A Week Late and Several Dollars Short

Well, I’ve been back for a week now, so I guess I should post an update. Gen Con was…well, I could have made it better for myself, but there were just too many things that I just didn’t understand how they worked. Not only that, but I was really missing my family. Between them being gone the week before and then me being gone, I was a little lonely.

So…Gen Con. It’s really not a place for someone who is alone and broke. I took a total of $3 with me: $1.50 for the bus ride from the airport and $1.50 for the ride back (I packed my 10+ year old MREs to eat…not great, but I survived quite nicely, thank you very much!). As it turns out, most of the events at Gen Con cost money. So I spent a lot of time wandering the exhibitor hall playing demo games and browsing through stall/shops. I did attend a few panel discussions (which were free), but that was near the end of the convention. I didn’t realize that I could get in without a ticket to those. So there was a lot of wasted time. Also, never having been to a convention before, I didn’t know what I was doing or where to go for the things I was interested in. It was a bit frustrating.

While there, I had the interview for the Ultimate Gamer Test. Long story short: I didn’t win. Which is fine. I really don’t have the time to commit to something like that. I’ll be happy to do my little part and have fun with it along the way with no expectations or onus of responsibility. I still plan on doing the blog on gaming with kids, but it isn’t something that is being required of me.

And then there was the airplane trip back home. Must have been amateur night up there in the cockpit. I don’t want to fly again for a long time.

The worst part about the whole trip is going back into work on Monday morning and having 200+ emails to wade through – most of it pointless and irritating.