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fortunately, most of the
wotc people arrived in new jersey early enough to get in
some sightseeing and fun. i'd already offered to take gloom
and nova around the city on friday, and of course ech was
coming too, and we were happy to add sensei, dmtm and mtm to
the group. unfortunately they had to be back to help set up
at 2:00, so we really needed to pack in the sights. i moved
the time to meet in the lobby up to nine...but ech and
sensei and i got lost on the way to the hotel so we were a
half hour late. we arrived to find gloom and mtm playing a
match. gloom FTKO'D mtm's cleffa, so i guess it's good we
showed up when we did. |
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now, no one in their right mind wants to drive to sightsee in new york, and we all wouldn't fit in sensei's car so public trans was our only remaining choice. fortunately there was a bus stop not far from the crowne plaza, and onto the bus we hopped. it was fun cause we snagged the seats in the very back. we sat and talked about various stuff and mtm gave us a bunch of promos and holo energy. :D now i need to build a fighting and fire deck. the trip in to port authority was pretty short, so it left plenty of time to go do things.
everyone unanimously agreed that they wanted to go to the pokemon center, so after waiting for sensei and mtm to buy some overpriced bagels in the bus depot, i led everyone through times square to get the shuttle to grand central. i showed everyone how to use the metrocard machine and we were off.
look! here they all are in
grand central terminal! famous spot, that..... |
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it's a bit of a jaunt from gct to the pokemon center, but most of it is through those keen new underground passageways, somewhat evocative of the gameboy games. despite dmtm's repeated queries of 'are we there yet?' we soon arrived at the center, and everyone scattered. some of them wanted pokemon mini's, some wanted card accessories, some wanted pvc's....i had a long list of things to pick up for people so i grabbed a basket and got started. i met up with ech, gloom, and nova at the pokemon get machine. the pokemon du jour were shining venusaurs, blastioses and charizards. nice! anyways, we spent about 40 minutes in the store, then decided to head to chinatown for lunch. |
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chinatown was a bit of a subway ride, but we got there with a little over an hour to spend. with no time to be fussy, dmtm chose the first restaurant he saw, and that's where we had lunch. they had an amazing variety of entrees. most of us picked familiar favorites, but mtm decided to be bold and venturesome and order something he'd never heard of....
oh, it sounds innocuous,
albeit a bit odd. but take a look....this was the last
entree to arrive..... |
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honestly --- you should
have seen his face when the waiter plopped it down in front
of him. there was a moment of stunned silence, then
EVERYONE at the table just burst out laughing. we all
sat and watched him waiting for him to eat it. he said it
tasted like egg drop soup.. |
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he soon realized he was
the only person at the table who could eat his dinner with a
straw..... |
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and then he remembered his
pocketpc had an audio record function. the sound of egg
sauce being slurrrrrrrrped up through a straw is something
one must hear to believe. and as soon as he gets a .wav of
it i'm sure you all will.... |
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time to fly! there's a bus to catch. so we go tearing back to port authority, and after a lot of hectic running around, manage to find the right gate....for the wrong bus. sorry guys!!!! :O
well, they got back to the crowne plaza eventually. after a long day of setting up and getting ready, everyone was hungry and ready for dinner. at least we thought they were. they called looking for us claiming they were hungry but by the time we showed up, dmtm and mtm were gunslinging in the lobby. dmtm was playing a team game with the brooks, and here is mtm playing with the moores. we stood around and watched for a bit and fidgeted so they'd know we were there and ready to go eat. but they finished up soon.
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we'd taken dmtm to gasho way back at the ests 2000, so i figured that would be a good choice. it was really hard to get there. we could see it, but no matter how we exited the highway, we could never actually get there. finally somehow we managed to find it. at last we could eat! sensei got to try out sake, and then worked on his chopstick skills. he got plenty of coaching. the more sake you drink i think the harder they are to use. and check out mtm's nifty neko mug! i liked it so much i got one too. his is a samurai or something, i got a panda. |
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here's our chef. he said 'WAAAAZUUUP!' a lot. it made me laugh cause it was just such a juxaposition of absurdity. and i was really tired. i think gloom and nova were on the verge of snapping tho. but look at that food! see how happy we all are. nothing like food when you're hungry, and all. |
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mtm had offered to have a draft later that night. everyone likes drafting, so back to the hotel we went. take a look! drafting is always nice after a long day. we drafted rocket and destiny and it was a lot of fun.
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look! steve has his special meowth deck skin!!! :D
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