All plans were for naught. PAX East consumed my time and energy and I loved every second of it.

Well, I’m just outside DC now, hanging out with a friend, and looking back on the past few days, I can’t help but think what an amazing time it all was. That said, I did not get ANYTHING but PAXEast done off of my To Do list. There were so many things to see and do at the event, that there just wasn’t enough time for anything else.

I did get the chance to hang out on the beach, so if you ever are in the area, it’s worth taking the train to one of the many coastal stops. In my case it was Revere Beach, which was sunny and lovely, albeit windy.

I was one of the Enforcers at PAXeast this year, and I’m so glad I did it. Such a great way to meet and interact with different people, and get involved with a great event. I’ve put next years PAXeast on my mental calendar. They had a great number of vegan snack options like cliff bars (and whoa those Zbars are kinda yummy) and mixed nuts, and fresh veggies with little dishes of hummus, so I didn’t go hungry. There were so many fantastic folks behind the scenes, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to geek out with them in the [E] room and nerd out about video games and computers.

My favourite thing about PAX other than all the awesome people I met, and the general ambiance of a convention center full of people like me, was the Boston8Bit Chiptunes Showcase. It was so rad, I was blown away by what people (like Bitshifter and Misfit Chris) and can make happen with relatively old tech. I’ve put both PAXEast and MAGfest (a festival of fun music and nerdosity held in Washington, DC in January) in my calendar for next year.

One of the other things that really made this trip special was finding someone on Couchsurfing.org to stay with. I’ve enjoyed staying at hostels more than staying at hotels, but this adds an extra level of personality and enjoyment. In this case, it was definitely true. I was pleasantly surprised that after he found out I was vegan, he wanted to cook a few traditional Moroccan dishes, just instead of the chicken ones he’s famous for, he made a few of the vegan ones like spiced white beans and a really awesome lentil dish we made together.

Also. I met Mr.T at PAX. Yeah. That’s right. You can be jealous.