Andy and LD invade Seattle!

[Lady Door]

Because Andrew and I spend our Tuesday and Wednesday evenings investing ridiculous amounts of time and money in the World of Warcraft TCG, we figured playing in tournaments would be a good additional use of both. When Andrew placed 2nd in the local qualifier, giving him an invite to the Realms tournament in Seattle, well, it was decided! Rather than stay in Berkeley and deal with Big Game fiascoes, we'd head up to Seattle the weekend of November 22-23 and play and check out Seattle, as neither of us had been.

Conveniently enough, Andrew knows someone from RP who had a room for us to crash in, and Yakumo also lives nearby! Score. People to see.

For SOME ungodly reason, flying to Seattle managed to be more expensive than renting a car and paying for gas both ways. Go figure, huh? And this was even before we both figured out that gas was down to $2/gallon instead of $3.50.

We skipped classes Thursday and Friday so that we could take the 12.5 (!) hour drive, get up there, rest, and spend a day relaxing with people before trying to play competitively. I ended up doing all of the driving mainly because I'm an idiot and I forgot to register Andrew as a driver. I paid for it by getting freaked out when I crossed the Oregon border, hit my first unfamiliar "this is a solid white line, DO NOT PASS!!" section of the road and then getting followed by a cop who flicked his lights at me at the height of my panic, and also getting stuck with over 10 hours of dark, boring interstate travel while Andrew played the DS or slept.

We left at 2:30pm after I ran around trying to get my JET application off in time and arrived in the university side of Seattle just after 3:15am. We instantly crashed.

The next day we met up with Yakko downtown at the Seattle Aquarium!

There were tide pools,

and stubborn octopi,

opportunities for up-skirt shots of hot young salmon,

and seals with some serious attitude!

After we finished wandering around the aquarium, which took us a good two to three hours because it's a really big and really cool aquarium, we hit up a fish place and had deliciously fried seafood and chips for lunch/dinner. On our way to the Pike Place Market, we saw a woman with a chicken. The chicken was quite contentedly just sitting there, and the woman was just walking down the street being mostly normal. In fact, it was hard to pick out that she was indeed sporting a chicken until a border collie walking by started freaking out and the chicken started clucking.

Then we hit the Pike Place Market and wandered around for another hour or so. Cool place! I should have bought some of their produce. The berries smelled HEAVENLY and I've never seen so much picture-quality food in person.

Go ahead and play "Where's Yakko?" with the image. I managed to confuse him by stopping to take a picture of the side of a building when we were walking to the really nifty INSIDE part. Yeah, who wants pictures of buildings? (Me.)

I also managed to pick up a ridiculously awesome magnet from a store inside. It sports Chuck Norris. Need I say more?

NEXT! The tournament and the Seattle Center.

[DjinnAndTonic]

We left at 2:30pm after I ran around trying to get my JET application off in time and arrived in the university side of Seattle just after 3:15am.

You're applying to the JET Programme? Cool, maybe I won't be the only DL-er in Japan next year! Obviously this is sign that the next DLcon should be DLcon: Eastern Hemisphere - the Japan chapter.

Love the up-skirt shot of the salmon. Hot.

-Djinn

[Lady Door]

Am indeed applying to the JET Programme! Not holding my hopes out on getting in this year, but I figured I'd see how far I could go. I'm hopeful I'll at least make it to the interview stage, but there's nothing more for me to do than wait at this point.

I'm sure the Aussies might appreciate something a little closer to home for their next vacation. Hell, if you end up getting in and live in a big enough place in the inaka, I'm willing to bet I'd go even if I don't end up already being in Japan. 

The salmon room was kind of funny. You walk down a hall and then sort of end up under that tank. You can't HELP but look up.


Anyway. On to the next part!

[superaielman]

Nice work with the pictures.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Am indeed applying to the JET Programme! Not holding my hopes out on getting in this year, but I figured I'd see how far I could go. I'm hopeful I'll at least make it to the interview stage, but there's nothing more for me to do than wait at this point.

I'm sure the Aussies might appreciate something a little closer to home for their next vacation. Hell, if you end up getting in and live in a big enough place in the inaka, I'm willing to bet I'd go even if I don't end up already being in Japan. 

Actually, I'm already living in Japan through the JET Programme. And conveniently enough I -do- live in a big enough place in the inaka.

But more importantly... If *I* could get in, I'm sure you won't have any trouble!

-Djinn

[Lady Door]

I conveniently left out the part where, after leaving the Pike Place Market, I drove to Seattle Center and back to downtown again in search of the Seattle Art Museum. By the time I found my way to it, it was already getting pretty late. The worst part is that I walked by the stupid thing on the way to the aquarium that morning, and TOOK A PICTURE OF IT and yet completely forgot having ever seen it.

Dude in the front is a mobile sculpture.

Anyway.

So Friday night Andrew and I headed back to our host's place. Drank some rum and Coke, gave our decks a last turn or two, then headed to sleep. For someone who's used to California winters, Seattle's wet and freezing 30F was horrible, and waking up and SHOWERING in a heaterless house was torture. Nevertheless, we got over to the Seattle Center with no mishaps. We even found parking in the mostly empty official Seattle Center parking garage for $6. Not $6/hour, $6 for the WHOLE DAY. I admit we left the garage wondering if we were going to come back to a $60 parking fee for having misread.

The Seattle Center, for those of you who haven't been, is a weird combination conference center slash entertainment hub slash food court slash who the hell knows what else. It's where the Space Needle sits, and apparently where they host some concerts and stuff. Crazy big and new and well maintained.

The food court was attached to the conference center conveniently enough, so Andrew and I walked around looking at the Christmas displays that were being set up. In addition to the requisite Christmas tree and giant snow globe with leaf blower snow action, they had a really cool model city all decked out for the holidays. Being the Christmas dork that I am, I had to take a couple pictures.

(Andrew's favorite:)

I failed to take pictures of the actual tournament setting because I didn't want to get accused of cheating or whatever. While registering the decks, Andrew managed to trade for one of the last cards he needed and I managed to ... finish building my deck? There was some confusion initially over whether I was actually qualified (I'd done so, sort of, with the Berkeley qualifier on November 15th, and apparently it was only sort of in the system). That combined with the fact that I was the only girl in a field of 27 meant that they remembered my name for the rest of the day. Go me!

That was about the most memorable thing as far as my play goes, though. I managed to completely scrub out with a final record of 1-4 by virtue of the Round 5 bye. To be fair, it was not a complete sweep: my deck performed well, just missed the final punch. I went to 3 games for the first 2 rounds, managing to lose only by 1-5 health every time. The last two I played I sort of didn't bother to play carefully so I stretched my deck a little; those only went 2 games, but again I only lost by 3-5 health points. Alas it was not meant to be for me!

Andrew's posted his story on the What Games and Good Morning threads, so feel free to read up on those there. Suffice to say, his loss was quite unfortunate and put him in a pretty sour mood for the next hour or so. When they cut to top 8, they stopped to distribute prizes. Andrew ended up 10/27 and I ended up 23/27. I think there were two reasons for my awesome ranking:

1) My first match was against the person ranked #1 at the cut
2) 25-27 dropped.

 

I'll take my wins where I can get 'em! I was pretty amused, though. I was also further amused when the prizes were distributed. Despite being 23 out of 24 ranked players, I scored 8 packs (retail ~$3.95 each) and a deck box.

Andrew, with his 10th place finish, won a deck box, 12 packs and 4 Extended Art carts (Redemption).

Right after we got our prizes, Yakko met us and we all left to head back to the university side of Seattle. It wasn't until we left the conference center and were headed back to the car that I bothered to take a picture of Seattle's most distinctive landmark: the Space Needle. I knew I needed at least one of these to prove that I was in fact actually in Seattle.

We went to a Thai place called Bai Pai. I ordered a sampler platter that included banana and shrimp cakes as well as chicken satay and some weird shrimp in a basket. Andrew got classic pad Thai, Yakko got ... I don't remember what Yakko got. And our host got something which was a 5 on a spicy scale ending in 5. There was much great discussion of role play and science fiction and other dorky topics, and it lasted another hour or three when we all went back to our host's house. Our host and Yakko, both being from Michigan, decided to teach Andrew and I Euchre. Andrew and I proceeded to be confused for 45 minutes, but we played a very close game -- 9 to 10, with the Yakko/Andy team scoring the final points.

I still think euchre is a crazy game. I'm glad I learned it, though.

Once we'd had enough of euchre and chatting (how is it possible, I wonder?), we all decided to take Yakko to the ferry so that he wouldn't be stranded at the Seattle waterfront until midnight. Because Yakko suggested that you crazy DLers expected photos whenever other DLers end up meeting, we got our host to take a picture of the three of us.

Voila!

The drive home was pretty uneventful. Long. More in the sunlight, thankfully, which means I got Andrew to snap a couple of shots on the way home, but mostly just boring. The exciting part is when we got back to Berkeley (11:30pm), unloaded the car, then dropped it off at the rental place -- 2.5 miles away, after the buses had stopped running, in a semi-sketchy part of town. And then we walked home.

And slept.

And all was good.

Fin~

[Lady Door]

Thanks, super. I enjoy having a digital camera again, even though I go through batteries like crazy.

Djinn: Ohhhh. That makes a lot of sense in retrospect. I thought you were an ALT of some kind, but I didn't know it was with JET! That's exciting. ^_^ I'll have to PM you for details about all of it.

I'm not optimistic about my application because there are lots of holes. Example: no Japanese language or culture classes or extracurriculars. Also, weird transcripts. But! Plenty genki and flexible, so it mainly depends on what they're looking for when they get to reviewing me. I'll find out in January whether they granted me an interview. Not holding my breath, but it would be pretty cool if it worked out.

[DjinnAndTonic]

From what I can tell, the most important things to JET interviews are your letters of recommendation and how well you can pretend you're teaching a bunch of elementary kids English even if you don't speak any Japanese. If you master this, have good recommendation, and say a lot of BS about 'wanting to study Japanese and learn about Japanese culture' - you're in.

It sounds like your Seattle trip was really awesome, despite a few... 'adventurous' moments. I'm really digging the photos, too - nice shots!

Of that final picture... which of you people is which? Obviously the girl is Yakko! >.>;;

-Djinn

[OblivionKnight]

Left to Right:

Ladydoor, MC, Meeple

[Lady Door]

That's pretty much what I assumed about the process. I'm good at that! I can toss my dignity at the flip of a coin if it's necessary (and I've found it often is with unruly kids -- alas).

I liked visiting Seattle. It reminded me of a cross between Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. Clean, neat place with some cool history (and historical buildings) and the people were pretty interesting. Can't beat the surroundings, either! I love me some trees and mountains.

The last picture, left to right, is Yakko, me and Andy. The car behind us is the Kia we rented for the trip.

[Taishyr]

Man, too bad you didn't get to stop by the Seattle Art Museum. The person who runs the Native American section's an old friend.

Still, quite glad you enjoyed it!

[Strago]

Aw, dude, I love Seattle. I've only been there once, visiting my girlfriend and her family for about a weekend, but man is it ever a pleasant place to exist.

I actually went  to the aquarium, too. I'm disappointed by your lack of pictures of the otters, though.

[Cotigo]

From what I can tell, the most important things to JET interviews are your letters of recommendation and how well you can pretend you're teaching a bunch of elementary kids English even if you don't speak any Japanese. If you master this, have good recommendation, and say a lot of BS about 'wanting to study Japanese and learn about Japanese culture' - you're in.

Mm.  Any word on how the global economy's effecting this program?  I'm planning on applying next year (won't be graduating until Fall 09, and by that time maybe I'll have enough experience with tutoring children that I'll be comfortable with the interview), but with the way things are stagnating I'm not sure how much longer the Japanese government will support the program.  Granted, they still haven't recovered from the 1980s so these events might not effect it, but... well, yeah, just curious as to if it's begun to effect anything in the program or not.

[Lady Door]

Did somebody say OTTERS?

I have more. I only didn't include them because, well, those pictures there are the "best" among them. Kinda sad. I was overwhelmed by their cuteness.

Also: puffin! In his winter colors:

I also have a picture of the wall scuplture in the foyer, the giant introductory tank with fishes from the sound, a couple of the harbor seals, some more of the octopi (there was a male and a female and they fed them individually), some sea birds and the landscape immediately around the aquarium.

-

I too am sad that we didn't get a chance to go to the art museum. I like museums! I was just dumb about driving around and it was getting a little late in the evening for us to hang around downtown anymore. Missed out on the SF museum at Seattle Center, too, because the aquarium was just that cool.

[DjinnAndTonic]

From what I can tell, the most important things to JET interviews are your letters of recommendation and how well you can pretend you're teaching a bunch of elementary kids English even if you don't speak any Japanese. If you master this, have good recommendation, and say a lot of BS about 'wanting to study Japanese and learn about Japanese culture' - you're in.

Mm.  Any word on how the global economy's effecting this program?  I'm planning on applying next year (won't be graduating until Fall 09, and by that time maybe I'll have enough experience with tutoring children that I'll be comfortable with the interview), but with the way things are stagnating I'm not sure how much longer the Japanese government will support the program.  Granted, they still haven't recovered from the 1980s so these events might not effect it, but... well, yeah, just curious as to if it's begun to effect anything in the program or not.

It's affecting it a little bit - due to the sheer number of foreigners in Japan now, a lot of Japanese high schools are hiring teachers privately instead of using JET, so there are less overall positions available... in high school. But there's still plenty of middle/elementary positions that should become available each year.

So... yeah, the programme is getting cut back, but it's not dead, so I wouldn't worry.

...if you don't mind Middle schoolers, that is.

-Djinn

[Grefter]

Granted, they still haven't recovered from the 1980s

Most accurate description of Japan ever made.

[Strago]

Oh excellent, LD. Very nicely done.

[Hunter Sopko]

From what I can tell, the most important things to JET interviews are your letters of recommendation and how well you can pretend you're teaching a bunch of elementary kids English even if you don't speak any Japanese. If you master this, have good recommendation, and say a lot of BS about 'wanting to study Japanese and learn about Japanese culture' - you're in.

Mm.  Any word on how the global economy's effecting this program?  I'm planning on applying next year (won't be graduating until Fall 09, and by that time maybe I'll have enough experience with tutoring children that I'll be comfortable with the interview), but with the way things are stagnating I'm not sure how much longer the Japanese government will support the program.  Granted, they still haven't recovered from the 1980s so these events might not effect it, but... well, yeah, just curious as to if it's begun to effect anything in the program or not.

It's affecting it a little bit - due to the sheer number of foreigners in Japan now, a lot of Japanese high schools are hiring teachers privately instead of using JET, so there are less overall positions available... in high school. But there's still plenty of middle/elementary positions that should become available each year.

So... yeah, the programme is getting cut back, but it's not dead, so I wouldn't worry.

...if you don't mind Middle schoolers, that is.

-Djinn

Great Teacher Zenthor, premiering Fall '09!