Actually, I managed not to leave anything behind at all, which is surprising given my lack of organizational skills. I made it there and back with only a single heavily-laden backpack for luggage. My body still doesn't know what time or day it is, and has decided that hibernation is a good way to readjust, but the trip was well worth it.

I'm a reserved (read: cowardly) kind of guy, and I don't often take chances on things like this that have the potential to go disastrously wrong. I'm trying to change that trait, so when invited to accompany a friend (Baroque-Legacy here on GS) to the Classic Gaming Expo, I pushed aside my doubts and went for it. It was expensive, yes, it was tiring, true, but I had a blast, and have to say it was all worthwhile.

I hadn't been on a plane since I was 5, so I was even excited for the flight out (straight though, thankfully). I enjoyed every minute of the taxi down the runway (it built anticipation, like ratcheting up the first hill of a roller-coaster), the stylized little dance that the flight attendants put on, trying to make us feel like we might actually survive a crash, and the takeoff itself. I wasn't not bothered much by the pressure changes--a little discomfort, but swallowing once would clear it right up, so I actually enjoyed the fast ascent. The enjoyment began to wane shortly after we got to cruising altitude, when I realized I had 4 hours to kill stuck in the middle seat between Baroque and some complete stranger. I'm a fairly big guy, and had to roll my shoulders in to avoid pushing against my neighbors, and that became uncomfortable pretty quickly. Luckily, the lady next to me was friendly and talkative (especially after the drink service came by with the wine), and the three of us passed the time chatting.

At SFO we walked straight outside to the Hotel shuttle, which was inexplicable upholstered like an 80's nightclub (even the ceiling), and climbed aboard. The shuttle was crowded, since it serviced several hotels, but the cute girl sitting opposite us come out of nowhere and asked if we were headed for the CGE. I realized that we probably had "dork" written all over us, but how did she know about the CGE? I didn't exactly think that would be on the average hottie's radar (except Wedgie, but she's hardly your average hottie). It turns out she was helping some friends at the Messiah booth, which was one of the things Baroque and I were particularly excited to see. This was a good start to the weekend.

At the hotel, we were given a free upgrade to a Bay view room, dropped our stuff, and went out to explore the neighborhood and find something to eat. Everything was closed by that time, but we got a nice walk in, and on our way back to the room, asked a passing hotel employee if there were any delivery places still open. He asked our room number, and said he'd bring a menu up. This was just one instance of the fantastic service we received all weekend at the Hyatt Regency, and aside from strange problems with our keycards (only one or the other seemed to work at any given time), I don't hesitate to recommend it. The pizza was generic, greasy, and absolutely perfect for 3am in a strange city after a 4-hour flight. We both had upset stomachs the next day from the Mr. Pizza Man pizza and garlic bread, but I don't regret it.

Saturday morning, we had an excellent and outrageously expensive room service breakfast, then hit the show. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, to be honest. I expected to get bored of the show very quickly, but I found plenty to occupy myself with for most of the day. The Messiah NEX was very cool, and the previously mentioned cute girl and her friend who easily could have modeled professionally didn't do anything to discourage me from hanging out there. They actually know what they were talking about, too--they were bona fide gamers, and not just brought in as booth babes. There were tons of vendors there, and an interesting museum, too.

There happened to be a Mongolian barbeque place right across the street (Panda Garden, I think it was called), and since Baroque and I are both regulars at Khan's Mongolian back home, we had to try this place. It was a small Mom & Pop kind of place, but all the ingredients were super fresh, and the flavor was excellent. I'll certainly go back if I get out to SF again.

We stayed for part of the auction, but it wasn't very interesting--people paying unbelievable amounts of money for obscure but pretty uninteresting items. One guy paid like $300 for a briefcase that used to belong to some gaming mogul. Whatever. Baroque and I decided to duck out and hit the town.

On the shuttle back to SFO (and the BART station), we met a cool, kind of hippie-ish girl who turned out to be a Flight Attendant. This was getting ridiculous--how many of my private fantasies was SF going to throw at me, and how did it know? She was nice enough to lead us to Powell station on the BART (Baroque and I had no idea what we were doing, and I think it showed), and then broke off to go to her favorite haunts.

From Powell station, Baroque and I managed not to get lost in the few blocks to the Metreon. We both got Playstation hoodies, since it was far chillier than we expected outside, and since we both got the same style, we looked even more like tourists. Or an alternative-lifestyle couple. Most likely we looked like both. We spent the evening in the Station 1 arcade, then caught the BART/shuttle back to the hotel.

We took a longer tour through the museum on Sunday, but wanted to get back out to see the city. We had to check out at noon, but were able to check our bags at the hotel so we could hit the town unencumbered. We went back to Powell station and decided to try Japantown instead of Pier 39/Fisherman's Wharf. We caught the bus headed that way, had a crazy guy carry on a conversation with his other personality about a foot away from my face, staring at me the whole time, and managed to find Peace Plaza by sighting the Peace Tower. There were some cool import shops there with movies, anime, and music, but none of the video game shops we were hoping for. By the time we got back downtown, we didn't have much time left, so spent a bit more time in the Metreon, then headed back for our bags.

We had each packed in a single backpack, which presented some challenges after hitting the vendors at the CGE. We controlled our spending pretty well, though, and with a little careful management we were able to get everything into our two bags. I waited in the shuttle and chatted with the driver while Baroque ran in and got our stuff. On the way back to the airport, we stopped and picked up a few of the driver's friends, who just wanted to ride around for a while. The driver and his friends were all Filipino, and almost comically friendly and outgoing. With just them, Baroque, and myself in the shuttle, the night club atmosphere was even more pronounced, leading to the term "party bus" being thrown around pretty liberally.

I had the window seat for the flight back, and had picked up a Neo Geo pocket at the CGE. That kept me entertained the whole time, while Baroque hammered away at Nanostray on his DS. We rolled into our local airport just before 5am, and since I had been up since 10am (Pacific Time) the previous morning, it accentuated the disorientation. It was easy enough to get out of my routine at the start of the weekend, but I had a hell of a time getting back into it. I had taken Monday off ahead of time, but had to take Tuesday off as well, and slept at least 2/3 of each day.

I know that there are people of all sorts just about anywhere you go, especially a large city like SF, but I have to say that everybody I met during my trip was incredibly friendly. The locals, the out-of-towners, even the panhandlers, were all really cool. I'm sure I was just lucky not to run into the jerks that must exist there, but based on my trip there, SF seems like a great city for stuff to do AND people to meet. It was an even better trip than I'd hoped it would, and I'd love to go back sometime for a longer stay. I think that taking it a little slower would probably help me not feel so jet-lagged when I got back. There's no CGE next year, but maybe I'll be back out there for 2007...