DDR practice, Tram's, Bedazzled, and heartburn issues

Today I played DDR at the BVM. I got up earlyish (before noon!) and picked up Nick and Justin and Mike, and then got on the road. We had a lot of fun there, playing lots of DDR. Although, it was weird, a lot of stuff in the mall was closed. Rebecca showed up an hour or two after we did, and Juan was also there at some point, and there were two other random guys who played a set or two. I played mostly alongside with Nick or Justin (I made Justin do my "warmup" set with me - Byul Maniac, Face Trick, and Silent Hill Maniac. Yeah, whatever. I think it is good karma to play those songs first). The machine was REALLY quiet. It was really hard to hear and to get up to speed... early on I was just having a totally tough time with getting perfects. I began to hit my groove around when Rebecca showed up - I remember because I played a Pops A set with her of K-Pop stuff, and totally nailed it. Later I did a 220P B4U Trick, which also felt good. I think they're going to turn up the machine volume for the tournament next weekend - if they don't, there's going to be serious issues! Watching Mike play was neat, as always. I still have little doubt that he will win the Maniac category next week. Eh. I'm just hoping to get past the first round of Trick. Whee. We went to Arby's for food after DDRing because we were all starved, and sat around chatting, which was fun, because I realized that aside from DDRing and various video games, I really don't know Mike or Justin all that well, and they are really nice guys. I had no idea Mike was just a freshman this year, for example. And I think it will be awesome if Justin and Rebecca can get IMSO and OGS to work together for some good DDR action in Oakland next year.

So, anyway - the tournament next Saturday - who's in? We can organize rides from Oakland for everyone, I think, if we plan more than a day in advance. I would love it if a lot of CMU-etc types decided to enter... (that means you, alibash, cdinwood, mygrane, rkane, fleaplus, alternakittyn, ancilla, fizzbang, mistergone, buoren...) It's Saturday, signups are from 12-1, and the tournament starts at 2pm, with Basic, Trick, and Maniac categories (you can only enter one). Entry fee is $5, and prizes are percentages of the entry fees collected (so if the cash pot for Maniac is 50 bucks from entries, the 1st place winner might get $25, second place might get $17, and third place might get $8, or something) and maybe some other stuff I'm unaware of.

It does go for 4 hours or so, but in general it is sort of exciting to watch, especially the finals for Maniac. And the mall itself is pretty nice, so there's stuff to do in the meantime shopping-wise and all. And, you can meet a lot of the random DDR-playing populace of Pittsburgh. Which is quite a varied group, and I don't even think I know most of the people who will be at the tournament, but it is sort of interesting to see things like Krispy facing off against a 10-year-old. :)

Ehh, so I drove home and while driving, treys called my cellphone to say "Hi, I'm bored, wanna hang out?" So I got home and consulted with Eli and we decided that sure, that was a fine idea. I showered and changed ('cause DDR makes me icky) and Trey came over and we decided to go to Tram's. While at Tram's I had one of my heartburn-like episodes and was in a decent amount of pain for about 15 minutes. I drank a lot of sprite and fortunately it randomly subsided before the end of the meal, while Trey was talking to Tram about maybe ordering some wood art like the stuff they have up on the walls in the restaurant. So I ate my egg rolls and spring rolls and stuff, but I am generally a little worried, and if I have another heartburn attack I'm going to the doctor and asking if we can get them to look into whether it might be gall bladder issues or something. Anyway, after dinner we came back here and debated playing a game or watching a movie. After a lot of good movies were brought up and shot down, I decided to just put in Bedazzled, which I had never seen before. It's the one where Liz Hurley is the devil and Brendan Fraser is a big loser. I didn't know there was another one. I also didn't know that Dudley Moore died earlier this year. I must be really out of it. Anyway, it was vaguely entertaining, but pretty silly. Eh. Now it is the evening part of the day. Tomorrow I will get to deal with job-accepting and relocating issues, hopefully. Yay.

Y'all let me know about DDR tournamenting, y'hear?

today, so far

Been at home getting a lot of phone calls and stuff. Movers called to schedule a phone appointment tomorrow where we'll discuss the real details of relocation. Got the actual papers with the offer letter from Amazon; I suppose I should read them over and sign them and send them back soon. Rebecca also dropped by with DDR stuff so I can set up IMSO tomorrow. Eli's family also called and I got to talk to them. There was also a telemarketer who was like "is this Mrs. Brandt?" and I replied "No. She's in Massachusetts. I think you have the wrong number." In the meantime of all this, I found my laundry card and did laundry, and watched the movie Class inbetween laundry trips, foldings, and phone calls. Class was... eh. It's a silly 80's prep school movie where a guy goes to school and ends up having an affair with an older woman who turns out to be his roomate's mother. But, the entertaining part was seeing the actors in the cast in their younger years - notably a 16-year-old John Cusack, an 18-year-old Rob Lowe, and a 20-year-old Andrew McCarthy (who to his credit looks at least 2 years YOUNGER than Rob Lowe does in the film). Alan Ruck was also in it. I had no idea he was so old though - he was 27 in this and 30 in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (playing a high school student in both movies). Weird. Still, I had forgotten why I bought this movie until 5 minutes into it when the camera pans around a corner and you see John Cusack the teenager being a wiseass. Heh. Other than that, though, it sort of falls short of what I think they intended (some cross between The Graduate and... well, I'm not sure which one is the prototypical dorm movie that came before it). Eh. Anyway.

Time to put away laundry, shower, change, and go play bridge at Beeler.