Day four started just about the same as Day Three – I overslept.
I have an alarm on my iPhone that’s set for daily – I forgot that doesn’t include Saturday – it’s just Monday through Friday, so it never actually went off this day.
D’oh.
I had people calling me early though, so I was able to get up and get going, just not quickly.
I wanted food – people were busy doing stuff, so I went by myself. Also, I had a mission. It was at the end of this:
I’m talking about Downtown Disney. See, Disney now has not only Disneyland and the California Adventure theme parks, they also have their own little downtown area complete with shops and restaurants. I needed to hit the Disney store in that area to pick up something for my mom. I’d asked her if there was anything I could bring her from Disney and she originally said ‘no’. Then, -after- I’d visited the park and was well into the convention, she called and said she wouldn’t mind some ear rings if it wasn’t too much trouble.
Sigh.
So, being a good son, I walked to the Disney store and got her some ear rings. While there, I also picked up a new hat for myself, which I wore for the rest of the convention.
I forgot to mention it but on the first day of the con, I met the cast of The Guild. They were awesome people, very kind. I got a special piece of art that had been done for them, and they each signed it. Well, the second day, they were having their own panel at the con – I really wanted to see that.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to – there was a line like no other line to get into the room. So I wandered some more, hooked up with Hukari and hit some of the other panels. Eventually, we met up with the rest of The Monkeys and did a little gaming while the concert was going on.
It was the first time I’d ever played Diablo and I have to admit, I really liked it. It was Diablo 3, the new game on the horizon in that franchise. We played through twice – you got fifteen minutes and could be networked with 4 other players – it was really, really fun.
Here’s some photos from the day:
After dinner and a particularly fantastic rant on star wars by Brian (in the photo above, he’s in the back left, no hair), there was more hanging out and partying into the wee hours of the night, then everyone started to trickle out. I was tired, sore and ready for bed, so I headed back to my hotel room and crashed for the night.
Blizzcon was over.
I was trying to figure out what it was all about, this Blizzcon thing. I made a joke: “I figured out what Blizzcon is all about. You spend close to $1,000 to take a trip to stand in line for 5 and 1/2 hours so you can buy a $20 shirt.” It didn’t go over well.
But that’s not what it’s all about anyway. I did figure it out. It’s about people. Good people, good friends, hanging out and talking about the stuff they all share and enjoy in common with each other.
What this meant for me was that I found myself energized for gaming again. I was really interested in the panels for the World of Warcraft and the changes they’re making and plans for the future that they discussed. I really enjoyed playing Diablo 3 and thought about picking up the first two (which I did when I got back – can’t play the first one though, it wants OS 9 and I don’t have that). To top it off, I was itching to rp in WoW again, something I haven’t been interested in for about a year now.
The Drunken Monkey Brewery is filled with fantastic people. All guilds should take a page out of their book. When it comes to people getting along and surving for the long haul, they know what they’re doing.
The next day, I got up and flew back to Denver.
~P
