I got to Rochester around 4:30 or so Friday afternoon. We just had a little time to kill before a charity dinner for hurricane Katrina relief. A campus dining hall attempt at cajun food wasn't pretty, at least not to me. "A funny thing happened after I graduated from college: my taste buds grew back," as I said at the time. The show afterwards was fun too.

Kenny and I left Saturday morning to go to Syracuse. Despite waking up and getting in the car early, we were worried about not getting there in time, but we shouldn't have - the first flight of the main events was at 10:30 or something, but there were others as well. Out of four rounds, I won two and lost two. Didn't do well enough to win any prizes, but still, can't complain. I got some great cards out of it, and my initial tournament deck (75 cards, some of which are lands) plus two booster packs (15 cards each) seemed amazingly slanted towards a red-white deck. I also splashed green in it for a couple elves.

After that I entered a booster draft (you get the cards to make your deck out of by opening a booster pack, taking the card from it you like the most, passing it to the person next to you and repeating the process). I got eliminated in the first round, partly because I was all over the place in my drafting, taking some cards because they'd go well with decks of mine or with the cards I'd got earlier rather than because they'd work well in the draft deck. I made a few trades with other people at the tournament, and dollarwise I think I didn't do so well, but (with one exception) I traded cards I don't use for cards I will use, so in the end I can't complain too loudly.

It took us forever to get back to Rochester - I got us lost on the way. We finally got there, though. Sunday I slept in, we had brunch at good old Danforth, and played a few games and went shopping before I had to go. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the CT meeting even though it is apparently at 5 p.m. this semester instead of 8 like it was when I was around. The drive home is about six hours, so...

At the tournament I forgot, or just missed the announcement in the first place, that I could exchange the basic lands I had used in my deck for another booster pack. And when I left Sunday I forgot my towel and washcloth in Kenny's room, and my razor and shaving cream in the bathroom. At that rate, I suppose I'm lucky I didn't take a bus home and leave my car there...

I went to Magic night up at Quarterstaff Games on Monday, and people were suitably impressed with the cards, but it's not like I dominated the night or anything. I really need to make some decks intended for multiplayer, since that seems like all I go up against. Kenny and Seth and a bunch of other people they recruit at UR, four-person games or more on Monday, etc.

Work's going all right. Nothing big here. I'm doubting I'll come anywhere near my goal of 100 paying guests to the national conference in November, but it's not like my employment depends on that alone and there's still time to get more.