Last month, I attended my second Twitchcon, this time in San Diego. You may recall that I went to my first
Twitchcon in San Jose in 2018. This year was interesting, as I had expected more people to be going, but several backed out as the event drew closer. It was not a complete loss, as I still knew 4 other streamer friends that I wanted to see and hang out with out there.
I got in on a Thursday night and already the experience started out far better than last year. It took me less than 5 minutes to get my badge the night before the first day, whereas it took me 4 hours of waiting in line in the hot San Jose sun last year. After I got my badge, I met up with my friend
Termi0099 for dinner and drinks. We didn't really know where to go, but I was feeling like pasta at the time and found this gem of a chain called Old Spaghetti Factory. They had some amazeballs garlic shrimp fettucini alfredo! My friend
Stapus (who I met last year at TC18 and who introduced me to Termi) also met up, and she brought her friend
arritia, who I also now follow. Termi had invited his friend
Fivesisalive, which I now follow and occasionally play Fortnite with, so the first night at Twitchcon already created new friendships!
The first day of Twitchcon, I mostly hung out with Stapus and her friends. I did get a chance to meet
Pinghajen and
Gotch, two other streamer friends I knew were going and had made plans to see, but those were pretty brief visits. I did get recognized by another streamer
CrankyKahn, which was pretty amazing because I wear glasses on stream and contacts when I'm out and about. He basically knew it was me because he said he recognized those "guns", LOL.
That night, I met up with my friend Jenny and we had dinner at this restaurant called Rustic Root. There was an item on the menu called "Table-Smoked Tomahawk". I had heard of tomahawk steak before, so I really wanted to try it, even though it ran for $55. It did not disappoint one bit! An amazing steak that gets served under a glass cover and you can see all the smoke release when they unveil it. It was absolutely delicious and cooked perfectly (you know I always ask for rare when it comes to steak). Since Twitchcon will be in San Diego again next week, I will definitely be going back here.
I returned to Twitchcon on Saturday, not having any plans to attend on Sunday. Since I was also visiting my friend Jenny that weekend, I wanted to make sure I had a day to hang out with her. I returned to the convention but only for a few hours in the afternoon. Honestly, this year's convention had far less to see and do in my opinion. I was also out of friends to meet up with and when it comes to Twitchcon, it's more about the company than the exhibits.
Later that night, Jenny and I found a pool hall to play at since she used to play APA for one of my teams when she used to live in Tucson. We played for hours and it was a lot of fun playing her friend, who provided some solid competition.
On Sunday, I spent a little time in the morning watching football and then Jenny and I headed to Mission Bay to do some kayaking. I had always seen so many pictures of Jenny kayaking in San Diego and wanted to try it myself, since I had never been. She goes like very other week and is very experienced. It was funny because she called me out for not really paddling (since I didn't really know how), but once she taught me to dig into the water, we could travel quickly and really get a workout in. :D It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I got to try it.
That night, I met up with my friend Sarah, who also used to live in Tucson. I had not seen her in over 5 years, so it was refreshing to have a drink with her and catch up. On Monday, my flight wasn't until a little later, so I hit up the local dispensary and purchased some gummies for Jenny to bring back to me the next time she came back to Tucson. :P
Overall, I would say Twitchcon was kind of a letdown this year, but I did meet some new people and established some new Twitch connections, so that was worth it. However, next year I'd only go if I had more friends going. As for San Diego, it was fun to visit Jenny and I don't think I had been since
Kyle's bachelor party, which was over 7 years ago! :O Damn how the time flies...
Anyway, until next time and have a Happy Halloween!
