So the last…two and a half weeks? Has it really been that long since I left Knoxville? Anyway, the last two and a half weeks have been insane. My brother and his fiance drove across the country with me to Seattle in three days, ironman rules, which was both wondrous and terrifying. Kansas nearly broke my brother’s already fragile mind, and we literally nearly died over the Rockies. I thought we were mountain folk, coming from Vermont and what not. Turns out, no, we had no idea what real fucking mountains were. We’d be driving, I’d think “I’m dizzy”, and then up to three minutes would pass without any personal knowledge of it. Keep in mind I’m doing 60 down a switchback highway full of other cars.
We arrived in Seattle, I got my apartment set up, my girlfriend came down from Vancouver to meet the family (and also…do other things…of a less family-oriented nature. Unless you have a weird-ass family), and then it was off to PAX. My brother and I had been trying to hook up a visit to the Penny Arcade Expo since it first started in 2004, but one thing or another would always come up. The stars were finally right for the first PAX East in Boston…and then he was hit by a car.
I’ll keep the details private for his sake, but both he and his fiance were grievously injured and he was dead for a total of six minutes (not consecutive) before arriving at the hospital. The recovery process was brutal, and PAX East came and went. I knew I would be arriving in Seattle just in time for PAX Prime, and I thought that if we didn’t do it now there might never be another shot. Many pinched pennies and dubious loans later, we had our tickets and set the date for the journey west.
The convention was a spiritual experience. All the things you hear about PAX being a spontaneous nation or a party with thousands of the best friends you’ve never met are all true. I’ve only seen people so free with their love and kindness and openness in one other place, the Governor’s Institute for Art in Vermont as a teenager. I suspect for many of the same reasons: a sharing of common love, and a sense that in each place we were free to truly be ourselves.
I got to take a walk with Jerry Holkins and talk with him about writing and hats and the importance of strong women in life. I annoyed Scott Kurtz. I saw people arm-wrestling with the Protomen and a zombie break dance. I got on the jumbotron and made my brother Internet Famous and a PAX legend with his harrowing tale of beating death. I met a supervillainess from the future. I felt like I was home.
Now I’m setting up a twitter account (details soon!), looking for job listings, looking up venues for acting and comedy and preparing to drop off the siblings at the airport tonight. Then the real business of living here will begin and the magic of these first few weeks will fade away. But rather than lament the passing of this amazing time, I choose to see it as a portent of things to come. Life in Seattle is already off to an amazing start, and I believe the trend will only continue.
Open mic information and more missives to come. Stay tuned.
