Every year for the past six years I've had to watch, and listen, and read, and hear about all the other people that went to Eve Fanfest. Well gosh darn it, this year you'll have to watch, listen, read and hear about your friendly neighborhood blogger going to Fanfest!! Serves you right honestly.
Believe it or not, and it still has an air of unbelievability about it, I will be getting on an Icelandair flight on Tuesday and flying to Reykjavik with my lovely wife to attend this annual clarion call of the socially awkward minions that play (and seriously "play" isn't the right word) Eve Online and its associated products. How crazy is that!?! I mean seriously, let's all be honest here, this is not normal adult behavior. Let's be further honest and admit that my wife must be a friggin' Saint to agree to this insanity. Which she most certainly is.
I am incredibly excited. This may not have been obvious from the multiple other posts I've written recently about the trip. Far be it for me to milk an obvious topic into the ground. We have a smidgen of journalistic integrity around these parts. (Who are the "we" I keep referring to?) This post may have jumped the rails already.
I am excited for a multitude of reasons. All of which, when taken alone, seem rather sane. I am looking forward to being away for a week. It will be a nice break. Given our somewhat rocky personal situation our family didn't take a vacation last year, and my wife and I haven't been alone on a trip together for a very long time. So that part is awesome. I've never traveled across even a portion of the ocean before. I've been all over the US, parts of Canada, Mexico, Alaska, the Caribbean, but never in that direction. So that's new. Also cool. There are tons of people I've known for close to a decade whom I've never met in person, both players, CCP employees, and others. So to finally have a chance to meet them is incredibly cool. I even have an actual, concrete, business-type reason to go, to help sell my new line of posters and hopefully impress upon CCP the need to expand their merchandising offering even more - a process which I believe I can be an important part of. (We all know the Eve Store could be much, much better!) And I'll be giving a player presentation, sitting in on a roundtable, and generally be available for whatever else might be needed. See? Taken individually it all sounds rather sane. And somewhat adult.
I mostly joke of course. I should be excited. This next week or so will be great. Lots of new adventures and memories will be made. We'll have a blast. And it will all be over way before it should be.
I make no promises about how often I will be updating the blog while I am away. I have no clear understanding about how much time I will or will not have. I plan on taking lots of pictures, making tons of notes, attending as many sessions as a human being can attend. Having as many conversations about Hats and WCS as those poor CCP employees can stand. And trying my best to meet as many fellow players as time will allow.
I am fully, 110% prepared to sacrifice myself upon the rock of Eve. I can always rest when I get back.
I really am going. And I'm really, really looking forward to it.
Reykjavik here I come. (on Tuesday... or Wednesday morning to be even more accurate. Darn time travel.)