What Happens in Vegas will be Happening to Us!

I'm going to have to ask the forgiveness of everyone who reads this site for recipes, tips on being frugal, and adventures in kid raising. Because I'm gonna talk about gaming again.

I'm terribly excited, as anyone who reads my stuff at Allakhazam knows. Through a string of good luck that started last winter and doesn't show any signs of petering out (yet!), I get to go to the SOE Fan Faire in Vegas in about a month. The luck has extended far enough that Hubby gets to come too, as Nana and Grandpa Jim are coming up to stay with the boys for 4 days.

Seriously, it's all I can do not to blather on about it incessantly. Which is why I am again talking about gaming on my personal blog. Of course, since I started working at Allakhazam gaming and real life are becoming harder to separate. My job there requires me to play EverQuest II, and pays enough to send Kiddo to preschool and still let me be a stay home mom.

Told ya I was lucky! I doubt that I could have found a better job for my circumstances if I tried. To go to work full time just to send Kiddo to preschool would have required me to put both kids into childcare full time, and my net profit after paying for said childcare would have been about nothing at all. With this job I get the same benefits (preschool + no net money gain), plus I get to stay home and be a house mom, raise baby, be here when Kiddo gets home, and support my husband.

So I've been really happy with the job. My co-workers on both our site and our network sites are a really cool, dedicated, slightly crazy bunch of people (my favorite kind!), my bosses are pretty much hands-off as long as the site continues to flourish (which thus far has been a non-issue), and I get to virtually meet all kinds of people in the gaming world. I can squeeze my work in during naps and between loads of laundry without neglecting my family. I can still bake cookies and darn socks and make jam, and all those "Domestic Arts" things I've come to enjoy.

And I get to play EverQuest II every day. I pretty much have to, to keep up with work. Oh darn, terrible problem!!

I'm now temped to put in a plug for EverQuest II. I'll be brief. The game is a "MMORPG" - Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. For people unfamiliar with such things, imagine playing sword and sorcery style high fantasy games (there's other types too, like sci-fi) with about a million other people*. It's an extremely good example of the genre. I recommend playing one of their free trials**.

Where was I. Oh yeah, the important bit.

WE GET TO GO TO VEGAS!

This is significant for several reasons. First, it's almost our 5 year anniversary, and it happens we eloped to Vegas. Second, ever since Hubby got me hooked on the original EverQuest we've wanted to attend a Fan Faire. Third, I met a lot of great people from SOE and the gaming community at February's Community Summit, many of whom will be at Fan Faire, and I'll get the chance to meet lots and lots more people. I don't have a lot of activities outside of the home; the EQ2 community really is my social life. That sounds almost bizarre, but it's not strange to me at all. It's kind of like I have lots of pen pals. Fourth, it's the opportunity to do a bang-up job reporting on the Fan Faire for Allakhazam, which will be a lot of work, but of the fun kind.

And did I mention it's in Vegas?

Getting beyond my initial excitement about just being able to go at all, there's a ton of stuff going on there. I've never attended any kind of fan-con, so this is a completely new experience for me. We've got a big social event every night. There are seminars, roundtables, and panel discussions scheduled for about 5 hours every day. Add some live gaming events both online and "in real life", including some tournaments. And if for some reason we should possibly get bored (more like overwhelmed!) we're at the Rio, which has all the amenities, and if that fails, there's a free bus to the Strip.

If you play any of the featured SOE games you'll get free in-game goodies, which are usually a "fluff" item for your home or another non-game affecting goodie. They've also ponied up two Beta passes for each attendee, which means a free pass to help play test a title before release, and is really highly coveted.

Not bad for an $89 registration fee!

I'm not sure if my Karma caught up with me, or it's my turn for some good luck, or what, but I'm tremendously pleased to be going, and to all my friends and acquaintances from the EQ2 Official Forums, I really, really hope to see you there!


* Number completely made up, Sony Online Entertainment doesn't publish population statistics.
**The free trials are Play the Fae and the Trial of the Isle. I'd personally recommend the Fae.