Early the next day, Neal, Justin, and I found ourselves in a shuttle to LAX, done with E3 and ready to stagger home. As Neal and I were dropped off at a different terminal and as Neal’s flight left five minutes before mine, you wouldn’t need to be a genius to see how aware I was that what was once a group of ten was now (from my perspective) a group of one with memories of being with a group of ten.  On my flight home and for about a day or two after (not so long ago), the wistful feelings of loneliness I had were real. I learned so many things, met so many great people, and spent time in a sea of human beings just like me, and now, gone like nothing. At the risk of transparency, I was a bummer and, honestly, a dick to be around during that time.

Of course, as anyone reading this could have figured out, I was wrong to think like that.

It was only when I was finishing up my previews and started organizing the outline that would become this mammoth of an article that I realized I was looking at it as something that was gone and not something amazing that happened. I spent time with nine other people who effectively blurred the lines of online friends, real-life friends, and family; I got to be there at the E3 when PS4 and Xbox One were both playable for the first time – and got to play both; I won a 3DS XL and proclaimed the website I worked for as my location of origin; I got to be in a room filled with professional journalists when the Wii Fit Trainer was revealed as a playable Smash Bros. character. I lived my dream. If anything, this event only made me realize that video game journalism is something in my blood that I could never fully give up (no matter how hard I try).

So, obviously, I regret nothing.  As I type this conclusion, the only thing I feel right now is elated that I get to tell a ton of people about one of the finest weeks I have ever had in my entire life.

And, of course, there’s always next year.

E3 2014 photo from Gamespot