I was always known for being organised, but anxious me would go into panic mode the moment something happened beyond my control. That’s why I always had to have a plan B…
The “other side” of my business is the “Gamer” – For those of you who don’t know I’m (co) head admin of Nintendo Players UK, and co-founder of Nintendo North Wales. Established in 2013 and 2012 respectively. I’d been organising events for the latter for all this time, and occasionally I got to organise bigger events on the national side. “Miivision” in 2014 & North vs South in 2015 were captained by myself. My anxious self… We always survived, but my nerves would be in shreds the whole time.
I also contributed to the organisation of the NPUK Smash Finals in 2015, The Switch Premiere event in 2017, and more recently the NPUK Mario Kart Finals in Birmingham, October 2022.
Things never quite go to plan though.
Catering hasn’t been sorted? Panic! Equipment hasn’t arrived? Panic!
We can’t use a venue? The world has ended! I used to end up in floods of tears, and eventually a security guard would feel sorry for me and let me in… It was embarrassing at best…
Fast forward to 2022, I’d written a book about overcoming my anxiety disorder, so by the event in October 2022, I was confident enough to stand at the front of a large group of people to hand the winners their prizes.
Summer 2023, NPUK marked its tenth anniversary, and we (The committee) knew we had to sort something special for it. I recorded the special podcast with former Nintendo Community managers ‘Towny’ and James, and we were all set to have an exclusive event at Nintendo HQ with a guest list made up of founders and admins from all over the UK.
Then not one, but TWO disasters struck!
Train strikes 30th September. A lot had to drop out due to this.
Then the week before: WE CAN’T USE THE VENUE!
Nintendo HQ is a special place in our hearts, and some cancelled because they didn’t see the point in going if it wasn’t at HQ…
Coming from Anglesey we couldn’t cancel our hotels, so when the current Nintendo community Manager, Marc, suggested we could use the local Wetherspoons, there were a few raised eyebrows.
Three days to go, some important parts were MIA, and I had to make a decision so I could update the few remaining admin who still wanted to come and spend the day with us. A little bit of fear escaped me when it came to “what if Spoons doesn’t let us in”, so the other Head Admin, Tash, gave them a ring to ask if they had the space. As long as we bought food/drink, yes they had space. Nothing was bookable though.
I put my faith in the universe, and knew that whatever happened we would have a great time!
Driving down to Windsor takes us the best part of 5 hours, with a few stops along the way. We stopped at Chester for a bit of shopping, then Bridgnorth for a spot of lunch. One more stop in Oxford services for a cuppa, and we were there.
But.. there’s nothing worse (as a pianist who sight reads) than coming across a public piano and having no music to play… If I was to try and play from memory, you may as well say I can’t play the piano!
We’d booked two nights, and so had the Manchester guys. Dylan and I found a Pho noodle place for tea, and enjoyed a pho noodle soup each, so filling! Loved it though, and it was a quieter restaurant, so I made a mental note of that “just in case”. We caught up with the Manchester guys later in the evening. I finished the night by playing some Samba De Amigo because I felt like I hadn’t moved enough with all the sitting in a car.
The morning of the event, the four of us who’d stayed over, went for a potter around the town, and to the handmade fudge shop that I’d remembered from our last visit there (March 2020) We of course nipped down to HQ for a sneaky selfie!
Once it hit 11am, we started going to the Wetherspoons. It wasn’t quite Nintendo HQ, but it had the space being three storeys high. The downstairs was shut off, but there was an alcove upstairs which we found which contained 4 tables and had just become free. Perfect! We set up there, sitting on a table each, until the others started to arrive.
We had representation from NSG (London), North Wales, Manchester, Reading, Portsmouth, Basildon, Basingstoke, and the Nintendo guy themselves!
Dave from Basildon had brought a battery powered TV, which a member of staff from Wetherspoons had issue with. When we promised to play it muted, she was ok with that though, phew! It was a nifty thing, and saw quite a good selection of Indie games across the day (as well as Mario Kart/Tetris, which were the main features of the day that everyone could get involved in)
We weren’t sure whether Marc (Nintendo guy) would be able to show up, but they were able to make most of the day, so it was great to catch up with them too!
I only managed one round of Mario Kart, but five rounds of Tetris (I only won the first one though, it was a good mixed bag of who won!)
We managed a group photo before anyone needed to leave too.
The only guy who didn’t have his Switch was Dylan, because he’d left it plugged in to charge on a far away wall…!
Only Ant (Basingstoke) had to leave early, but it was nice to hear that 100% of the crowd wanted to stay for tea! The only issue was where. I was asked not to go to Wagamama as one of the crowd found it a trigger for anxiety, so I suggested Pizza Express. Venue too small after investigation. Then I remembered the place Dylan and I went to the previous night. The Pho noodle place! It was quiet again, so they were able to sit all 14 of us without problem. Everyone found something they could have, perfect!
We rounded off the day by me deciding to have a bubble tea, so half the group joined me. We chatted outside and then went our separate ways. Us and the Manchester guys came back for a few more games of Mario Kart in the Travelodge lounge before winding down for bed.
Such an awesome day.
But those who know me, know I will always have a plan B no matter what. I will never give up on a plan, and to date, everything has happened one way or another, including that time when I was supposed to be in hospital but I appeared in the group photo 😛
Why did I choose to tell this story on this site? Because it’s all about mindset and never giving up. It’s part of my story. This is a major part of my life. This is what I do for community work/giving back, and of course it’s the GAMER part of the Tropic Pianist Gamer.
Ten years later and NPUK is the strongest and most together it’s probably ever been, and I’d love to say cheers to us as a collective for making it and let’s toast to another ten years and beyond!
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