A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to an invite-only event that was hush-hush, don’t tell the public until after the fact, sort of a deal. I don’t often get the chance to “get out” in the industry, and seeing as how I live just under an hour south of the Seattle office, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to attend this event.

It is now the day after, I’ve had about 3.5 - maybe 4 hours of sleep, have a grande sized dark chocolate mocha of goodness from Tully’s filtering through my system, and the memory of meeting quite a few people that I’d love to talk with again in the future.

I tend to usually avoid Bellevue and Seattle in general. Passing by these two locations is akin to the feeling of relief that you gain after rolling your dice and discovering that you’re going to pass right on by the, “Go to Jail” spot on the monopoly board. Relief coupled with a dose of elation like you cheated your way out of a hair-pulling nightmare of a situation… this time, I actually was required to go into Bellevue itself.

I planned on leaving early to equate for traffic. Most of the time, a yahoo map will say that the commute time will be one thing, but depending on the time of day, you might want to double the time on that estimate so you have something a little closer to reality. I was pleasantly surprised with the traffic and landed myself in the SOE Seattle parking lot an hour before they were opening the doors.

So I decided to stake out the place, pull out my laptop and work on a few design elements for a project that I’m working on. Fun stuff. I’ll link you all to it later when its ready for viewing, but while I’m doing this, I see lots of people coming in and out and looking in my direction curiously. I felt like I was staking out the office in a sting-operation sort of way. Perfect type of a feeling for the evening though, as it was an evening dedicated to the espionage game, The Agency.

6:45pm: I see our very own Jethal Silverwing and his partner in crime, Elquinjena. Looks like its time to get this party started!

Walking in showed a few others walking around, some with early drinks, some just talking and hanging out. I got a chance to quickly talk with Hal(*) who reminded me of someone who’s had a little too much caffeine in his system, but he’s in Seattle. If you’re going to live in Seattle, you may as well be part of the caffeine scene, right?

In any event, this was more a mingling level of an event. Lots of people talking and making light conversation, lots of awesome artwork hidden in the back where there wasn’t supposed to be photography, an ice sculpture of a gun, and an open bar for most of the evening.

I’ll talk about more specific on The Ravecast this friday, but needless to say, it was a fun event and I hope I get the opportunity to visit the Seattle office again.

I took a decent amount of pictures of the evening’s fun, so please visit our gallery and check them out. If you have facebook, they’re on OGR’s facebook page as well.

Sincerely,

Ariel “Leonai_art” Leroux

P.S. Need More Cowbell Acronyms (N.M.A.) !!!

*Hal Milton is the Lead Designer for The Agency