It is once again that time of year, GDC.
Game developers from around the world gather together in San Francisco to share ideas, make new connections, and party until 2am, because that’s when all the bars close.
Yours truly has decided to return and give GDC another shot, and so far San Francisco has not disappointed.
This year, I have learned from my past mistakes and booked a room at my favorite hostel, the International Hostel of San Francisco. For just 400 something, I was able to get a room for myself. No stepping on peoples laptops or annoying roommates, but I got a bunk bed (the hostels prices everything by beds, not rooms) and no bath. In fact, the room I ended up with has just a sink, which makes sense when I went to the uni-sex bathroom and was missing the sink. Hostels, everyone, where the shared bathrooms have no sinks and some are in closets.
Seeing is believing:
Now let me back up a bit.
Per usual, my trip started off as a fun adventure.
After arriving in San Fran, the group I flew in with headed for the tram that would take us to the Bart station. It was a mad rush, bodies going everywhere, and just as I was about to step onto the tram I get cut off. I watch my party depart from the terminal and waved a good-bye as they disappeared into the distance. While I mentally prepared myself for a lonely Bart ride to Powell station, and cursed the man who cut me off, my group pops back up having waited for me to arrive. It was very heart warming with hugs all around.
Okay. We didn’t hug, but I felt like we should.
The group part ways at Powell station and I go for my checkin, only to find out that all check in times are at 3pm. There goes my nap time.
I check in my bags and wonder around the streets of San Fran looking for a place to eat, and secretly hoping I’ll run into some old friends. After awhile I end up in china town at the Far East Café, a place I ate at once in 2011 and been dying to go back to. The Far East Café has a wonderfully expensive menu made for a group of people. By the time I had realized my mistake, I had already sat down and ordered hot tea. Party of one, right here.
Let’s fast forward now. Pass checking in, nothing really eventful there. Met up with the writers’ crew at Chevy’s. We talked until closing and glared out of the restaurant by the wait staff. I part ways with the group and text my Dallas Crew looking for another place to hang. I get my friend Chris, who’s just made it into town and heading to his hotel.
This is where the night gets a little creepy. First off, San Francisco nights can be pretty eventful in both a bad or good way. Last year, I had a mixture of both. This encounter has the potential for going south quickly.
While I’m waiting for Chris to make it to Powell Station, a grungy man, on what looks like a kid’s bike he stole, rolls up with a classic line, “Hey Gurl! How you doing?”
I ignore him. Keep my head down. Don’t look crazy in the eye.
“Hey gurl, let me give you a dollar so you don’t think I’m sexually harassing you or nothin’.”
My friends.
He handed me a dollar.
I took it.
I didn’t know what else to do!
“That’s right, gurl. If there’s one thing you shouldn’t turn down in this world, it’s moooooney.”
Insert my awkward laugh and a massive prayer that my friend would show up soon.
Thankfully, Chris is staying in a hotel right down the street from my hostel so I’ll have a walking buddy all week. Woot! Safety is important, especially when you’re on the edge of the tenderloin.
“Safety is important, especially when you’re on the edge of the tenderloin.” such a thoughtful and descriptive way to put things when so much of the world looks at you as a piece of meet.