The day of the block party was brilliant with sunshine and the weather hot and muggy. It figures that the day we choose to have this event should be the hottest day of the year so far! In any case, the party was a blast. We hired 4 full size touring buses to ferry people from the San Diego Convention Center to the SOE Campus. 6 of us took turns at the Convention Center, greeting people and directing them to the proper buses. Each trip t the SOE Campus, normally taking about 20 minutes, turned into a 40-45 minute trip because of having to navigate through the extra downtown hustle and bustle from Comic Con. However it just meant a little more time to relax in the air-conditioned comfort of the luxury buses.
Back at the SOE Site were over 500 attendees were present at some point throughout the afternoon, phat lewts were given out, music was blaring, offices were toured, games were showcased, food and beer flowed freely, R.A. Salvatore was hanging out, the Sony X-Plod car was available to be checked out, and various employees took turn getting dunked by party attendees. Trust me, on such a hot muggy day, there was no shortage of volunteers to sit in the dunk tank!
After the ferrying of attendees from the Convention Center ended I had the opportunity to chat with Tnexus and Dnalor while partaking in some of the fine hamburgers, hot dogs and brownies provided by the caterers. Then I spent 15 or 20 minutes getting dunked by well meaning attendees. Of course Beghn, one of the EQ2 Devs, claimed first dunking rights which he felt entitled to because when he was a GM, I was his lead. Of course he completely cheated by pulling the target with his hand instead of throwing a ball, probably because he wouldn't have been able to hit the target the proper way anyway! Frodlin even took a couple of shots at getting me into the water, but alas he was unsuccessful. Once I was freed from the tank, I spent a short time chatting with Frodlin and Ezedriel. Then it was time to send the stragglers back to the Convention Center on the busses and for the employees to clean up the party. Of course, because we were tired for the long, hot day, we made record time in getting everything cleaned up.
Thankfully home for me is only about a 10 minute car ride from the offices. I walked in the door and the hubby says, "I'm hungry." He was responded to with a delivered Papa John's pizza and cold soda which made both of us quite happy. Needless to say, after a fun-filled day I was pooped. I went to bed early and slept for the next 12 hours!
To all of you who came out and spent the day with us here at the SOE Offices, THANK YOU for joining us! It is always a pleasure to get a chance to meet our players and have some fun. We fully intend to make the Block Party a yearly occurrence, so hopefully next time we will get to see many more of you out there!
Until next time.
Kytherea the Waterlogged
For a true play by play and more pictures check out Tnexus' write up on the forums.
Antonia Bayle and Firiona Vie
Look at all those burgers and dogs!
Smed
Rahgnell on the left
The Sony XPlod car
Lots of people!
Zajeer with his back to the camera
R.A. Salvatore
Absor showing off EQ
Frodlin, Kytherea, still dripping from the dunk tank, & Ezedriel
