Sleep Deprived Abyss
I had a feeling that I wouldn't get much sleep the first night since I was rooming with five other people.  What I didn't know is that I'd get only an hour and a half. I can't say it was anyone in the room that really kept me up, and snoring wasn't a problem really... *cough* -beta *cough*  Nah, there were a few guys that snored but -beta was right next to me so she seemed a tad louder. I would push her so she would stop for 10 minutes.  I know this may sound like I am a baby, but I missed my pillow too. :(  I was sleeping on a throw pillow that was at least three times as big as my pillow at home. Plus it had embroidery on it so I knew that I'd wake up with an imprint on my face.

I think my sleeping problem was from the excitement of being at Qcon, and another part of me was anxious about the MsQcon tournament. I was constantly thinking if it would go okay; when we get the tournament computers, would it be on time or would there be delays? Then I wondered if the brackets and seedlings would work. Another issue happened a week and a half prior - I didn't have some stuff for MsQcon printed due to my hard drive being reformatted from too many Trojan viruses. My friend used my computer to look at pr0n for two and a half hrs while I was at work. He messed up my computer by clicking "YES" to everything the pop-ups said to install - it was down for a week and half while I was trying to fix it.

I had too much going on in my mind to figure out how I could make the Ms. Quakecon tournament a success. Then a lot of people were coming in and out of the room until early morning. At 7:30am I couldn't force myself to sleep anymore. I was sitting there for the past hour trying to fall asleep but nothing was working. Counting sheep was a flounder and trying to picture an oasis or forest was useless.  I had to get up and get ready - that was all there was to it. I thought the BYOC would open at 8am, but boy was I wrong. I was hoping that I could get my computer hooked up in the BYOC to update MsQuakecon.org with current information about the tournament. Little did I know there would be delays and complications there.

Missy & Hellchick Wandering
As I was walking back to the convention I noticed the back of a red head girl walking in the hotel hall. I felt it had to be Missy so I walked faster and faster to catch up to see if it was her. Low and behold it was! She started giggling when she saw me casually walking next to her. I was very pleased to find that she was finally able to get into the BYOC after midnight.  I also bumped into Caryn' Hellchick' Law briefly before she got busy over at the Activision booth. We took a quick picture and as you can see my eyes are extremely puffy. *sniff*  Hellchick's hair was the bomb!

Foto was another gal who I bumped into. I really need to make sure I make time to come very early next year so I can be more relaxed early on. She was another person I really wanted to hang out with. Sorry foto! :(

10-4pm Check-in
The first few hours were difficult for me while I was waiting for the girls to check-in. I felt that many of the girls were stuck in the BYOC registration line so they weren't able to get in. I was a little anxious but I also felt some of the newer girls that didn't compete in last year's event wouldn't know to go to the Geekwearz booth. I also met Solar from Geekwearz, a very nice guy who would visit the booth from time to time to talk to us gals. Chatting with him was a nice way to pass the time at the booth. We talked about his trips around the world, in places like Chile, Peru, England and more.

Miss Curly Locks Not So Nice
After a few hours Missy and p24t came back to the booth to relieve me for a while. I wanted to walk up to random girls in the BYOC line and ask them for their nick name to see if they were on our registration list. My mission to find the MsQcon participants didn't go over very well. I walked up to a mid 20's latin girl with dark curly hair and asked what her nick name was.  Her response was, " I DON'T HAVE A NICK NAME!"  She just about bit my head off. I have never in my life seen a stranger have so much hatred and disgust for a simple question! Believe me, those words were bitter cold. I knew she would kick my butt. I shrugged and replied, "Oh, I was just trying to see if you were in the female gamer tournament," as I walked off. I stopped asking other girls because I didn't want to harass them. I mean maybe she was driving for hours in a car to get there and was frustrated from standing in the back of 500 plus person BYOC line where a lot of stinky shoe smells were drifting down the halls. That stopped my hunt for MsQcon gals.

Meska - The Trance Therapist
When Meska arrived to the Geekwearz booth to see if she was off the wait list, she looked so familiar I felt like I already knew her. Maybe I've seen photos online of her before. Nevertheless, she was definitely the highlight of the evening. It was refreshing to meet another Star Wars Galaxies gamer like myself. Meska and I talked a bit about our characters, and why we both enjoyed the game.

She then began her massage lessons. Women are built differently since we have chests and we need massages in front, which I believe are called Pectoral muscles.  She made sure that every girl that came up knew that she was a massage therapist. The girls she massaged  would go into a trance. What was even more funny was the moaning when she massaged them on the neck and back. I would notice guys passing by slow down to check out the girl being massaged. It had me laughing so hard. Some would would turn back around and walk again slowly. Of course I never gave them eye contact, but I would notice them in the corner of my eye. hee.

Conflicts with Tourney
A problem came up when we found out we needed to run the entire tournament with RA3. We were not able to have FFA then RA3. This had me a little confused since it would create better seedlings. p24t found Spicey to ask her advice on what we should do. Since RA3 doesn't have Free for All, she recommended that we have 3 vs 3 team matches. The two ladies who had less frags at the end of the match were to be eliminated. This would bring us to 16 girls out of the 24. Spicey rocks!  Lots of luv to you girly!!!

Tournament Prep
At 5:30pm we had all of the ladies meet up to get situated. I also wanted to make sure every girl signed idmom's (Ms. Donna) MsQcon shirt for id Software's idlore wall. Many of them had signed the t-shirt during check-in on Thursday, however I counted at least eight girls missing.

Ledfoot/SuperGirl/Tarot Visit
During preparation of the tourney a few people stopped by to say, "Hi!" that I didn't expect. SuperGirl is a gal I have lost touch with for over a year now. I was so happy to finally meet her in person this year. I had sent her quite a few emails the past year trying to get in touch with her but she never received them. She now works with Guildhall. Another face I wasn't expecting to see was Ledfoot from HOP.w. He had mentioned months ago that he may be heading to Quakecon but I completely forgot about it. Great to see both of them; I just wish I had more time to chat. I was set too deep in tournament mode to talk! Tarot also passed by to tell me "Hello!". I was upset I didn't have any time to talk to him. He's such a fun guy to talk to on so many levels. He acted like I didn't know who he was at first. :(  I told him, "Of course I REMEMBER YOU!" hehe. I love having a photographic memory. Even if I cant place the nickname right off, I always seem to recall the places or things I have talked to people about.

Clay aka Mr. Config
This nice-looking blonde guy came up and showed me his badge as he gave me a huge grin. It was Clay, who I have talked to in IRC in the past. The tournament was about to begin and he told me to make sure I collected configs from all of the ladies who desired their personal ones. Clay needed to have it by CD or USB drives in order for the girls to use their configs. He put the configs on the network, then secured them so only the MsQcon participants could reach them.

Tournament Begins
At 6:15pm the tournament began.  As the girls got on the computers I instantly felt a sense of accomplishment. We had the tourney started, we weren't using any computers from the BYOC, we weren't hunting each other down, and we were all in one location.  The spectators had a place to call home and to watch their friends and loved ones. It was an amazing feeling. I was so happy that I took p24t's offer on running the tournament this year. At first I hesitated due to the fact that I felt it wasn't my creation. The tournament wasn't something I started - it was founded by Byskwik, vix and Lamby. I thought, "How could I adopt this project and make it my own?" Normally I start my projects so it was a little difficult for me to take on this responsibility. Even if I threw up the site in a day, created the t-shirt stuff with Missy, and sent out news and so forth. I still didn't feel it was a tournament I was running until the first match launched.  If I told p24t that I wouldn't run the tournament I knew in my heart it would be a burden that I would carry for the rest of my life. He also felt it couldn't happen without me. Having that on my head would have bothered me to no end. I am grateful he asked or these ladies probably wouldn't have had a tournament this year. Mad props to you p2!

The 3 vs 3 matches include:

Called My TX Mom
We were having a couple of problems keeping the tournament computers so I went into a panic because I didn't want the tournament placed on hold. I went outside to the lobby to call id mom (Donna Jackson from id Software) to give her the status on how things were going. Everything was actually running smoothly but I was told that the computers we were using were needed for the Doom 3 tournament. She told me that there were plenty of  tournament computers and that she was certain we could keep playing on them. By the time I got back to the tournament area I had calmed down so much that I had renewed hope that the tournament would survive after all. Donna also gave me the time that the MsQcon awards would be held after the finals. Things seemed to be going at full speed again.

Spectator Complaints
During the first few matches, I noticed a few of the girls and spectators talking among themselves. A couple spectators asked why the girls had such weird screens – some much brighter than others. I told them that's how they desire their settings. We allowed each girl to change their settings like last year because I felt it wasn't that big of a deal. We also allowed them to have their own keyboard and mouse so they felt comfortable. The last thing I wanted was to have the girls feel uncomfortable playing the way they normally do.

KrazyAnnee Talk
I hadn't really had a chance to really eat all day and desired to get something to wake me up. My brain was running low and I needed some brain food to wake me up.  I ordered a cup of Basil Tomato soup at the Texas Station Grill since it was the only thing on the menu for the five bucks I had in my pocket. I bumped into Krazyannee and we talked a little about our gaming history for a while. She's such a fun person to talk to! I waited for what seemed like eternity (or maybe it was 40 minutes) for this tiny cup of soup. As soon as the bartender gave me the cup I grabbed it in a hurry and began a huff-skip run to get back to Ms Quakecon tournament. I knew p2 would be wondering why it took me so long.

Brain Dead Video Shoot
During the event Wendy Zaas from id's PR firm walked up with a camera crew to talk to the person running the MsQcon tournament. Everyone pointed at me when she asked who it was. I just came back from getting my soup so all I saw at the time was a man with a huge camera, Wendy, and another gal. I didn't know why I was being pointed at. The problem was my brain literally felt fried. I hadn't really eaten anything at all, and I had yet to touch my soup. That was going to be my brain food to survive a little longer. When Wendy requested a brief video interview I was for it, and placed my soup on the table (which was probably a bad idea since that soup could have been my life support). Each time Wendy asked me a simple question I couldn't process anything for it. It was all a blur - her mouth was moving but there was nothing I could process to find an answer in my brain. It was kind of embarrassing too. I wasn't nervous but I know I would come across that way. Wendy kept trying to make me comfortable; she was such a sweetheart! The camera guy was also nice, and said it wasn't a problem since they had tons of film to roll.

Once we hit about the 7th or 8th try, the camera guy told me that this would be my last time, he didn't want to overwhelm. I didn't mind either way, I still had to run the tournament even though I felt at this time I was at the very last thread being this close to passing out from exhaust. I was definitely on auto-pilot at this moment and time. Finally Wendy asks the question just once more and I took off and replied something for about 2 minutes. I can honestly say at this point all I remember saying is something about being excited about more Sponsors being added to the tournament at the last minute. Nothing else comes to mind on the other things I said. They all stood there with their mouths open for a moment and told me it was amazing. I'll have to take their word for it because I still don't know what was said.  I am very grateful all three of them were so patient with me.

Another Problem w/Tourney...
There was a problem with the last match. The game was to be played with six more girls to end the night. Catrinamichele, Krissy and SkyGoddess were the only ladies who showed. I felt so bad since all of these girls had been waiting patiently for hours to play their first match as it was already half past 10pm.  We all waited about 20 minutes as p2 and I contemplated what to do. We had so many scenarios but a few spectators overheard us and began to give us some options as well, especially since they were RA3 fanatics.

Meantime, we did have one girl on our wait list that Meska searched for in the BYOC area. Even if she did find the girl it would still leave us short. It was almost pointless since we needed to remove two girls. Finally, after 15 mins Brat came up and apologized for being there so late. She mentioned something about going to dinner with friends and her ride not being able to take her back in time. I didn't mind at all at this point. She's a very sweet sincere girl. All I cared about was to get this tournament back on its feet. Best of all Meska again saved the day with her treasure hunt and found Kryminal. Now we had five ladies whom I was happy to see. This would mean we would only eliminate one girl out of the 5, rather than 2 in a 6 person match. I'd like to thank J@mes and AssClown for being such great sports in also helping with ideas for this final match! You guys are so sweet! *hugs*

My feet were also hurting to no end. The boots I wore are normally fine to wear a full 8-9 hr schedule at work, but standing and walking around for two days in a row made my feet extremely sore. I am not saying just sore; I couldn't feel the heels of my feet, like all I had were bone pegs for feet. I have never in my life had so much pain in my feet. It was so bad that I could not feel my toes. During the end of the last few matches, I noticed a few of the other participants who were walking around in their socks so I decided to sneak off my boots since I had black socks on. The soles of my feet were itching as if they had a rash so I tried massaging them for a while. I really wished Meska was around!

The sixteen ladies that moved on were:

Moving the Deadfoot
I only planned on staying with -beta the first night, but tonight would be a bed to myself and only one roommate. I was ecstatic to move but the journey wasn't easy. First off, I couldn't find my roommate, Kata_Jade to get a key for the room. However, I was happy it only took me 20 minutes after the MsQcon tournament was finished for the night. Now that I had the key, I headed back to the BYOC area to see if I could pester -beta to let me borrow her key to get my stuff. Unfortunately she wasn't there. Thricky was the knight in shining armor. I asked him if he happened to have a key. Of course he did! I borrowed it, but this would also mean I'd have to come all the way back here to return it. I was already having other problems - the FTP to update the MsQuakecon site wasn’t working, so I knew I needed to come back to finish updating the site anyway. Then right when I stand up I jab my thigh really hard with a carpenter staple in the table. It was burning so bad! I immediately thought shizot, I haven’t had a tetanus shot since I was a child... :/

This hotel was very confusing. I was trying to find the room and after going up and down a lot of elevators I found that I was on the opposite side of the hotel to where my room was. I started asking every bell boy and hotel staff where to go. They would point but that got me no where. Did I mention my feet were in extreme pain? So here I am going up and down these elevators and I feel like there is no need to live anymore. My feet were going to have to be surgically removed by the time I found the room. I finally had a nice hotel staff person walk me all the way to the correct elevator after seeing me pass so many times like a tourist on LSD.  As I packed myself at 3am in the morning I realize I did't have my tennis shoes in my luggage. I recalled I changed shoes on Wednesday in my truck so they had to be in there. This meant I needed to also go to my truck. This night was going to be a killer, I just knew it.

Finally I find my room and headed back to the BYOC area. Thricky was playing another RA3 game as I gave him his key back. What do I do? Like an idiot I stay for an hour to get MsQcon updated because I couldn't handle the thought of not posting the results or not updating the website. I also had to create a note for the ladies at the Geekwearz booth to know what time we needed to meet to finish the tournament by Friday night. The peeps at the registration booth were always so kind by letting me borrow their markers. I owe them big time for trusting me with those special Sharpie Markers.

What is sleep again? oh... that thing that doesn't exist during Quakecon this year... I see.

[Back to Quakecon 2004 Journey]

Note: Thanks to the wonderful foto for SB/Cali/Missy picture, Desolator for video photo, and wendigo for Pectorals.