Champions of Kamigawa is out!

Went to AMK today for the release of M:TG's Kamigawa expansion. I bought a Fat Pack and got a couple of cool rares from it. Pulled Isamaru, Hound of Konda from one of the boosters, and the crazy Cranial Extraction from the Tournament Pack. OMG, I was so surprised. It's going straight into my Death Cloud deck.

After that, I just bought a whole lot of packs. Was hoping to get some commons/uncommons for deck-buiding, but most of all, I hoped to get a second Kokusho, Evening Star. After clearing a box, I was disappointed I didn't get what I wanted. Meanwhile, a M:TG fanatic was whacking Tournament Packs; he bought an entire case (of 12) in the end.

Uncle suggested playing sealed deck draft. I was kinda 'on', so I went to grab a Tournament Pack to crack open. To my surprise, I saw a foil Kokusho, Evening Star, staring at me in the face. Looks like this is my lucky day.

Wait for... ? (Part II)

Due to my rebellious nature (feeling fed up due to waiting), I decided to go out at 6 pm. I went to AMK and there weren't many people there. I just bought some M:TG singles then accompanied Chris to Takashimaya to get the new "Master Guide" book for DM.

Then, finally, at 9 pm, I received the SMS. The wait is over... but WTF? Do they expect me to work all through the night and then go meet them at 12 noon tomorrow with everyone done? To make matters worse, I checked my SMS and realized that they were sending me their half-done parts and the rest will come later.

Oh, Great. Wee.

Waiting for... ?

The deadline for the project report is on Friday, and they told me that they will send me all their parts on Tuesday night to compile. My job would be to proof-read/add-on/finalize everything by Wednesday night.

But WTF? It's 4:00 pm already. I am deliberately forcing myself to stay home today, checking my e-mail and the project forums every half hour, but still nothing? How do they expect me to finish a 50+ pages (maybe more?) report by tonight if they don't send me early?

Heck, if after a while more I receive nothing, I am just going to go out. Let's all die together. Wee.

New MP3 Player

After so many days of lazing at home, I finally had to go to school today for my project consultation. Danny was back from his overseas conference. As usual, the advice he provided was okay, but not very direct. To sum it up, I didn't understand a thing (hope the other guys managed to pick up what he said).

Anyway, there was a bazaar outside LT27 again, so I went looking around. There was a nice MP3 player for sale. I needed a new one as my old Samsung Yepp was incompatible with Windows XP (even downloading the new drivers didn't work). I found a nice Karadora Mp3 player, costing only $69 for 128 MB. (Oh, wow. My old Yepp costed $199 for 64 MB back then.)

I surfed around and the company actually had its own website, though it's pretty strange they host it on Geocities. Must be one of those new up & rising local brands. Here is the link to Karadora.

Oh, well. It's a pretty neat MP3 player. Just plug & play (USB), and it doubles up as a flash drive, too.

Stuck at Home on Sunday

I went to AMK yesterday. Didn't do anything interesting except to play-test my M:TG deck and then draft DM at night.

This was quite a pity, as I am stuck at home today working on the report for my CS3214 project (ah, the report; probably the only thing my group can do). I have to submit it by 23:59 HRS tonight for compilation. Starting next week, I think everyone's panic level will be pretty high because we will only have 5 more weeks to the project's deadline. I am hoping it will not affect my mood much.

Wondering what I should do today. One thing's for sure, I need to go to 7-Eleven to buy the latest 8-Days magazine. I have a routine of buying it every Wednesday/Thursday, but this time, I bought it so late.

And I hope that there is no group project meeting on Monday, so I have another day free. (How lazy I have become.)

Wisdom Tooth Extraction

I reached the dentist today at 12:30 pm and was told to sit in the waiting room cos' everyone was having lunch. I had to wait until 1:00 pm before I was served. (Note to self: No more going at their lunch time.)

The dentist told me that I need to get one of my wisdom teeth extracted today. He injected me twice in the gums (ouch) and waited 15 min for the anaesthetic to take effect. He came back later and poked my gums with a sharp needle to test. When I went "owowow", he gave me another anaesthetic injection. *Sniff*

The extraction took longer than I expected; it was not like the others I've had before. He had to use some chisel-like nail and a plier to yank the tooth out. It was painful because he was trying to 'wiggle' it out. It took around two minutes because the tooth put up a fight, and when it was done, I saw how HUGE my wisdom tooth was. It seemed quite scary.

Later in the day, Damnpissed told me the wisdom tooth is the biggest teeth and it extends deep into the gums. In fact, he pointed out that another method that dentists used to extract a wisdom tooth was to slice off the side of your gums, remove the tooth & everything below it, then sew back the skin. Holy... *Pukes*

One down, three more to go.

Saved by the Dentist

I always loathed my monthly dental appointment because, firstly, it wastes a lot of time, and secondly, it is painful. But my Friday appointment coincides with my project meeting, so for once, I am kinda half-glad about it (no need to wake up so early).

I told my group-mates that I would join them in the afternoon after the appointment, provided that he does not extract my teeth. Yes, this is the trade-off.

The dentist told me that I need to get my wisdom teeth extracted, and I have been worrying about it ever since. The last time I had my teeth extracted for braces, it was painful and blood kept dripping from my mouth for the whole afternoon.

I even remembered how he did it. He sorta hammered a 'nail' into the tooth and then yanked it out together. That is so gross. Hope I survive the dentist to enjoy my Friday.

Edit: Groupmates just called to tell me that meeting is cancelled. Oh, well.

Project Again; F**k J2EE

I slept at around 5 am today (insomnia?) and woke up at 9 am for the project meeting. Strangely, I did not feel as tired as I expected. (Normally, I would be in a friggin' pissed mood when I am forced to wake earlier than when my biological clock goes off; I am sure all those who wake up for 8 am lessons in school can relate. hehe.)

I was kinda late for the meeting. As usual, we did nothing much (This was a step up from doing 'nothing'). We sorta discussed about the documentation (due 1st October), but when anyone tried to bring up the subject of coding, no one dared to talk about it because we knew we were treading into completely unfamiliar grounds. We ended earlier than expected because some of them had to leave (poor Kok Hwee had to go for IPPT). After the meeting, I went to AMK at around 4 pm, but there was no one there, so I went straight home (not without buying some Kamigawa packs, though).

My Dad was at home today; it was a rare sight. He asked me about my problem with my studies. I told him that I don't really have high hopes for this semester. There is only 5 weeks left to the deadline. I told him that I'll just do whatever I can, but I am mentally prepared to accept failure as well. He did not say a thing (bad sign), which was quite a different reaction from my Mum's (she told me to try; if I were to fail, then it can't be helped).

Speaking of which, my Mum have been of great encouragement to me. She actually tried helping me to ask relatives/friends for help, but none of them know what J2EE is (including computer programmers who are working).

I think I probably know the reason: J2EE is retarded.

It is a waste of time. I can do the entire project using ASP within 2 weeks, but I can't even do sh*t with J2EE after 6 weeks of trying to learn it. They probably put J2EE as a graduation module to torture NUS students one last time before they leave the damn place forever.

Another Free Day; First Kamigawa Draft

Today was another free day for me because my groupmates did not arrange for a meeting. Wee~ I am spared! But then they want to meet at 9:30 am in the morning on Wednesday. Grrr, meeting early equates to going home late. *sigh*

I woke up at around 2:00 pm today. Since I had nothing better to do, I went straight to AMK to play M:TG draft with Chris, Darius, and Orchi (who was there cos' he escaped from his field trip). I pulled a "Hikari, Twilight Guardian" in my first pack, and thought it was pretty cool (I remember reading about it online being an above-average card).

I made a Mono-White deck, splash Green/Blue. I just pulled any card that looks like it belonged in a White Weenie deck, and Green/Blue for some spells (pumping & drawing). I soon realized that I forgot to grab any fatties, so I usually lost whenever my opponent had a big creature in play.

At the end of the day, I got back my Hikari card. I didn't care if it wasn't good, compared to the rest, cos' it is sort of like my souvenir.

Yay, Free Day

I went to watch Dodgeball with Jeff & Orchi on Sunday at Jubilee. After that, we met Chaosmag for dinner, and returned to Chris' shop to chat.

We talked about Cronous (how I can't play the game on my new laptop cos' there is a speed bug). Then we talked about my dumb CS3214 project, and that I was supposed to have a group meeting on Monday.

Well, it's Monday already and I am at home. My groupmates forgot to arrange for a project meeting. I contacted them and told them perhaps we could meet twice from Tuesday-Friday, but they want three days out of the four. This is crazy to me; maybe I am beginning to feel lazy. Maybe it's because it is supposed to be my school semester break this week.

I felt like going to Chris' shop today. I have recently taken an interest in the new Magic: The Gathering Kamigawa expansion. I told myself I would acquire cards through drafting and today would be a good time since I don't have a project meeting. But then again, who the heck would I draft with at Chris' shop? Arrogant jerks who like to preview their next card and shoot their mouths off? I usually avoid stereotyping, but that's the kind of M:TG players there are at Chris' shop.

I need to find something else to keep myself busy. Well, they are showing The Titanic on Tuesday, but I have to go do project. *sigh*

Movie Review: "DodgeBall"

Went to watch DodgeBall with Jeffrey and Orchi today. I am very into slapstick comedy (the Austin Powers series is my all-time favorite), so I knew I was in for a good time.

I enjoyed the movie; It is very light-hearted and funny, as what all comedies should be ("Garfield"? Yucks). My only gripe was that the few final matches against the 'unknown' teams went on a bit too fast.

I'd recommend Dodgeball to anyone if they have run out of 'blockbusters' to watch and would like an afternoon of fun & laughter.

By the way, I wonder if it is just me, but I noticed that the two protaganist teams sound like they are from the G.I. Joe cartoon ("Joes" vs. "Cobra"). Kinda weird, but maybe just a coincidence.

DMC Get-Together

I was quite excited today cos' I organized a Get-Together Tournament at Chris' new store for DMC members. Even though everyone came two hours late, I was very delighted as I got to meet everyone again, including those that I seldom saw like Xuan Yu, Nigel, Kraazg, etc.

I don't know why, but I felt very very very lethargic today. It was more of a mental thing; maybe I don't know how to enjoy myself because the CS3214 project is on my mind. In fact, I was so tired that, after the tournament, I could not keep my promise to go watch a movie with Orchi & Jeffrey at 9 pm. Guess I was a little moody.

Anyway, I just created a new DMC forum. I am just too terrified to post at EZboards anymore. The link is as follows: http://s7.invisionfree.com/dmcentral/index.php
(*Note: This is only for DMC Members only.)