I notice it's really close to the hooters...

CZAI Wrap Up!

What an absolute pleasure these past few days in Prague have been. It was great to meet you all for the first time -- finally(!) -- and in Jide's case, even though it had been 8 years since I last saw you in London, catching up made it feel like only yesterday! In fact, that's what I love about this game of Virtua Fighter and the community it seems to attract. No matter how many times, or even if it's the first time, our common passion and drive never fails to unite us despite how far we've travelled, or how long we've been playing.

I have to concur that getting the shared apartment was a brilliant idea! It ensured we were always together to maximise the quality (VF!) time. As everyone knows with these types of gatherings, they always seem to end so fast. Did you wake up early? Play some VF! Can't sleep at night? Play more VF! Waiting for everyone to get ready? Then why not kill some time with VF! It's how life was meant to be, no?

The location was super convenient as well, with all the essentials -- food, shopping, sight seeing, night life -- within easy reach. Not to mention it was embarrassingly cheap as well, as were most things in Prague!

By the time I had left, I honestly felt like I've gained a whole new bunch of friends from all around Europe, and it gives me yet even more reasons to want to endure that 24+ hour gruelling flight just visit again, even if only passing through someone's city to say hello. Sincerely, thank you to each and every one of you, for making the event what it was and I really hope that I can see you all again sooner rather than later!

Now, onto the personal shout-outs!

Shout Outs!

@Unicorn: aka The Dinosaur Crusher!
On behalf of everyone, thank you SO MUCH for being our kind host, tour guide, and translator. Your kindness and consideration for us all was only matched by your loud and warm personality! In a way, you are symbolised by your own, hand crafted, wooden Hit Box -- solid, strong, familiar, and welcoming. When someone commented on how heavy it was, your response of "It can crush a dinosaur!" was so f*cking funny it had us all in stitches! I think I was probably playing at the time when you said it, and I had to pause to catch my breath! The image that fills my mind when I recall this still makes me smile to this day! Thank you for being who you are, and it's people like you that are the glue of the community! Děkuji!

@Mister: aka The Human VF Wiki!
I was extremely impressed with your general and character knowledge, and thanks for reminding me about punishment versus Wolf! I thought you played extremely well in the tournament, and I always enjoyed our matches. I was also impressed how you managed to use Wolf's different throw speeds in different situations to your advantage. In particular, the amount of Burning Hammer's I ate from starting out Side Turned but eventually to be Front Turned and holding the wrong Throw Escape direction was humbling! Thank you for those lessons!

@Jide: aka Jide Pressha!
It's been, what, 8 bloody years ya flamin' mongrel! Great to finally catch up with you again after all this time! Lots of good laughs shared the entire time, and I'm sure I've forgotten most of them, but the two that stick with me the most were that sweaty dude at the Roxy that kept trying to have a dance-off with you, and those two girls that propositioned us on the way home (more below). Let's not wait another 8 years to do this again, eh?

@MarlyJay: aka VFDC Mod Extraordinaire!
Always great to meet an official "staff" member, and I finally feel vindicated in my decision to appoint you But seriously, great to finally meet you, really enjoyed our matches, our chats, and of course just hanging out about the town. I would like to also say great job in generally helping out wherever you could. Whether it was giving advice during general play, or helping during the tournament with commentary, it never seemed too much for you, and your efforts were greatly appreciated!

Jide and MarlyJay: aka Fellow Gooners!
How awesome was Hooters, though? Watching the Gunners smash Citeh with you guys was a treat, even if I kept getting interrupted by those crazy Vikings (aka Norwegians)! Great match, great food, great company, and to top it all off we were rightfully served by one smoking hot waitress (aka potential future wife no. 437)! Sadly, we never got to meet up with the Vikings again, but who knows what lies in the future, right? I still have their number!

@40i4: aka xliiv!
So you're 40i4?! I had no idea, and I thought you were some "new guy" to VF! It was really fun playing against your El Blaze, and I was impressed with all the questions you were asking, and your willingness to learn and improve. Don't forget the advice Marly gave you about using Shadow Hammer for high whiff punishment! I've eaten it a million times from our local El Blaze player, so trust me when I say your opponent will hate it!

@Krye: aka Wow-with-a-Tee!
Had a blast hanging out with you man, and really enjoyed some of our conversations on culture, history and other random topics. Congrats on your placing in the tournament as well! Thanks for helping out with the morning coffee (my life blood) along with breakfast duties. There's little worse than sleep deprived, hungry VFers so you did well to mitigate that disaster! I haven't yet watched the tournament replay, but I felt like we had some really close and tense matches (unlike my one-sided affair against kingo!) but I have no doubt you'll be better prepared for next time, as I will be too!

@GFrAnco: aka GFA!
You were the last person on my "hit list" to play! Usually I never get to play against everyone at a gathering, so you should feel honoured for being the final boss! Your Jean had some really nice setups, and it was great playing a set with you. Also, I have to thank you for convincing me, against my better judgement, to go out with you guys on that night. Had a pretty great time, filled with lots of laughs, and met some interesting people along the way!

@kingo: aka The Lost One!
You may need directions to get around in real life, but I feel you have almost every avenue in VF covered! Congratulations on winning the tournament, it was thoroughly deserved! I was convincingly out-played by you in the grand final, and even though my match-up experience versus Aoi is lacking, that's no excuse on my part because the better play won on the day! So once again, well done! I'm not sure what the future may hold for VF and our international communities, but make no mistake -- as soon as I get another chance, then I'll be coming for you!

Random Stuff

Czech-To-English
Unicorn was explaining to us how the Czech language has adopted some English acronyms, usually used in online communication, but will verbally annunciate it in real life. For example, instead of saying "What the fuck", they would say "Weh Teh Feh" (the sounding out of W-T-F).

Airconditioning
... is yet to be discovered in Prague.

Going Cheap
It's already been mentioned, but some things are just unbelievably cheap in Prague. For example, catching public transport from my home in Sydney to the Airport -- roughly an hour in duration -- will cost me approximately $18.00 AUD. Catching public transport in Prague from the Airport to the town centre (where we were staying) -- also approximately an hour in duration -- cost me less than $2.00 AUD! Weh Teh Feh!

A Night at the Roxy
Later in the evening of the tournament, Jide, Marly, Krye, GFA and I headed into town to hit up some bars and clubs. At this one bar, called Roxy, when we eventually made our way into the R&B/Hip-Hop room, there was this dude there that was so determined to have a dance-off with Jide, it bordered on stalking and harrrassment. It was also kind of disgusting in how sweaty he was. I mean, sure, it was freakin' hot in there with no AC, but a man's gotta know if he's prone to sweat profusely while conducting physical activity in such conditions and, I don't know, dial it back a notch? But no, not this guy!

I remember earlier in the night, when we first arrived and were waiting for our drinks by the bar, he came and sat on the edge of a couch beside me, presumably to take a breather. I commented, "working hard there mate?" and he replied, "I"m dancin' like a FUCKEN dance machine bro!" I burst into internal laughter as my eyes desperately tried to seek someone's attention to share the moment with. Alas, I remained silent in his sweaty, awkward presence.

Two Girls, One Cup (of snacks)
Walking back to the apartment after a night out, it was probably close to 3 or 4 AM and in the distance down the dimly lit street were these two young girls, standing nonchalantly in the middle of the street, eating some snacks from a cup. As we approached, the following brief conversation took place:

"Syex?"
"Nah, maybe later"
"Maybe nyever!"

The unexpected proposition, followed by the instant put-down, had us all in stitches!

Spiders!
I still don't understand why there were so many spiders outdoors! Everywhere!

All the statues on Charles Bridge were just covered with spiders and their webs. One could be forgiven for thinking that the statues weren't being cleaned or maintained for preservation interests. But then all the fencing up and down the Vltava river, covered in spider webs! Street lights? Covered! Traffic lights? Covered!

I think if I suffered from arachnophobia then I would have had a really difficult time seeing the wonderful sights Prague had to offer. So, does anyone know what gives with all the spiders? Was there a great migration in the past? A sudden plague? Or have they always known, as I do now, that Prague is one, incredibly amazing city to hang out?



I definitely need to come back one day! But in the mean time, I'll be keeping an eye out for any future European events! Thanks again to everyone who was a part of this, and hope to see you all again soon!