EPT
Now firstly, America is an awesome place to visit on Holiday. Any of you europeans who have never visited America but also mock the americans for never having visited Europe, omg you're the same =O. There's some statistic that says x% of Americans have never left the country. Change that to x% of Europeans never leaving Europe and you've probably got the same percentage... anyway, STORIES AND PHOTOS TIME.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/m9YPv.jpg)
Summing up half the marathon in one photo
I took that photo shortly after arriving at the marathon. I went into the practice room to look around. Took some pictures of the setup in the place and then my friend said "hey, is that guy alright?". Not 4m from me was this guy trying to sleep. A common sight by the time it was done...
The SDA marathon was a charity speedrunning marathon held in Chevy Chase, MD (the actor was named after the place, not vice-versa. Think how awesome "Chevy Chase, MD sounds. It's like he's a doctor or something) and it was home to one of the few roundabouts in the USA. You could tell it was one of the few by how freaked out and crazy all the non-locals became when they saw it. Their brains would shut down and they'd blindly force their way across it. The area was ok, I only saw it on food runs. I was about 10 minutes from DC and all I saw was the Washington Monument on my car journey to the Bus.
When arriving in DC I set my personal record for least time arriving in a country before throwing up in someone's car, only 4 hours!
The marathon was essentially 6 days on not much sleep and a tonne of videogames. It. Was.Awesome . I got to play games with people who could destroy them, then walk into the other room and troll the internet live on cam all the while making money for charity. I got to hang out with a load of awesome people and so on. Fortunately all the marathon was recorded and you can check it out here: http://speeddemosarchive.com/marathon/schedule/ (I ran Bayonetta and did a good amount of commentary so find it there)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/pMSCm.jpg)
The other half of the marathon summed up
While at the marathon there wasn't a whole lot that went on behind the scenes. There were frequent food trips until we got told we could order food to the place. We were taking breakfast for a while. There was a school group in the same building as us who had already paid for their meals so if we went in while they were in there, sometimes the cafeteria staff would confuse us for Brazillians and give us free food. It lasted about three days before they realised what was happening. I will miss their crispy bacon.
Aside from that, it was just a lot of people sleeping in odd positions, people not sleeping at all and video-game fun. I had a blast and put a lot into the commentary in my run. The guy who set it all up said I had done a great job and the chat responded positively which made me feel really great. Receiving compliments from the internet is surprising and rare so I took them to heart. In the end it was a successful marathon for everyone and we made over $52,000 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. I'm preparing to go again next year.
You can probably tell by the fact that I have no photos of Washington or anything that I didn't really do any sight-seeing. You tell me, if you went to London and stayed in a large building with 40 awesome nerds playing video-games and having a blast, all the while amazing live runs going on that you don't want to miss, would you leave to see Parliament? If you answered yes, you're not nerdy enough yet.
I'd just like to take this little bit to get a little... soppy I guess. This is my 5th trip or something to meet people from the internet for a big event like this and I've had a blast on every one I've been to. I read things on forums and heard people saying things about how "I'm not nerdy enough to go to that" or "It's just an internet thing, why would you go?" and it really saddens me. Not because people are denouncing these events, but because they can't embrace their nerdy side and just go for it. I will guarantee you that if you go and you're friendly, outgoing and in a positive mindset you will have an absolutely amazing time. If there's a LAN on nearby or a TL dinner just go to it. If it's far away, give it a second thought. If you have ever not gone to an event because it's not 20 minutes from your house or because you think it'll be a big nerd fest, just go for it. You won't regret it. If you do, I don't give a shit, man up and fucking go.
Thanks for reading all that, I don't know how entertaining it ended up, but meh.
Here's a special gift for all you TLers who watched. 36 hours of awakeness + money = dancing flicky. Tune in next time for NYC and the TLHQ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvafUQrABWs
