Good afternoon!
Yep, I am back! Took a wonderful little vacation. Well, it was not really a vacation as much as it was working. But I will get into that here in a moment. Before that I just want to say that I hope all of you are doing well. And with this upcoming holiday weekend I hope that there are fun plans in the works.
So for those just tuning in and wondering where I was the past week, I journeyed out to Seattle for a convention known as PAX Prime. A brief explanation about what the convention is all about would be that it is a place where gamers from all over can come together and play some of the new hit titles that had been announced or that will be coming out soon. Not to mention just be surrounded by like minded community. Chances are very high that you will find someone who plays a game that you enjoy as well. The opportunity to make new friends is pretty great!
So that is a short version of what the convention is for attendees. I take it up another notch. I am an enforcer for PAX, what that means is that I volunteer my time to help oversee the convention to make sure that it is running smoothly. The past two years I was one of the voices for PC entertainment, where I was on the microphone and playing some really nice tunes. This year however I stepped up and became an exhibitor assistant, XA for short. I was assigned as spare board but then assigned as a floater for all of the streaming exhibitors, so that would be Twitch, YouTube, MSI, Maker Polaris, and a few other ones in between. I was a bit skeptical at first for the position because I was really hoping to be assigned to one booth but I really ended up enjoying doing what I did for spare board. However next year I would enjoy working just for twitch, they did seem to like me a lot there so I have a pretty good report going with them at least.
So let’s get more to the interesting part of what made this PAX different then the ones in the past.
In the past I approached the convention with the goals of working in the industry one day, and that this was one of the many places where I would be able to network, make a name for myself, and possibly get a chance at a decent job out of the whole trip. This time however, I went with a completely different mindset and I was testing myself to see that the changes I have made in my personal life are ones that I am happy with, to give myself more of a certainty to the actions. I can report that, I am happy with the way my life is now and the direction that it is going. Sure I met a lot of cool people this past weekend, I even got a few different job opportunities at some pretty nice names in the industry, however I kindly turned them down.
I was worried that I would not have been able to enjoy PAX with out that motive of trying to get into the industry, and I had discovered that I was wrong. Boy was I wrong!
Honestly, there are a lot of things that I would love to say about PAX and the trip as a whole, however I think one thing does stand amongst the others that is just glaring.
It is okay to change.
It is okay to change your own lifestyle and find something that makes you happy. So many events in our life happen so quickly that sometimes it feels as if we are pressured to lock in some sort of plan for the future. To know what we are going to college for or where we want to work. While I was speaking with attendee’s this weekend, I asked them where they would love to be in the industry, or what are some of the areas they enjoy about the industry as apposed to what are you going to school for. Why pigeon hold yourself to something that you may not even like?
For the money?
If you answer yes to that then I think that you should sit down and really think about what it is that you are doing. If you are going to school because you are passionate about say Nursing and helping people, then by god you are saint among us. On the flip side if you are going through medical school just because you know being nurse is good money, well then you may not like what you are getting into at all.
Take chances, try out new opportunities!
I would have never known I had a knack for blacksmithing if I had never tried it, or that camping and stargazing are an amazing way to spend a weekend had I just stay inside the whole time. That is not to say that that sitting inside is bad. Would you say that you love playing video games and have a strong opinion on mechanics? Try starting up a YouTube channel or even a stream on Twitch. Start a blog about cooking or baking, take some fancy photos and edit them with another program other than instagram.
After this trip and slight vacation I honestly have come to the realization that so many people lock themselves into the same pattern and don’t want to change. Do not want to try for that happiness. I honestly thought that working in the industry would have been amazing, my dream job, I would have been so happy and ecstatic. I think now, that it is a wonderful place to work sure, however I don’t enjoy it as much that I was hoping for. I would rather work on my tan laying on beach in a hammock (read: I burn rather than tan), then stuck being cooped up all day inside.
Take that chance, go chase that happiness. Just do it for yourself, because no one else is going to help you.
It is wonderful to be back and I will talk with you all tomorrow.