Upcoming Tournament Plans/School/misc. Thoughts

Long time no see. Sort of. I wanna keep this entry straight to the point, so here goes, as going with the first topic of the title....






Upcoming Tournament Plans


Alright, so this coming Sunday we have a local ranbat going on. If I'm not mistaken, it's the last one of the season. 2 or 3 weeks after that will be the big finale, AKA Michigan Masters, which is our biggest tournament that we hold. We usually have people from out of state come in, and most of, if not all of the players from MI come so we can determine who the best in Michigan really is. Most of the time it comes down to Alucard and Wolfkrone. Haha.

Then on the 21st, we have a trip to Columbus that we're going to make. Pretty much most of Michigan is going for that, for pretty much close to every game. We have people going for Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, Super Turbo, Super Street Fighter 4, Tekken 6, *I believe, any way. I know I'm going to try and enter it, as I would like to see where I'm at tournament wise, and what I need to improve on* and Virtua Fighter 5. *Definitely entering that one, as I feel that I'm halfway decent in VF* Not to mention all the other games they'll be having, but I'm not sure who's entering what. I know there's Marvel vs Capcom 2, Street Fighter 3: 3rd strike, and many more. All in all though, I'm looking to go there, play my best, and try my hardest to bring home some "fight money", no matter how much or how little. I'll play my best, and leave it all on the table. No sandbagging or messing around, I'm there to be serious to see what I need to improve on before Seasons Beatings, which leads into the next tournament.....


Seasons Beatings 5, aka Seasons Beatings: Redemption is the next, and probably the last Major Tournament that I'll be going to this year. After that it will probably just be local ranbats until spring, unless there's another major that I don't know about. I'm currently saving to go to this one, and selling whatever I have extra that I don't need/am not using to try and go. The reason? Well, it's not just because it's a Major, but there's going to be a lot of, if not all of the top players from the USA there, and some that aren't from the USA. Daigo, Momochi, and Choco Blanka *just to name a few* are going to be there, so I'm really hoping to try and get some matches in with them and see if they can help me out with what I'm doing wrong, or teach me something new. This one is in Columbus as well, and it's sometime in October, which gives me a little while to save. If I go with the people I'm planning to go with, It'll be a crew of 5 people that I know fairly well, so that'll be nice. Plus it puts the cost of everything at 20% since we'll be splitting it evenly, like a Hotel and Gas. But that's neither here nor there, more planning will be going on in the weeks to come, and hopefully we're all able to make it out.



School

Alright, I'm finally finishing up school! Yes,that's right, I'm technically supposed to be graduated already, but I had to stay a bit longer and do some extra Math that I needed to get done. I should be finishing up either tomorrow or monday, which will be nice. At that point I'll get a little time off, which is nice, but a lot of my friends are going back in just a little over a week, so next week is gonna be crazy, I can assure you. It's gonna be the last "hurrah" before they all go back, but I'm going to take advantage of the time to relax, play some more, and just take it easy before I start going to College online, which obviously is looking like the best option right now. Hopefully everything goes well. And while I have time off I'll be doing more studying and practicing with my Photography and such.



Misc. Thoughts

So I've been doing a lot of training and practicing lately, in preparation for Columbus on the 21st of this month. Been practicing in SSF4/T6/VF5. I've not only been practicing physically with learning my character(s) even further, but mentally as well. Trying to keep yourself calm is a skill in and of itself, and it's something that I've been trying to learn. Keeping calm against the computer or playing online may not sound like much, but it's still a match, and if you can keep calm while playing during that, you're already off to a good start.


But it's been weird lately, for a couple reasons. Whenever I'm practicing, I'm still playing physically, but mentally my mind starts wandering, drifting, and I start daydreaming. In SSF4, I start daydreaming about who I might fight in a tournament, what I would do if I fought this person, and before long, I'm daydreaming that it's grand finals, me vs Justin Wong/Daigo/Sanford, whoever it may be. A lot of people will say that there's no way I'll ever beat them, and right now, that's probably true. But I've started to take the mentality that nobody is undefeatable, nobody. They're all men. They're all human. Just like me, and the rest of us. Look at Evo 2010. Justin Wong didn't make it to the top 3, top 5, or even the top 8 for that matter. He came in 9th, losing to Vangief, a pad Zangief player, and Gamerbee, an unknown Adon player. IMO, they took the mentality of "I'm not playing Justin Wong, I'm playing Rufus. What should I do in this situation? What is he doing when I'm doing _____?" I understand that if I was to fight Justin Wong, that more than likely I won't beat him, but it doesn't mean I won't try. I understand that if I fight ANY type player, that there's always a chance. Always an opportunity for me to take advantage of. If I go into a fight saying "Oh I have to fight Alucard/Wolfkrone/Checkmate/*Insert Top Player Here*, there's no way I'm going to beat them", then there's no point in playing. Go over to the tournament operator and forfeit, because you've already lost the match. If you're not going to try your best, and put your best foot forward, why play at all?

I'm using Justin as an example, I know that more than likely I'll never play him, but it's just the point. So many times I hear/see people say "I'd never be able to beat *insert name*, even if I tried." What kind of a cop-out is that? What's the point of even playing then? It's just so annoying to hear that.



And then, going to my second thought. It's been really weird lately whenever I'm playing Tekken 6 or Virtua Fighter 5, moreso VF5 though. It's weird that I've played VF so much over the years that I have the muscle memory and visual clue/reaction as to what to do combo/attack wise. There's times where I do an attack, and I don't expect it to hit, I'm just playing footsies or poking, and it hits and sets up a combo. Then my fingers just automatically follow up with something. It's weird, but kinda cool. *laughs* Same with Tekken 6. I'm using Bob, and learning him, but there's so many times where I get a counter hit or a juggle lands, and then by just muscle memory and reaction I automatically follow up. I'm guessing that's a good thing to have/do, since when it comes down to where I'm in a high pressure situation, knowing that I can pull off a combo/reversal/throw escape, etc., is a good skill to have. I can sit there and just know that I can fix/follow up with whatever just happened., which I think works to my advantage. I haven't gotten to that point in SSF4 though, at least not with Honda. I haven't learned him that well yet.





So that's about it for this blog entry. It was long, I know, but I've had a lot going on, and just a few things on my mind, so I figured I'd share. If you've made it this far, congrats for sticking through it, and thanks!



-Q