Everyone was lined up outside of a taxi queue. Only it wasn’t a taxi queue, it was an Uber loading zone *next to* the taxi queue. I got in an actual taxi and got downtown just as cheaply. The first thing I noticed was it was like Toronto. Grey and sad.
I’m staying downtown-downtown, 9th street. It’s run like a hotel, it has rooms like a hotel, it has a “service storage” like a hotel. It is not officially a hotel. Cool. Idk what it was beforehand but now it’s cheaper for a suite than the Holiday Inn was for a room, so I’m very happy with it for now.
First meal was takeout pizza, which was pretty alright and incredibly cheap. Getting it was… mm. Pittsburgh feels *rough*. I was *very* out of place in a bright red coat and tailored jeans; I might not wear any of my “cute” outfits out too late (it was 7pm!).
The next morning, I did my routine and got ready to work. I didn’t pack my notebooks and ran into a thorny problem, so I went hunting for breakfast and paper. It’s apparent to me that downtown… does not provide for people. There is an expectation that you get your stuff from outside.
I got breakfast at a Turkish place. The (turkish, obviously) coffee was exceptional. Main dish was mnemen, a cucumber-pepper-cheese stew, served warm, which was perfect in the 11C weather. I had it with a side of mucver, a compressed vegetable disc. Absolutely delicious.
For dinner I ate at Arby’s. Everyone was very confused at me being there: the person at the register was surprised I wanted beef, a person waited for me to go FAR away before grabbing napkins, it was very odd. Idk *why*. There’s a lot of 7-11s here. And a lot of deps that aren’t 7-11s. Way more than I would expect. But I haven’t seen a true grocery store…
Garbage collection is VERY LOUD compared to home. This apartment is less sealed and also they do it at 5am for some reason.
People say Hello loudly on the street and I don’t know why. Sometimes they are on their phone but other times just ???
I apparently picked up a lil cold on Friendsgiving so I’m sleeping it off until Tourney Time. Delivery drivers, “will-it-keep?” food mentality, a bit of an overspend. And so so so much sleep.
Gosh the city is full of noise. The children let out from school raised it to a high volume, but, the constant traffic noise, the painful sound of garbage collection, … it’s just so much.
It has been raining every single day since I’ve gotten here — fairly hard, too! A native says “Welcome to Pittsburgh”. I think I’ve found weather worse than Montreal’s in November.
Day 3. Woke up, un-sicked. Made a list of what I need to do. Started collecting the snacks and water needed for an all-day magic play, and got some protein in me to start.
A lady outside the arby’s: “and THAT’S when I said AINT NOBODY — door’s right here ma’am
— AINT NOBODY GONNA take THAT shit”Bank got annoyed at me being in Pittsburgh. I had to call them to buy my Savannahs I have Savannahs now
Only one store was selling sleeves. Thank goodness they were! I had time to properly secure and sort acquisitions buy not enough time to re-sleeve before round 1.
VERY nice chairs.
Ran around in before the second tourney round getting cards for a swap to GW. GW is *so much better*. Having the point removal is key, the mana is slightly better, and god riftstone portal under a blood moon is a lifesaver. I started winning games and then matches.
MTG NERD
Still maybe one more crucible or loam in the main. Got asked if I had the crimer but I decided to go with Realmbreaker instead. And Realmbreaker won me *many* games… it’s an option, though! Once each turn is kind of a limit but it can be very good if it’s not immediately removed which it likely will be. But removal is less prevalent? I’m running four Reclaimers and they’re fine… So it might be worth a look!
END MTG NERD
The tap water here is less than ideal. I wonder what my schedule will be like tomorrow — I’ll get ping’d with Lori’s dinner appt. Grabbing the trail mix today was a good idea. Grabbing water tomorrow will be a better one.
Started at 9:30am. Went 1-3, accidentally got a bye in the “high roller” tourney. Dropped for Vintage, there was no 1pm Vintage. Got my cards and playmat signed by Mark Poole. There was no vintage, because due to the above tournament nonsense, the “makeup” tourney was during round 3 of the main. So we all got refunded, and I entered into the 2pm. Won against Nadu who did not know how to deal with Chasm or fast Lage. Lost to Eldrazi by inches. Won against Belcher: first game was a *T1* concession as I dumped my hand to Marit Lage and he didn’t have it. Second game I lost turn 1, didn’t even get to me. Third game, I landed an early chalice, GQ=Strip, Saga for Bauble, and killed with a Karnstruct. Just a perfect new lands game. The fast combo board does work! Sadly I can only play 9 hours of legacy, not 13, today because I have a work dinner.
When leaving, the girl at the entrance stopped me to shoe me her cool cards. I didn’t know her but I enthused anyway ^^ wait did I play her in legacy yesterday…? Anyway she was cool ^^ (if someone thinks they know you and are happy to see you, be happy back!!) Her name was Ash, she played legacy against me several times, talked between rounds more, and I got her contact info and next tournaments ^^
Work dinner went well! Lori showed real interest in Legacy. In magic in general. We had a good time out and I got to nerd dump. She is very grandparental
Waiting for the starting gun. Waiting for “legacy players, pairings, round one”
“We have discovered a small issue with the pairings sheets… they have been printed alphabetically by first name with the username displayed instead of by last name. We will correct this by round 2”
I then played magic: the gathering for twelve hours straight two days in a row. I went 4-3 on GW Lands, which I feel is poorly positioned. If you want a tournament report or analysis, watch coverage. I don’t remember this cleanly enough to delineate rounds or days. I was caffinated, hyped out of my mind, laser focused, and lost.
Sunday morning, I decided to do one last event. One legacy, where I, again, lost, and one vintage, where… I did ok?? I had the same record as legacy but *without power nine*. I was running fastbond and cradle and *made an okay showing*. The top8 player said “it has potential”. I… might play Vintage. I finished 1-2, which matched my Legacy record and means *I won a match in Vintage*.
This brings us to Sunday evening. The magic playing is done for this weekend…
She was spontaneous. She was an artist. She cooked me dinner. We went on a walk, on which she needed two items that we could not forget — a reading headlamp and a book of lesbian poetry. She took me to a community garden. She made a bas relief of manhole cover stars and gave it to me as my ticket to a happy and healthy life. My hand on her ankle, she proposed going back to her place. Once there, she took me to her porch, and lay me on a couch. She took off my top, drew on my back with marker. A beautiful and abstract scene. A partial map. A vision of place and community and beauty. Then she rolled me over. We parted not too much later. Writing this, I still smell her on me. I will remember Pittsburgh by her.