So yeah... I know the comic says "Tue-Thu-Sat each week", but I'm going to have to add "usually".

Let me give my litany of excuses:

- I forgot my spare laptop battery at home. My intention was to do this comic for Thursday, while on the plane to San Diego. However, the drawing tablet sucks about as much power from the USB as 4,387 iPods would, so it only lasts an hour and a smidgen. Without the spare battery, I got the outline done.

- the Hotel W that attendees were staying at made us all sit around in the lobby for two hours while they decided if they really wanted to sully their reputation as "world's most amazingly trendy accommodation" by letting a small herd of obvious gaming geeks in. When they heard Sony, they thought they were getting record company coolness, not gamer stank. They insisted on "holding" our luggage in the back room as we waited (including my laptop), probably for fear that someone would break out a game of D&D and the "world's hippest lobby" would burst into flames.


- the shower was sinfully addictive, and I did try to pack it along in my carry-on bag when I left. I'll just bring an extra suitcase for it next time. Engineers and housekeepers worldwide would scoff at the fact that there was no door and as the shower head was aimed in the direction of the no door spot, I managed to completely soak the floor every day. This must be some hip thing that I haven't heard about yet. Luckily, it was not my job to clean up.

- once I weaned myself from the truly amazing shower, I took the ridiculous (though undoubtedly trendy and cool and hip) stuffed beach ball off my bed. I have no idea what I was supposed to with it, and I don't even want to speculate in a room with floor to ceiling mirror by the bed. I used it as a floor ornament.

- I then realized that I forgot to plug in the laptop to recharge during my 2 1/2 hour shower. Doh. Too late now, I had to head down for the welcome reception, where I learned...

- SOE intended to keep me drunk for the duration. I mean, really. Guinness! FREE GUINNESS!! As much as I wanted, and Unca Brenlo was paying for it! Any thoughts of leaving the reception early to finish the comic were ruined by the fact that SOE knew my other great weakness...

- Rock Band. Oh my god. Ok, it needed calibrating, badly (the music was slightly behind the screen), but after a couple of Guinness, that hardly matters. It went on till the bitter end, though sadly not many songs were unlocked on the new game and we ended up hearing the same stuff mangled 14 different ways. I reiterate that RB is the best damn party game anywhere... as long as people leave it on easy mode. I'll have to bring a spare controller next time (they had just the boxed version, with single guitar), cause there was no budging Brenlo and Coyote from the guitar so that I could play bass. Bastards.

- I was going to finish the comic after that, but made the mistake of checking out the bed. I forgave the beach ball awkwardness immediately upon discovering that this was indeed the worlds most deliciously soft, plooshy and probably illegally comfortable bed. You can time it like going under anaesthetic: "ten, nine, eight, seve......zzzzzzz".

- By Friday, too late to do a Thursday comic; fine, I'll get it done for Saturday then. Yeah.

- Not gonna happen. SOE took us whale watching, where I discovered that Dwarves were not allergic to seawater after all and had a great time. Of course "our" whale was geriatric and had a lobster trap tied to his tail. I tried hard not to speculate that this was how they keep the old geezer in a place they could find him for the oooo'ing and aaah'ing of tourists, but Cap'n Bill assured us that a call had been put into the nearby marine biology lab, and that a crack team of experts would soon check out grampa whale.


Side note to those afraid of becoming seasick... do not eat the yogurt they put in your breakfast food box, stick to the fruit and bagel. Do not sit inside the cabin and look out through the side windows. Get outside on the forward deck and stand, keeping an eye on the horizon as the boat rolls, and you will survive. I felt badly for the various folks who spent much of the trip curled round their guts, but I had a great time. Wind, waves... it even beat the shower for sheer sensual enjoyment.

- More SOE keeping me drunk took place afterwards, as we went to "Dick's Last Resort", a properly Dwarven establishment with concrete floor, long trestle tables, horribly embarrassing paper hats with crude sayings on them (I escaped that) but best of all... over a hundred varieties o' beer! I stuck with "Arrogant Bastard", an excellent dark, bitter beer recommended to me by Grimwell - never mind that he thought the name of the beer clearly suited me, I'll get him back some time. Now, as we were in the People's Republic of California, some concessions to safety had to be made, and the traditional rock throwing enjoyed in Dwarven bars was replaced by paper, but it was good fun nonetheless. There were lots and lots of paper missiles, in singles, mass volleys and occasionally what looked like cannon shot by the truly dedicated ballistaleers among us.


- Dude, it was way the heck too late to work on the comic NOW. I went to bed, after yet again moving the beach ball to a safe corner so that it couldn't get back on the bed during the night.

- I finished the comic on Saturday morning. Yay! The free internet connection in the lobby was so craptacular that I couldn't upload it. Boo! The moral: in the worlds trendiest, hippest, coolest hotel, there are no geeks and there is no internet for them to breed on.

- Saturday contained SOE presentations for which we actually had to you know... pay attention. I was, believe me. I'll be writing at more length about the things I am allowed to say (see the 5-page NDA above). As I sit here decompressing from the long trip home, I am amazed at how much I gained from the many SOE folks who spoke there, and whom I spoke with at the various social functions.

I am tired, but I am very, very happy to be one of those chosen to attend; I learned a great deal. The purpose of the Summit is to share what SOE is doing with the people who cover its games, but even more to give an overall picture of the online game section of the behemoth, and to gain reactions and feedback from the community influencers.

The short comment: I can say that SOE is impressively organized and well supported internally. Those who insist on persistently "hating" SOE really need to get a new hobby. It is one of the best gaming companies out there, and dedicated to the people who play. They are constantly evolving and exploring new ways to do this. The long answer will emerge as I write more this week, and compare my notes to others who attended; I already know there are differing views of what the summit was and whether it accomplished anything or not.

So anyway, here is yer darned comic. Oi'll be back on schedule now. Unless Oi git kidnapped by space aliens - it's been known ta happen.

;-)#
Brasse


ps. I found out who wrote the Ranger epic and beat the tar out of him. You're welcome. Enraged Wumpus my arse. More on THAT later this week too!