day weekend. This puts a ding in my hope, but I will try not to let it get to me.

Amanda, who has twisted her ankle, contacted me this afternoon to let me know she wouldn't need a ride to PAX after all, which I wasn't expecting. I am not one who enjoys driving, so I rarely do it alone if I can help it (especially in the state my car is in). Luckily, I was able to find someone happy to give me a ride and I'll be there when I had hoped to.

I will meet up with Melody (Ed's ex-gf) while I'm there and we'll check out a few gamerchix-oriented discussion groups. I will probably see her there Saturday, too. I need to arrange companionship for Saturday, because I really don't want to go alone. Actually, I don't mind going alone, it's the possibility of seeing two people I really don't want to see in public together, ever.

Trying to catch up on Elite Beat Agents and I'm getting stuck on "Let's Dance" of all friggin' songs. I get about two-thirds through and choke. When I reached the point where I was about to throw my DS, I stopped. Maybe later.

I have not logged in to my NCSoft/PlayNC account for City of Heroes in so long, I can't even remember the answer to my hint question. When I wrote to support and gave them all the information I had, they wrote back and asked me for a super secret word that was in my account creation email. That would make the email about, oh, four years old -- and long gone.

Maybe I should just say sayonara to Brawler Barbie and let it be done. I will never play that game again without someone I know in there with me, and I don't know anyone who plays regularly enough anyway. Fuck, I only got into it for Garret, and with him gone there's no point. I can't even "respec" any of my players without worrying I'll make it worse. You know, I don't even notice when they update the game and it affects the powers I'm using? The forums light up with angry players, and I just sit there scratching my head like a monkey. I am not cut out for MMOs.

Grady will be here alone for most of the weekend. This rules out any 3 a.m. Guitar Hero/Rock Band tournaments I may have been interested in. I guess I'll deal with it. I don't need to be nurturing my insomnia anyway.

I should pack up my stuff for my day out. Maybe I'll do some cleaning, too. I don't know. Is any of this even interesting? I have forgotten how to interact with others at this point.