Went skiing for the first time ever back in January. Fortunately, I had good company to teach me how to ski. Towards the middle of the day I was falling less, but then I embarked on a very long green run at the end of the day and couldn't stop falling. Eventually I got a snowmobile ride down the mountain as one of the last people stuck on the mountain as it was becoming dark. I had enough fun during my first time skiing to want to go again someday. Incoming stock photo of Winter Park from Wikipedia because I failed to take any photos during the ski trip:
Played some Magic in Columbus, Washington DC and Albuquerque. Columbus and Washington DC didn't go so well (but still had a good time with good company), and Albuquerque went better than expected even though I missed the cash cutoff on tiebreakers. At GP Albuquerque, I had a rough start, limping into day 2 with the minimum 6-3 record with an ok sealed deck. Then in day 2, I played against my teammate in round 12 as we were both 2-0 in our first booster draft - his draft deck was insane and he won the round. My round 13 opponent dropped from the tournament at 8-4 so that was a nice and unexpected bye round for me, and round 15 came down to a close game 3 with blowouts and bombs on both sides to decide the match, with the winner ending at 11-4 with an outside shot for $250. I also got to play Eldrazi during Eldrazi Winter at SCG Regionals, which felt dirty. Along the way, I'm learning to not be afraid to learn how to play a "good" or "best" deck in a format, no matter how difficult people perceive the learning curve to be - all it takes is practice and learning from better players (thanks internet!).
Spent a long weekend with the bros in Chicago, which was a good time. Thanks to my brother for providing us with solid lodging, tourist tips and hanging out with us. Some of us consumed entirely too much beer over the course of the weekend (I'm one of those people). We also ate a lot of food, including (Cho Sun) Ok Korean food but not including chips. Took a trip back to middle school and high school with the Linkin Park kick that we were on. Voluntold to kiss a complete stranger girl next to the bean at Millenium Park (for science, of course), which is something that I would have never been down for in a previous life.
Looking forward to this summer, I'll be taking a hiatus from Magic to work on dragon boat. The plan for this year is to actually be a stern during the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival.
