Jeremy here. I have a lot to say about my experience at GaymerX, contrary to what it might have sounded like on QK’s latest episode. Incoming sappiness.
GaymerX took place August 3rd and 4th in San Francisco, CA. Being from the Midwest, I’ve wanted to visit California forEVER. What’s not to like? Perpetual sun, gorgeous, In-N-Out Burger……I mean, come on! GaymerX provided the perfect excuse for me to pack my bags and visit for an all too brief 5ish days. We here at QK Industries had talked about GaymerX before, but never really made any concrete plans to attend until we joined up in a secret Illuminati-type group with some awesome and outstanding fellow podcasters at GameBuoy, Orange Lounge Radio/Horde House, and GaymeBar. Our own Phil Garcia got the idea moving that it would be fun to join forces for a panel (a pipe dream we all had) and to our surprise, everyone was on board. Somehow, through whatever machination of fate, Matt Conn (organizer of GaymerX) let us know that we’d be approved for a panel. We were off to the races from then on, scheming, plotting, making jokes about wieners.
It was at this point that I started to build a relationship with these other podcasters. Spending time catching up on past episodes of their respective shows, chatting on Facebook and on Twitter……it’s been nothing short of wonderful for me. I’ve talked before about my social anxiety on the show, but I really don’t think a lot of people understand just how bad it can get for me when it comes to meeting new people. I don’t have a *ton* of friends in the Chicago area because of this very reason. OMG, this makes me sound lame. ANYWAYS, interacting with these folks, even if it was only virtually, was something I began to cherish and totally look forward to. I’ve never played WoW or any online heavy games before, so this was a whole new world for me, honestly.
The panel planning was a fun process. We had a few months to come together and decide on what the focus of the panel should be, so we participated in a lot of fun and sometimes super late night Google Hangouts to get the details all sorted and figured out. Once we had our focus and outlined what we wanted to discuss, it was just a matter of time, slowly waiting for August 3rd to approach. I had a metric ton of anxiety about all of this, of course. Flying on a plane? I hate it. Meeting a large number of new people? Terrifying. SPEAKING IN PUBLIC IN FRONT OF A ROOM OF PEOPLE? Yeah, I kinda can’t. So I was a lovely lil’ ball of stress by August 1st.
I wish I flew there in this
The flight to California was actually not nearly as bad as I’m accustomed to, thanks to some mood altering medications (wink wink). I was in CA before I even knew it. So, that was one anxiety taken care of. Because we arrived a few days early, we decided to try to take in some local flavors……but not before seeing one of my favorite bands on the planet, THE PROTOMEN, play at a venue about a mile and a half from out hotel. Again, how fortuitous is that timing?! I got to meet up with Captain Spike and First Mate Slagkick at the show, which I’m sad to report I don’t remember much of due to alcohol consumption. :O (apparently I played patty cake with our own Jancko Arias for 5 minutes and took photos I don’t remember taking)
Jancko+Pikachu+Commander from the Protomen
Friday was an “off” day for us QKrs, seeing as how we weren’t going to the fancy VIP party planned that night. We decided to take some time to soak in San Fran and see some of the sights. After futzing about downtown and absolutely loathing the public transit system there (seriously tho WTF. Chicago is on a grid and it makes so much sense, this place is all “LOL stuff everywhere for no reason good luck asshole”), we managed to make it to the Castro to take some pics and just wander about. I saw the Pink Triangle Memorial, Harvey Milk Plaza, the Twin Peaks bar, some naked 70 year old dude, and had a FANTASTIC Thai lunch. I wish I could remember the name of the place. :/ I also acquired a disgusting sunburn ON MY FACE, ruining my somewhat good look I had going on (no, I actually often think I’m not great looking so this isn’t some weird conceitedness, it’s a rare moment of thinking I look okay….ish). This for some reason stressed me out even more about the panel.
Pink Triangle Memorial
When we got back at the hotel, another big moment that I was super excited for finally happened: I got to meet our sassy Phil Garcia in the flesh for the first time. Phil and I have been chatting online through the GayGamer.net forums since before the podcast even started, and we have a strange kinship. I consider him a dear friend, so I was so giddy and happy to finally meet him IRL. Even if it was just for a brief moment in the hotel lobby, it was so neat. <3 Later, after some wandering thru Chinatown, we then went on a HILARIOUS “ghost tour” of Chinatown which was anything but. It was a lot of pointing out of areas where Jackie Chan and Will Smith filmed some movies. OH, and we went to the tour guide’s friend’s tea shop, because GHOSTS. This caused Jancko to make the remark that it felt like we were just running her errands at this point. Once that was done, we made our way to the Kabuki hotel to meet up with the other podcasters for an after-party shindig.
I added my own ghosts since we didn’t see any
I had the pleasure of joining Rob Roberts, Allen H., Cpt Spike, and FM Slagkick at a local sushi place. Confession: I actually hate sushi and had just had dinner like 2 hours beforehand. I just wanted to hang out with these guys, so I tagged along and ate EVEN MORE. We chatted a bit about the panel, and I got to see them in their natural habitat (whatever that means). Good times, great Japanese beer. After dinner, we headed to the bar next door for some shenanigans! Drinks were had. Jokes were made. Belly laughs ensued. Whispering. Gossip. Some red faces (also because of sunburn in my case). Hugs. Lots of hugs. It was a great night that ended far too soon.
The nest day, of course, was the convention proper. After arriving at what I thought to be an early time, I was surprised to see the giant line waiting for registration. I wanted to make sure to arrive in time for the EA panel on LGBT inclusiveness, and I’m glad I did. Lemme just say, there were some FINE mofos at this convention. Like, heyyyyyyy ANYWAYS. Got into the panel just in time (it filled up fast, and we spent the majority of the time LOLing at the number of people that had to be turned away). The panel was great, it was funny, and just seeing the amount of people in attendance being able to have their arms around their partner without any sort of fear of judgement or reprisal was pretty magical to me. After the panel, we wandered around to the game room and checked out the booths on display, and I spent more money on stuff than I should have. Time was starting to slow down. I was getting nervous. Our panel was coming later in the day.
We took a break from the con proper and headed to the Japantown mall which was literally right next door to the hotel. We gawked at the cool shops and had some delicious foodz (tiramisu cupcake?!?! LIKE YUM OMG, oh yeah and the best crepe I’ve ever had) and tried to calm our nerves before the panel. It’s funny, because I had a whole itinerary planned and outlined, with a bunch of panels I intended to catch. LOL NOPE, I got caught up in just wandering around and taking in the sights, and also waiting for the dude that was hogging the NES version of Tetris to finally finish because OMG what a good way for me to de-stress.
Our panel was scheduled for 6 that day, so we headed to the panel that took place in the room right before ours just to get a feel for the setup of the room. Also, one of the guys doing said panel was quite delicious to look at, so double word score. I felt awful, because I was finding it hard to focus on what they were saying and instead was mentally going OMG OMG OMG OMG OMGOGMGFMSDFA.
6pm came. I looked in horror as people were coming in. We had a surprisingly packed house. Prior to the show, I was joking that we could probably expect maybe 10 people to show up, but I’m pretty sure we actually filled the room. So you know, NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHING. The panel got underway and immediately I regretted our positioning at the table, because we were closest to our wonderful moderator Fox Van Allen. This meant he called on us first. Aside from me flubbing the very first question, the rest of the panel went quite smoothly, especially because of the wonderful opinions/talents/voices of Cpt Spike and FM Slagkick, Jason and Rob. I don’t want to spoil anything from the panel itself because we DO have audio and it WILL be going up, soon.
Slagkick makes a point
Jeremy talks and Spike laughs will Phil looks horrified
After the panel wrapped, we hung around for a bit afterward to chit chat with some of the awesome people to came to check it out. I started having feels, so I actually decided to head out early and return to the hotel room for a bit to just try to unwind a bit. After a bit of time to just calm down a bit, we headed back to the con to catch some of the GaymerX concert with Zeke Mystique, which was pretty cool. After some chit chat, a plan was hatched to get together at (Horde House alumni) Grampa’s place for drinking and merriment. Many Fireball and Jack shots were consumed. I got silly. It was great.
Downside to this awesome party and not getting home until around 4am? I….um….kinda slept through half of the activities planned for Sunday. OOPS. I missed the cosplay competition and the panels I had wanted to check out. I didn’t realize the blackout curtains in the Hilton were that effective. I did make it back in time to wander the floor some more and check out more hot mall action. After the con was wrapping up, we headed to Fisherman’s Wharf solely so that I could be fat and eat at In-N-Out Burger. IT WAS WORTH THE TRIP. Though I guess I proved how much of a tourist I am but truly not knowing about the “animal style” secret. I’ll fix this next time I go to CA.
#fat
Now to the unpleasant part of this story, which I discussed briefly on the podcast. To save scratch, we decided to take Greyhound back from CA. To IL. That’s 2.5 days. On 5 different buses. Needless to say, the trip was an absolute horror and was the most uncomfortable 2.5 days I’ve ever spent. Between stopping for dinner at 11:30pm at a gas station where your only options were old and crusty corn dogs or cold pizza slices, the crazy lady that kept saying things to herself at all hours (“YOUR ACTIONS HAVE SEALED YOUR FATE” AND “I JUST WANT MY LIFE BACK”), the fact that I was going 2.5 without a damn shower, the fact that many of these buses had no charging outlets……oh, and the forced viewing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at 10:30 pm was DEF not appreciated.
Next time I visit, I’m flying both ways. 
So, that’s my long spiel about my CA trip. I will be going back soon.
