Well, hello there. Welcome.

It has been approximately close to a year since the last time I addressed this blog via a post.

To pick up where I left off, I went on my 21st birthday trip with my friends from NCC.

The NCC Lore

NCC was established around May 2019. The group is comprised of four regions: the West, Midwest, South, and East Coast.

The beginnings of NCC can be traced back specifically to the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive maps Train and Cache. Nelpan’s proficiency at snapping ankles on Quad, Mokey’s lineups on Train, and… well, that’s about all the skillful traits I have to admire here today within the group.

Gordo GurGs had humble beginnings as a streamer and blue highlighter, but he found his way.

Etha_ — one of the OG, most original friends from mid-2018 until now. Odd that I remember that, but the Counter-Strikecome-up might have to be studied. Wingman with Ethan every day after school really was something.

Other resident members of NCC include Joe and Jinji.

To think that six dudes I met online when I was like 14 have been the same friends I’ve had all these years is honestly pretty crazy.

Setting the Stage

Okay, let’s set the stage.

I was 20, slaving away at Walmart that week because I wasn’t about to miss out on money. I put in PTO and worked 40+ hours across the four days I was scheduled to be at work.

OOC: Looking back, I definitely cared about Walmart way too much. But what can I say? I’m a company man. When I ride, I ride with them. I’m not a shill, but I do believe heavily in the culture of my new job A LOT.

More on that later. Perhaps next post. We have a lot to recap.

So, to preface this decision, I was planning my own birthday trip and all of the travel involved. Naturally, I made the most logical decision possible: I picked a Delta flight out of Birmingham, Alabama, with a layover in ATL before heading to St. Louis. Nothing special — just premium economy.

My returning flight was a United flight from STL with a layover in Chicago before heading back to Birmingham. When getting into the specifics of my seating arrangements, I picked what shall we call it…

First Class.

On my flight alone, I spent $700.

I picked the more “cushy” flight for the way home after my birthday.

BOOM — 5:00 AM, October 14th, 2025

I woke up to my alarm, and hopped into my little MX-5 Mazda Miata named Yukino.

I set my GPS and rode for an hour and like 30 minutes to Birmingham.

I should have woken up sooner because I arrived and went through TSA PreCheck pretty quickly, but I still arrived during the second boarding period due to traffic and things of that nature.

There was actually an extreme amount of paranoia surrounding being on a commercial airliner due to the exasperated response to the few airplanes that had crashed or had malfunctions, or even just ATC issues. I’m pretty sure this trip also took place during what was then the longest government shutdown in American history as well.

I landed in STL around 1:00 PM, disembarked the plane, and ran outside. I was greeted by Eth’s gray A4, with my jacket still in the back from the last time I was in Tulsa.

We had booked an Airbnb, and it was three stories tall with seven bedrooms.

The first day was mostly about getting settled in: groceries, necessities, and everything required for vacation living.

As well as alcohol which I consumed far too much of before going to sleep.

Morning of My 21st Birthday

During my sleep, I threw up all over myself and the couch.

Probably the closest I’ve ever been to being naturally selected.

Since then, life has been beautiful. I don’t know how to explain that, but I can look at nature and be content. I’m very appreciative of what I have.

After waking up covered in my own vomit at 4:00 AM, I cleaned myself up and laid back down in bed to get the rest of my sleep.

We woke up pretty late, around 10 or 11.

Later that night, we went to an NHL game between the Blues and someone else. I’m not sure who, but you have the dates. They lost that game, then won the one the day after. Sounds like the NCC curse, fr.

As cold as it was, it was pretty interesting. I had never seen grown men skate on ice so quickly before.

So, after a pretty long, unfortunate, forgetfully sad loss for the Blues, we got in the truck and headed back to the Airbnb.

We arrived at the Airbnb and—

BOOM.

It’s a surprise birthday party.

And for some reason, it actually was a surprise.

Thanks to Mikey’s amazing woman, Jillian. She’s the GOAT.

The theme was Burger King Kids Meal / Gay Pride.

Whether those two correlate in any way is for you to decipher.

I got extremely drunk off the Buch Apples, and unfortunately, I fell asleep on the couch in the BNB.

October 16th, 2025

We started our day around 10–11 AM, got ready, and went and saw the STL Zoo, which is free to enter if you didn’t know that.

I highly recommend you go. It’s a pretty fun experience with zero cost to you.

Then, after the zoo, we went to the pad of one of our members, where Nelpan played Deadlock on his chopped Intel build with micro-stutters.

Despite being hungover and dehydrated, we trudged to a local park where two extremely overweight individuals participated in a 3v3 basketball pickup game.

My shoes had no laces because I had bought them at a thrift store earlier in the day.

We also ran some races up and down the court — just usual dude shit, for real.

After physically exhausting ourselves, we went back to the BNB, hung out for a few, and then went to Topgolf in STL.

October 17th, 2025

At this time, I became a Balatro addict.

It was a lot of fun. I lost a lot of sleep and bonded more with Eth over Balatro.

Later into the afternoon, we went to the STL Botanical Garden, where Mikey flashed his certs and got us in for free like a champ.

It was one of the best viewing experiences in a garden I’ve ever had.

Following the botanical garden, we went for a tour of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery in STL.

The scale of their production is insane.

We had the opportunity to see a gaggle of Clydesdale horses as well as Dalmatians, although they were in sheds.

OOC: I didn’t remember the name of those horses, to be frank. They were so big it was genuinely scary thinking about what would happen if one of them wanted to step on me.

October 18th, 2025

The final day in STL.

The first thing we did was pack everything up and check out of the BNB by like 10:00 AM or something ridiculous.

Then, before going home, we all realized we hadn’t seen the Arch yet. So what did we do?

We drove to Illinois and looked at the Arch from the other side of the river.

The journey there was rough. A lot of cutting up had to be done.

The weather that day had also taken a turn: thunderstorms and heavy lightning.

This was the day my First Class United flight was scheduled for.

I was set to board at 5:40 PM or something like that.

I spent the extra time I had in STL with Mikey while GurGs left to go be with his “girlfriend.”

I made it through TSA PreCheck yet again, this time with socks on.

The last time in STL, I wore Yeezy Pods with no socks, and they made me take them off.

I boarded the plane on time, but when boarding began, the flight was delayed due to weather. My connection in Chicago only had 30 minutes for me to cross the whole airport.

It got to the point where I was waiting for the plane to be cleared to get onto the runway.

Eventually, I disembarked the plane.

At the time, there was still hope of making it home on time — or getting trapped in Chicago overnight.

I spoke with customer service, and they advised me on what to do.

United’s team gladly rescheduled my First Class flight for the earliest departure the next day, which was at like 6:00 AM.

Mikey and his counterpart let me stay the night on their couch and took me to the airport that early in the morning.

It made me so happy inside.

Taking off on the tarmac, I had my AirPods in, listening to “First Class” by Jack Harlow, while sitting in First Class on a commercial airliner.

Honestly, I couldn’t have scripted it better.