Thursday, June 26th, 2025
I’m still not fully convinced this is happening, frankly. The past few months I’ve been working on other projects; the past few weeks I’ve kinda felt like I’ve been stuck in purgatory, trying to use other projects to bide my time while waiting. It doesn’t quite feel real, yet.
Despite all the planning, it still doesn’t quite feel real, yet. I’m sure once I land in Copenhagen and am taking the train over to Malmo, I’m sure I’ll start to feel differently. It’s just about 10 hours until then, an overnight flight and I’m sure that I’ll be exhausted by the time I get there, so I’m writing a little blog post now.
Like I said, I’ve been filling the past few weeks with a lot of projects, and it feels a little odd to me to just drop everything for this. But hey, I’ll have time for those later. I got the one that mattered done. The custom PS2 shell is done and ready to roll, after a scare last night during final assmebly. Turns out I had to remove an absolutely miniscule component from the board and pull a hackjob to get it to work, but it’s working just fine and the whole unit looks great. I just hope it’s still working by the time it gets to Sweden.
All the past stuff aside, I’m glad I’m doing this. I’m meeting people who are in a community I’ve been a part of for… 10 years, on and off now? It’s crazy to think that people I was watching when I started college are going to be there. People who I’ve made friendships with, people who I’ve only known from their presence on computer screens. I’m also going to see people who I met in the past year, friends I’ve helped run entire speedrun streaming events. I get to make memories, take pictures, play games with these people who’ve been nothing but great to me, who’ve literally changed my life in more ways than I can count.
I’m also kinda excited for the little experiment I’ve set up for myself; I’m finally using the little flip phone I picked up a few months ago. No smartphone, no apps, no messaging services. I’m gonna pick up a SIM card to make sure I have some cell access, but other than that the only way I’m getting in touch with people is on my laptop. If I want to watch something? I have my laptop. If I want to listen to music? MP3 player. I’m kinda hoping I enjoy the experience, honestly. If it works, out, I might see about trying it at home, for a couple months.
But most of all? I’m excited to get some time to chill. No personal projects, no social committments, no work. Just me and some people I know getting some time to relax and celebrate a hobby we all love. And in the midst of all that, I get to do some photography; something I haven’t had the time nor been in the headspace to do in a while.
Here’s hoping it goes well.
Friday, June 27th, 2025
Perhaps an overnight flight was not the best option. I’ve been awake for 24h and am currently waiting in the hotel lobby for my roommate to show up. I’m feeling a bit of the jet lag, though I’m slowly getting a third (?) wind, I think. I can guarantee I shouldn’t be doing anything requiring a lot of thinking right now. I have a minor headache and have not had much in the way of food in the past 12-15 hours. Will be fixing that… as soon as I can get into my room.
Speaking of, very glad my roommate’s a chill person. My phone and/or the wifi network at the airport decided they didn’t like each other and I was unable to connect to the wifi, nor was I capable of getting cell data to work via a SIM card I bought at the airport. A SIM card that was only valid for Denmark, and was no longer valid once I crossed the bridge to Sweden via train. So that kinda sucked.
On the bright side, I’m here. I’m still moving. I didn’t get hopelessly lost even with basically no internet access and having to actually talk to people. It all worked out. So I’m gonna spend today getting food, sleeping, and getting myself settled in. We’ll see about doing anything crazy tomorrow.