Tag Archives: PAX

How to get from SeaTac Airport to Downtown Seattle

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I know several friends and people from twitter are coming to PAX from different parts of the country. Some have asked how to get from point a to b, and I'm here to write up a rough guide on how to do so while I wait for my boyfriend's flight to arrive. Keep in my mind I am writing this on my iPad without a keyboard, so it might come out weird. Here goes!

Your options:

Rental Car: honestly, this is a waste of damn money. Downtown Seattle is very walkable and you do yourself a disservice by renting. There are parking fees, gas, and a slew of other things that I would personally not want to deal with.

Taxi: I believe ALL the taxi services offer a simple fee of $32 (thanks to @jediguybob for the correction!) for a trip from the airport to downtown Seatte. I have ridden some taxis here and the guys are usually very friendly and nice. You'll get to downtown anywhere from 20 – 45 depending on traffic. Give or take more or less depending on the prior condition or who your driver is.

Light Rail: this is by far your cheapest option. You should only have to pay $2.75, takes 40 – 50 minutes and you don't have to really worry about transferring from one place to another. I highly recommend this option.

If you choose the later option, here are some tips and directions on riding:

– You MUST pay your fare before you board. If the security happens to do rounds when you are on and you are without a ticket? Your fine is $124. The ticket machine is usually in an area above or below the platform you are to board on. In SeaTac, it is on the floor before you ride up to the station itself.

– If you still have the ORCA card I gave you for Sakura Con, you can preload your card online. Look up ORCA card and follow the directions on their website. Remember to tap before and after boarding the the Light Rail! Failure to do so, and you can expect to pay the $124 fine as well.

– Don't be stupid. Seriously. Watch your phones and small devices. There might be cameras and the random security checks, but that doesn't stop people from being jerks and taking your shit.

How to get to the station from SeaTac: from baggage claim, head all the way to the end of the baggage claim (if you are at baggage claim 1, you are on the wrong end!) and head up the stairs. Cross the sky bridge and turn left. Walk alongside the path until you get to a clearing with a floor above you. This is where you will board the rail. Purchase your ticket making sure you select that you are getting off at the West Lake Center station. Head up, board when they are ready, and keep your ticket!

From here enjoy the scenery until you find yourself going underground sometime after the Beacon Hill station. The electronic ticker signs are plastered almost everywhere so you can't really miss what stop is what. But what you are looking for is West Lake Center station. It is the last station, so you CAN’T go wrong! Get off of here and go to the set of stairs that is on the furthest left side or whatever brings you to the Nordstrom side of the area. If you find yourself peeking at Macy's and then McDonalds then you are on the wrong side.

If you are staying at the Grand Hyatt, go left and up the street about two or three blocks. The hotel is on the corner to your right. If you are staying elsewhere… You are on your own unless you leave a comment of pester me on twitter with your hotel name and I will do my best to help you out.

OMG PAX 2012

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I would be lying to say if I weren’t amped, because I am. Several friends will be attending this year, the boyfriend will be there, and I’ll get to experience a bit of the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary for myself at the ACT Theatre.

Of course, there are some things on my mind that I’ve been worrying about:

– STUFF. Like, actual stuff. If I need to worry about bringing a laptop, what clothes to bring or how many (I’m factoring in if I want to dress up a little if I go out to dinner with the boyfriend), what to pack my shit in, etc etc. Thankfully the boyfriend will be there and can carry things. This is what is great about having a boyfriend. He acts as a humanoid pack mule. Too heavy for me to carry? Give it to the boyfriend. Too much to carry? Give it to the boyfriend? Need to use the restroom? Give everything to the boyfriend. The boyfriend is great. He may be bored and meh that he is being used in this way, but I will ensure he is properly compensated for his efforts!

– On a more serious note, I am worried about actually going to PAX and staying out. My father is having major surgery this week and he and my mom need help getting things done and making sure he’s taken care of. I know that the thought of them will always be on the back of my mind, and I’m tempted to go home at the end of the day just to check in on them with my own two eyes. I just… don’t really know what to do about it. I want to be with the boyfriend and friends, but family is damn important. I’m sure they’ll be fine and I may not have to go check in on them all the time, but I can’t help but worry. This is a big flaw of mine. I’m a worrywart. Thankfully there are cellphones and hopefully decent reception at the convention center…

– Meeting people. That anxiety of, “Will they like me?” sometimes fill my mind when I realize I’ll be meeting certain people for the first time in real life. I want to run and hide, so it will be a miracle if I stand my ground and force myself to get social. Most likely I will end up doing the later rather than the former, but I still think running away for the high lands should be an acceptable course of action.

I’ll be taking pictures and maybe trying to record certain things of my adventures at PAX. But more importantly, I’m going to try and have as much fun as possible. I’ve been looking forward to PAX since the 2011 PAX Prime event ENDED, and knowing friends will be coming has made the whole con seem even cooler than before.

 

Late Night Ramblings on the Podcast and Other Stuff

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Its late, I’m tired but I can’t seem to go to sleep. So here I am attempting to update a few free MMOs, check e-mails, and some blogs, and flesh out some thoughts I’ve been bottling up inside for the past few weeks. There is stuff on PAX, but I’m conflicted if I want to blog about it or not and will most likely revisit the idea of it at a later time or date.

So, right off the bat; the podcast. Last week we got a lot of attention- more than I ever really wanted. A lot of it had to do with miscommunication and misunderstandings. It made me remember what was went through with ffxivblog.com last year and my desire to get away from it as much as possible. However, that didn’t happen since I was unable to say no or immediately clarify my intents and purposes to the others, and was unable to say no to Derrick/Orophen’s desire to do something big despite me desiring something more low key and for personal enjoyment. So the incidents that happened after the series of posts on G+ and then on forums were not really my idea, but I feel like I have no choice to accept blame for them because it wouldn’t have happened if I had been clearer from the get go.

That said, I can’t cry over the negative feedback we get because it was deserved and also warranted whether I liked it or not. When you put yourself out there, there are going to be people who like you and those who don’t. The problem, however, is when on a personal level, I become hyper obsessed with wanting things to be perfect. I did, at one point, follow the links back and read the comments, and had driven myself mad thinking I needed to fit people’s perceptions on what a good show is or isn’t. This didn’t go well on top of many other personal issues going on, and nearly drove myself to a mental breakdown and became one of two reasons why I didn’t make it to the fifth episode recording (the second reason being I needed to pack for PAX and make sure the other three people were ready as well).

At this very moment I am still in a weird mental and emotional state. I’m trying to take things in stride, but my personal life is becoming an ugly mess and is probably making it harder for me to just completely shrug my shoulders and not care. I’m stressed over things I know I shouldn’t be stressed over, and Derrick/Orophen has been the only one capable of calming me down and letting me know that I DON’T have to worry over every little comment. Being busy in real life helps, and puts many of these online dealings in perspective and also what to do to make things better. That’s the good thing about feedback (both positive and negative), because you can tell if its a consistent problem that needs to be addressed or that can be improved upon OR that certain elements ARE appreciated by others and don’t need that much fixing up if at all. Though my ideal situation would be to please anyone, I am hardly going to strive for it.

The podcast and its elements (even if it is not amusing to others) is meant to be for fun. The links will no longer be promoted on community websites because its just not what I want nor what the others seem to desire with the exception of Derrick/Orophen and maybe Frei. I can’t tell what he’s thinking so… I’ll put his name there for now.

Do I feel bad about it? Yes, I do. I feel that I have taken away something from him again, and I can’t seem to wipe away that feeling of guilt that I’ve had months prior to this situation… first with ffxivblog.com and now his desire to turn zantetsuken.net into something large and impressive. He’s told me I didn’t need to feel guilty, but I do and continue to do so even after he has told me otherwise. I had considered stepping down from both zantetsuken.net and Go Team Derp! in order for him to be able to achieve what his intents and desires are, and am still considering it to this day. Am I running away? Probably. Will I really do it? Who knows? Am I tired? Hell yeah. Time to sleep. おやすみなさい～

ps. I apologize in advance if I am more incoherent than usual. >_<;