The Stockholm Paradox trip was very short, but the recovery from it may take a little longer. I barely slept on the flight there and arrived to learn that my room was not ready and would not be ready until about 20 minutes before I had to leave for the opening event at City Hall. So, with minimal sleep I stumbled through lunches, presentations, a very meat filled dinner and a little bit of drinking. Full Disclosure: Paradox Interactive paid for pretty much everything.

Then there was the next day with more presentations. This was also the day I woke up to an email from a good friend commiserating with me on the Crispy Gamer layoffs. I had no idea what the hell she was talking about, of course. The long and short of it was that I was at a media event for a company that didn’t even really exist in the same form any more and would not be needing my previews.

There will be previews – Bill Abner at Gameshark agreed to find a place for them – but I still have to write them all up.

The highlight, as usual, was meeting my peers in the media. Evan Lahti from PCGamer, Daniel Shannon from Gamespot, Jeff Haynes from IGN…it’s always great to talk business and compare impressions. Also, gossip, but nothing I can repeat.

Sadly, I did not have much time to see the city. A tour of the Vasa museum was on tap for Saturday afternoon, but I had to fly out that morning.

Little sleep and a seven hour time difference have conspired to make me somewhat dazed if not really jet-lagged. I don’t think you can get jet-lagged if you aren’t in a foreign city for long and you never really adjust to that schedule anyway. I will admit that the 4:30 PM darkness was a little bit freaky – waking from a nap and thinking I had missed the taxi to dinner was unusual. Not as unusual as going to Sweden to eat at a Cajun restaurant and drink at an Irish pub, though.

Once I get the previews written and submitted, I’ll let you know. Now for more coffee.