WCG Day 2: Oct 4th

Sfydjklm

United States9218 Posts

October 10 2007 19:41 GMT

The sound reaches through the veil of the sleep and takes me out into the reality as if I was splashed with icy water. The nasty alarm ring on my cellphone shows me no mercy despite all the time we spent together. But I guess in this case time works against you, and even your favorite song will become most hated one after a bit of waking up to it.

It is 8:45, and I go the bathroom and wrestle with the shower. Just woken up I already feel tired, instead of the expected and long awaited rejuvenation. Shower wins, as I fail to make it work, and I decide to head out to the lunchroom and redeem the breakfast foodstamp White.Ra kindly gave me last night (he was leaving to see his aunt who leaves in some city near Seattle).

Down in the ballroom I redeem the ticket for an orange and a cookie. Clearly Samsung representatives want to starve players giving the unfair advantage to pampered Koreans , but my hungry stomach takes whatever is offered kindly (later Ra informed me that I actually was supposed to also visit another place where they gave out some McDonalds type of provision. This however was odd since they took my foodstamp away right as I received the orange-cookie combo).

I head back up to our room and find Fudd already awake. Kind man he is, he explains me how to work the shower and I take a dip, washing away all the sweat and tears and pain. Now one may wonder, ‘why is he talking about shower again’ so let me explain. Living in New York City I have been deprived of a functional shower for years and years. Here is how plumbing works in my city: you turn on hot water and it goes from unbearably cold to boiling hot over a period of 30 seconds. Turn on the cold water now and it goes from boiling hot to icy cold over the same time span. You get the point. The hotel shower made the trip worth it all by itself.

By the time I fulfilled my bathroom duties everyone else was up. I introduced myself to Binky and in a little while we took off. Here is where I came to fully appreciate the rental car. The Qwest stadium was fairly far from the players’ hotel, but not only that, most of the way was spent on the highways, rendering my dreams of public transportation unfounded.

We arrived at the field and immediately proceeded to stage area. It was quiet a letdown to see that many empty seats, even though it was expected (United States isn’t exactly known for its StarCraft fanbase). Taking up front row seats, we were in for a treat of an action packed opening. As the staff was setting up the stage I have noticed a midget storming towards the stage. Huge headphones, weird cap, tucked in shirt… Yes there could be no mistake. It was him. Androide. He walked onto the stage, chatted with staff a bit and then disappeared into the players’ area. It was really quiet amazing how someone who for his sheer looks will be labeled as a nerd anywhere can be so confident. We then were treated to quiet a spectacle when Androide breezed through the forces of backflipping Philippine and Phoenix demolished Goody. All with the masterful commentary by Tasteless and DJ Wheat.

The broadcasts were over, but we by no means were satisfied just yet. We needed more starcraft. So we head upstairs in hopes of catching familiar faces we observed on the web for so many years. And maybe, just maybe we could gather behind their backs and witness their exceptional skills unleashed.

What a treat that was. Even though all Koreans were hidden in the second day groups, the player area was filled with excitement as the titans of ‘foreign’ scene clashed. First on the menu- Androide loses to Nyoken. When Moonzerg, the Kazakhstanian zerg player scheduled to play on the 2nd day, hears the news he is in disbelief. ‘What? How? No way’-is almost a direct quote. I inquire Nyoken about it and he says Androide tried to rush, going 6-barrack. Whoa. ‘****ing around again’- sighs Moonzerg. A minute later Androide runs by. What is he thinking, Kazakhstanian player asks, if he comes out in second place his opponent will be none other then the maestro Savior. “So?”-Androide replies with a question of his own, visibly puzzled. “Whaddya mean ‘so?’” “Doesn’t matter to me”- the Russian star says, puts his headphones back on, and runs away. Now coming from someone else I would’ve consider it showing off. But Androide actually sounded genuine in his blinding confidence. Quiet a character.

Next on the menu- Draco. Sitting with his back not four feet away from me he finishes up his games with the speed and the force of a hurricane. He is done.

Two sits away from him resides Lowely. Now Lowely may not cause enough of interest for you, but this is the player who is actually from my native city. Minsk, Belarus. First game he is up against Satanik. Capturing a significant advantage right off the start he then manages to concede to Nik’s out-of-the-box hydra-lurker combo. Visibly disappointed and angry with his own performance, Belarusian zerg grabs his head and runs off. Twenty minutes later he comes back ready for his next game. I try to strike up a conversation with him, but he is clearly in no mood for that. I feel a little bit disappointed right then and there, but he got to stay focused. Next game he is facing Breakdown. As he wins, he starts waving a little Belarussian flag he had on his desk. The crowd starts laughing and applauses burst out. I hope he did it for me. His next game, against the Bulgarian zerg ends up as fiasco. Lowely sits there, in his chair looking at the monitor, not blinking, in shock. Disappointed, I head down, as everybody in my crew already left. We meet up outside of the venue and head for the city.

First challenge- finding parking. After a little bit of circling we finally find something acceptable. Somewhat. As my companions correctly put it “the most ghetto garage there ever was.” Got to give us some credit for bravery, we took the stairs; miraculously there was no one there shooting up at that moment, so we made it out safely.

Next stop-magic shop. Now here’s something you might not know about Fudd, that I forgot to tell you. He does magic tricks. Magic tricks blow the Koreans away and drive girls crazy. A couple of swift hand motions and they just stand there with big puppy eyes and their tongues out. If he wasn’t accounted for it is eerie how much destruction this man could bring upon Seattle.

But back onto the story. After brief encounter with the shop owner, who was a quiet interesting and queer man, we moved on to a fish market. I don’t recall it’s name, but when we came there I got… confused. People were screaming, taking pictures, asking for autographs. “This is fish, people”- I thought to myself-“the inferior kind of meat that also smells awfully bad.” Okay cool, whatever tickles their fancy. Moving on.

In search for food we move back onto the streets of downtown Seattle. The city looks quiet a lot like Manhattan’s business district, but the streets are filled with the kind of characters that I might meet in East New York. As I walk through the streets I am hoping my cheerful roommates don’t consider any kind of eye contact as a proposition for a friendly chit chat. But they, they on the other hand are feeling dangerous, and pick the ghettoest diner they could find. The diner is stacked with African-american citizens, and the few white faces there are visibly on crack. The owner however is a perfect match for our company, happy, hyper, and joking around she serves the best frigging chicken teriyaki I ever tasted. (next day I find out I am so used to this crowd that I step over someone sleeping on the sidewalk without even noticing them)

We made our way back to hotel and find out that the Ballroom is closed. “Damn Russians” we all agree, and try to find people to come up to our room for some poker, but don’t have much luck. “Booze time”- we agree yet again and head out to the gas station. We buy a couple of six packs, but Trevor is unsatisfied. “That is not real booze”- he says-“I want rum, YARRR” (that might have been exaggerated). So I and Fudd head back to the hotel room with two six packs (I strategically make Fudd carry both since I am not yet 21. Ironically my birthday is Oct 20th, just 16 days away). Trev, Matt and Chris (who arrived right before our hunt for the alcohol has begun) head out in search for the pirate favorite. Twenty minutes and two miles (in blistering cold, wearing nothing by t-shirts) later Fudd revieves a phone call. “Pick us up they say.” Their mission was a failed one, because apparently in Seattle you cant buy hard liquor after 10 PM(or something of that sort). When we see them they are joined by a new guy. That is Darryl, from WGT, right away we know it is bad news (come on, WGT, do I have to spell it out for you?), but we invite him to the poker game anyway. He accepts. Hour later he cashes out fifty dollar profit off 10 dollar buy-in game.

Some fish got fried that day. And no, I’m not talking about crab.

iNcontroL

USA29055 Posts

October 10 2007 20:40 GMT

very nicely written

you went years without a real shower?

Sfydjklm

United States9218 Posts

October 10 2007 21:00 GMT

On October 11 2007 05:40 {88}iNcontroL wrote:
very nicely written

you went years without a real shower?

well that is a shower per se, it just gets tricky and hella annoying when youre running late.
you need custom installed shower to get something decent, and when youre renting an apartment thats just not the kind of expense youre willing to take when youre gonna move out either way.