Harrowing trip to Toronto. Are you ready? It's a fun thing to read about later? Let's find out!
The whole idea was to take a trip to Toronto to meet up with some people in the industry, and to feel out how the industry is growing here. I figured since it was a social gathering that I'd be required to pretend I enjoy beer, thus, I opted for a bus ride. A very nice idea because the bus goes from two blocks away from here to two blocks away from the meet. I even brought a ds along to play final fantasy - the original! Fun stuff, they had it down right, except the whole combat every 3 seconds thing.
The bus station was packed, I suppose because it was the thursday before the canadian thanksgiving (it's way early here, huh). I was very worried I wouldn't be able to get a ride, but thankfully grayhound pulled through and brought a second bus. I was impressed! I was impressed that they weren't incompetent and unprepared!
I arrived at Toronto with enough time to buy some chewing gum. At the store, a lady was yelling at the clerk because she couldn't see the numbers on the lotto ticket, and the clerk was yelling because he didn't know how to fill one out. She said some high-larious stuff, like how Canada is a third world country thanks to jerky clerks like him. Classy. Chewing gum obtained. Level up!
I figured I should get something in my belly since I was going to miss dinner, but couldn't manage more than a mocha. Good ole Tim's. Classy!
The meet was at a pub in downtown Toronto, and as I walked in I glanced at the backroom and paled. There were only a handful of people there, and they all looked way too young. Maybe I wasn't fashionably late enough? When I entered the room I was greeted by someone: "Welcome to hell." Really? I was in for a long night.
I made my rounds, in the end there were about a dozen people. Most of them out of jobs, or still in school. I found two people though, they seemed to be the organizers off to themselves. I introduced myself and talked to them for a couple hours about miscellany. Unimportant to the interest of this story.
At around 9:30 everyone had cleared out except them. I figured I'd catch the early bus back... when all of a sudden the meeting coordinator said we should head upstairs. Ominous! It was a good thing I stuck around, going upstairs, there they were - 20 people between the age of 30 and 45. It was perfect.
Met loads of people, a couple contract offers too! Well not offers but people needing some work done and promises to check my stuff out. One really tiny, a few medium, and one super huge one which seems like a pipedream, but who knows. :)
I was talking to this big shot when I was told by someone else heading back to the bus that I had 15 minutes or else I'd have to take the 4am bus. Decision time - do I chat this guy out for the chance to make a big break in my career, and come back four hours later? I was just getting into the meat of it with this guy, so figured I'd chance it.
It was a great conversation, and really went my way. And then the surprising thing happened, and MORE people showed up at 12:30! I talked to one of them for a couple hours, another good contact who's established here.
At 3 the pub kicked all of us out, and I took my ds and headed to the bus stop to wait for the 4am.
The 4am was a hoax. There was no such thing... the next bus was actually 6:45. And the bus station was closed. The coffee shops were closed. There was no where to go, no where to wait, and nothing to do for almost four hours. Maryl was relying on me to get back by 7:30... but instead I'd be getting back closer to 9. Serious miscalculation. She was a dear and chatted to me on the phone until my phone died...
Toronto at 4am is a scary place. I kept getting people walking up to me trying to sell me porno dvds. At least it wasn't drugs, I suppose. It's also a very cold place. Thankfully the bus stop eventually opened a couple hours later, so I had a warm place to sit for the last hour or two. I slept on the bus ride back, and ran home as fast as I could. What an adventure...