I’m not here! I’m in a lovely hotel in Portland, Oregon, with free wifi. (Hotels of the World: wifi should always be free. It’s like hot and cold water now, people.)
But, if I was here, I’d want you to know that the second official podcast wot I did (with help, of course, from my guest Melissa ‘War Witch’ Bianco and the indispensable editing of Chris ‘Aero’ Siddall) is now available to listen to online, download, or even read. Whatever you like.
Also: it’ll be on iTunes soon. I promise.
By the way – here’s a little secret. We had so much material for Episode 2 that we’re jamming it into (effectively) an Episode 2.5, which will be out Soon. TM. I’ll let you know when.
Comments welcome as always!
The last day, or half-day to be precise – at least that’s what we planned. Things don’t always go according to plan though, do they…?
Woke up with a little bit of sadness in my heart as things were coming to a close, but it was almost entirely dwarfed by the fatigue that was all the way through my body. I’d had an amazing weekend but I knew I’d be paying for it during the rest of the week.
Of course, I’d had sleep, which was a blessing that had only come to our Task Force: Omega teams the previous night, many of whom would have been having their first proper night of sleep since Thursday evening. Brave warrior gamers, all of them. I hoped they liked their prizes and went back home to spread tales of their mighty deeds. Or alternatively, would just come back next year.
Up, and at ‘em for a last breakfast and a general chat about what we needed to do. There was nothing scheduled for Monday morning; no presentations, no talks, no artists to sketch and no-one to have your photo taken with. There was, however, a video… and… Continue reading
Day Three. Three. Three days. I’m telling you, writing this is almost the same as doing it all over again. Well, not quite.
The big difference between the Ultimate Heroic Weekend (MiniCon, same thing) and any other show we do was simply time. At most shows, we spend an entire day on the show floor, but then with a usually audible sigh of relief (or more likely, cheer of elation) we pack up and go out – or go home.
(The one exception is The Show To End All Shows; the Games Convention in Germany. It’s five days long. Proud monuments stand in the aisles of der Leipziger Messegelände, honoring the booth workers who have fallen there.)
At Omega Sektor though, while we did leave the venue, we never really left the show. So by Day Three… it was starting to wear us down a bit.
No early morning realisations of doom for me on Sunday, but instead just straight down to breakfast when I really would have preferred a lie-in. Generally at shows I try and ‘rally the troops’ a bit at breakfast, get them ready for the day, or just talk… Continue reading
I warn you: this post is long. Like, epic long, Task Force long… long. So grab a drink, maybe some popcorn, sit back, relax… and hear the tale of the 2008 Omega Sektor MiniCon, Day Two: Saturday.
Saturday started bleary-eyed in bed, where I woke up at about 6AM with half a hangover and not enough sleep. Both were my own fault, so I couldn’t complain.
I remember lying there in bed savouring the quiet time before I knew I had to get up, when out of the blue, some part of my semi-awake consciousness asked me a question:
“Hey Stephen; can you remember the PIN number for the credit card machine?”
Instantaneous reply: no.
“But if you don’t know the PIN, how are people going to pay for stock, merchandise and/or make charity donations with their credit (and debit) cards, hmmm?”
My eyes snapped open. A cold sweat broke out. Great start to the day.
I hopped out of bed and sent a text to Chris, who replied immediately – a mistake, because now I knew he was up. After a quick phone call, we agreed that neither of us knew the PIN for certain.… Continue reading