So today, after I get in a few hours at work, I am going to PAX for the first time ever. This should seriously increase my geek/nerd cred, although I am definitely a little confused as to what all I am going to see and do this afternoon. You see, I'm not really a "gamer," unless Bejewelled counts, and in that case I am an expert. Don't get me wrong, I spent my youth mastering Super Mario Brothers on my NES (and, for the record, I can still remember which tubes to go down in level 8-4, there are some things your brain just will not let go of). And I occasionally played some other games, like Tetris and The Little Mermaid. You're laughing at me, but that game was awesome and I could totally beat it, which made it even more awesome. I also spent countless nights in high school playing Super Mario Cart on my friend's Nintendo 64, even though I was pretty much terrible and it was more of a social activity for the well-behaved children that we were as opposed to some kind of serious gaming. I never got into online games, but I have dated, had crushes on, and been friends with a number of guys who were, well, very committed to their online gaming. When ALL CAPS released "I'm Losing My Boyfriend to World of Warcraft," let's just say, I could relate.
So how is it that I am attending the premiere convention for gamers this weekend? Well, I have discovered as I continue to embrace my nerd tendencies that it's all related. So I'm pretty sure I can blame J.K. Rowling and Joss Whedon. Without them, I might never have attended Wootstock, which is why my friend suggested that I come to at least one day of PAX this weekend. You see, J.K. Rowling wrote this book series, you may have heard of it, it's called Harry Potter. And I've read it, well, a few times, and with my desire to talk about it more and hear other people's theories, I discovered an online community with podcasts and music and videos all about it. One of these podcasts then had the Vlogbrothers (John & Hank Green) on an episode and I subsequently discovered the Nerdfighter community and a plethora of amazing YouTube vloggers. This resulted in the buying of Hank Green and Molly Lewis' albums (among many others from DFTBA Records) and just liking them in general. Pause. Back to Joss Whedon. He wrote a few shows, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, which are brilliant and resulted in him having a very loyal following that is willing to watch whatever he puts out. So when he created Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, I, along with millions of others, watched it. And loved it, and downloaded it, its soundtrack, and its commentary soundtrack from iTunes and even bought the DVD. It's a little bit funny the amount of money I spent on something that was originally offered for free online. The Commentary track led me to the Guild ("I'd be killed if I schilled for the Guild on somebody else's time, but then again I was killed... catch Guild fever"), written by and starring Dr. Horrible's leading lady, Felicia Day. Now, the Guild is an internet series about a group of gamers, but you totally do not have to be a gamer to appreciate how brilliant it is (as I've previously noted). So then I'm following Felicia Day on twitter, and between that and the Guild Season 3 and The Big Bang Theory, I'm following Wil Wheaton on twitter. And he starts talking about this Wootstock thing. It's music and comedy... for nerds. And I'm pretty sure I'm going to check it out because I like music and comedy and entertainment, and I'm definitely a huge nerd. But I haven't quite decided because it's the Friday before Mother's Day and I might need to head north that evening... but wait... what's this? Molly Lewis AND Hank Green will be performing at Wootstock in Seattle as well? Well, that pretty much settles it. My brain nearly explodes from the awesomeness, but I survive and go on to experience the joy that is Wootstock.
After that, it seemed likely that I would go to PAX to at least check it out. I mean, I had heard about it and I have a friend going who is willing to let me tag along, so it's pretty much set. Unfortunately what I really want to see (Wil Wheaton's "panel" and the Johnathan Coulton/Paul & Storm concert) is happening tomorrow, but I'm not too sad as I will be at Bumbershoot watching the Decemberists and Bob Dylan. But that just means everything today will be a new adventure. A couple weeks ago I read Wil Wheaton's Just a Geek because I knew this was coming up and because I had been wanting to read it for a while. And it was fantastic. Wheaton is a wonderful storyteller and even at his most nerdy the way he writes about his life is accessible to any reader. It's a great story of growing up and moving on and figuring out that you might have more talents and interests than you previously thought. It's about how important family and a solid support structure is when you are trying to figure yourself out. And it confirmed what I had already guessed, Sir Patrick Stewart is really cool. I totally want to hang out with him.
Next week I'll report on my adventures. And I'll try and tweet while I'm there (if AT&T doesn't crumble from all the nerds in one location), www.twitter.com/jemerson15. Mostly though, I'll enjoy being just a nerd.
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