Arizona Bao & Dumpling Festival

I had a great time staffing at the Takoyaki Balls truck this past weekend for the Arizona Bao & Dumpling Festival in Peoria, AZ. We had a great crowd with lots of customers who were eager to try the famous 🐙 dumplings. 🌧 clouds were overhead most of the day, but fortunately the weather held except for a couple of brief sprinkles. I'll be back there again next month for the Arizona Fried Chicken & Wing Festival 😋.

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Game On Expo 2024

This weekend was my second time staffing as an "NPC" at Game On Expo 2024. I worked two shifts at the Registration Booth and the flow of visitors checking in was non-stop the entire time. This year's event was the largest in history, I got to meet lots of interesting people, the Cosplay was outstanding, and the gaming hall was enormous.

One of the most impressive sights was the queue of nearly 1000 people waiting to attend the Baldur's Gate 3 Voice Actor Reunion panel. I also had the opportunity to meet Josh who was part of the development team for the Halo game series. Two or three tours through the massive Exhibit Hall resulted in the purchase of a couple of very nice art pieces to add to my collection.

This weekend was my second time staffing as an "NPC" at @GameOnExpo 2024. This year's event was the largest in history, I got to meet lots of interesting people, the Cosplay was outstanding, and the gaming hall was enormous. pic.twitter.com/luvxgQrRGa

— Gazerrick (@Gazerrick9000) March 17, 2024

Arizona Matsuri Festival

Had a blast as usual with the Takoyaki Balls crew at the Arizona Matsuri Festival on February 24th & 25th. I prepared nearly 1500 Gyoza Dumplings over the weekend and smashed my previous personal record.

Pets of Pima Parade

I started volunteering at the Pima Animal Care Center (PACC) last Fall, and my first time staffing at the Pets of Pima Parade (POPP) was on February 18th. The morning started out with setting up the staging area and then assisting participants with registration. That was followed by helping to control traffic on the route, handing out programs, and enjoying the parade. It was a lot more fun than I expected.

Tucson Symphony Orchestra

I recently started staffing as an usher for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. My first night on duty was on February 16th for their performance of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony and it was a glorious experience.

   

Diablo 4 Lunar Awakening Event

The perfect follow up to the Phoenix Chinese Week event.

Had some fun today collecting these cosmetics from the #DiabloIV Lunar Awakening event. I got the Lunar Scepter for my Sorceress, the Moonshot Bow for my Rogue, and the Moonborn Stallion.#Diablo #diablo4 pic.twitter.com/BUAfolXwWl

— Gazerrick (@Gazerrick9000) February 7, 2024

Phoenix Chinese Week

The crowd was great and just loved our food.

I had a wonderful time as always with the Takoyaki Balls crew this weekend at @PhxChineseWeek. The crowd was great and had an insatiable appetite for all the good food we prepared.😋 pic.twitter.com/3Pp7vJgzuF

— Gazerrick (@Gazerrick9000) February 5, 2024

Diablo 4 Season 3 Review

A summary of my gaming experiences during the first week of Season 3.

 

My review of the first week of Diablo 4 Season 3 is available right now at @PureDiabloCom. Check it out and let me know what you think.https://t.co/SkWP33Nbx7#diablo #Diablo4 #DiabloIV

— Gazerrick (@Gazerrick9000) January 31, 2024

Diablo 4 Season 3 Journey

 Just finished the Seasonal Journey for Diablo 4 Season of the Construct and it was lots of fun.

Finished the Seasonal Journey for #Diablo4 S3 today with my Arc Lash Sorceress. It was my first time accomplishing this in SSF mode and I truly enjoyed it. Tomorrow I will share my review of the first week of the Season at @PureDiabloCom.#diablo #DiabloIV pic.twitter.com/k8vIdw7vGo

— Gazerrick (@Gazerrick9000) January 30, 2024

Diablo 4 Season 3 Talk

This morning I listened to the Live on X talk about Diablo 4 Season 3 with Elon Musk, Rob 2628, Rhykker, & Wudijo.

It was a great discussion with a lot of insight, but the thing that amazed me the most was how Elon was able to stand toe to toe with some of the most capable Diablo gaming masters.

How does a guy who runs a Rocket Ship company and an Electric Car company still find time to be such an extraordinarily excellent gamer?

Just goes to show that brilliance is brilliance in whatever way or form it is applied.

So glad to have all of these guys involved in making one of my favorite games better and more enjoyable.

The Dev Update was a huge success!

Within the first 24 hours of posting the most recent Developer Update Livestream Recap it's accumulated more than 11,000 views.

That's more than double the amount of views from any of my previous articles for PureDiablo and is solid proof that the Diablo fans are genuinely excited for the start of Season 3 next week.

Here's my Diablo 4 Update Recap from today

  Diablo 4 Developer Update Livestream Recap for Season 3

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My Zoltun Kulle Lore Article for PureDiablo

  Zoltun Kulle: The Mage and His Machinations

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Guardian is done for Diablo 3 Season 30

Had a fun weekend, many thanks to Blizzard for keeping the game alive. My best was Rank 46 on the No Six Piece Solo Wizard Leaderboard. Shout out to everyone in the Diablo SSF community. Back to work at PureDiablo tomrrow.

     

Taiyou Con

Taiyou Con 2024, Arizona's annual Anime Convention, took place on January 5th & 6th and it was my first time staffing for the Takoyaki Balls food truck at an event this big. I really enjoyed working with the crew and also had some time to check out the Exhibit Hall. I prepared more than 600 Gyoza Dumplings over the weekend for a sea of happy customers.

My take on Casual Gaming in Diablo 4

  Diablo 4: The Hardcore Reality for Casual Players

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An profile of one of my favorite Diablo 4 streamers

  Diablo 4 Streamer Profile: Fame_Regalis

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My review of the first week of Diablo 4 Season 2

  Diablo 4 Has Risen

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My fan report from Phoenix Fan Fusion 2023

  Diablo 4 Rising

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I'm on a roll, here's article number two

  Was Reviewer Access a Bridge Too Far?

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My first news article for PureDiablo.com

Diablo 4 at Phoenix Fan Fusion 2023

Diablo Panel Presentation Resources

The list of online RESOURCES featured in my Diablo Panel Presentations at Phoenix Fan Fusion 2022 can be viewed by clicking HERE.

Phoenix Fan Fusion 2022

I will be presenting two panels at Phoenix Fan Fusion 2022.

The first panel is titled Rise of the Nephalem: Diablo Lore!, which is scheduled at 12:00pm on Friday, May 27th.
View the details by clicking HERE.

The second panel is titled Heroes of Sanctuary: Diablo III Endgame, which is scheduled at 12:00pm on Saturday, May 28th.
View the details by clicking HERE.

Another Career First in Diablo III

Season 25 Solo GR130 Clear with Inna Monk

A Career First in Diablo III

3-Player Single Floor GR 120

Stay Awhile and Listen...

I received some great news from the Panel Producers at Phoenix Fan Fusion. They have approved my proposal and will be including two of my presentations in their 2022 convention schedule. The first panel is tentatively titled Rise of the Nephalem: Diablo Lore! and the second one is Heroes of Sanctuary: Diablo III Endgame. I will be spending the next month preparing the final versions of the presentation outlines and slideshows. I also hope to have the opportunity at some point to review this in more detail with Jen on the Shattered Soulstone Podcast.

Gazerrick on Twitch

The process of setting up the new Twitch channel has been completed. All that remains is a bit more tweaking of the audio sources. Now streaming a minimum of twice per week on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. The channel reached 10 Followers as of yesterday evening. Although not a huge milestone, I expect to gain more Followers as the frequency of broadcasts increases. So far, so good :-)

New Twitch Channel

Great Blue Hole

I recently had the opportunity to visit Belize on a dive trip in the vicinity of Turneffe Caye, Half Moon Caye, and Long Caye. This included a dive down into the giant marine sinkhole knowns as the Great Blue Hole. The site was made famous by Jacques Cousteau, who, in 1971, declared it one of the top five scuba diving sites in the world. In 2012, Discovery Channel ranked the Great Blue Hole as number one on its list of "The 10 Most Amazing Places on Earth".

CactusPalm Live

After a prolonged hiatus, I’m very happy to report that the CactusPalm website is alive and well.
One of the principal motivators was the announcement that Phoenix Fan Fusion is a go for this Memorial Day.
Consequently, a new section on gaming has been created and a variety of items will be added soon, including the launch of a Twitch stream for Diablo III.