GenCon update 1
So I just got off of my first 12 hour shift of judging...lets see what has happened in the past day and a half so far. My bus got delayed an hour, and then we were a half hour later on top of that before of a ton of roadwork on the way down to Indy, grrr...I woke up this morning with what was just about the tightest most painful cough I've ever had and after all the talking/shouting I had to do while judging my voice is all but dead. I'm also incredibly physically and mentally exhausted and I am questioning the wisdom of writing this update for my LJ since I'm sure not many people actually read this anyway.
So what am I saying all in all?
GENCON IS A BLAST!!! despite all that crap, I am having the time of my life here. The hotel they set me up at is the Westin Indianapolis, extremely nice, the most cushy comfortable bed I've ever slept in. And the shower is high pressure, lots of heat, and get this, it has two heads for a high and low stream. How swanky is that? Anyway, after I got my morning tea and chugged some cough syrup for that cough, I went down to the exhibition hall to see what people were selling. That place is HUGE! I ended up buying a few books (Including Spycraft 2.0) got an autograph/polaroid from Rob Van Dam, a plush Cthulhu, and some other stuff as well. Oh, so funny story. I was browing the MtG dealers down at the Exhibition Hall, and I dropped by Over the Edge games to see what was in the cabinets. I look up at the guy behind the counter and read his badge, "Andy Stokinger". So I'm somewhat shocked, and I immediately buy a Coalition Victory from him and ask him to sign it (for those who don't know the story of Andystok and coalition victory, ask me, it's amusing, if you're into magic). So we joked around about stuff for a bit and I was on my way. Even more amazing than the stuff you can buy here is the stuff they are just giving away. I have even more free stuff than stuff I paid for. It seems like all of the dealers are willing to give you free stuff if you're willing to spend 20 minutes to sit down and demo their game. I've got a bunch of free dice, T shirts and boosters of random games. I'll probably spend a good amount of time down there tomorrow just playing demos and picking up freebies.
As for my judging duties, I went from 3 PM to 3 AM today. I started by helping to judge a Vintage Championchip Preliminary for the first 3 rounds. Then I head judged my own Extended tournament (about 20 people). I ended up picking up the end of someone elses CoK/Unhinged Sealed event (Good lord judging for an Unhinged event is funny, I only wish I could have played, lots of screaming, singing, banging on the table, etc etc). I also ended up picking up another Vintage tourney for a round when Josh wanted to go on a lunch break (Lunch being a 1:30 AM for us judge types).
So all in all, I'm having a blast here, I just wish that some of you chumps could have come ;)
Alright, well I am actually in the hotel business center with my credit card hooked up to this machine to pay for internet access, so I better roll.
Later days friends
Carthago delenda est,
Justin
So what am I saying all in all?
GENCON IS A BLAST!!! despite all that crap, I am having the time of my life here. The hotel they set me up at is the Westin Indianapolis, extremely nice, the most cushy comfortable bed I've ever slept in. And the shower is high pressure, lots of heat, and get this, it has two heads for a high and low stream. How swanky is that? Anyway, after I got my morning tea and chugged some cough syrup for that cough, I went down to the exhibition hall to see what people were selling. That place is HUGE! I ended up buying a few books (Including Spycraft 2.0) got an autograph/polaroid from Rob Van Dam, a plush Cthulhu, and some other stuff as well. Oh, so funny story. I was browing the MtG dealers down at the Exhibition Hall, and I dropped by Over the Edge games to see what was in the cabinets. I look up at the guy behind the counter and read his badge, "Andy Stokinger". So I'm somewhat shocked, and I immediately buy a Coalition Victory from him and ask him to sign it (for those who don't know the story of Andystok and coalition victory, ask me, it's amusing, if you're into magic). So we joked around about stuff for a bit and I was on my way. Even more amazing than the stuff you can buy here is the stuff they are just giving away. I have even more free stuff than stuff I paid for. It seems like all of the dealers are willing to give you free stuff if you're willing to spend 20 minutes to sit down and demo their game. I've got a bunch of free dice, T shirts and boosters of random games. I'll probably spend a good amount of time down there tomorrow just playing demos and picking up freebies.
As for my judging duties, I went from 3 PM to 3 AM today. I started by helping to judge a Vintage Championchip Preliminary for the first 3 rounds. Then I head judged my own Extended tournament (about 20 people). I ended up picking up the end of someone elses CoK/Unhinged Sealed event (Good lord judging for an Unhinged event is funny, I only wish I could have played, lots of screaming, singing, banging on the table, etc etc). I also ended up picking up another Vintage tourney for a round when Josh wanted to go on a lunch break (Lunch being a 1:30 AM for us judge types).
So all in all, I'm having a blast here, I just wish that some of you chumps could have come ;)
Alright, well I am actually in the hotel business center with my credit card hooked up to this machine to pay for internet access, so I better roll.
Later days friends
Carthago delenda est,
Justin