Pax East 2019 Blog 🖤 (Patreon)

Hello friends! Welcome to that thing I was excited about for all of three seconds and then totally forgot about.

I figured this would be a great place to talk a little more in depth about our trip and give the details we might not have caught on camera. I think we did a good job vlogging and taking pictures but with a weekend so eventful it’s easy to miss things.

Our weekend started with a trip up to Luna’s home in Seattle! Catching a plane from SEATEC to Boston proved much easier than PDX, and it gave us an excuse to visit one of our favorite people! Luna was sweet enough to not only let us hang out with her on stream but also let us stay the night at her place AND offer us a ride to the airport. She’s an amazing human. We love her.

Being the people that we are we made it to Luna’s house LATE. She greeted us with cute sandwiches, a full tea set, and booze! What more could a girl ask for? Her dog is also adorable and a giant puppy baby; Niki was living her best life hanging out with the doggo. After finishing up some joint giveaways (hope you didn’t mis out!) we headed to bed, as everyone had an early day the next morning. Niki and Liv took the couch while I slept in bed with Luna and Freya *insert gasm emote*.

As I lay in bed, I thought about the weekend ahead of us; and how Luna could have easily murdered us all.

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With very little sleep under our belts we headed to the airport. We stopped by Starbucks, passed by a woman checking what looked like a body bag, and headed to our gate.

The plane ride was fairly normal. I forgot to bring headphones, and the girls forgot they needed dongles (lolz). They listened to a few podcasts they had on their phones while I watched Crazy Rich Asians with closed captioning (10 out of 10 would recommend! That movie had Liv and I cracking up on the plane!). Once we finished our movies we started on our makeup, knowing that we would be getting off the plane and heading almost directly to the Layers of Fear 2 party. All the flight attendants thought this was particularly funny. We got lots of comments about teaching them makeup, and general giggling. They must have just been jealous of our jet setting life style *flips hair*.

We arrived at our Hotel just long enough to drop our stuff off in the room and change clothes. Our hotel was a large round building, and each room was like a pizza slice? That seems like a really odd way to explain it but I’m sticking to it! It was small, but cute; though we were a little surprised to find that we had a single king-sized bed (cuddle puddle!). We also quickly learned that we were on the bad side of town, but that didn’t stop us from having a good time! Below is a picture of the hotel. IDK when this picture was taken though because it does NOT look that nice anymore.

From there we headed downtown to Carrie Nation; the bar that the Layers of Fear 2 afterparty was held. It was one of the coolest places we went to in our time in Boston! The bar is 1920’s speakeasy themed and absolutely gorgeous inside.

We were greeted with food, a gift bag containing a really cool scotch glass, and game themed drinks that were amazing! We met a TON of cool people that night, from other streamers to some of the games Dev team. We also caught up with Ichi for a bit which was nice since we hadn’t seen him since PAX West. Let me tell you we are HYPED for this game, so keep your eyes peeled. Niki and I will be playing the first game soon to make sure we are all caught up before 2’s release. We might even have some fun stuff to give away.

From there we headed home. We took a scenic drive (we were a tad lost) through some of the nicer neighborhoods, and Liv and I tried to pose with some statues. We also had a small adventure sitting in a McDonalds drive through for an hour. Niki and I ate fries in our underwear in bed before going to sleep.

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The next day we woke up bright an early for our first day of PAX! Finding the convention center was easy but parking was a nightmare! Traffic all around the con gets crazy, and this is when I got my first taste of Boston traffic. I’ve never heard so many car horns in my life! A lot of the streets in the area are one way, so we got turned around easily. There is also construction going on everywhere you look making things much more complicated. After two full parking lots we finally found a parking garage and headed in. Thank god for our media passes. The lines to get into the con itself were insane.

The floor was a little overwhelming at first. Where PAX West is divided up by floors, East is one big hall that you take an escalator down into. Standing at the top you get a pretty good look of the front half of the floor and all the people swarming around every booth. Because everything is all in one place the convention hall is always packed, and the flow of traffic can be hard to navigate (especially when only 5 feet tall).

We started in the front and made our way around the place, stopping at a few booths to check out games. MISTOVER was by far one of my favorites, and the girl we spoke to about the game was from the Seattle area! I also chatted with a very nice team from Australia about their game, Moving Out. The play style reminded us of Overcooked and looks like another game that will be great for the group.

On our way to grab food we ran into a bunch of the Nerd Herd! The rest of the day was spent hanging walking around the con and checking stuff out, all while in good company.

We went to dinner and our server was so confused about the “kinds” of people walking around Boston. She asked us if there was a show going on and when we told her no, she just gestured at Niki. The people of Boston have apparently never seen Goths, because Niki and I got all sorts of weird looks and questions during the trip. Dinner was inside of a hotel on the nicer side of town, and we looked out of place and under prepared. During a trip to the bathroom we took a few selfies. A woman caught me taking a picture with my foot rested on the counter and she yelled at me a little. Some people have no humor. We also enjoyed fine conversation on urban dictionary phrases that involved Boston. I love us.

That night Predator Gaming was hosting an after party at the House of Blues. They had gaming laptops set up in the middle of the floor as well as a huge gaming chair rig set up to test. We ran into someone we had met the night before and met up with Ichi for a while. This party was much different from the last. It was very crowded as it was open for everyone, and when we tried to get a drink it probably took about an hour of standing in lines. I think by this point we were very tired from our day, and the party was a little too wild for us. Personally, I wasn’t in the mood for a rave and after watching a girl faint and some crazy dancing I was ready to go home.

The night was spent hanging out in the hotel doing face masks and having some girl time in bed together. Moments like those are my favorite, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

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Saturday was exciting, because it was the day we had all planned on wearing our cosplays. I suited up in my Deadpool costume and we headed out the door. That day at the convention was mellow. We met up with friends and made our way to the back of the expo floor, taking time to check out the indie and board games. Saturday had a bit more sun so Liv, Niki, and I grabbed food from some food carts and enjoyed a small picnic.

I’ll be honest, PAX is exciting, but it is also exhausting. I wasn’t eating three meals a day like I am used to at home, and I wasn’t drinking any water. Realizing I needed to spend some time taking care of myself we left the con early, and I headed back to the hotel to drink some water and nap. What can I say, I’m an old woman!

With some water and a nap under my belt we prepped for the Adult Swim afterparty. **Side note, don’t let me forget to pack at least one nice outfit for Conventions this!** This was by far one of the most surreal things I did over the weekend. We were invited aboard the Spirit of Boston to join other friends and family of adult swim games. We met up with Toky, grabbed some free drinks, messed around in the photobooth, and explored the boat. Sammy hung out and chatted with us for a bit. He told us he was super scared of the boat and kept saying he was going to die that night. We antagonized him for a good 30 minutes. It wasn’t until later while talking to Toky that we realized he really was scared and left the boat 5 minutes before we left the boat. Oops. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We spent a lot of time enjoying the dance floor; and by that I mean WATCHING the dance floor, cuz you know, Liv doesn’t dance. I swear I was so close to getting her down the stairs and dancing!

We met so many awesome people that night. We got a chance to meet a few other streamers, catch back up with another Oregon buddy (a mutual from our friends at stumpt!), and met a ton of game producers, directors, and dev’s. The team at Limited Run and Squanch games where all great people. Thanks to them I got to meet Justin Roiland, which is still a weird, awkward highlight of the trip.

Boston was beautiful to experience at night and from the water, though I will say I had no idea where we were. Under our breaths we sang “I’m on a boat” all night long. We left with a swag bag filled with cool stuff, but sadly had to leave adult swim pillows behind.

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Sunday was a much more “cozy” day. I woke up tired and starting to feel like I was ready for my days to calm down. We set out with a goal of picking up our last-minute shopping items, following up with people we had met the night before, and of course spending time with friends. On the way, our Uber was very interested in Niki and I. She asked a lot of questions about our jobs, what video games we liked, and if we always looked the way we did. To be fair, that day I was wearing pink contacts and Niki and I were both wearing small horns, but it really seems that Boston has never seen a goth.

Niki and I got into playing Trover Saves the Universe and finally took some time to check out all the table top and DnD stuff Pax had to offer. We spent some time comparing Pokémon with our friends from across the country and caught some lunch together. I can’t even express how nice it was to meet the people I talk to on a regular basis IRL. We talked about regional vocabulary and laughed together; and made sure to get lots of good pictures. It was great. Leaving the con we gave everyone big hugs and made some plans for dinner together that night. <3

At the beginning of the trip we had big talk about spending Monday exploring Boston. Instead, we slept in as late as possible and headed to the airport early. We caught some nice food there, but I had really hoped for a nice spot to day drink. The flight home felt much longer than the first. The plane was slightly older, and the movies didn’t have CC so without headphones I was shit out of luck. We played our strange hue game and tried to sleep. I pretended to sleep for a while so I could watch Niki draw without her noticing. I also ogled at Liv’s little. He’s just so cute! The drive home from Seattle was easier than I thought it would be, though I wish we had found a connecting flight to PDX. I think we were all ready to be home and surrounded by our loved ones and (fur) babies.

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I thought a lot about how amazing this opportunity was and everything that helped me get here. I thought about my supportive friends, family, and partner who encourage me to chase my dreams, and all the people who whole heartedly believe in me. And after coming home I decided I want to dedicate my time to the thing and people I love so much. My two weeks are in, and on May 2nd I am officially a full-time streamer. Surprise! And if you are reading this before that date, please help me keep this secret

🖤🖤🖤Bells