The SIGGRAPH Experience

So I'm going to attempt to cover a lot of ground with this. SIGGRAPH 2010. This was one awesome experience to say the least. Getting there actually sucked a great deal. For one thing, I had never flown before. (never had a good reason) So this is how it starts. I get on an airplane at the Indianapolis airport and I'm thinking it's going to be so awesome that in 4 hours I will be in Los Angeles. Then everything went wrong. First, I hated the plane I was on. It only seated like 80 people and it was just way too small for me. I am 6 foot 3 inches tall so you could just imagine how much it sucked. Well, my connecting flight was in Chicago and the weather in the windy city was not that great so my flight from Indy was delayed. After sitting on the runway for 20 minutes, the pilot informs us that we are going to taxi back to the terminal and pick up 7 more passengers. We get to the terminal and the 7 passengers do not get on the plane because United Airlines is having trouble with their ticket scanner. The pilot then informs that we may be rerouted to St. Louis because the weather has not let up in Chicago. We were back on the runway again at this point so we had to taxi back to the terminal to get more gas according to the pilot. 2 things didn't make sense to me at this point.

One. Why couldn't the gas truck just drive out to the runway and fuel the plane there?
Two. Why didn't the plane have enough fuel to begin with?

Seriously. Let's say the plane had to be diverted to St. Louis while in the air and there wasn't enough fuel. We all know how that would have ended. A big explosive mess followed by a news report about so and so plane going down in so and so area. Okay, I'm probably being over-dramatic but you get the point. Finally after 2 hours the plane is allowed to take off for Chicago. By this point, I'm not even enjoying that I am about to fly for the first time anymore. I just want off the damned plane. I'm hoping that my connecting flight to L.A. was also delayed and will be waiting for me in Chicago when I land. Nope, it took off without me. So I head to the customer service desk only to see a line 3 miles long and realize I don't have time for all that. It's now something like 9 am in Chicago when I was actually supposed to land at 6 am. Just to clarify, my connecting flight was supposed to land in L.A. at 11:30. (California time of course)  So I don't really have any idea where to go or even where my luggage is at this juncture. So I started going around to every United Airlines terminal I can find and seeing if any of the ticket agents can point me in the right direction or contact someone who can help me out. Once again to clarify. I've never flown before, never even been in an airport before. The closest I came to an airport prior to this was to watch planes take off "Wayne's World" style in my more behaving badly youthful days.

So now here I am in the busiest airport in the world with no clue what the hell I am going to do. Just then, everything got better. I spot a guy in a suit walking around a United Airlines terminal. I ask him if he is with United and he says he is the head of the airline at O'Hare. Perfect!! He gets me on the next plane out to Los Angeles and tells me that is the plane my luggage will be on because it was the next scheduled flight to L.A. I get on the plane, we take off, I'm feeling better. I land in Los Angeles, get my luggage and head to where my shuttle is supposed to be waiting to take me to the hotel. I was now back in excited mode. Since I missed the shuttle also due to the delay, I tell the person in charge about my situation and show her my confirmation for the shuttle service. I am not allowed on any of them because I missed my scheduled shuttle. After an hour of wrangling with this person, I started getting more than agitated. In fact, I'm downright pissed. I've been awake since 3 am (Indiana time) I didn't sleep on the plane. The last thing I had to eat was a donut at the Indy airport probably a good 6 or 7 hours earlier. I tell this person that I want on the next shuttle, that I need to check in at my hotel and then get to the Convention Center. I go on to say that if my request cannot be carried out that I want a full refund of what I paid for the service in cash on the spot and I will get a cab. Needless to say, I was on the next shuttle.

I finally get to the hotel and check in with the lady at the desk being very polite and allowing me to not worry about my payment options at this point due to me now being in a hurry. I meet up with one of my roommates Jesse and we hop aboard the metro to the Convention Center. It cost a dollar to ride the metro and all I had on me was a twenty. Jesse tells me to put the twenty in the machine and I get a ticket. I also get 19 individual dollar coins much to the humor of Jesse and myself. So now here I am on the metro with Jesse and the distinct sounds of a bunch of change rattling around in my pocket. We make it to the Convention Center and get our badges and attend the SV Orientation. The Orientation was awesome to say the least. After the orientation, there was CGW panel held for us which was great. The part of this that peaked my interest the most was the guy who worked on Avatar telling us about how the modeling of the environment would happen as the characters walked. I really want the script for that. Also, while this is happening Jesse and I are on the lookout for our roommate Eric who we've never seen, and I was the only person as far as I know who had contact with him prior to the trip. Jesse, myself, and Andy (our other roommate) began saying he just didn't exist at all. He eventually did arrive at the hotel two days after the Conference started. He had been staying with a friend the whole time. lol. After the CGW Panel, I went back to the hotel and passed out from exhaustion.

So the next day was the start of the SIGGRAPH Conference. This was a free day for me so I took the time to make the rounds. I went to The Studio a few times as I knew this would be where my volunteer shifts were going to be and I wanted to see what it was all about. The most excellent part of the day was when I went to the Avatar session. I loved hearing just about how much work went into Avatar and all the tricks that were done to make that movie work. Very techie stuff so I'll leave that out for those who may not fully understand what I'm talking about but will say three very important words. Spherical Occlusion Shader. I want the script for that one also. Apart from just being at the Conference and taking in all of the awesomeness, the coolest thing to me was finally getting to be around a group of people just like me. It honestly could be described as controlled chaos. Each of the other volunteers I had met were kinda wacky and were just big kids trapped in the bodies of grown-ups. I loved it!!

So that night, myself, Andy and Jesse decide we are going to start seeking out parties and we are informed of one that is happening on the rooftop of The Standard Hotel in downtown L.A. We get there and our told that we can't come in because Jesse isn't wearing pants. Cool down with the dirty thoughts, he was wearing shorts. We decide to try and sneak our way in and almost succeed until we are met with resistance on the rooftop as soon as we get off the elevator. We decide to hop on the metro and go back to the hotel so Jesse can put some pants on. We get back downtown and finally are let into the party. Of particular note was the 70's era B-movie porno playing on the billboard atop the hotel across the street. The group we were in began watching this film and doing dvd style director commentary on what we were seeing. Oh and the big ass water beds in huge red plastic spheres were pretty cool as well. Only in L.A. You can't make this stuff up.

So anyway. The next day is my first shift. Most awesome and kick ass moment was when I see 3 people standing within my range and I notice they are wearing black jackets with the Monster's Inc logo on the shoulder. Not wasting any time, I approach them and ask them what kind of work they do for Pixar. They were freaking character animators!!! From Pixar. Hell yeah. I was beside myself with glee. Pixar is the place where I want to be a character animator and I was now talking to not one, not two, but three of them!! I felt pretty damned good at that point. In fact, if I hadn't been trying to look somewhat professional, I may have just gone totally goofy.

So then Wednesday came along and the exhibition floor opened. I immediately hit Pixar's Renderman booth and got the hookup on my kick ass Toy Story 3 poster which was free. However, I didn't get the walking teapot but I wasn't disappointed by that. I sort of viewed the teapot as a novelty item while the poster was something I really wanted to have. I also made the rounds at the Autodesk booth, the Pixologic booth, the Nvidia booth, and some others that I can't remember right off hand. I also picked up an enormous amount of swag along the way. I had a short shift that day so I had a lot of time to take in the exhibition floor. All in all it was a good day. So now it is Thursday. The last day. I go to my shift in The Studio and today was an awesome day. I got to be the assistant to Stephen Burns, an author who has written many many books about Photoshop. This was pretty damned cool in my opinion.

So the day came to an end and the final SV raffle took place. I don't think I'll ever forget a room full of people singing "Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi anytime soon. No further description needed. So as they day came to a close, myself, my roommates, and group of others hit Little Tokyo for dinner. Singing Happy Birthday to a girl in our group so she could get free ice cream was pretty funny. By the way, it wasn't her birthday. So I get back to the hotel, and I have to start packing my things because my flight leaves in about six hours. I'd be lying if I said I wanted to leave. I would have stayed if I could, but as with all good things it must end. I get to LAX, get onboard the plane and we take off. No delays, no problems, nothing. I loved this flight. It was the best. I loved the plane, a nice sized 767. Flying over Colorado and landing in Denver for my connecting flight was the best. I get back to Indiana and immediately feel terrible. I never really thought of Indiana as home even though I was born here, and I certainly knew it wasn't my world. The world that is mine was the one I just left. For one totally awesome week, I got to be around everything I could ever dream of, and met the coolest people anyone could ever hope to meet. The only complaint that I could ever have was that it came to an end. It was the coolest week I can remember. I had to leave, and after being in L.A. for a week being around such awesome people, we all left and went back to our normal lives. The only thought I am left with now is I can't wait to go back.