PAX Prime

I was excited about going to PAX when I got the badges.  I was excited up until this week.  I realized I had promised to do something that Friday, and was going to be missing most of that day.  I was super bummed for a bit, then I realized there was nothing I was missing that I was not ok with missing.  I then thought if I missed Saturday what would I be sad about missing, realized a panel a friend was on, and one other panel.  Ok, what would I be sad about missing Sunday, same as Saturday.  Ok, what I would be sad about missing must be Monday, right? nope, fine missing Monday too.  That was when I decided to look at getting rid of my tickets, no mark up, so no posting on ebay.  I tried my friends first, all already had them, were working it, or were not wanting to go.  Then I went friends of friends, and had someone wanting as soon as I put it out there.

Am I sad not to be going?  Yes, but only because I like the comradery of conventions, and the swag.  I can get the comradery elsewhere, and the swag, well, I cannot get that anywhere else.

I realized I was more excited by the idea of PAX than PAX itself.  PAX is awesome, do not get me wrong, but there are people out there who are more excited by PAX than the idea of PAX, and I think those are the people that should be the ones going.

I have been thinking about getting back into the full geek swing of things (going to conventions, etc), but this made me realize I need to think about each thing, what am I most interested in about each thing, and only go to those things were I am more excited by the thing itself than the idea.  I have been wanting to go to Burning Man for more than a decade, each year there was a reason for me not to, then I started going to PAX, keeping me from really considering it, now I worry that I am more excited by the idea of Burning Man than the experience of Burning Man, although no real decision can be made until I actually do it ...