Houston Road Trip: Naysayism's Travel Log

Regional Matchmaking Southwest
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We had the idea to go to Houston after hearing Mike (Shadow Charlie) and Julio (Subzero44) talk about how they plan to go to Houston for a weekend. I joked around with those two about how no one in my state tells me about random trips or plans. My friend Marc seemed interested in the idea of going to play at Stargate and it kind of made this idea become a reality. What?s funny about this whole trip was it was planned spur of the moment and we just left. We originally plan to leave Friday morning but because of boredom we left Thursday. The plan was to go to Sugar Land and stay with Khary and Kevin?s (|Nas| and Shin_Kensou) place. Since this was so briefly planned, they weren?t ready to house us that instances. So I decided the best thing to do is have Marc and I stay at my dorm for the night in Lake Charles, LA.

Marc comes around my house around 6:00 pm to head out to leave. We headed out to get some supplies for the trip; so we head to the local Wal-Mart to buy film for my new manual camera (Canon EOS Rebel K2) and some cigarettes for Marc. After we bought the goods, I decided to get some food in before the trip. I went to a Burger King, right across the street from Wal-Mart. Wow, those employees that work in that store are fucking idiots. They wrote my order down correctly but they still dressed my sandwich wrong and then try to over charge me for my order. Then when I asked for the sauce they usually give you when you order onion rings, they had the nerve to catch an attitude with me. Apparently only ignorant bitches work at that store. After the garbage service at Burger King, I had to head back to my house and get my camera. I got home and snatch up my camera. Everything seem fine till I headed out the door. My mother started screaming my name and commanded me to do some last minute chores around the house. It was pretty lame to be ordered around when I don't even live there anymore but it was cool though. She ended hooked me up with $40.00 for the trip after I finished the chores.

We finally left, and started heading towards Lake Charles, LA to sleep over in my dorm room at McNeese State University. Halfway on the trip I realized I left my Malcolm X joystick at home. I was supposed to bring it and see if anyone can rewire it while I was visiting. I was tempted to turn around and go pick it up; but we had to make sure we would reach the dorm before 12:00 am (you cannot check a guest in overnight after midnight). The ride to the dormitory was fine. Marc was playing some Jamiroquai and Audioslave while I was reading the manual to my new camera. When I arrived on campus, I seen a good amount of cars in the dormitory?s parking lot, which is odd because no one usually stays over for winter break unless you were a foreign exchange student who couldn?t afford a plane ticket back home. Soon as I walked in, I was greeted with salutations and questions. It was a trip to be greeted by my neighbors and other various people in the dorms. I forget I still have friends on campus since a majority of my friends either dropped out or transfer schools after Hurricane Rita.

In the lobby they had a 50 plus inch screen television. They had a small gathering of students watching the Family Guy: Season Three DVD on the big screen. Marc got bored really quick and went to practice some Marvel in my room. I sat down and watch the DVD with my fellow dorm-mates (no homo). After the DVD was finish, I dragged Marc back in the lobby so we can set up MvC2 on the big screen television. One of the dudes in the dorm wanted to play, so I sat down and watch Marc beast on a local scrub for twenty minutes. I eventually jumped in the games. We played until I got tired and went to sleep to prepare for the trip to Houston. Not to much happened on our first day.

Tomorrow, Day 2: Trip Towards H-Town?

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sounds all too familiar…

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ignorant bitches. i like where this is headed lol

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H-Town? Wtf no.

Bring yo ass to CALI.

But good shit on the marvel.

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I would call you more if I didn’t have to guess where you were so I could call you whenever. :frowning:

Get a cell phone and carry that ish all the time.

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This man has a good point. I’m hella nomadic.

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Day 2: Part 1

We started out the day heading to Wal-Mart to pick up some more supplies yet again. Wal-Mart was packed. It took us thirty minutes to check out. Thirty fucking minutes for the 3-4 items we had. After the prolong wait at ?Wally World? we headed to the mall so I can look for a new fitted hat. Right a way I head towards Just Lids to get a black on black LA Dodgers hat (represent hometown). I left my discount card at home, which is pretty lame saying that I could of knock off twenty percent of the original price. We left the mall in search of some quick food and found a Jack In A Box. Eating at Jack In A Box is kind of a rare treat for Marc and I. They are only two store that we know of in Louisiana. Out of the two, the closest one near our houses is two plus hours a way. Plus eating at ?The Box? brings back childhood remembers of me living in the San Fernando Valley in Cali (Canoga Park/Woodland Hills). We eat in the parking lot then head back on the interstate. The road started to turn from decent to shitty from the city of Sulfur to Vinton, LA. Potholes and cracks filled the highway towards the border of Texas. The ride was getting boring so I figured the best way to waste time was to learn as much about my camera as possible. So I went to look for my camera bag and it was gone. My Zen Micro mp3 player was absent also. So we pull over on the emergency lane to look for my belongs and they were no where to be found. This was pretty fucking lame since I had no idea where I placed my stuff. So we headed back to Lake Charles to look for my shit and hope I didn?t leave it in the parking lot. I head back to my dorm room to find my Zen Micro and camera on the bed. I grab my shit and lock up my room and head to the parking lot. I found Marc smoking a cigarette banging some Marvin Gaye in front of the dormitory. I jump in the car and he tells me that some girl hits his car while she tries to back out of her parking spot. He looked at her and told her to just leave, pretty fucking random if you ask me. She made nice size dent on the side of the car too. After hearing that, I ran back into my room to grab a notepad to start a log.

So we attempt to head to Houston yet again (sigh). We finally leave the state of Louisiana and enter the great state of Texas. One thing about crossing into Texas. There is a sign stating, ?Beaumont 45 miles, El Paso 857.? Why would you put that on a sign? It?s as if there is nothing in between one side of Texas to another. Well IMO, technically outside of: Houston, Austin, and Dallas; Texas is just a big ass mass of no mans land desert. Back to the trip, after experiencing the horrible roads around the border of LA/TX we figured the roads would get better the further we got into Texas. Nope, they were still shitty from Orange to Beaumont, TX. Since I got my camera on hand I continued to read the manual and start setting up the camera for use. After learning the basics and some of the advance features, I went to search for a good Jazz or Oldies station on the radio. I ended up leaving it on 102.1 where they played some Luther Vandross, India Erie, Earth, Wind, & Fire.

Trip started to go pretty smooth when we left Beaumont, we didn?t see a sign of gridlock till we entered Houston on Hwy 59 South around the McGowen & Tuam Ave. exit (this is the exit you would take to get to the older Stargate). Traffic in Houston is bad. It reminded me of the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles. According to Marc, and I quote ?Houston the city where everyone rides on their brakes? I see a sea of red lights.? We finally get out of Houston and enter Sugar Land, home of Shin Kensou, and Asian Dutch people?!? We head straight towards Khary?s place to find no one home, not surprised. Marc and I head to a Shell gas station to call Khary or Kevin from a pay phone. Kevin is hella lame because he doesn?t pick up numbers he does not recognized. We eventually got into contact with Khary and found out he was already with Mike and Julio at the Galleria Mall. Khary also informed us that the Tilt Arcade just got in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection and it was packed in there. And since Houston?s traffic is retarded on a top tier level, we told them to meet up with us at his house. Knowing how stupid the traffic is leaving the mall on a Friday night around 7-8ish , I suggested to Marc that was should drive around Sugar Land and test out my camera to kill time. We found some corporate building with a Japanese name and park there. We stretch, walked around, took some nice pictures of the scenery. Hopefully the picture come out well.

We killed about 45 minutes to an hour of time and head back to the same gas station, as before to call up Khary to get an location. They were on the way towards the house and were caught in traffic. After I hung up, I notice these two fine Asian girls in a brand new civic. I was tempted to spit some game at these females but then I though about it. I figured they would think I was trying to mug them or something to that nature. I mean small little Asian girls and me, a 6?3, 300lbs former college football player (black male BTW), rolling up to them wearing an all black Dickies work suit while one of them is pumping gas. That might look kind of bad, so I back down like a punk after thinking about that.

We head back to Khary?s house to find no one home yet again. Marc took a cigarette break and I just took some more pictures around his neighborhood. Shortly after, Mike, Julio and Khary showed up. Mike and Julio looked like they were dressed for a model photo shoot or something to that nature. So me being an asshole, I took some picture of them as if they were in a Vibe photo shoot (no homo). Khary set up the living arrangements and suggested that Marc and I sleep in the a room towards the back of the house. Everyone puts up there luggage and right away the gaming sessions start. We all started playing MvC2. Problem was we only had one Dreamcast stick and no converters for our Tekken 5 sticks. So Mike took the controller and everyone passed around the ?green goblin? (DC Stick). Out of all of us Mike won the most. Eventually later on during the night, Khary and Mike would set up Alpha 3 on Khary?s laptop. The matches were some what even, I think Khary got luck and won more matches than Mike. I didn?t pay to much attention to the matches; I was more worried about heading to Stargate. No one else seemed to care to go at the time, so Marc and I left the house in search of food and some games at ?The Gate.? I was pretty stoked about Stargate being open for the whole weekend, which is extremely rare nowadays.

While headed towards the Gate we spotted a A&W Hamburger stand off the highway. We took the nearest exit and started to look for it. This place was behind a gas station, a pretty bad location for a food service restaurant if you ask me. We find out the hamburger stand was also a Long John Silvers. I didn?t feel like eating burgers and I guess neither did Marc because we both order from the Long John Silvers side of the menu. He ordered a shrimp platter, while I order a fish and chicken platter. I also got one of A&W’s world famous Root Beer floats. While ordering, I pointed out to Marc one of the girls working in the inside of the store. She was a skinny Latina with a very cute face sporting those ?emo glasses.? We eat in the parking lot and talk about her for a hot minute. After I finished, I walked around and took a couple of pictures. Marc went inside the building to use the bathroom. While he was in the bathroom he found the girl we were talking about cleaning it due to closing time. He spit some game to her, telling her that she is cute and just talked for awhile.

We left the fast food restaurant and headed towards Stargate. Everything seemed fine till we thought we were lost. While we were lost, we notice that it seemed there was a Jack In A Box on every corner of Chimney Rock Road. Matter of fact it, was the equivalent of seeing a liquor store on every corner of South Central (South Los Angeles). We find a close gas station and called up Khary. I asked him to Mapquest our location to Stargate and we just started arguing over the directions he gave us. The pay phone kept asking for money so I got fed up and just dump an ass load of change in the phone so the phone would stop saying, ?deposit five more cent? every couple of seconds. He eventually just said just go down the road a little bit farther and we will find the road we need to turn on. We left the gas station and eventually found Gasmer Road (the street where Stargate is located). And there is was down a dark little alley, “The Gate.”

Part 2 of Day 2, To Be Continued…

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You should of hit on those asian girls. I would of been the young wingman. Marc get any numbers from that Latina?

BTW, A&W Root Beer, greatest drink ever.

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Dispite troubles, it had to be fun. Wish I could travel more, maybe when old girl goes to college.

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That’s a good as question, I’ll let him answer that…

Oh yeah, that Root Beer float was way to good.

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Hey dude, like slim thug says, “staying dressed to impress”

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*So me being an asshole, I took some picture of them as if they were in a Vibe photo shoot (no homo). *

OICS NOW

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I will have some pics up in about a week or two… Just give it sometime

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The alley was packed full of cars. Stargate looked packed full of players. Marc and I head inside and before we can even look around Kevin pops up in front of our faces and greets us. He tells us to go give our entry fee to John Sanchez. Sanchez was playing 3s, so we had to wait for awhile before we paid the man. I seen my buddies Khang and Vinh waiting in line to play 3s so I talked to them for a good while for old time sake. By this time Mike and Julio finally arrived at the Gate. I didnt play anything by this time, I just watch some 3s matches. I notice 2nd Impact was available to play, so I asked Vinh if he wanted to play. We play for a hot minute. Chris (Ranma) came over to watch me play then started asking why Im playing 2nd Impact, when there is no Remy :rofl:. I was losing in the beginning of the matches, but after I started to get use to most of the changes in the game I made a come back. In the end the matches were pretty even. Its funny how Ken is just average in that game and how Ibuki, Sean, and Akuma are broken as hell. Marc came over wanting to play so I left the cabinet so he could play Vinh. I headed towards the Super Turbo cabinet to get some games in. They had some guy around my age I didnt recognize playing . It was some young black dude playing Gief. I jump on with Dee Jay and beasted him with the gayness of the hardcore spaming of projectiles and high priority anti-air pokes. He left to go play another game after two matches and I played a Vega (Claw) and Santanas (I think thats his name) E. Honda. The Vega player I did pretty well against. Jumping jab and cr. fierce beat out a lot of his setups. Now Santana gave me problems, I think I might of won once or twice. Ranma was coaching him on how to mash Hondas slappy hands during the matches. One thing I lack knowledge in Super Turbo is in match ups. I always do bad against decent E. Hondas. I really need to work on that match up some more.

Mike and Khang were playing Alpha 3 for a long time. They played 30 plus matches. I tried to jump in for a couple of matches, but I would just get beat down pretty bad. Khangs Gief was mad nice on this game. I played X-ISM Rolento. I remember watching the B5 or B4 Alpha 3 DVD and watched a X-ISM Rolento beat down some fools (I think it was Valle, not to sure). All he would do is guard break with standing jabs. So I tried to incorporate that tactic and added in some of Combofiends Rolento tactics from CvS2 with that. I just ended up getting peaced out hard. Im pretty sure if I practice that game, and switch to V-ISM, I could of went toe to toe with him. I knew when it was time for me to stop playing, so I stop and just became a spectator the rest of the time while they played. They stopped playing when Khang froze the machine by doing the “Kattobi Cancels” with Rolento. I think Mike asked Khang to do it, not to sure though.

Khang and I played some ST. I won twice he won three times. He played Gief like he does in every game he is in then switched to Vega when I played Sim (Dirty Cole throw setups). My Dee Jay held his Gief back for awhile then eventually he would find a way to get in. If he got in I lost, if he didnt I one, plain and simple. Khang suggested we play 3S, so he waits in line and gets on. I played a little more ST and then eventually played him in 3S. Jan and I took turns losing to Khangs Alex. The ass whooping was to much for me to handle, so I head over to the MvC2 side of the arcade.

I asked Ranma to teach me how to use my team of Sent, Cable, Doom. He showed me some nice pressure tricks using dooms rocks. After watching him beat other people using my team, I head over to play 2nd Impact yet again. This time, I played these two guys who were X-BOX Live 3S players. One of them played Yang while the other played Akuma. The matches were pretty funny. I had not had that much fun playing Street Fighter in a very long time. I got bored of playing 2nd Impact and ask one of the guys I was playing if he knew how to play CvS2. We played until Stargate closed. I won a few match with my ugly team of Iori, Terry, R2 Yamazaki P-Groove. He just played various A-Groove characters with easy custom combos. I will admit CvS2 is definitely a fun game. One day Ill sit down and actually practice the game, switch to N groove, replace Terry with Vice, and try to get better; but for now, Im more worried about getting better at 3s and ST.

So the Gate closed around 3:00 am. Marc and I head towards a gas station to get some drinks before we head back to Kharys place. When we arrived at his house we notice Julios car missing. I assume Mikeboi and Julio G spent the night at Julios aunts house. We head inside, and right a way Marc passes out on the couch bed. I head towards the bathroom to clean up and prepare for bed. When I open up the bathroom door I see Julio flash by my face. It freaked me out for a second cause I didnt except to see him there. We both walk towards Kharys room to go to bed. Mike had the Dreamcast fired up and started to play JoJos Bizarre Adventure. Julio went sleep while Mike taught me how to play Chaka Khan (Chaca) on JoJos. JoJo’s seems really fun. If I can find a torrent for the game I’ll download it and pratice it a bit. We played a couple of rounds until we got tired and went to sleep.

Tommarrow, Day 3…

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Ah i was hoping you would play more 3s with that remy of yours.

And nice beating up the xbox live players on 2i. Damn lag…

Cant wait to hear about the next day.

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heh, fuck 3s, cvs2 all the way

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When I seen Khang playing Alex I made sure I picked Remy. The low down is like this… I would throw a sonic boom and he would ex stomp me. He would magically land a combo on me and I would get dizzy. This happend almost every round I played his Alex. I forgot to mention he told me to drop Remy and sell my soul by switching to Chun-Li :rofl:.

I also forgot to mention I played some guys urien from Austin with Remy there. I sandbagged against him to see how he played. I’m sure he did the same also. I only played him once. I lost to him, but I didn’t take the match serious at all.

For most of the trip I played Elena. I wanted to see how much better I got with her.

As for 2nd Impact against those guys, weren’t really playing, it was more testing stuff out more than anything.

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Wtf? You were in Htown? Haha, I thought I saw you Friday, but I was out of it so I thought I was seeing shit :rofl: :looney:

Btw, don’t drop Remy. Make him TOP-TIER!!

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Haha. You ever switch to chun i will kill you.

What about elena?

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Shit, I didn’t even notice you were there. There was so many cats there friday. Good to see Stargate packed that night…

Nah, I can’t drop Remy, it just wouldn’t feel right. Plus I’m going to start praticing my execution alot more so execution shouldn’t be an issue when I’m playing it will just be experience.

I play her in training mode, but that’s about it.

I don’t really remember playing elena in 3s on my first day in Houston. I played her a lot my 2nd day at Stargate there. I’ll talk more about that tommarrow in the log.