Quakecon 2008
Yeah, so, I'm finally back from Quakecon. Good fucking god, that rocked my balls so amazingly hard. I honestly wasn't expecting it to be that great, but holy shit. Cram about 3000 gamers into one room, pump them full of delicious Bawls, and start handing out free shwag and all kinds of cool prizes? Makes for one hell of a time.
The drives back and forth were awful. Longer than we expected, coming in at roughly 15 - 16 hours, and we didn't have a hotel booked for the night we arrived. Whoops. Registration was a nightmare. Words cannot describe how awful it was. We got there at around noon, and they didn't actually open registration until midnight. I ended up leaving my comp in the main reg line, and took a spot in the volunteer line to see if I could help out. Volunteers get in early, and since it'd give me something to do, win-win, right? No. Around 11 or so, I had been doing a few small odd jobs, and they told everyone they were about to get the line moving. A seperate line forms for volunteers, and I end up somewhere around the end of it. No big deal, I'm still getting in early. Out of nowhere, some crazy chick with a VIP badge comes up, points at me and three others, and tells us to grab our shit and follow her. So, we head into the BYOC, set down our systems (First four into the BYOC! Score!) in the best spots we can find, and head off to go do some mysterious volunteer work. When we get there, my heart sunk. Was going to suuuuuuuuuck, and it did. I was stuck on security detail until around 4:00am at the overflow room, herding people around and getting yelled at by drunks... Ugh. Never volunteering again.
After my shift was over, I went to bug Martin, who was also working a security shift, but in a gigantic empty ballroom, and he was just playing CoD4 on a HUGE FUCKING WALL WITH A PROJECTOR. Bah, no fair. But I snuck off to a corner and found a couch, scoring myself a bit of sleep. I woke up at around 7:30 and rushed over to the convention center, took a seat near the door, and soon enough, people started lining up behind me. At around 8 or so, they let us into the BYOC to set up and kick everything off! So, one of the very first to set up a system, and THE first gamer into the BYOC. I feel special.
After that, it was just a few days of fragging, getting stuffed in the tournaments, drinking bawls, screaming at the top of my lungs, watching demos of new games, playing with new products, drinking bawls, and just overall having a great time. People were really cool, and would often chat in the elevator on the way up to a room, and my group was pretty good about showering and keeping clean. Met up with Kami and played some games, then ate at some awesome fucking sandwich shop called Panera Bread. I guess they're pretty big around the country, but not in my area. Fuck me, that was tasty. So, big thanks to Kami for showing that to me. Also, sorry about scaring the crap out of you... Three times? Hmm... And I went to Olive Garden with some friends, too. That was the bomb.
But overall, it was great. It only put me back $170 - $200, too! I'm rested and recovered from it all, and looking forward to what will be happening next. Today marked my fourth year together with my mate, and of course, I'm looking forward to many more happy years together... And hopefully, he'll be down here in two weeks or so. Either way, the deadline is drawing really close...
Birthday is uh, tuesday, I think. Yeah, tuesday. I'm making myself a Portal cake. Fuck yes. No, it's not a lie. I shall have it, and it shall be delicious. Mmmm...
Oh, and on a final note, I've got Pendulum's new album, "In Silico". God, it's fucking horrible. They really let themselves go on this one. They used to be great, but after this, it seems like they're trying to distance themselves from DnB all together. Whatever. "Hold Your Colour," was great, and at least they gave us some good stuff before this. I've been turning my attention more towards Limewax, Dillinja, Noisia, and a few others lately.
Woo.
The drives back and forth were awful. Longer than we expected, coming in at roughly 15 - 16 hours, and we didn't have a hotel booked for the night we arrived. Whoops. Registration was a nightmare. Words cannot describe how awful it was. We got there at around noon, and they didn't actually open registration until midnight. I ended up leaving my comp in the main reg line, and took a spot in the volunteer line to see if I could help out. Volunteers get in early, and since it'd give me something to do, win-win, right? No. Around 11 or so, I had been doing a few small odd jobs, and they told everyone they were about to get the line moving. A seperate line forms for volunteers, and I end up somewhere around the end of it. No big deal, I'm still getting in early. Out of nowhere, some crazy chick with a VIP badge comes up, points at me and three others, and tells us to grab our shit and follow her. So, we head into the BYOC, set down our systems (First four into the BYOC! Score!) in the best spots we can find, and head off to go do some mysterious volunteer work. When we get there, my heart sunk. Was going to suuuuuuuuuck, and it did. I was stuck on security detail until around 4:00am at the overflow room, herding people around and getting yelled at by drunks... Ugh. Never volunteering again.
After my shift was over, I went to bug Martin, who was also working a security shift, but in a gigantic empty ballroom, and he was just playing CoD4 on a HUGE FUCKING WALL WITH A PROJECTOR. Bah, no fair. But I snuck off to a corner and found a couch, scoring myself a bit of sleep. I woke up at around 7:30 and rushed over to the convention center, took a seat near the door, and soon enough, people started lining up behind me. At around 8 or so, they let us into the BYOC to set up and kick everything off! So, one of the very first to set up a system, and THE first gamer into the BYOC. I feel special.
After that, it was just a few days of fragging, getting stuffed in the tournaments, drinking bawls, screaming at the top of my lungs, watching demos of new games, playing with new products, drinking bawls, and just overall having a great time. People were really cool, and would often chat in the elevator on the way up to a room, and my group was pretty good about showering and keeping clean. Met up with Kami and played some games, then ate at some awesome fucking sandwich shop called Panera Bread. I guess they're pretty big around the country, but not in my area. Fuck me, that was tasty. So, big thanks to Kami for showing that to me. Also, sorry about scaring the crap out of you... Three times? Hmm... And I went to Olive Garden with some friends, too. That was the bomb.
But overall, it was great. It only put me back $170 - $200, too! I'm rested and recovered from it all, and looking forward to what will be happening next. Today marked my fourth year together with my mate, and of course, I'm looking forward to many more happy years together... And hopefully, he'll be down here in two weeks or so. Either way, the deadline is drawing really close...
Birthday is uh, tuesday, I think. Yeah, tuesday. I'm making myself a Portal cake. Fuck yes. No, it's not a lie. I shall have it, and it shall be delicious. Mmmm...
Oh, and on a final note, I've got Pendulum's new album, "In Silico". God, it's fucking horrible. They really let themselves go on this one. They used to be great, but after this, it seems like they're trying to distance themselves from DnB all together. Whatever. "Hold Your Colour," was great, and at least they gave us some good stuff before this. I've been turning my attention more towards Limewax, Dillinja, Noisia, and a few others lately.
Woo.