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With 2012 being such a spectacular and life-changing year, there was no way that 2013 could be just as good, right?  While that turned out to be true, 2013 was still a fantastic year.

I lost my job, which caused me to lose the house I was a few days away from closing on.  However, I landed a new job about 6 weeks later.  I still haven’t had any desire to start looking for another house again.  One of these days…

I think I did more traveling this year than any previous year.  I went to Las Vegas, Canada, Reno, Tahoe, San Francisco, Seattle, and New Orleans.  I had a great time on each trip.

I got to spend time with old friends this year and make new ones.  The 2-week visit from my good friend John and our trip to Canada was one of the highlights of the year.  I’ve become involved in some local groups, so I’m even more socially active.

I’m looking forward to 2014.  I think it’ll be even better than this year.  I have some things in the works and I hope there will be some good surprises.

I had a good Thanksgiving week here in Portland. I took the whole week off from work. I decided to take the week off not long after I was hired in June and realized how many vacation days I would have to use by the end of the year or lose them. I’m taking another week off between Christmas and New Year’s.

The week was fun even though I was busy a lot. I cleaned up on the insides, raked the leaves the leaves on the outside, and ran a lot of errands. I watched a lot of TV (finally caught up after getting behind during Voodoo Fest), and played a lot of video games. On Thanksgiving Day, I went to a potluck that I found out about in a local gaming group that I’m in. All of those people who came know each other from a different group, so it was a little awkward being the only one who didn’t already know people there. It was still fun though. I think it was first Thanksgiving celebration since 2007. Everyone loved the potato salad I made. It was the first time I’d tried making it. I used a dish my mom used to always use for potato salad. She gave it to me when I got my first apartment in college. I held on to it, but had never used it until Thanksgiving. On Black Friday, I had the Pearl Jam concert, which was the highlight of the week.

I’m going back to work tomorrow refreshed.

This past weekend I went to San Francisco to attend the 1st ever GaymerX, which is the world’s first gaming conference geared toward the LGBT community and LGBT allies. They had a Kickstarter last year, which I supported, and they smashed their fundraising goal. At first it was going to be called Gaymercon, but they had to change the name due to trademark issues. The con took place at the Hotel Kabuki in Japantown, which is a pretty neat park of San Francisco. By coincidence, there was an Asian street fair going on at the same time next to the hotel. Pretty neat.

I got to the hotel late Friday night. I met up with the guy I found on the convention’s website’s forum so he could get into the room. He was a really nice guy. You never know what you’re going to get when you go in blind that way. After I registered for the con, I went out to a bar and started drinking. At some point I met up with a guild that I’ve been playing with for about a year. I got really drunk. I don’t even remember how I got back to the hotel that night. They watched out for me apparently.

Saturday was the first day of the con. I was very hung over from the night before. I had to leave a couple of panels early because I was feeling sick. I made occasional trips back up to the room just to rest for a few minutes. I went to panels on everything from including LGBT characters in games to yaoi. I went to the 10th anniversary party of my gaming guild. A group of them went to watch a movie a park, but San Francisco was cold and I was still sick. I went to a concert the con had for a little while, played games a little, and then went to bed.

Sunday was the second and last day of the con. I went to breakfast with my hotel roomie and checked out some of the Asian street fair. I went to panels on gaming journalism and furries. I think my horizons have been sufficiently expanded…maybe. The closing ceremonies were a little sad. I always feel that way at the end of a con. We did get a sing-a-long of “Still Alive” led by the actress who does the voice of GLaDOS in the Portal games and her husband.

Overall, I had a great time at the con. They did an excellent job for the first-year con. Hopefully, they take what they learned and make next year better. One panelist said that this was the best smelling con that she had been to. Thank goodness for people who know how to shower and use deodorant. I have to agree with everyone who said that the vibe there was great and different from any other con I’ve been to. Everyone was extremely positive. Some may question the need for having a separate con like this. I heard the sentiment that for many (especially the female attendees) this was the first con they’ve been to where no one made them feel uncomfortable. Before I made it to the con I had already made up my mind that I wouldn’t go back for year two, but instead wait a year or two to go back. By the end of the first day, I knew I wanted to go back next year.