Now that my whirlwind tour of PAX South is complete, I now must make more time for it every year because 32 hours just isn’t enough time.
Pretty much had the train to myself on the way to San Antonio. So nice.
I decided to take the train to San Antonio so I wouldn’t have to worry about driving and parking. A roundtrip only cost $22. Not bad! However, silly me figured “I might as well go to work today.” So even before my trip started, I had already been up 13.5 hours AND my work day wasn’t exactly the best. But the 3.5 hour ride was so relaxing. I spent most of my time just staring out the window and chilling. The most relaxed I’ve been in a long time.
I arrived around 10p Friday night. One day of the expo had already occurred and quite a few had already arrived on Thursday. I’d be rooming with a friend and a first-time <> Diamond Club event goer. Much like myself at my first Diamond Club event (which has been well documented), she was quite nervous. She eventually let that all go and had a good time. Which is good! Priority 1 at any of these events is fun!
Speaking of meeting people, I honestly did not expect to greet so many people not just in our Diamond Club community but also the gang that make up the Drunk Kids Gaming community who I was introduced to this weekend. (I know of DKG but I’m not a viewer of their work.) Even with the many people I’ve met, there were still plenty more I didn’t get a chance to meet that were there.
Not even an hour into my arrival, shenanigans commenced. The adventures began at the hotel room of one of the most generous people out there (and supporter of many independent content makers). And wow! What a place and view!
The patio was larger than the rest of the hotel room!
While early on it was just hanging out and having a good time (with copious amounts of alcohol), eventually, the DKG stream went live. Wow… what a crazy good time. Next thing you know, it’s 3 in the morning.
How about the expo itself? Well, it wasn’t really for me. The most I wanted to see were a couple of bands (that moved to the day before I arrived) and a comedy panel (which I slept through). I did walk past a couple of well-known personalities twice (which I didn’t say “Hi” to), so that’d probably be my highlight of the expo itself.
With more people coming in, a proper daytime <> / DKG meetup was set up at a gelato place. I arrived after some of the DKG crew to quickly learn that we may not have been all too welcomed there. When the first group showed up, they figured they’d sit down while waiting for the others to show up before ordering. This didn’t make the owner too happy, demanding that everyone get in line and order something.
Eventually, more of the gang started showing up, some ordering food, some possibly not. (I wasn’t paying attention too much.) After a good 20 of us were there, the owner puts a sign up on the door saying “be back in a hour”. Odd. Not soon after that, we were told there was a gas leak and we would need to leave immediately. Some were suspicious of this “leak” but whatever. The food wasn’t that great anyway.
One problem about hanging with all these younger kids: trying to match their level of energy into the wee hours of the morning. Another night of gathering together for shenanigans led into early Sunday morning. It was a good night of card games.
The most drama for me over the weekend (if you can even call it that) was that there was a bit of a chance of me missing my train. I needed to get to the station at 6:30a as asked of by Amtrak so you don’t miss your train. I arrived at 6:45a. Going to bed at around 3:30a and trying to be up at 6a isn’t exactly easy. In fairness, my alarm DID go off at 5:55a and I was up, but I thought someone had gotten up to go to the bathroom so I waited. … and passed out.
I was woken up just before 6:30a and rushed to change clothes and fight with my backpack to get everything I needed in there. (Note to self: bigger backpack next time.) I was bid adieu (as fast as I could do so) and ran to the elevator and out the hotel. And by “run”, I man “light jog”. I’m not exactly in the best shape. Not to mention I had a ~20 pound bag on my back. As I made my way around the corner of the street, I got there just in time as boarding just started to occur. *whew*
Overall, I had a great time at my first PAX South, mainly for the good times with friends new and old. There are too many people to list that I met and so glad to meet them all! Next year, I plan on coming in Thursday night and leaving Monday morning so I have plenty of time for everything.
With this adventure over, it’s time to look to the next. On to SXSoWasted!