I’ve been awake since a little after 6am, I’m still stuck on the con’s organisation timetable – up at 6am down by 7am work till 3am and sleep by 4am. At this stage the pressure has been lifted from my shoulders and I’m able to actually think about it all, process and just really take it all in. Organising an event the size of ArcadeCon is an immense task and I consider myself to be a very fortunate man, fortunate enough to have family that encourage my dreams, fortunate enough to have friends to offer their time, talent and energy into running this and fortunate enough to have the support of a wonderfully diverse, beautiful, eccentric and brilliant community.
I never thought my life would change so much in four years, I never thought I’d be still doing all this.
This past weekend I’ve danced on stage wearing 24 purple balloons, I’ve been hugged by complete strangers, sat down to dinner with a legend, laughed so hard with a cosplay artist, knocked back shots of whiskey with my hero, my feet are killing, my voice is gone, my back aches and my body is exhausted but not once have I stopped smiling.
I would like to thank the event organisers, traders, artists, special guests and of course our sponsors who make the weekend possible and in particular Forbidden Planet Dublin who helped us bring Pendleton Ward over this year. I also want to take a moment to thank ‘The Irish Pubcast‘, Ciaran, Darren, Kim and Wayne, you are four of the most genuine and generous people I have ever met and I consider myself a very lucky person to count you as my friends. Hello Deer Films thank you for capturing every wonderful moment of the past four days – you’ve made it possible for me to sit down and see all the things I missed out on and I’m grateful for that.
To Jet Set Radio, The Radioactive Grandma, Valinor, the dancers, the burlesque performers, you are the embodiment of talent, your drive and energy is infectious and I am grateful that you chose to be part of our event.
Before I forget (not that I could) I just want to say thank you to the volunteers, the crew of the USS Arcade, you should be so proud of what you accomplished these past few months. It’s not just four days of hard work, it’s months of meetings, of pesky skype chats and passive aggressive posts from me. You bring so much joy, enthusiasm and ability to ArcadeCon every year and give more than I do every single year. Thank you for being so patient with me and thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my friend.
At the closing ceremony I addressed a rumour that was whispered around the convention – ArcadeCon 2015 wouldn’t happen!
You should know that this wasn’t a rumour, I had decided nearly two months ago that I could no longer keep my life balanced. If I am to be honest I felt like I had lost myself, somewhat overshadowed by my work, my time was non-existent and my life revolved around the website and the event and I wasn’t being fair to myself but more importantly to the people I love, my friends, my family and my partner.
Standing on the stage on Sunday night after witnessing four whole days of fun, joy, laughter and new friendships being forged I felt so guilty, I felt as if I was taking something away from everyone and I knew that Mairead felt the same way. It’s only now I’m able to put all of this into words but at that moment I was reminded exactly why we run the Arcade, why we bring ArcadeCon back every year; passion, we do this, we do all of this because it’s what we love to do.
Every year I see new faces appear at the show, new names popping up on the site, new volunteers but I also see familiar ones, the same supporters pushing us on, to do and be better and I realised that the Arcade and ArcadeCon are more than just websites and conventions, they are my life and the people in it are just as much my family as my own parents and brothers.
ArcadeCon 2015 will return, I promise!
For now though I will leave things here, I am tired and it’s all just sinking in, my mind is racing about next year already, I have so much I want to do, so much I want to improve and so much I want to make happen. I hope you will be there, I hope you will stick around on the Arcade and above all else I hope that whoever you are, you are happy and that ArcadeCon 2014 brought you nothing but good memories and friends.
Thank you so much!
Declan
Bonus clip…
Here are some of us in town with Pendleton Ward…
Editor-in-Chief, part-time super villain and hoarder of cats. If you can’t find me writing, I’m probably in the kitchen!
