Thoughts and What Not

Well that's it folks, GenCon 2016 has officially come to a close.

Sunday tends to be a more low key day, so I didn't do a whole lot, caught a few more songs from Dan the Bard (awesome man), made a few final purchases (100 bucks for 5 games, not too shabby), and did some final wanderings before saying good bye to the wonderful (and horrible) mecca of Board Games.

As my second year attending GenCon comes to a close, I wonder what the next year will bring and what new things will come, but these thoughts and what not, are for another day.

Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

-Phil

Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind

Day 3 of GenCon has come to a close, and with it, the majority of activities are coming to an end.

Naturally there is still one final day of GenCon (today/tomorrow, depending on where you are) and while it will still be somewhat busy, it isn't nearly the powerhouse that the other days of the week are. The dealer hall closes early, some dealers leave (maybe?), many dealers are out of stock and most promotional items are long gone.

Sunday, as the last day of GenCon, is in many ways a much more relaxed day for someone like myself. Ill spend the day wrapping up anything I wanted to finished and wandering the Dealer hall in hopes of finding one last deal, but neither of these things will be done in haste. For me the Con is "over" and this is just the epilogue, where stress is neither needed nor welcome.

Now that my thoughts on the final day are aired, lets review today.

I spent the greater majority of the day with my delightful girlfriend, and a reasonable degree of it with my dear friend Christopher, other friends entered and left as the day went on.

I elected to not go to any seminars or concerts today and instead simply wandered the dealer hall in between lunch and dinner (and a bit before but we got there rather late so not much). I found a few games that seemed interesting, and found that the Zombicide promos were all gone :( The night wrapped up with dinner at the Ram (good, but a bit over hyped imo) and then hung out back at the hotel room and played a few games.

All in all it was a fine, if less productive day, and whatever tomorrow may bring, I will be both happy and sad to see GenCon 2016 draw to a close.

-Phil
 
Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind

So as you can see I bring you this installment of my GenCon adventures just a tad late, but I assure you that it is with good reason.

So yesterday we had a bit of a lie in and got to the ICC around 10am. After wandering the Dealer hall for a bit we went and took in another TheAngeryGM seminar, followed by a Dan the Bard concert, both were superb!

We moved back to the Dealer hall and did a bit more browsing and coupon redeeming before heading out and getting lunch at Pie Five, a pizza place that I highly recommend. We then returned to the hall and continued browsing, demoing, and couponing until the hall closed at 6.

We sat for a bit before regrouping and heading out for the big finish to the evening: The Concert Against Humanity. Just like last year it was an absolute blast and lasted way to long haha, but I will definitely be going again next year.

Finally we headed back to the hotel and wrapped up the evening with some drinking and hanging out,

Onward to day 3!

-Phil

Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind

Test Post Please Ignore

-Phil

Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind

So day 1 of GenCon has come to a close, and on the whole it was a really good day. There were some rough patches, but when attending an event with thousands and thousands of people, you really have to expect as such.

Since this was the first proper day of the con, I thought I would give a bit more of a report on what I did today.

The morning went somewhat less smoothly then I'd have preferred as I managed to secrete my wallet at the bottom of my suitcase and then had to go back up for my badge (slipped my mind after the wallet panic). Once that was all settled we headed down to the Convention to begin our day. Naturally do to my delays (probably) we got to our preferred parking garage, LITERALLY, as they put out the full sign, however we got decent enough parking a few blocks away and the walk was good for us haha.

Once in the hall we picked up some generic tickets and then parted ways as the two bums went in early thanks to their trade day badges (grr). Once the doors opened officially we wandered around the dealer hall for a bit before going and listening to the delightfully angry "TheAngryGM" as he gave a simple and basic guide on running your first sessions as a GM while dressed up as Sailor Jupiter (Charity reward for the people who donated lol).

We then went and did a few more booths before splitting up again. At this point Chris and myself went and enjoyed some fine cuisine from Scotty's and picked up the blue D6 (the necronomicon grilled mac'n'cheese and pulled pork sandwich was great).

We then wandered the hall getting swag and procuring a few games before meeting up with several groups of friends and formed a mighty blob (thirteen people!).

The rest of the night was general hang outs and fun times, so with that I will end the post and hit the sack as Day 2 of GenCon waits for no one!

-Phil

Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind

So despite not being one of the lucky few with a Trade Day badge, I still had a pretty darn good day.

Went to the Farmers Market with Eva & kin and got a variety of tasty Honey treats and then ate at the food court which was reasonably interesting. Then wandered and hung out with friends who had just got in until the 13th annual Stink began. Ended up eating Bangers & Mash at the Irish pub and then wrapped the day up with a swim and then hanging out with Eva and some close friends.

Not the most exiting day but a good one none the less.

I'd love to chat more but I'm afraid I am ready to pass out.

Peace!

-Phil

Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind

People that get to go to Trade Day suck!

That is all.

-Phil

Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind

Greetings and salutations my friends from the far off land of Illinois, I write this post to you from the far flung future of one hour ahead!

That's right folks, I am once again in delightful Indianapolis for the once a year event that is GenCon. As it is rather late and I've only slept a few hours today, I am not going to type much, but I just wanted to share a few thoughts before I turn in.

A few years ago I never would have fathomed that I would be in a position to go to GenCon, and yet this is now my second time attending this national Nerd and Geek past time. While I'm by now means rich, it is nice that my position in life has increased to a point where I can actually do fun things of the moderately expensive variety. furthermore I continue to count my blessings that I have such good friends to share these experiences with, as I've found over the years, that going to such events alone is often rather lacking.

Well folks, at this point I am going to go ahead and turn in, stay nerdy, and keep your stick on the ice!

-Phil

Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind

*WARNING: While this is not a review it will most certainly contain spoilers, read at your own cognizance*

So I went and saw the new Star Trek film last night, and I have to say I quite enjoyed it. That being said, it was something of a bitter sweet viewing as it once again brought focus on the unfortunate truth that the Star Trek Universe has lost not one, but two, of its bright and shining stars this past year and a half.

As you all know Leonard Nimoy passed away early last year in February, and while Spock stated: "Every life comes to an end when time demands it. Loss of life is to be mourned, but only if the life was wasted" it is rather hard to put that into practice, at least at first. The passing of Leonard however was something that was at least a possibility that we all knew was coming, and he lived an incredibly full life.

This year however, we had a much more tragic passing. Anton Yelchin passed away due to an unfortunate accident, and while I wouldn't say his life was wasted, it was most certainly cut far too short. Anton was only 26 years old and had his best years still ahead of him, and I mourn both the loss of his life, and the loss of all that he did not get to accomplish and experience, for he was on a path that few of us get to tread.

I mention these losses to the Star Trek family, as they were given notice in the film (albeit only briefly for Anton as he passed just last month). As the film is getting under way, young Spock (Zachary Quinto) is informed of the passing of Ambassador Spock (Nimoy) and is given a few personal affects left to him by his older self. Among those cherished few possessions that Spock had with him after the time lines split in the 2009 Star Trek film that relaunched the series, we are shown a single photograph of the original Star Trek crew all gathered on the bridge. This scene was probably the hardest one to watch as it was painful for a variety of reasons. First, it was a reminder of something we would never have again, as out of the original seaven members of the bridge crew, only  four remain with us: William Shatner (Kirk), George Takei (Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), and Walter Koenig (Chekov) remain. Second, it showed us something that can now never happen for the new Star Trek crew, as Anton is no longer with us.

Moving away from the unfortunate loss of life, I look to the future of Star Trek and I see the hole that now exists, as even if Chekov was recast (which they have stated he won't be) it still wouldn't be the same. I feel guilty that part of me is more focused on how this affects the franchise that I love, but at the same time I did not personally know Anton and as such its easier for me to focus on that which more affects me, and to be frank that kind of makes me feel like shit.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely sure what I intended to accomplish here today with this post. I guess as I get older and I continue my path to maturity (a path that will never be finished imo), I've begun to reflect more on the things that I'm missing out on, not necessarily because I wouldn't do them, but because I didn't do them in time. This is something of a scary thought as my own father is in less then ideal health and I know my time with him is becoming more limited.

I guess, in the end, it comes down to this (and its certainly something everyone has heard in some form or another): Cherish your loved ones while you can and live every moment of your life to the fullest, as tomorrow is not a promise.

-P

Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind

GEN CON - DAY 1 So it finally happened, I finally made it to Gen Con! Thanks to my Wonderful friends Matt, Chris, and Julie, I have finally made it to one of the Great Geek events of our times, Indianapolis Gen Con. We left the Chicago Suburbs on just 4 hours of sleep after a light repast of Blueberry Bread/Coffee Cake thing made by the Fosters. We then loaded our final items into the car and began our travel eastward.... Into the daystars dread glare. We made it into Indiana at 9am proper time, 10am Eastern and after finding our hotel room was not yet ready, we departed on foot for the City Café, which was a favorite venue of those whom have gone before me. No surprise, I found it to be quite enjoyable as well. We then headed back to the hotel and unpacked our gear, and headed over to the convention center, which was about a 10-15 minute walk. As I took in the sights I realize how under prepared I was for the immensity that was Gen Con. We picked up our free loot bags and coupon books, and went in search of the elusive Gaymer and Ally ribbons for our badges. We found them in the main gaming hall, and then moved on to the dealer hall for our next desired activity. We picked up a series of "quest" cards from the Cheese Wheel and used those to chart our next series of moves. We played Roll for It, which was great. I won that game and purchased a limited edition copy. We then moved on and had our pictures taken while wearing fezs. Our next stop of note was to play a game called buccaneer, which was delightful and became my second purchase for the day. Oh, I almost forgot, after picking up our ribbons we went to the UltraPro booth to get the free Mox Art dividers, but they only had the white ones left, they were out of blue. Moving on we decided it was time for lunch and went to get free dice at Scottys Pub, the experience///POST NOT COMPLETE -Phil Pain is an illusion of the senses, despair an illusion of the mind