Open House Aftermath

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Kevin
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Open House Aftermath

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Open House Aftermath

We are still recuperating from the 2012 Open House. :-)

The Open House was a strange combination of hard work and adrenaline, joy and fun with a healthy dose of friendship. It was an amazing good time and a joyful weekend with friends. An estimated 230 people attended this year’s event, and as far as I can tell, everyone had a great time.

For most people, the Open House ended on Sunday. For us, it ended more like Tuesday, and we are still recovering. I know I am.

By 6:00 PM Sunday evening, most gamers were on their way home. Prior to that, around 5:00 PM, a number of gamers, led by artist Nick Bradshaw, helped collect and stack tables and chairs, and straighten up the place for us. Thank you, it was much appreciated.

It had been 3-4 days of non-stop gaming and camaraderie for most people, but for us, the event continued (which is very cool, as once the Open House starts, we hate to see it end).

Carmen Bellaire and Will Johnson had squeezed in numerous video interviews with Palladium artists, writers and personalities all weekend long. They will be released over the weeks to come on Carmen's YouTube site where he also reviews Palladium products. I couldn’t do my segment until after the Open House ended Sunday evening. I wanted to make sure I was available to say goodbye and shake hands with every last person and sign every last book. That meant Carmen and I couldn’t start shooting my video segment till around 6:30 PM Sunday evening. Of course, since I’m a blabbermouth, it turned into three, 10 minute segments, not just one. :D In the first one, I talk about the Open House. The next two cover the six-part gaming event I ran with approximately 72 players (11-14 players per game). That meant we didn’t get done till around 7:30 PM. I hope Carmen and I don’t look too exhausted. I fear I may have rambled a bit. We were both pretty exhausted and running on pure adrenaline.

Then it was off to eat at Bennigan’s to have dinner. Our party was met with applause when we walked through the front door by the 20 or so gamers already at the restaurant. That was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. We wanted to join that group, but there was only seating for 4-5 of us and we had 8 in our group. The waitress led us to another table and I enjoyed dinner with Kathy Simmons, Wayne Smith, Carmen Bellaire, Joe Bergmans, Nick Bradshaw, my old pal, Isaac Xavier-Santos and his friend Joe. We were later joined by Hendrick Harterich (all the way from Germany), and several other people dropped by to chat for a few minutes or to offer one last goodbye. It made for a very pleasant evening.

Shortly after Kathy and I got home, around 11:00 PM, we retired for the night. I think I was asleep three seconds after my head hit my pillow.

Monday. Kathy was up bright and early Monday morning processing credit card orders and cleaning up the kitchen. After breakfast, I headed to the office where I met Will Hunter (aka “Killer Cyborg”) around 8:40 AM. Will was the first of the volunteers to arrive to help straighten the place up, and he was a tremendous help with clean-up. Matt (from the UK – also a big help), Joe, Nick, Lonnie Langston, Dennis Hughes and a small number of other folks lent a hand or swung by to say goodbye. Nick and Joe were machines the entire Open House helping at every turn, so were Doug Lamberson and Shawn and Lisa Hall, but nobody worked harder that our own Kathy Simmons. Kathy was superhuman and surprisingly perky and pleasant Monday.

Monday afternoon, Hendrick joined me, Will and Matt for lunch at the Greek Coney Island around the corner, while Wayne, Joe Bergmans, and Matthew Clements went out for sushi. We talked for hours until Will and Hendrick had to head home around 3:00 PM.

That evening, Matt, Nick, Wayne and Joe joined Kathy and I at our home where we watched the movie, Children of Men, on DVD. After Joe took Matt to catch his plane back to the UK, we grabbed something to eat at one of my favorite Italian restaurants. Bradshaw spent the night on our couch and I think we all slept like babies.

Tuesday. That morning, poor Kathy had to get up early (5:30 AM!) to go to her other job. Nick and I met Joe Bergmans for breakfast at 8:00 AM. We talked and talked, and talked the morning away, slipping in some additional cleaning, signing of books and other odds and ends till about 3:30 PM when both of these outstanding human beings had to catch flights home. Thanks guys.

I felt more tired Tuesday than I did all weekend or Monday. I think it all finally caught up with me. Whew, what a fun but wild ride.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012. Most of today was spent catching up on, well, everything. Bills, shipping and getting back into the swing of things.

The Open House was awesome. We are left with warm memories and good feelings. Now we have to get our heads out of the clouds, catch our breaths, and get back to banging out books.

There is much more to come. I’ll talk more about the actual Open House, events, and games in the Weekly Update and at a special Open House location on the Palladium website, along with photographs.

Keep those imaginations burning and game on.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer and Conventioneer

© Copyright May 9, 2012 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.

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