Hot Pink Freak

I blame my schedule on the tardiness of Day 1 of the #AtoZChallenge! I have been AFK for over a week, and I’m still recovering from the most amazing time at GDC. I’ll have TWO blog posts for today to make up for it! Today’s post is the letter “A”.

The “A” is for ATTITUDE.

Just a few smiling faces for our end of show picture!

I just spend the most amazing week with the best people in the world. I was accepted again in to the Conference Associate Program, aka the official volunteer program of the Game Developers Conference. It is an amazing program, and I’ve been lucky enough to participate more than once. 2013 GDC was not only my 3rd in the program, but my 1st as Staff! Being staff is the same as being a CA; we’re all the same. We just have more paperwork. 🙂 And we support the CAs whilst they’re working hard in all the jobs they do. We also take off our Staff shirts and put on a CA tshirt to sign up for extra jobs, or to sub out when someone gets a job interview or some other amazing thing they don’t want to miss.

Being a CA takes a LOT of attitude; a very positive attitude! A willingness to go above and beyond. Having a great positive attitude doesn’t mean you bring an ego or any sort of sucking up. You truly have a positive attitude and believe in helping people. You can be an introvert and still show attitude. You can be an extrovert and involve others in being positive.

When I first joined the CA program in 2010, I sat through the first meeting with all 400 people. There was an amazing vibe going on. My cynical self was scoffing inside; it reminded me of a cult, really. I quickly found out that these people are NATURALLY positive. Or they force it and want to work on it being natural. I felt that being older, I would have a difficult time. Just the opposite. No one cared about my age, my looks, my weight, or anything other than we’re all here with positive attitudes about…everything.

Cards Against Humanity Time!

I quickly fell in love with the program. The love & positive attitudes, even when exhausted or ill, really made me take a look at myself. How I quickly always saw the negative in just about everything. It was a struggle, I tell ya, to learn to love so openly. I waited for the shoe to drop; it really can’t be all this awesome. The shoe? It was that I had to face going back to the “real world”. The challenge would be to believe in myself, believe in others, and be more aware of love happening around me all the time.

I started out on a more positive life back in 2006 when I moved to Seattle to help my mom. I was working on not being a big jerk, and learning to love myself again after years and years of hatred in my heart. I was always looking for something to bring me happiness, instead of finding within myself. I learned how to set boundaries and cut loose the negative hateful people. My first year as a CA finally helped make the circle complete.

Sure, I’m still cynical and snarky. But not in a self-loathing or place of hate. I recognize my privilege and do what I can to help others. I started mentoring from a place of love & respect. As I am fond of saying, DO ALL THE THINGS! And I do them out of love.

I never thought I would carry a positive attitude in 95% of my day, every day. And I have to thank those who believe in me and love me.

All 80s all the time! Check out the Class of GDC pictures on the Official GDC Flickr page.