This was the longest day (hopefully) of the whole trip. After waking up at 4:00 A.M. to catch my flight, I eventually arrived in Los Angeles at around 11:35. Of course, when you set up a plan to find people in an airport, it never actually goes according to plan. As I deplane, I find Justin waiting at the gate, but Martin was nowhere to be found. After wandering around the airport for a while, we finally find all three of us, and take the taxi to the hotel.

      With various people arriving throughout the day, we were the first group to arrive. We knew that we had 2 "triple" rooms, but had no idea what that actually meant. Since we booked through E3 Reservations, the details of the hotel were sketchy. As it turns out, we had two business suites. These are huge rooms. One even has a full kitchen! With plenty of room, I immediately realized we should have brought Dance Dance Revolution. Oh well, next time.

      Then came the realization that the hotel staff doesn't actually comprehend what "Fast Internet Access" really means. It turns out that yes indeed, the hotel has a T1 or something, but only for the staff machines to check other hotels. The rooms come with data ports. Since no one expected to actually need a dialup, we didn't have any information. Luckily, since we're here early for once, we have time to figure this out.

      Basically, everyone except David arrived somewhat as expected. We don't know when David is planning to show up, but we hope it's soon. We stayed up until near 02:30 A.M. just sharing stories and getting to know everyone.

Wednesday, May 16

      Woke up at 07:00 A.M. this morning. Years of diligent hungry cats have trained my body to wake at this time, regardless of current sleep required. Since everyone else was still asleep, I got ready, and then worked until the rest of the guys woke up.

      My first scheduled event for E3 was the Nintendo Press Conference. Since it started at 10:30, we figured we had plenty of time to get there. However, the number of people filing into the area was overwhelming, and the room basically was standing room only 20 minutes before the conference actually began. Once it did though, no one cared where they were, as long as they could see it all.

      You can read about the details in our news story. I will talk about what I thought. This isn't the first time I have seen the GameCube, but I was still completely impressed. Personally, besides the obvious instant addiction to Super Smash Bros. Melee, I have to say I was most impressed with the Zelda video once again. I can't honestly see how any one can beat Gannon in a true sword fight, but I can't wait to try. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be on the show floor. There's only one word to describe the GameCube. Damn.

      After the show, that was all I had for the day. Other staff members went off to the Sony conference, but I went to the one I wanted. I found a new favorite bag from the Nintendo show. I especially enjoy the special pouch for my Game Boy Advance. It doesn't just fit nice and snug, it actually has the GBA logo on the pouch. Awesome. I'm sure you'll see my new bag when we start building our E3 gallery. The rest of the day was spent working, hanging out, and typing up this journal for all you guys. Tomorrow is the start of it all, and I'm so hyped. Until tomorrow!