PAX Recap

I was too tired during PAX to actually sit and write any blog posts. Since I didn't recount the events when they were fresh I just spent five whole minutes trying to remember any notable memories from each day. You're welcome.

The first day of PAX was probably the roughest for me, physically speaking. The exhibition hall is open for 8 hours each day, and we split that time into two shifts: the morning and afternoon shifts. That way we have fresh workers come in half way through the day, since for whatever reason working PAX is exhausting. We were kind of low of workers for this PAX, though, so I volunteered to work double shifts when needed.

I've worked 8 hour shifts at other jobs that seem comparably taxing and never got this exhausted. By the end by ankles and feet were very sore, and somehow my inner thighs were incredibly chafed. Still, that was all fixed by a long, hot bath at the end of the day.

The Unreal Engine folks also sponsored the Exhibitors' Lounge this year, which I believe marks the fist time anyone actually put effort into the Exhibitors' Lounge. Usually the lounge is located somewhere in the expo hall, formed by a square of forbidding-looking black walls. Inside this flimsy room would be some chairs and maybe a water fountain.

This year the Exhibitors' Lounge was a nice room with free soft drinks, coffee, snacks, lots of seating, and access to a balcony where people could either smoke or get fresh air. They also served breakfast (which consisted of a variety of pastries) and lunch (sandwiches) at certain times of day. I partook of the breakfast each day since the donuts were rather good, but I'm very picky about what I want on my sandwiches, so I'd go out for lunch instead. Plus, it was nice to leave the convention center every once in a while.

After the expo hall closed the tradition of holding a mixer on the sky bridge commenced. However, as someone who never developed a taste for alcohol I wasn't too interested. Instead a few of us went looking for dinner which, after a couple of plans fell through, ended with us at a very dingy-looking teriyaki place.

The restaurant was located a couple of streets up from Pike's Place Market, a tiny, nondescript place on a corner. It reminded me a bit of the Yoshinoya restaurant in Japan, though their offerings went beyond beef on rice, offering chicken, pork, or some mixture of the three. The seating area was dubious at best, with either open windows with people poking their heads in on one side and unidentified yellow liquids covering the floor in another part. The restaurant only took cash, and you paid up front.

We took our orders to go and ate in the hotel lobby. The food itself was actually pretty good, and the portions were large and reasonably priced. I might order food there again in the future, if they're still around.

Anyway, it turns out there's maybe more to recap than I anticipated. The second day will probably be another full blog post on its own, though i can probably combine the third and fourth days into a single post. We'll see how it goes!