Worlds 2011: as told by andrea

Status
Not open for further replies.

andrea

/me cresselias


San Diego, California: August 11-15, 2011

as told by andrea


I never wrote a warstory for any of the previous four VGC events I went to, but finally decided that the fifth event was worthy enough. The VGC 2011 metagame came to a close in San Diego this past weekend and I was lucky enough to attend Worlds this year with Chad. Because I have a monopoly on the most VGC pictures from Worlds, I decided to finally reveal them to the public via this warstory.

Preface:
I suppose I’m finally a familiar face around Smogon by now. I attended Nationals last year and have risen as a popular wifier for giving out free shiny VGC mons to competitors this year and last. I have had a pretty dreadful VGC season this year. In DC, I made it to round three. In Newark I lost round one to a very unfortunate match-up. Nats LCQ I made it to round two. After so many disappointing events I thought that it would be fun to go try one last time but ultimately watch and cheer on everyone else in Worlds. The main reason to go would be to take a fantastic vacation to California and also to see everyone one last time before VGC 2012. Chad and I managed to catch some discounted plane tickets to California and TTS was amazing enough to offer space in his free room. With finances in check, Chad and I were ready for our trip to California.

Before we go straight to the event, lets meet our main characters!


Andrea “andrea” Shaffer
Description: Our protagonist. Stereotypical naive blonde but also a girl on the internet! Original resident chicka that hangs with the boys.


Chad “Magnus” Skoch
Description: The brawny man himself; tears up the court no matter the sport.


Huy “Huy” Ha
Description: Burnt out after a rough season. Still pretty ballin' either way. There's a new dynasty in town, amirite?


Duy “Bianca222” Ha
Description: Hoopster extraordinaire and hard-core America fan. Always down for a good time.


Len “Alaka” Deuel
Description: Tall, skinny, and able to abide by all correct traffic laws even when the other cars DON'T.


Scott “Synre” Glaza
Description: One pretty bad dude. Orders bottles of pop and doesn't get them opened. Orders endless lunch but finds the end. Able to trick waitresses into second-guessing what kind of guy he really is.


Alan “Dubulous” Sutterlin
Description: Another baller. One awesome substitute guardian when you can't trade in games if you're under the age of eighteen!


Kathleen “Age of Kings/AoK”
Description: Holy goodness another girl on the internet! Knows the best local places to go and is oodles of fun no matter the situation.


Danny “TTS” Zollner
Description: Best roommate ever. Best person ever period for providing San Diego housing. Carries his trusty laptop wherever he can and able to provide superb commentating skills while streaming.


Mike “OmegaDonut” Suleski
Description: America's last hope and honorary Ha brother number three. Excellent double date partner.

There are about 40 more characters that I don’t have pictures for, so stay tuned for shout-outs at the end. ;)

Chapter One: Thursday, August 11, 2011

My flight with Chad left Pittsburgh at 3:30 PM, so we left around noon because we were extremely anxious for our first plane ride ever. We landed in Newark at 4:45, just missing seeing ExpertEvan board his flight to San Diego. Instead of getting on with him, our tickets had us sit around in boring Newark til 7 before we went on a 6 hour flight to San Diego.

Anxious before our first flight.


First flight EVER for both of us!


Lovely clouds. <3


Huy was kind enough to pick us up once our plane arrived at 10 PM. PBB shouted out the window to flag us down and “Sixonesix” helped us get our bags into the trunk. We made it to the hotel shortly and headed up to Ray Rizzo’s room where most Smogonites were already socializing. The room was quite crowded, so we tried to contact TTS and get into the hotel room where we would be staying, however… TTS would not answer his phone! We went down to the room anyways in case he was sleeping; Chad banged on the door, also yelled “housekeeping!” in a girly voice for good measure, but there was no answer. We gave up and went back to Ray’s room. About twenty minutes later TTS called to say that he was in the room and was apparently a very very heavy sleeper. He let Chad, Synre, Huy, Duy and I in and we eventually went to bed.

Chapter Two: Friday, August 12, 2011

The three hour time zone adjustment really didn’t help out for sleeping. I know I was up for sure by 6:30. Chad and I got up, got ready, and went to Starbucks for some breakfast before heading over to the Juniors & Seniors LCQ. There we met up with a whole lot of Smogonites; some new faces and some old ones! We watched Jeremy/AlphaOmega and kamz make it through the LCQ but also watched as Maski get knocked out. I had a ton of last minute trading to do with some fellow Masters LCQers, but afterwards it was time to check out the hotel!


Trading with Sixonesix...


Trading with Len and PBB!

We found this fantastic Pokémon With You promotion that asked for notes and/or artwork for earthquake victims in Japan. Chad and I were the first to create pictures and they let us hang them up on the wall. We got an Oshawott and Snivy hat for contributing artwork.


Chad hard at work coloring his Tepig.


Our pictures displayed on the wall!

There was also some lovely card artwork enlarged and on display by the LCQ registration line. We even got our first pictures with the inflatable starters (even though this was our fourth event this year).











It was time to get in the LCQ line, but not before Ultimatedra gave me a fantastic present. I had mentioned how much I loved the competitor shirts earlier, so he gifted me with this super amazing XXXXXXL shirt that, well… I’m not sure what I’m going to do with! It might turn into a pillow because the artwork is so gorgeous. A staff member passed by and said that the shirt looked great on me and he asked for a picture.


6XL for the win.


He said it looked good on me!

Afterwards there wasn’t much more to do but sit and wait for the line to move. We got in line around 11 and registration didn’t even start til 1, but there was plenty of time for practice battles. We sat with AoK and played the people around us to get ready for the event.


Vicky, Lauren, and Mike "OmegaDonut" Suleski waiting in line.


ExpertEvan *cough*Jeff*Cough* and Shinkou waiting in line, too!

Soon enough, registration began and we sat down at our round one tables. AoK was paired versus a guy she played in line earlier, I was across from a very friendly guy we had also been next to in line, and Chad was led away to another table versus a Japanese father.

Ohmygosh. Guys. My first ever legitimate warstory.

My Team


Hank (Musharna) @ Leftovers
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 HP/252 SpA
-Trick Room
-Helping Hand
-HP Fighting 70
-Psychic


Dean (Vanilluxe) @ Nevermeltice
Nature: Brave
EVs: 252 Atk/252 HP
-Ice Shard
-Icicle Spear
-Substitute
-Explosion


Dr. Venture (Zoroark) @ Focus Sash
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
-Night Slash
-Sucker Punch
-Counter
-Protect


BrokSamson (Conkeldurr) @ Sitrus Berry
EVs: 252 HP/196 SpDef/Everything else in Attack
Nature: Careful
-Mach Punch
-Drain Punch
-Payback
-Protect


Level 48
<3marn0rz (Amoonguss) @ Lum Berry
EVs: 252 HP/126 Def/126 SpDef
Nature: Relaxed
-Protect
-Rage Powder
-Spore
-Giga Drain


TheMonarch (Jellicent) @Water Gem
EVs: 252 HP/252 SpA
Nature: Quiet
-Water Spout
-Shadow Ball
-Protect
-Trick Room

My team is fun and guess what else… It doesn’t have standard garbage on it! (Well, except maybe Amoonguss.) The metagame sucks this year with everything speed-tying and being the same, so why not use different stuff and have some fun? My favorite combo became Musharna/Amoonguss in the front with Zoroark as the third slot and Conkeldurr in the back. This is significant because Zoroark can be disguised as your last pokemon! I loved swapping him in and taking a couple psychic attacks as my opponent blindly stared into space, wondering why Conkeldurr wasn’t getting hit. It seems that once most people deduce that Zoroark isn’t leading, they think he doesn’t exist. Even better than using him as the third slot was swapping out a lead for my fourth slot, then switching in Zoroark as Musharna or Amoonguss. Your opponent gets really confused.

Round One

Kathleen with our good luck charms. <3


Me with the good luck charms! (Stolen from AoK. <3 <3)


Synre giving his opponent the stink-eye!

So my opponent was really friendly beforehand and I started out Amoonguss/Musharna versus Volcarona/Haxorus. I went for some STAB Ice Shards while trying to Trick Room or something but this Haxorus was bulky as heck! It was taking 12-25% from ice cream. I asked if his Haxorus was bulky and he said that he EVd it very carefully to take minimal damage. Volcarona was taking maybe 20% from Psychics and I asked again why he only EVd in his defenses. He laughed and said he had an HP boosting nature (at which I laughed on the inside, n00b). He ended up 4-0ing me with his bulky stuff but I had to call for a hack check during the last couple turns. He assured me that he caught the stuff himself and doesn’t hack and gave his girlfriend thumbs up when he won as we both waited on Marilland to come over. I felt terrible on the inside, but I would have felt worse if I let a hacker get away with knocking me out of the LCQ and I was sure that there was no way his stuff could take that little from my attacks. In the meantime, AoK beat her opponent and moved on to round two. Finally Marilland came over and took my cart- I was clean of course! He pops in my opponents game and goes “Ohhh… well there it is!” His leads had 600 EVs in every stat. >_>

Round Two
I sat beside AoK again and she had to play Mrs. Arnold! A guy about my age came over and we chatted about how we were happy to make it past round one. I don’t remember much of the battle… I do believe I won 3-0.


Me versus a very nice guy and Kathleen versus Mrs. Arnold!

Round Three
The staff member led me to a television screen. Soon enough, I saw an SPF member come over and sit down. It was Tween Star! I was prepared for a tough match, and it sure was! Let me give a nice summary. Turn one, his Thundurus Thunder Waves and Fully Paralyzes my Musharna as I attempt to Trick Room. I Protect Amoonguss against a Psychic from opposing Musharna. Turn two, Musharna is again fully paralyzed. I switch Vanilluxe into a critical hit Psychic to save my shroom (it would have survived the Psychic Gem otherwise) and Musharna is Fully Paralyzed. Turn Three I Protect Shroom versus another Psychic and Musharna finally gets Trick Room up! Turn Four I attempt to Spore the Musharna but I think he switches? My Musharna is Fully Paralyzed again and Thundurus Thunder Waves my Mushroom for another Full Paralysis. Turn Five I attack his mons but mine die to a crit something and I don’t remember. Blah blah blah end of match- I lose to 6 FPs and 2 crits on things that mattered overall. Not bad for my last VGC 2011 match! <3


Round three is starting!


Thinking hard.


What most of my match looked like!

I congratulated Tween Star and wished him luck onto his journey to the Top 8, hoping the hax gods remained on his side. If anything, I’m glad I lost to hax (and yes, folks, this is what real legitimate hax looks like) instead of me losing for being a lousy player. There was nothing I could do nor Tween Star to prevent the outcome, and I was sad to see him get knocked out round four. =[ Also also I am tired of seeing people say they lose to hax in their warstories just because they were outplayed and there was one minor flinch or critical hit on something that doesn’t change the outcome of the game. If you would like a video tutorial on hax, go watch champ Ray Rizzo’s round two Finals match! [/rant]

Anyways, I was glad that my match was on TV so others can attest to the lousy match I had. Chad and I watched as fellow Ducks and Smogonites made their way into the top 12 and then the top 8 after byes were given out. Congrats go out to fellow Ducks OD, tad38, and Sixonesix! =D


Round Four matches.


Right before the top 12 matches.

After all the matches concluded, we socialized with our fellow internet friends before heading out to lunch. Chad, Synre, Dubs, and I hopped into Alaka’s car and drove to Lucha Liebre, a Gourmet Taco Shop that Paul “makiri” Hornak had seen on Man vs. Food. Alaka’s car and/or driving skills were officially dubbed Mario Kart during the first five minutes of the ride. (We still love you, Len! Thank you for being a wonderful driver all weekend. <3)


Of course, we were the first to arrive and stand in line. (This became a reoccurring theme for Len/Chad/Andrea.)

The rest of the Smogon crew eventually showed up. I ordered a quesadilla and Chad ordered the Surfin’ California burrito which was quite a work of art and also extremely delicious. We crammed three tables together and talked about the morning’s events and tomorrow’s tournament. Greyson “Greysong” Garren bought a pink Lucha Liebra shirt and Paul attempted to buy one of the Luchadore masks. It was a fantastic meal!


Everyone else getting in line.


Delicious burrito and quesadilla!






Greysong's pink shirt!


Heading towards making history... the first ever organized athletic activity Smogon has ever seen...

Basketball.

Yes, the first time our group allotted time for sports at a Smocon. We drove Dubs to his hotel to change into his clothes and it was really amusing. Alaka knew where Dubs’ hotel more than he did and even though we all pointed out which way he would have to walk down the street to get into the building, Dubs still went the wrong way. Twenty seconds after he got out of the car we all heard some feet running and looked to the right to see Dubs sprinting down the sidewalk towards the front door. Pretty funny stuff!

At the court, we met up with some familiar faces. AoK, Supe, Synre, gec and I all sat and watched on the sidelines. There was a five minute warm-up period where the boys tried to make a basket to qualify as team captain… It took quite some time but Chad and Tyler emerged victorious!

Video: First Basket!

Teams were chosen and pretty soon the spectators figured out why we play video games over sports.

Video: Game One Begins

Video: Team Selection for Game Two

Video: Game Two Starts

Video: On to Game Three!

For a more detailed account of the basketball games, please visit Duy's fantastic warstory entitled Homecourt Advantage.
















Look at BadIntent booking it down the court!!!!!!!!








Going for something more "artsy" here... I love the lines on the basketball court with the blurry image of the guys in the background. <3


Another "artsy" attempt.


Watching from the sidelines!




Taking a break!






After three games of basketball we went back to the hotel. Dubs, Synre, Chad and I went down to the pool to cool off. The guys loved the cold water after playing basketball so hard, but I just sat in the hot tub and tried to stay warm. It started getting dark so Chad and I left to go to bed. California was amazing so far.
 

andrea

/me cresselias
Chapter Three: Saturday, August 13, 2011

Chad and I woke up early to get in the store merchandise line in order to buy playmats and Pikachu plush as soon as possible. However, arriving two hours before the store opened still put us at about 150th in line, not to mention all the people who cut into line when we finally started moving! The store was scheduled to open at 10- the same time the opening ceremony started. After two hours of playing VGC matches and trying to learn the card game from Len, the line started to move. Playmats managed to sell out way before we made it to the front of the line and skateboard Pikachu plush sold out just ten people before us. Our group ended up getting the last Worlds binders and two of the last five hats they were selling for Saturday.

After we bought our awesome Worlds swag, we went into the main event room where round one matches were getting ready to start.

Video: Opening Ceremony Highlights

Rounds one and two went by as we cheered for our fellow Ducks and Seniors.


Team America!


The Ha family. =D














Spectators!

During lunch break, however, some new matches took over the VGC arena... Len managed to convince Mike Liesek to let us battle on the screens for our Smogon VGC Tournament finals. After months of matches, the top three had emerged (and all legit VGC players!): Human, andrea, and Tyler. Duy, Chad, and Deagle helped get the crowd fired up and a pretty large audience ended up by our screens! The first match was Tyler vs. Human; Tyler won 2-1. Then I took over, yet Tyler won 2-0. Every match was a good game; both teams played hard.

Team America!


Plushie facedown.

Chad and I managed to dine on some delicious pizza ordered and organized by Huy and then we decided to head down to the “free stuff room” aka side and league events. However, when we managed to get into the room, we were surprised to see at least four tables reserved for VGC players and there were actually twenty players battling each other already! The staff was really great at organizing the 8-man tournaments and Chad and I participated for fun (and also free stuff). The only negative aspect was that the staff forced us to use infrared to battle. Instead of bring six pick four, the tourneys became pick four and leave two in the box, no team preview. It kinda balanced out because each round was best two out of three, but it was still annoying that we couldn’t go into the union room to battle.


Little did I know that Lee the Charizard was watching my every move during the battles.


His head was sticking out of my purse haha.


Cute little kid across the table had never played VGC before... he just wanted to win cards. =[

Over the course of the next two to three hours, Chad and I managed to win two deck boxes, three sets of Pokémon patches, twenty holo energies, and probably twenty to thirty booster packs of Black and White cards. It was really fun! Ultimatedra and CaptKirby were there and at some point AoK, came down to join us, too. Some of the other Ducks started a tournament at the table beside ours. The best part was when CaptKirby and ultimatedra battled each other before heading to the “free stuff line” with their results. I let CK borrow my cart since he didn’t have a team and I warned him to look at the team roster beforehand so he would know what was up…

He didn’t. Pretty soon I hear him shout out “Sucker Punch, Counter, Night Slash, Protect?? What the ****? I thought I sent out an Amoonguss!” I started laughing really really hard and managed to say it was a Zoroark, and then ultimatedra, Chad, and AoK started laughing, too.

During yet another top two tournament match, I got a phone call from Huy saying that everyone was getting ready to go to the beach. I scooped my last two matches, took my winning booster pack and DS skin and headed up to the hotel room to get ready. When we finally met up with the group in the lobby, everyone was extremely confused and only half the people who were going to the beach were standing there. Apparently Unreality had said something about free cupcakes and Paul and others were way more interested in baked goods than going to the ocean.

Len, Duy, Kathleen, Chad and I were not up for such shenanigans and we left for the beach right away! Mario Kart was the first on the scene and the beach was amazing! East coast ocean does not have nice sand like west coast ocean, however… east coast ocean does not have nasty stuff in the water like west coast ocean. Not sure which side of the continent I like best, but it doesn’t really matter! We only really stayed on the sand to play soccer so it was still pretty awesome.

About forty five minutes after our group of five had arrived at the beach, the rest of the Smogonites finally caught up and were ready to play soccer. We had over twenty participants in our soccer fiesta and I really can’t recall much of what happened except that Len also found a way to fall in this sport.

Soccer was tiring, so we took a break for group pictures!






Ultimate frisbee became the next sport of choice. Once again, we lined up and chose teams.

Video: Attempting to pick teams for Frisbee

Best part of Frisbee was when someone threw a long shot down to Jeremy and he went running straight down the field! And then he kept running… and running… and the Frisbee hits the ground!!! But Jeremy is still running down through the end zone....? I started laughing so hard I fell down into the sand lol. Anyways, someone got bored of Frisbee and we tried to do kickball instead. We got through one full inning before calling it quits; it was way too dark outside and no one could see the ball or the bases. Instead, it was time for food.




















Paul suggested Taco Smackdown aka Lucha Liebre once more! Len, Duy, Kathleen, Chad and I hopped into Mario Kart once again and sped through the California road system. On the way, I mentioned how Lucha Liebre would be better if they had peanut butter burritos (just because we had tried peanut butter burgers in Indianapolis) and Kathleen read my mind; she mentioned an awesome 50s diner that had fantastic goober burgers. She also mentioned that the entire place was decorated perfectly for the time period and that you could eat in a glow-in-the-dark room or on a car, etc etc. It sounded great so promised to head to “The Corvette Diner” for tomorrow’s meal.

When we got to Lucha Liebre, though, the place was packed. There was nowhere to sit so we called the group and said that we were heading to the diner instead. However…. everyone else was eons away from Lucha Liebre. Huy lost his wallet or something and it was probably going to be forty-five minutes before they could meet up with us. We all hopped back into the car and decided to try our luck at the diner.

Holy goodness was the diner awesome! Kathleen had forgotten to mention that there was an arcade, so we went straight to air-hockey after we were told that there would be a fifteen-or-so minute wait. Everything in the diner was decked out in retro lights and artwork; totally worth skipping out on the rest of the group for! Our waiter had big Elvis hair and we all ordered a goober burger and a shake. Thank goodness Chad and I split one; they filled up one cup with your shake and then gave you the rest of it in a large mixing cup which was enough for an entire refill. We ate our delicious shakes and burgers in the glow-in-the-dark room and waited for this awesome balloon guy to come to our tables. He made Chad a hat and Duy asked for a bigger hat, which ended up being about four feet tall. Len asked for an even bigger hat and he got one just inches taller than Duy’s.


In the arcade!


Air hockey time.


Glow in the dark room and holy cow I look tired!


Epic balloon hats!

On the way back, Kathleen became a film extraordinaire. All week we had attested to Len’s really funny driving skills in San Diego, but Saturday night everything was finally caught on tape! (Awaiting video upload still... I need me a new avatar. ;D ) After some of the most hilarious and terrible driving (by other cars on the road) we made it back to the hotel. The rest of the group was playing Street Fighter in Ray’s room and it was more than packed, so Chad and I decided it was time for bed.

Chapter Four: Sunday, August 14, 2011

Around 2 AM Chad, Scott, TTS and I woke up to see Huy, Duy, Len and some other people wander into our room. They took pillows and went down to the retail line that people had been sitting in since 10 PM. (FYI- store doesn’t even open til 9 am.) I went back to sleep.

Around 6 AM Chad and I wandered down to the retail line, hoping we could buy some playmats for once. However, the line was already longer than when we had gotten in it two hours early yesterday! There was no way we were getting playmats so we went to Starbucks and made some movies of the hotel for everyone who was not able to come.

Video: Ridiculous Merchandise Line


Video: The Tale of the Store of Stores [by Chad]


Video: Hope for Japan & the Sapphire Level!

Video: Artwork Exhibition

Junichi Masuda and Shigeki Morimoto were scheduled to do autographs at 10 am and TTS, Scott, and Kathleen sat down with us (fourth in line) at just about 8:30 in the morning. It was a good time had by all: more VGC 2011 matches and even some Pokémon Mystery Dungeon.

Video: Sad Mew (because he was being sold for plane ticket money)

When it was finally time for autographs to start, we discovered that it was a good thing we had shown up so early- we still waited about another 10-15 minutes for the four people in front of us to get their autographs! Masuda and Morimoto were so kind to everyone and they talked to you if you had any skill at Japanese. =) I got my Zoroark pokedoll and an extra Pikachu pokedoll signed and Chad got another Pikachu and a Mew pokedoll signed by Mew's creator.


Delicious plushies. <3


Typical TTS on the laptop. <3




"What are you getting signed?"






(shamelessly stolen from AoK)


(also stolen from aok <3)



Top 8 matches had started so our group headed over to the competition room to watch our friends play. Ray and EnFuego had risen to the top 4 for America and Ruben and Matteo were also doing well for Spain and Italy, too! Ray and Matteo became the last two players standing and there were a good 3 hours before finals would start.


Ray vs Ruben


Spectators


Ray's signature battle pose. (Yes, Ray, its true!)


Something exciting is happening!

In the meantime, Chad, Kathleen and I went to get lunch from a pizza place and then caught up with Ultimatedra in the side events area. Major problem: there were no video game events being held today. TCG gets all the fun.

Chad and I wasted the last two hours before finals by taking a nap- jet lag was still a major problem three days into our trip! We woke up about a half hour before finals started to TTS and Scott coming in the room. Here, one of the best moments of the trip happened...

Video: TTS impersonates the Spanish guys

Also Chad managed to film the pop machine that TTS had broken days earlier over a bottle of Sprite. It made this whirring noise for three days.

Video: Broken Pop Machine


We went downstairs to find out that TCG finals were already underway and some interviewer guy interviewed PBB, Duy and I about the video game experience at Worlds this year- you can watch us all right here!


Me being interviewed!

As soon as TCG finished, the Ducks and other Smogonites got as close as possible to the stage for VGC finals. kamz won Seniors and Ray was a beast in Masters! I’m so glad you won back-to-back championships; if anyone deserved it, you sure did! Our crowd went crazy when he won, storming the stage again and lifting him up high for another American victory.

Video: Finals Matches Highlights


Before the winners ceremony started.

The closing ceremony was equally awesome, especially when the Japanese Juniors runner-up went on stage to claim his prize. He was so excited to win! Ray and Matteo got their prizes and kamz forgot to shake Masuda’s hand when he ran on stage…

Video: Closing Ceremony Highlights


Apparently Nick gets a teleprompter, lol.

Afterwards we all congregated in the hallway to get our ‘big Smogon group’ picture for the event. It basically turned into a ‘big group with Smogon and trophy winners and Korea and Japan and staff members and everyone else under the sun’ picture. Cybertron’s dad was quite the photographer and there are 200 pictures of us on Facebook for all to enjoy.


The Ha brothers again.


Cybertron jumping in the photo anyways.




Girls representing!

At some point everyone went outside where it was finally sunny and beautiful! PBB was retrieving Len’s soccer ball from the previous night. We waited by talking and talking and talking and watching Snake and Babbytron chase each other around like adorable little kids do.

Video: Snake and Babbytron

I even attempted a final thoughts video after the matches, but you can all see how that turned out.

Video: "Final Thoughts"

PBB arrived with the ball and we watched as Zog failed at every possible sports-like activity possible. Chad and I only stayed around to watch for a bit before getting a couple texts from Mike/OD saying that date night was going to happen!




I would not have been surprised in the least if Zog fell over right after I took the picture.




We met up with Mike, Lauren, and their friend Vicky in the lobby of the hotel and walked to TGI Friday’s for dinner. It was a wonderful time sitting down with a small group and having a lovely dinner. The double date was great and sadly I have no pictures from our rendezvous . When we got back, Chad and I went to the hot tub one last time before everyone would be leaving tomorrow (or had already left while we were at dinner). After relaxation came bed time; our last night in California.

Chapter Five: Monday, August 15, 2011

We got up pretty early on Monday because TTS was supposed to leave, but his flight was delayed until noon. We were trying to coordinate a group meet-up with everyone who was still in California but text messages were getting pretty confusing! Dtrain, BlueCookies, and ryuzaki came down to the room for a minute to say goodbye before taking Synre and TTS with them to the lobby. Before they left, we discussed the Coke bottle that had been sitting on the dresser since Friday… apparently Scott forgot to let the Lucha Liebre people open it up before he left and, without a bottle opener, it was destined to sit on the dresser forever and never ever be tasted.


The challenge...

Chad, being the macho, never-turn-down-a-challenge guy that he is, became determined to open the bottle. We looked up ways to open a beer bottle without an opener online and after three movie tutorials, Chad felt confident enough that he could open the bottle with ease.

Video: How to Open a Bottle...

We took the bottle down to Scott in the lobby and he was very surprised that we actually opened it! The video was pretty funny the rest of the day.

Video: Scott finally gets his pop


Mmmm delicious and refreshing, yah?

We began saying goodbye as people started jumping in taxis to get to their flights on time… others hopped in their cards to drive home after a fantastic weekend. Just a few, however, were left behind to wait out the rest of the day before going home.


People starting to leave. =[

Scott got a text from Alan saying that we should all meet up at this sushi place in the Gaslamp district. We got everything packed up, but beforehand, we needed to say goodbye to our free room...

Video: Goodbye, winner's hotel!

We started walking, only to discover that this restaurant didn’t open til 5:30 at night. Yay Alan! Instead, we walked over to TGI Friday’s and waited for Alan, Len, and Luke to arrive for one last group meal. Our waiter was really really strange… it was almost like his brain was set on a 3 second delay before he said anything.

Alan [sitting down at the table]: Hey man!
Waiter [after three seconds]: …Hey!
Alan: What’s up?
Waiter [after three seconds]: Yo!
-pause-
Waiter: Can I get you something?

Pretty awkward. Anyways, we all ordered food and Scott specifically ordered Endless Lunch that turned out to be not-so-endless. The waiter arrived with a cup of soup and two breadsticks and disappeared for another fifteen minutes. When he finally returned, Scott should have said “I ordered endless lunch. This lunch ended ten minutes ago!” but alas, he did not. We still giggled at the thought anyways. He brought Scott back a salad and brought him another salad within five minutes of the first one… like I said, a very strange waiter.




Scott begins his "endless lunch."


It really is endless!


The heavenly cheesecake... <3


Trying to figure out the bill...


Still working on that bill...


Luke left halfway through lunch and Len drove him to the airport to catch his flight. We thought that we’d be covering for their part of the bill but Len arrived just in time with Luke’s money. It was funny watching them try to figure out how to split up the change. I think we were all just way too tired at that point and I know we ended up leaving our water a tip wayyyy better than he had earned. X_X

We took a “serious Ninahaza goodbye picture” outside the restaurant and at one point the hostess said “We all know you guys aren’t gay! Its okay to cram together in the picture!” at which everyone started laughing.


Goodbye, TGI Friday's!


How did she know we're all not gay?


Goodbye, Gaslamp district.


Goodbye, beautiful San Diego.


Goodbye, Hilton Bayfront hotel.


Goodbye, escalators.

We wandered back to the hotel to try and find something to do and ended up eating at the delicious frozen yogurt place. Len left shortly after finishing his dessert and Scott, Alan, Chad and I were left with absolutely nothing to do for another 4 hours or so.







We headed towards the mall where Len, Scott, and Alan had traded in a DS for a 3DS yesterday (ask them for the crazy story- if you dare!) just for a lack of something to do. Turns out the mall was uber cool! It was all outside with winding sidewalks and escalators and stairs and we ended up on the top floor.








The first store we went into just happened to be some really old antique store that was going out of business. We found a pretty quick solution to entertaining ourselves.

Video: Antique Roadshow One

Video: Antique Roadshow Two

Video: Antique Roadshow Three


Afterwards we stopped in Hot Topic to try and identify all the memes or whatever on the boys shirts and then found an arcade.


Alan and Scott were tearing it up at basketball and we managed to win enough tickets for eight bouncy balls.

Video: Bouncy Ball Fun

After tossing the bouncy balls off a higher level at Chad, we found some pretty cool giant chess and checkers sets.


Giant checkerboards!!!

Video: Giant Checkers

Chad and Alan started a game but it was almost time for Alan’s basketball game thing to start with Tay, so we had to leave early.

Scott split a cab with us and our driver was pretty shady; we gave him a five dollar tip for a lack of one dollar bills. V_V; We waved goodbye to Scott and then walked straight pass dtrain and TDS without ever seeing them (sorry, guys!) as we rushed towards our terminal.

Epilogue: Tuesday, August 16, 2011

After a combined total of fifteen hours at various airports across the country, Chad and I made it safely back to Pittsburgh and then back to our tiny hometown by 11 am. The weather was more beautiful than California for some reason but we were way too tired to do anything other than sleep when we got back.

Video: Back in Pennsylvania

This was definitely the best Smocon I have ever been to, and I look forward to seeing you all again next year… or maybe even in the fall. Who knows what TPCI has in store for us for VGC 2012?


Also, if you liked it... luv it!
 

andrea

/me cresselias
Shoutouts!

Holy crap I have been typing and uploading for hours. These are getting edited in tomorrow. <3

Edit: Oh, screw it. Working on them now.

Chad/Magnus: I couldn't have asked for a better boyfriend or travel buddy. Thank you for giving my nerdy hobby a chance and thank you for supporting me through the entire season. You've improved consistently throughout the season and I can't wait to share more Pokemon-related trips with you in the future.

Len/Alaka: Ohmygoodness you were so much fun the entire weekend. Despite how we teased you are an excellent driver and the fact that you could haul our lazy, car-less bums around was fantastic. I will never forget Jeremy running down the field and then falling on the field laughing so hard with you. Bwahaha.

Huy/Huy: You got me interested in VGC and I would have never been to any of these events without your support and friendship. Thank you for everything. You really mean a lot to me.

Duy/Bianca222: Every time I'm around you I can't help but smile! You are such a good sport and you're just so funny, too. Props to you for taking down that girl round four! XD

Kathleen/AoK:
I am super glad I got to meet you after so long! You were amazing to talk to and it helps to know that there's another girl out there just as weird as I am for getting into Pokemon so hard-core. (Also I finally found one of those Mewtwo plush for <$30 and he's on his way to me in the mail ahhhh!)

Danny/TTS: I owe you. Big time. I think I'm pretty much your RNG slave for life if you give up! I can't thank you enough for the room space and ya know what? It actually worked out really well with all those middle and east coast people going to bed at reasonable hours! Props to you for repping the zebra and yorkie and uber props to you for being able to use your Worlds invite to the fullest.

Scott/Synre: Like we mentioned in CA, it was great finally getting to spend a good amount of time with you. I love being able to hang with different people at various Smocons and San Diego was no exception! Those were some great times on the last day; "endless" lunch that ended in ten minutes, your thoughtful insight on the man making out with a horse statue, and tipping that terrible taxi driver a whole five bucks! Already looking forward to such nonsense next year.

Alan/Dubulous:
Glad you made it to CA, even if your plane tickets were uber expensive! Your bball skills were quite impressive (on the court and in the arcade), I must say, and antique roadshow? Priceless.

Mike/OmegaDonut & Lauren: It took a couple Smocons but we finally got that double date down! Thanks for going out to dinner with us; it was very nice to sit down in a small group and relax away from all the Pokemon events. Maybe once again next year, this time making sure we coordinate with Chalkey and Gabby on the same night? XD

Vicky: Not sure if you ever read the forums, but you were a pleasure to dine with! And, of course, its always great to meet some new female professional Pokemon trainers. Hope you can make it to another VGC next year, and good luck with your plushie collecting! =D

Luke/tad38:
And here we thought you had run out of TGI Friday's without paying... lol. Props to you for qualifying for Worlds! Very impressive showing for the US of A!

Ray/BlueCookies: Ohmygoodness how could I even forget to mention the TWO TIME WORLD CHAMP? You have been a fantastic guy to hang out with at every event this season (seriously, we went to all the same ones!) and I couldn't pick a better person to win Worlds this year. You represent the VGC community perfectly and yes, you will always be part of the ducks on the inside. You've got what it takes! =D

Rob/ultimatedra: First time meeting you irl and I am very glad it finally happened! You were such a friendly guy and I cannot thank you enough for that fantastic shirt that will soon be a decorative pillow. XD Looking forward to seeing you next year- definitely hook us up with the volunteer committee or whatever! Haha

Thomas/PBB: I missed you at Nats this year but seeing you at Worlds made the wait worth it! You've always been so friendly and I'm glad you brought that frisbee; it made sports time at the beach a whole lot more fun. ^_^

Kamaal/Sixonesix: Dude. I have been rooting for you this entire season to qualify. You've worked so hard this year and even last year and to see that work finally put you into the Worlds competition through the LCQ was awesome. Awesome awesome awesome fantastic job!

Joel/CK: Thank you for the cards!!!! I'm definitely not a pro TCGer but I'm just in it for the art. You have been so nice to me this year and hopefully I'll see you again next year. =)

Tyler/Tyler: Congrats on the tourney win! The trophy is looking pretty awesome... maybe I'll get one next year or something. =3 Also also tell your little sister that she is so adorable and your mom that she is so kind! Hope to see them again at the competitions next year, especially when Janelle is a new big name for Juniors, winning regionals and all!

Jose/Supe: I am always excited to meet fellow RNGers, and its been great being able to put a name with a face! I do not care what your nationality suggests; you were pretty awesome at every sport in my eyes. Hope to see you again in the future and also also it does not matter if the hotel is cheap, Kathleen advises that you stay out of the SKETCH. O_O;;

Enosh/Human: Nooo how could you lose to Tyler in the finals? Team Israel failed lol Excellent showing at worlds, keep repping that east coast beast coast! Also thank you for the chocolate sample- it was rather unique! Looking forward to seeing you at regionals or wherever next year. =)

Aaron/Cybertron: You did not win worlds so you did not win the girl. I am sorry. But man congrats on making it so far this year and making a name for Seniors! You and your brother are starting to take over as the most prominent Pokemon dynasty!!! The Ha's better watch out. Oh also also- just a tip for next year- if you have to play the girl......... scoop. Otherwise you've lost her forever. ;)

Ashenlock: I'm glad I got to meet you! All these new names (to me) are so exciting and show how our VGC family is growing. You are one cool dude and yes, infrared side tourneys are rather lame when the staff only understands TCG.

Dan/dtrain: We did not see each other much at this event (seriously, how did that happen?) but you still managed to be one of my favorite people to see at VGC. Sad to see your LCQ experience did not go so well but we have all of next year to do better! Can't wait for that official NYC winter meet-up, either. =3

Aaron/Unreality: You are one awesome senior, bud! Your plushies are super adorable and seeing you irl after talking so much in #smogonwifi and #moof was one of the best things about this season. Congrats on your worlds performance and I hope you do work just as epicly in the seasons to come.

Jeremy/AlphaOmega: It was great being able to finally meet you! After hearing your name and seeing you so often in #ducks I was glad to actually say hi at worlds. Major congratulations to you for making it through the LCQ and getting so far in Worlds! I know you'll keep improving for next year, too. =)

Wolfe/superwolfe: Didn't get to talk to you much at all this year, but hopefully that changes next season! Congrats on finishing in the top percentage of pokemon trainers and I am still so sorry I missed that trade request in my thread a week before worlds. D=

Min/gec: Mmmmm i loved your hair, seriously. And I hope you forgive me for knocking you out of the tourney since Tyler won the whole thing. ;) Glad you got to make it out to CA for Worlds and hope you can do the same again next year! ^_^

Natalie/Maski: Girl you are one talented hat maker! Didn't get to talk to you very much at all but you are such a sweetie and I hope you continue to dominate mons next year like any talented girl should. =)

Kamran/kamz: Okay I know you'll complain if you aren't mentioned but congrats even though you probably don't even know who I am. =) World champ is nothing to scoff at and you did a great job winning Seniors!! Keep up that grammar improvement and you'll be a B+ member in no time.


edit: it is way too late i will finish these tomorrow <3


.
 
Dear god - i remember the reaction you gave when i introduced myself. "Oh, so THAT is how you say it!"

I'm glad you enjoyed the 6XL competitor shirt! I had another competitor shirt in small, but that was for my girlfriend. Sorry.
It was awesome to meet both you & Chad. You both are very kind people (Even though i think Chad could snap me in half by sneezing) BTW Chad - one of these days, we will ACTUALLY play a game for the league line :-D

The whole "WTF Sucker Punch Amoonguss" bit was too awesome. If only that happened in the LCQ.

And i thought i would mention the 8 year old kid who SLAUGHTERED all of us in the 8-man tournament. (Screw infrared - Union room all the way)

I hope to see you again next year Andrea!

~Ulti
 

andrea

/me cresselias
Hey, I'm in a picture! That kid really made my day; I kind of felt bad that he only won one pack.
Oh man oh man I remember someone mentioning your username but I don't know which guy you are! D= And yes- that poor kid! I gave him a couple cards and then let him look through all the ones I won but he didn't want to pick any out. =(

Hey, you're not DM
DM was not there... someone had to step up!
 

BlueCookies

April Fools 2009 Participant
VGC '10, '11, '12 Masters Champion
omg I miss worlds :((((((((((((((((((((

But epic warstory Andrea! It was awesome to hang out with you and Chad at each event and I'm looking forward to next year :D
 

voodoo pimp

marco pimp
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Oh man oh man I remember someone mentioning your username but I don't know which guy you are! D= And yes- that poor kid! I gave him a couple cards and then let him look through all the ones I won but he didn't want to pick any out. =(
I'm at the far end of the table, and the guy that you played against is Slashmolder.
 

Age of Kings

of the Ash Legion
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Kathleen versus Mrs. Arnold
what the fuck i thought she was some random old lady. i guess i should feel somewhat good for winning? xD i think i'm going to make an apology thread because i utterly failed at faces all weekend.

(Also I finally found one of those Mewtwo plush for <$30 and he's on his way to me in the mail ahhhh!)
Lucky you could find it for far cheaper than I did! Congrats on that, but mine will always be the classiest :P

i'm going to upload the rest of the len driving videos tomorrow, possibly write my own warstory, but it was awesome finally getting to meet you and hanging out :DD
 
Man, antique roadshow video three makes me sad. I even choked at delivering antique roadshow punchlines... I'm lucky I didn't enter any sort of chugging competitions this year because I'd have probably ended up in the hospital. But seriously, that dude was totally making out with his horse. What the FUCK. Next year I'm not ganna let that camera psyche me out, though probably it wouldn't have gone over super well had I delivered since the clerk had creeped up on us at that point...





It was great getting to talk to you and Chad more this time, Andrea. I felt like I barely saw you at Nationals(both this year and last year, actually) even though we were both at the same place quite a bit, so it was cool to finally get to hang out in real life some, especially that last day where it was a little less Pokemon-crazy. I enjoy the write-up here, it's really nostalgic and it'll be really cool to have all the pictures and videos to look back on in a few months(and maybe a few years!). Thanks for putting it together.




Man the word:symbol ratio in this post is out of control
 

evan

I did my best -- I have no regrets
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
oh man i am on the basketball portions and you know i love you guys

but holy
jesus
do you all suck at bball.

ps. i miss all of you so much ugh best community best people best times. can't wait for indy 2012?????

and kona duh
 

Supe

would you suck the poison out
Andrea, it was really nice to finally meet you and Chad irl. You guys are amazingly nice people!

I feel like I just re-lived all of the awesome moments from Worlds! Superb writeup! =)
 
Awesome story Andrea! This should inspire me to finish mine, although I don't have any sweet pictures (I do have a video of Ray vs David in TCG, but I've been having trouble uploading it because it's so large -- 17+ minutes long). It was great to see you again, and thank you again very much for the pokemon at Nats, even if I was a loser and lost right away! I hope you and Chad can make it to Nats/Worlds again next year, you two are great people and it is always nice to see you and hang out with you! =D

(Also, I would never leave without paying! I do have a bit of short-term memory loss, though, and I was in a hurry to catch my flight, but I still remembered once we were halfway to the airport!)
 

Expert Evan

every battle has a smell!
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Well put together there Andrea and good riddance of that first round opponent. 600 EVs? I believe that was the only picture I've seen with myself so far as I also had my nephew visit and watch what was going on even though he didn't quite understand it.
 
Great warstory Andrea! It was nice seeing you+Chad again. I'll make sure to get stuff signed next year lol.
 

Eiganjo

So who did buy all the stroopwafels?
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
wow, great worldstory andrea, all the more hyped I am to be oat hawaii next year, hopefully you and all the others will be too :P
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top