I better update before kissing the sky.
So, I got back from the Summer North American Bridge Championships in NYC a couple of weeks ago...
I would say things went pretty well. I made some good scratch playing pro with Steve during the first weekend. We plan on practicing more together and hopefully attacking the Orlando Nationals over thanksgiving break.
A couple of days later I was on one of the US teams in the World Schools Championship (i.e. 21 and under.) I played well, but the other teams were more prepared ... and were just better ... so we came in 5th. Hehe, but i beat my brother's team who came in, yup, 6th.
Then, I played in the main junior event, the 1st annual World Junior Individual Championships. While playing the event I didn't really take it too seriously. I was just trying to have fun playing/meeting all of the juniors from around the world. It wasn't until later that I realized the magnitude of the event when various people complimented me on my "high" finish (which wasn't really all that impressive.) My little brother Rob was actually at the top of the leaderboard for most of the event and was even 2nd going into the last round. He ended up coming in 4th place, not too shabby for an 18 year old in an event restricted to juniors under the age of 26. I was below average (somewhere around 60th place maybe?) going into the last session (out of 4)...and then I just had a monster session ...in fact the best single session out of anyone in the entire tournament. So, that was cool and I ended up finishing in 11th place overall. I also randomly won a $200 scholarship for placing 3rd out of all of the North American Juniors (of course after my brother who came in 1st.) Woo, free money!
The last weekend I played in the Junior Team Trials to select the US junior team that gets a free trip to the World Teams Championships next summer in Sydney Australia. My partner (Joon) and I didn't really do that great...the format of the event blew and we ended up in this endless cycle of playing the same moderately decent pair. So, we haven't qualified on our own accord yet, but there is a chance that we (or me and Rob or something) might be selected as the third wildcard pair for the team.
In the more social realm of the bridge scene...it was nice seeing all of the juniors as usual. I hung out with my brother and his partner Xing some and got to know them better. I also hung out with the crazy (Canadian) Donovan Brothers who I manage to catch up with every few years. It turns out one of them decided to run the bases at Yankee Stadium while attending the game during the subsequent bridge camp in NYC (which I did not attend this year.) Some legal troubles ensued, various people got thrown out of camp, and all that fun stuff. I guess I was glad to miss all that drama.
Shout out to Jen who let me hang at her crib after the bridge tournament for a few days. It was tight seeing her house, getting to know her parents, and playing mini-golf.
I'm so gangsta.
The last two weeks (after NYC) have been really laid back. I got intensely into online poker for a little while (after playing some real life after session poker with the junior bridge players in NYC.) I recently quit, and I'm happy to say I ended up winning some decent $$...although it definitely did not start out that way... Turns out online poker is extremely boring when you play it for 3 days straight.
My dad's friend Seth from CT came to visit LA looking for another house (his first choice, Fred Durst's old house turned out to have some legal issues involved.) He told me I could housesit for him when he wasn't in LA in the future. Nice, I can be a real beach bum after college now!
So, the day after tomorrow I'm leaving home for the summer.
Mad Dash Across Europe!
First, I'm going to Detriot for a cousin's (ultra-orthodox Jewish) wedding. That ought to be interesting.
From Detroit I'm flying to Frankfurt where I'm meeting up with Chriselle.
Then, we're taking the train to Jena (Germany) to stay in her apartment for the last few days of her internship.
After that we're going to take a train up to Berlin to visit the capital.
From Berlin, we're flying to London and staying there with Chriselle's family for a few days.
From London we're all flying to Paris for a few days.
Her parents are leaving and then we're going to hang out in Paris for a few more days.
We're going to make our way back to Saarbrucken (Chriselle's first summer home in Germany) so I can meet and hang out with her friends there...
Before going back to Frankfurt, so that we can fly out the next day (somehow we ended up on the same flight...)
Then, we'll be in NYC, I think hanging out with her cousin for a few days in the city until the dorms open up in New Haven.
Phew. That's a lot of culture for me. But, I'm going to soak it in and hopefully get some new European duds (and hopefully a cool new European name for clothing.)
So, most of the time I've spent at home has been figuring out this trip to Europe next week...and to tell you the truth all the details aren't quite sorted out yet (where to store our luggage...the exact hotel in Paris...but we have the basic ideas.)
I think things will work out quite nicely, and if they don't, well, screw 'em ... it'll be fun no matter what.
Alright take care y'all...enjoy the last few weeks of summer.
Peace out, yo.
I would say things went pretty well. I made some good scratch playing pro with Steve during the first weekend. We plan on practicing more together and hopefully attacking the Orlando Nationals over thanksgiving break.
A couple of days later I was on one of the US teams in the World Schools Championship (i.e. 21 and under.) I played well, but the other teams were more prepared ... and were just better ... so we came in 5th. Hehe, but i beat my brother's team who came in, yup, 6th.
Then, I played in the main junior event, the 1st annual World Junior Individual Championships. While playing the event I didn't really take it too seriously. I was just trying to have fun playing/meeting all of the juniors from around the world. It wasn't until later that I realized the magnitude of the event when various people complimented me on my "high" finish (which wasn't really all that impressive.) My little brother Rob was actually at the top of the leaderboard for most of the event and was even 2nd going into the last round. He ended up coming in 4th place, not too shabby for an 18 year old in an event restricted to juniors under the age of 26. I was below average (somewhere around 60th place maybe?) going into the last session (out of 4)...and then I just had a monster session ...in fact the best single session out of anyone in the entire tournament. So, that was cool and I ended up finishing in 11th place overall. I also randomly won a $200 scholarship for placing 3rd out of all of the North American Juniors (of course after my brother who came in 1st.) Woo, free money!
The last weekend I played in the Junior Team Trials to select the US junior team that gets a free trip to the World Teams Championships next summer in Sydney Australia. My partner (Joon) and I didn't really do that great...the format of the event blew and we ended up in this endless cycle of playing the same moderately decent pair. So, we haven't qualified on our own accord yet, but there is a chance that we (or me and Rob or something) might be selected as the third wildcard pair for the team.
In the more social realm of the bridge scene...it was nice seeing all of the juniors as usual. I hung out with my brother and his partner Xing some and got to know them better. I also hung out with the crazy (Canadian) Donovan Brothers who I manage to catch up with every few years. It turns out one of them decided to run the bases at Yankee Stadium while attending the game during the subsequent bridge camp in NYC (which I did not attend this year.) Some legal troubles ensued, various people got thrown out of camp, and all that fun stuff. I guess I was glad to miss all that drama.
Shout out to Jen who let me hang at her crib after the bridge tournament for a few days. It was tight seeing her house, getting to know her parents, and playing mini-golf.
I'm so gangsta.
The last two weeks (after NYC) have been really laid back. I got intensely into online poker for a little while (after playing some real life after session poker with the junior bridge players in NYC.) I recently quit, and I'm happy to say I ended up winning some decent $$...although it definitely did not start out that way... Turns out online poker is extremely boring when you play it for 3 days straight.
My dad's friend Seth from CT came to visit LA looking for another house (his first choice, Fred Durst's old house turned out to have some legal issues involved.) He told me I could housesit for him when he wasn't in LA in the future. Nice, I can be a real beach bum after college now!
So, the day after tomorrow I'm leaving home for the summer.
Mad Dash Across Europe!
First, I'm going to Detriot for a cousin's (ultra-orthodox Jewish) wedding. That ought to be interesting.
From Detroit I'm flying to Frankfurt where I'm meeting up with Chriselle.
Then, we're taking the train to Jena (Germany) to stay in her apartment for the last few days of her internship.
After that we're going to take a train up to Berlin to visit the capital.
From Berlin, we're flying to London and staying there with Chriselle's family for a few days.
From London we're all flying to Paris for a few days.
Her parents are leaving and then we're going to hang out in Paris for a few more days.
We're going to make our way back to Saarbrucken (Chriselle's first summer home in Germany) so I can meet and hang out with her friends there...
Before going back to Frankfurt, so that we can fly out the next day (somehow we ended up on the same flight...)
Then, we'll be in NYC, I think hanging out with her cousin for a few days in the city until the dorms open up in New Haven.
Phew. That's a lot of culture for me. But, I'm going to soak it in and hopefully get some new European duds (and hopefully a cool new European name for clothing.)
So, most of the time I've spent at home has been figuring out this trip to Europe next week...and to tell you the truth all the details aren't quite sorted out yet (where to store our luggage...the exact hotel in Paris...but we have the basic ideas.)
I think things will work out quite nicely, and if they don't, well, screw 'em ... it'll be fun no matter what.
Alright take care y'all...enjoy the last few weeks of summer.
Peace out, yo.