It seemed like an endless wait; “10 DAYS! 9 DAYS! 8 DAYS!” and as Wednesday August 29th approached, I found myself pulling the covers over my head, calling out of work, and spending the last few hours I had left in Maryland, packing.
I wasn’t nervous, I wasn’t scared… I was just ready; I was ready to see people I knew, people I didn’t know, people I wanted to know; I was ready to see The Last of Us and Tomb Raider and The Space Needle and The Pike Place Market, and I was beyond ready to feel that crisp, non-humid, Seattle air that I had missed.
SEATAC welcomed me “home” as I like to call it (or at least my future home); I instantly felt euphoric, and when you feel that good standing in the middle of a busy, crowded airport, you know it’s meant to be. I waited and tweeted and checked my instagram and waited some more, until I saw this bubbly, happy girl (with only the coolest ‘fro ever) run toward me and hug me; remember Tavia? Well there she was standing in front of me at Baggage Claim 15/16 smiling; yes we were reunited, and yes, it felt so good.
Outside of the PAX convention, we did a lot of touristy things; things I didn’t get to experience last time I was in Seattle, so we took advantage of the time we had. We visited The Space needle, ate at local restaurants, checked out The Pike Place Market, and we walked around a lot to see more of the city. All of these adventures solidified my love for Seattle and made it that much harder to say goodbye when the unfortunate time came.
It’s easy to meet people when you’re with someone who gives off good energy that you can “work with.” Tavia and I are like two peas in a pod when we’re together, and I think people can really see that; we talk, we laugh, we shine, we spend time putting outfits together, and we really strive to make a lasting impression; some people even remembered us from PAX East… I’d say that’s a good thing.
We spent a lot of time networking; swapping business cards, shaking hands, talking about The Game Fanatics and my blogs (F#$! YEAH UNCHARTED/F#$! YEAH THE LAST OF US), and creating relationships with people that mattered. We demoed games and got some information on them, but there were some people we just felt like “saying hey!” to again, like Erik over at Borderlands and Jon (without the H) from Firefall. My relationship with Naughty Dog had a chance to grow a little bit, and I also got the chance to meet a few more of them (shoutout to Eric [and his adorable wife], Bruce, Jason, David, and Jeff); they were all very awesome people… but what’s new, really? Needless to say, my countdown to The Last of Us starts the second a release date is announced. (Check out some great TLOU PAX Prime 2012 stuff here, here, and here)!
Meeting other Game Fanatics writers is always a pleasure; seeing Will again was wonderful and meeting Jen for the first time really rocked. We didn’t see much of Ben, Logan, or Ryan, but when we met up in the courtyard to record our PAX Wrap-Up Podcast, it was nice to finally put faces to text; and go figure, physically talking about games in person together came easy for all of us.
My experience at PAX Prime 2012 definitely surpassed any hopes or expectations I had, and ranks high in my list of “best trips ever!” To my partner in crime, Tavia, and all of the people who made it worthwhile (industry and non), I thank you and I hope to see you next year at PAX East 2013!
*For any photos of the trip be sure to visit here as I will mainly be posting them there. You can also follow me on Twitter & instagram under the same username: @idkmybffkae.
