Deflowered

The past weekend was pretty exciting, I got to meet Perry Farrell (i'll blog on this later in the week) and I popped my LAN cherry. I'm not sure why I've not gone before, probably timing or other but being in the guild FAILURE with Doodi et al I hear them talk about it for the past 3 years. So this year I thought what the hell I'll pick a night and go meet some of my guildies for drinks, but as the date drew closer I got the feeling that this wasn't a meeting/convention type I was normally used to and that it would proabaly be best to just register and go check it out. Also, I live pretty close so there was really no reason to not go as if it sucked or I was having a horrible time I could just duck out. As I approached the hotel on Friday I realized I had been here before; 1993 for 3 cold and horrible nights in February for some Greatful Dead concerts. The hotel was a Clarion back then and I believe had a mini-put course in place of the pool. The carpeting for those 3 days were balloons from the nitrous tanks parked in the lobby that operated until the police showed up. And now some 16 years later I would be present again at this hotel when the police would arrive. But I digress....

After walking around for a bit I found the room and walked around. Many tables with Xbox machines and monitors were set up with people hard at work playing. Two whole sets of Rock Band were set up and people were playing on those and then I found the pc table with my guildies on it. It was nice to finally meet the people I've been playing with, some longer than others. Doodi and DSmooth were furiously trying to get the hotel to correct an internet challenge they were having and I felt bad for them as I know what it's like to put on events and it's usually not too much fun especially when things do not happen as planned. I ended up staying there until close to 2:30am playing Call of Duty on Smoke's Xbox. I really thought I would get a PS3 but no one backed me up on that so I wanted to give the Xbox a try. Many times throughout the night I got a chance to drink and party with people and I had a blast. I Yelped a White Castle for the ride home, got some sleep and came back the next day for more of the same. It was really a fun experience for me, not only meeting the people but you were literally in a giant arcade. The LAN and people there also gave me an itch to actually buy an Xbox, which I did the next day despite not being able to afford it. As I always have, I've just ignored that little fact and gotten something anyway so now I have something else to play with and learn and perhaps at next years LAN I can participate more in the tournaments. I didn't take many pic's, I'm still getting used to having a camera on the phone this one is a good one of Fade and Harley. I have a short video of most of the guildes that were there I can add later as my flash is f'd up on my work. There was a lot of people I did not get a chance to meet and others I didn't introduce myself properly too namely Mike James and Pearly and I apologize to those two for that but my mind was a tad foggy and manners did not immediately come up. Thanks to everyone who had something to do with organizing it and if there's any help I could give you for next year please let me know.