Jul 18, 2007 10:24
Timeline of RM8": Hey, don't you wish you slept at some point?
irish: Fuck you, you squiggly bastard!
I have no idea how many of the people there got the joke about the tournament name (and knew it was about me), but it still cracks me up. I'm totally famous.
I didn't enter any tournaments because I'm just not at a level to compete with the people that showed up. I'm not bad, but even at my best I wasn't SDG'ing 10's on DDR and ***'ing everything on ITG - and my best was definitely before I took about six months off.
But since when is a Southeast DDR tournament about the dance games? So many people came from so many places and I very much enjoyed meeting new people and seeing old friends.
When I posted on AIJ about the things I was bringing and intended to do at the tournament, I thought maybe a few people would be interested in those things and join me. I grossly underestimated the number of other interests this crowd had, and for once, I'm glad I was wrong about something.
Thursday Karen and I took off work and left around noon for Wilson. We didn't make any stupid wrong turns on the way up and were pleasantly surprised by the number of people there and greeted amazingly.
Spencer was the first person we saw after parking down the street from Josh's. I had told Karen a little bit about how energetic and ridiculous he was, but she thought I was exaggerating. He put her doubts to rest when he practically flew down the street to greet us - losing his hat in the process. Spencer also means Mason and Connie, and they're always a pleasure, as well.
I probably spent more time with Spencer than anyone else over the course of my time there, and I can't say I regret that in any way. After saying hello to most everyone else there, introducing Karen, meeting a few new people, Spencer and I sat around theorycrafting for awhile since he's getting back into WoW.
Josh came back a little bit later from checking on the shirts with DukAmok and Omid. I hadn't met Omid before, but I'm very glad I got to.
I spent a fair amount of time learning a 4x4 and 5x5 cube, and both are pretty interesting. I really wish I could have sat down with no distractions to do it, but DukAmok was a good teacher and I really enjoyed it.
Crazy Fire was amazing. Spencer and Omid made a few poor decisions about their choice of toppings/sauces and it was amusing. This was also the only time I got to see r0cketlad and ScottyP, so I had a drink with those guys and Spencer before heading to the parking lot for more mayhem while Josh was picking up Tiza.
I had a disc out and was already tossing in the parking lot when Josh returned, Tiza recognized me instantly as he was apparently told that I'd be the 6'3" red head with the disc (there couldn't be that many of us, right?) and called for a pass. I thoroughly enjoyed tossing with him and all the random chaos we participated in together.
Spencer is a really good juggler.
People eventually went back to wherever they were supposed to be. I drove Karen, Spencer, Mason and Connie to and fro'. I would advise against this if you dislike the sensation of laughing until your face hurts.
RPS is a lot of fun. DukAmok was the only person that didn't fall for the Paper mind-games and beat me without even looking up from his DS (5 scissors in a row! ouch!).
I vaguely recall going to bed at some point and waking up Karen. This, of course, was after the most amazing session of Three Flags Up to have ever existed. We played for so long, and I was so greedy (see: running and jumping for things I had no business catching but got anyway) that it left my thighs hurting until yesterday (as if I needed another excuse to not enter any of the tournaments). I don't usually get sore, but TFU with Tiza, Josh, DukAmok, Omid, Spencer and Cody kicked my ass. I also feel like I'm missing someone, but I can't think of who...
Friday was a lot of time at Putters tossing (Smidget and DDRFreak457 turned out to be really good) and trying to get some good pictures of people being athletic in ways that didn't involve dance games. It's incredibly difficult to get people to throw anything to me that I need to jump for, so if I jump anyway I look super awkward (and there's a picture to show that off in Lara's Fotki). Saturday also had a lot of me being good at pool and beating Spencer a lot. I mention this, because Saturday and Sunday had a lot of me being bad at pool and Spencer (and Samma) beating me (and Karen) a lot. I'm always too hard on myself when I mess up at things, Karen really keeps me from going over the edge so I can still enjoy myself and I'm lucky to have her. Regardless, I love the look on everyone else's face when I'm playing poorly and then sink four beautiful shots on my next turn to tie it up/take the lead (in 8 ball).
Friday night was a complete Sonicventure, even with everyone in the world there I couldn't help but miss Thomas. He's very much my partner-in-Sonic-related-crimes-of-being-awesome, but a good time nevertheless.
Being told you're too loud to be outdoors is both amusing and bemusing.
We eventually got everyone together and headed back to Josh's (other than the people heading elsewhere).
Saturday I handled a ton of stuff for the DDR qualifiers, played pool (terribly), and spent some more time talking to people and just hanging out. Samma, Spencer, Karen and I ran into Jason the Great and Lil Q at Taco Bell, they're both pretty cool guys. I also stole Jason's hat.
Sakura and Rose was amazing. Karen and I destroyed Samma and Spencer at Dinner Challenge, but Spencer quad-starred the watermelon and I must applaud that. Role call was also pretty incredible.
I stayed up really late Saturday night hanging out with Josh, Spencer, Jash, Lyndsi, Samma and SoCal. As people started going to bed I hung out with more Lyndsi and FL and less everyone else until Jash, DukAmok and Samma all showed back up.
Ross sleeps really heavily. Karen and Heather not so much.
Sunday was more of the same except I started playing pool well again (at points) and included more Vile. We left much later than I had planned on since my laptop was kind of running DDR brackets. BlueMystik, MegaManX and NicX are all really fucking good. I regret I really didn't spend much time at all talking to BlueMystik, but MMX was a fantastic person and NicX is always fun to be around (except for when he tried to crush me).
Pirin is clearly terrified of tall people and was sure to make me feel guilty about being a giant every time I got near her. Then she went and stole my shirt (maybe?)! What a bitch. <3
In lieu of shout-outs I think I'll just make a few remarks to save myself some time.
I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time and it was really good to catch up with them and hang out again.
I met a lot of new people that I'm looking forward to seeing again in the future.
I didn't hang out with all the same people I usually hang out with, and not just because there were new people there and I feel good about that. Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed spending most of my time with Josh and DukAmok, but branching out just a little bit made my entire experience just a little more varied and I don't regret it. Don't worry, you're still my "bff Jill", Josh.
Being back at work (with stupid fucking net filters) has made tracking down pictures a real pain in the ass. If you wouldn't mind, leave a link to your photobucket/fotopic/fotki/flickr/whatever if you have pics from the tournament. I didn't even bring my camera. I AM ALSO IN DIRE NEED OF THE GROUP PIC OF EVERYONE THROWING PAPER!
itg,
road trip,
games,
rocky mount,
tournament,
ddr,
nc