PAX 2008: A Retrospective Travel Journal.
can be found here…
http://www.geek-online.com/pax2008
can be found here…
http://www.geek-online.com/pax2008
I will be heading to Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) on August 27. I am going up a few days early to help with setup and to hang out with some of the other volunteers (aka Enforcers) face to face (Yay!!). August is approaching way to fast and I realized I am horribly out of shape and lack the funds I would like to have.
One of the numerous reasons I am in such terrible shape is my diet. It is a strict take out diet. It has been months since something was cooked in my kitchen. Nothing but Burger King, McDonalds, and other fast food joints lead to excess weight. The other reason I am in terrible shape is my lack of exercise. But alas I am lazy and that will need to be addressed later.
Although this may not be any better than take out I am going to try eating frozen entrees. If nothing else they are cheaper then fast food. So each day I will consume a frozen dinner and report back on cost, taste, and nutritional value. May God have mercy on my stomach.
I was checking the forums this morning and noticed an out of state friend finished a binary scarf. I remember he was working on it during PAX and it sounds like he started even earlier than that.
It’s a quote from section 46 of the Tao Te Ching in Chinese BIG5 Unicode. It can be translated as:
“Knowing that enough is enough
Is always
Enough.”
Way to go Jarrod! More photos of the scarf can be found at http://flickr.com/photos/jarrodlombardo/tags/scarf/
It has been a week since I arrived at home and I think I have finally decompressed from PAX (Penny Arcade Expo. For some strange reason I thought it would be a good idea to go to PAX. Not only did I go to PAX but I volunteered as an Enforcer. I volunteered way back in March, a full 6 months before the convention. I was encouraged to visit the forum for updates. When I visited the forums I expected a lot of business type talk instead I found a thriving community of gamers.
Community, that is what sums of PAX. My first night in Seattle I was sitting in the hotel room surrounded by people I only knew through the forums. Petfish, one of the organizers asked me what I was looking forward to the most. I was dumbstruck, I was so looking forward to PAX as a whole I had not thought about the individual components. Why couldn’t I be competing in the Smash Bros. tourney and watching the Omegathon and filling my shift as an Enforcer even if they are on separate floors at the same time? So I thought for a while and answered truthfully. I was most excited to experience the community. A gathering of like minded individuals, a groups of people who would not mock me for playing pokemon on my DS. In fact at one point I did get mocked because I did not have a copy of Mario Kart on my person. After I said it aloud I thought it sounded cheesy but now that I have experienced it I am going to stick to my original answer.
Now that I am back to the land of normalcy I am going to try and l dissect my PAX experience. I am sure I will miss things the first time around as it is still a blur.
PAX is quickly approaching and I am getting very excited. This year I will be serving the geek community as an “Enforcer” in “The Black”. Enforcers are a dedicated workforce who volunteer their time so other gamers can enjoy the expo. This year looks to be bigger and better than previous years.