9:30 AM – FANFEST – DAY 1

It’s actually a beautiful day today in Iceland. The sun isn’t shining, but it isn’t particularly cold. The wind shifted, however, and the smell of sulfur is brutally strong. I almost want to gag.

Met a few fans of the Capsuleer app while standing in line with Chris (it ended up being a trend throughout the rest of the day, which is flattering), shared a derogatory laugh at the expense of some poor Player Volunteer (“So that would be a no then”), and got a few stares as I was decked out in full Tribal Liberation Force Combat Pilot gear, right down to real, burn polished combat boots.

Upon entering Jita IV – Moon 4 – Caldari Navy Assembly Plant, I quickly experienced what it’s like firsthand to be a Minmatar, that is to say, I was completely blind. The Fanfest locale was dimly lit for that dark, scifi, Eve type of feel, which was fantastic, but how the hell does a Brutor see in that light?

On the one hand, I didn’t want to break character, as Roc never takes his shades off. On the other hand, I nearly walked into three people within minutes of being there. Practicality versus immersion was a battle I fought all day long, particularly thanks to Shae, whom reminded me of my character at the most inopportune times, usually right when we were entering the darkest areas of the station.

I met Chris from Battleclinic, whom I recently did some 3D animation work for, and the end result turned out fantastically, and will be hitting their website next weekend.

It’s basically a tutorial video series on Amarr frigates. There is a small “picture in picture” display featuring an Amarr female narrating the various video pieces. I did the animation and voice synchronization for that.

Yeah, I know, I know, had I known it was for the Amarr originally, I would’ve told him where to stick it also… but, I did manage to get him to agree to a pretty nice deal.

The next series will be for Minmatar frigates, and the narrator will be none other than Matar Colonel Roc Wieler. I get to do the voiceover work and the animation. In return, my name will be printed under the caption, and be featured on Battleclinic, which receives about 2.5 million hits per month. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Shortly thereafter, one of the CCP devs I met the other day grabbed my attention, took an autographed picture, and introduced me to more of the CCP team. I just want to note how incredibly head trippy it was today as pretty much every CCPer I met today was happy to meet me, partly because of Capsuleer, partly because of my blog, a few even knew my music, but all were ecstatic about the autographed picture. The word “epic” was thrown around a few times.

Speaking of autographs, Shae got a very “special” message on her picture. I’m sure she’ll share it with you all when she’s ready.

I attended some fantastic fiction writing and content sessions today, as well as other informative sessions on Factional Warfare, ship design, and more.

The day finished off with a bit of a surprise.

OmberZombie had arranged a “Celebrity Deathmatch” between him and I in the PVP Tournament area… lovely.

Fortunately by that time in the day, the tournament had just finished, and the crowd had thinned.

We were given All Level 5 Skill characters, and T1 frigates with T1 equipment to fit them with.

The fight went on, and on, and on, and on, in my favour. Sadly, I just couldn’t kill him. How does anyone actually fly T1 fits? It was nearly ridiculous.

The judges had to call it, using the crowd opinion to declare a winner, and I’m happy to say that yours truly, Roc Wieler, am still the undefeated celebrity blogging, T1 fit flying champion?

Meh. It was all in good fun.

Chris and I did some walking around downtown, then headed over to Sweet Chili for dinner (that place with the giant burgers).

The meal was still good, but something smelled in the restaurant. I couldn’t figure out what the stench was until I finally noticed a large group of Goonswarm TShirts.

That explained everything.

Chris and I finished up our meals, then headed out, making sure to yell loudly before we went “Goons suck!” How could we resist?

I ran into some bank card trouble too… like I needed that. Knowing my bank, and their overzealous security program, my card was probably locked the first time I used in Iceland for possible fraud. I mean really, who would go to Iceland, right?

So now I’m going to finish my blog, open roaming charges on my phone, and spend about $30 – $40 on hold, waiting for my bank, simply to tell them they’re idiots, and to stop doing this to me every time I travel. It’s just embarassing after a while.

Did I mention the two Amarr in robes that tried to trash talk me today? It wasn’t their cheap robes that let me know they were Amarr; it was the fact they were both obese and carried themselves with a sense of entitlement. The only threat they presented was to the food supply, so better luck next time fellas.

Anyway, got to go deal with this. Tomorrow promises to be even more interesting.

Roc out.