Wow wow wow. East Coasts. This was such a great event.
Friday:
I started preparing to go to NYC in the morning. I made sure the brownies were cut and good to go, as well as not to forget to bring them! I planned out what clothes I wanted to bring and other things (such as phone charger, contacts, blanket etc.) and set them out on my bed because I still had the last couple of classes to go to before ECFC. After classes were all and done, I headed back home to pack! I made sure that Gary’s food bowl and water was full so he wouldn’t die while we were away. I emptied my school stuff from my backpack and filled it up with kick stuff.
Cookies pre-cookie bag
Brownies pre-cut
I had mentioned to Ben that we should get some food (Subway) for the trip to NYC because it’s a five hour trip and we wouldn’t want to be starving or pay for expensive food getting into the city, so it seemed like a wise choice to get a sandwich for the road. After that, we headed to the bus terminal, where we saw Ryan already there. Then we were just waiting to board the bus, and for Ivan and Greg to show up.
Typical NYC picture
We all sat towards the front of the bus (easier access to get off), and NYC we were bound. I don’t think the ride to NYC was very interesting, mostly because I slept (or at least tried to). But anyway, we got to New York, probably around 9PM, and then we figured out how to get to Bruce’s place. By the time we got there, it was about 10PM, and we were greeted by Bruce. We were the only ones at his place besides Tristan who was sleeping at that point. Shortly after, Boats arrived. Bags were going around and conversations and relaxing was happening. I ended up selling a 32-panel to Boats, and two 14’s to him (because he was getting them for his friend). So that was cool!
At some point in the night, we started watching this really awesome movie Journey to the West. I was sober and thought that the movie was super cool and stuff, and I really liked it. Perhaps it’s my favorite movie yet. After that movie, I was getting tired, and decided to hit the hay. Tristan passed out on the futon, so I slept on the floor for a bit. But eventually Tristan got up (when everyone else started stumbling in: Kevin Hogan, Pete Bowler, Nick Polini, Doug Tank) and was nice enough to open up the futon for Ben and me to go to.
Something about “Fuck everything but cookie bag” by Pete Bowler in reference to the cookies that got smushed on the bus ride.
Sleep.
PSU Crew sticking together.
Saturday:
Ben and I were the first ones to wake up. It was getting to about 8AM. I probably couldn’t have gone back to sleep without sleeping in until later, so I decided to just get up and get ready since net people’s comps were supposed to start at 8:30AM anyway. Ben and I were trying to figure out how to wake people up, and it led to Ben throwing footbags at Nick. It was amusing to watch because you would hear a loud thump and no rustling. The first couple of tries, Ben missed Nick, but eventually it got to the point where Ben would hit Nick and at first, Nick made no movements. But eventually, Nick would groggily get up or make some sort of dramatic movement (something you would see in a cartoon if someone were getting hit with something), and look puzzled-ly around or at the footbag and go back to sleep. Ben was then trying to hit Nick in the head with the footbag, but ended up hitting close-to-home, if you get my drift. That then woke everyone up temporarily, since Nick was groaning/moaning loudly. When everyone realized it was Nick, most of them went back to sleep.
In the end, Ivan got up and the three of us (Ivan, Ben, me) all got ready and set out for the day. We went for breakfast at Norma’s. We all got New Yorker sandwiches (egg, cheese, choice of meat) on a type of bread. We all ended up with different breads, funny enough. Ivan got a sesame bagel, Ben got a biscuit, and I got a roll. Ben got an iced latte with three shots, while I got an iced latte with caramel syrup. Ivan had water. And it wasn’t until we sat down at the table/booth that I saw that they had biscuits and sausage gravy. *sigh*
To the subway we go! We were among the first freestyle players to get to the site (Matheiu was there first). Then people and people arrived, slowly but surely. I got to meet a lot of people. You know who you are. Cool stuff.
Lots of kick.
Selling bags.
I wanted to get a lot of pre-comp shred in because I wanted to kick with everyone, and not cool down by intermediate circles, and not tire myself out by then too. For intermediate comps, I just didn’t want to get last. I was in a circle with Marc and Dan. I ended up qualifying for the secondary “wild card” round (yay! Not last!), except I got last in that circle.
But not last overall! Cool! In that secondary round, it was Johnny Sarah, and Ryan Morris, and me.
I talked to a lot of people, which was fun. At one point, I was talking to Derek (I believe) about uptime sets and how I was bad at Pixies, but kind of a natural for Fairies. I tried showing my bad Pixies, but somehow got decent sets for both strong and flip sides. Total fluke.
Cool kids club (you know who you are too). But maybe not really. That’s just what I referred to…. Some people.
Oh! I asked Evan Gatesman if he could do Wiggle Walk/84 (Pixie no plant Fairy Butter), and he did Waggle Walk (Fairy no plant Pixie Butter) which was really cool! I got my trick from Evan.
Ken Somolinos joined my circle! He helped me with a tip for Fairy ss Dyno. (Read on to Sunday for this). I was kind of nervous because I was like: I have no business hitting these tricks (Fairy ss Dyno or Fairy Whipping Swirl).
Open circles was cooooool.
Brownies passed out after all comps. Sad because Chris Dean is vegan and the brownies were not vegan. Next time!
Yu-Gi-Oh playing on Sunday
Saturday Night:
Ben, Ivan, and I left with the ECFC house people group back to ECFC house. On the way, we got separated because people needed to use the restrooms. It ended up with Ben, Ivan, Marc, Jeremy, and me as one group heading back to the house. We got there around the same time as some people who took cars.
Pasta night. Long lines for pasta. Going up stairs for sauce, downstairs for pasta, upstairs for bowls – not in that order. In whichever order people wanted.
Hanging out with a lot of cool people, talking about.
Marc and his left shoulder. Dear Diary.
Going to the upstairs bathroom with the cool kids group – Jordan, Ben, Brian Bear, Derek, Hogan, Bowler, Boats, and Cassy. Funny stuff went on. Derek spilled water, then slipped and kicked my shin. S’okay though. Hogan flipped Boats pasta bowl into shower. Boats grabbed bowl, Hogan grabbed fork. Dun dun dunnn.
After bathroom fun, Bear and Hogan had a conversation that I couldn’t tell whether it was serious or not. I started off laughing, but ended up listening intently and trying to figure out if they were serious. Flying Toe Stalls.
Headed out early to get back to Bruce’s at a decent time. I got to ride with Boats in his car, with Greg, Ivan, and Ben. Yay. Slept right away after getting back.
Sunday:
Everyone got up around the same time this day. That was cool. Got breakfast sandwiches at a deli place near Bruce’s. Yummy bacon. Rided in Boats car with same group as previous night to event site. Still among the first couple freestylers there. Matheiu was still basically the first… Interesting…
Kick kick kick.
I was in a circle with Bob Green and Andre, and I did trick for Ben. I hit Fairy ss Dyno! Awesome! That’s my first five add, which is cool. When PSU crew was leaving, I said bye. Nick mentioned congrats for first five add, milestone. Evan asked what it was. Fairy ss Dyno. Weird first add… Adam chimed in saying that typical first five adds include Blurry Whirl and Phoenix. I guess I am weird. But I like Dyno. I like Fairy. Yay!
Marc ended up winning second in int. routines and got the bag that I donated. He wanted it, so that was cool.
Marc has a lot of my bags as his bags collection.
Ben won first in intermediate routines, so that was cool
Johnny Sarah won int. circles – cool and ‘grats! I had a very cool conversation with that guy about worldly stuff.
Random picture from Sunday
Open stuff was very cool. Ken won routines, and Evan won circles.
I think Andre said that my style looks fluffy?
(Andre read this to confirm or deny or clear up)
I feed some people the Italian ice that Ben got me. But I also eat some myself. It reminded me of the firecracker/bomb pops thing. The ones that look red, white, and blue.
Hugged everyone I could goodbye before leaving. Except for those eating. I patted their heads. I see them sometime later soon anyway.
I navigate to the subway through the subway. Then bus back home. Tired.
Dysphoric from ECFC ending. Sad.
But overall good event!
I would say this is perhaps the best that I’ve been to thus far. I had a lot of fun with everyone, meeting everyone and everything!
Another panorama that isn't as good as the first one
P.S. (Edit) I forgot to mention that I had also hit strong side Fairy ss Butterfly (Park Avenue). Planning to hit flip sometime soon.
Guay>Neo ss Guay (strong side) - that was cool. Now I need to work on flip Guay and flip Neo *sigh*
