Sick Penguins Like to Have Fun

A little recollection of what I have been doing.


==/ SUNDAY /==

I fell sick over the weekend and wanted to see the doctor at night. It was a wasted trip as I didn't realize that both neighborhood clinics had closed early. Doh.

While surfing various blogs, I learnt that Max had gotten a new computer and Akira was going to drop by at his place. For no reason other than to find something to occupy myself with, I asked if I could tag along. But that was provided I was feeling better the next day.


==/ MONDAY /==

I woke up early and went to see the doctor. She said that my fever had subsided, so it looks like I was good to go. I contacted Max & Akira, and the three of us met up at Sembawang MRT station at noon before setting off for Max's home. While there, Akira got down to work on Max's new laptop. Max played Winning Eleven 9 on his PS2 and I was playing my NDS online using his wireless connection. I was envious of Max's new laptop as mine was so problematic. I felt like an 'extra' through the day while Max & Akira got down to the serious business of populating his new laptop with goodies.

At around evening time, Miyamoto SMS'ed me to inform me that he had nights off and was dropping by at AMK. I was thinking of going straight home to rest and had wanted to refuse him. But then, I remembered that my journey home from CCK would be a monstrous 2-hour MRT ride and so I changed my mind. I soon left for AMK while Akira stayed back to accompany Max for a nice home-cooked dinner (it smelled like fried rice or noodles, which would've been suitable for little sick me).

I arrived at AMK at around 8 pm and went to MOS Burger to buy takeaway. Despite having a sore throat, fast food was still the way to go for me. I simply bought nuggets & fries and went to meet Miya. We played several rounds of Raw Deal and I bought a box of the new expansion as I went home.

The day was filled with so much excitement for me that I had no time to rest. I shall make up for my lack of rest for the next few days and hope I recover soon.


==/ TUESDAY /==

I woke up on Tuesday in the afternoon, feeling excited that it had been exactly seven days again after the last time the recruitment agent had called me. I was disappointed when I checked my handphone and realized that all had been quiet. I'll give it a few more days before I call him up myself.

I tried to spend the rest of the day lying in bed to make up for the lack of rest on Monday. I left my computer on to download anime, but just as I was making myself comfortable in bed, I got the dreaded Blue Screen of Death error. I hope this is not a premonition that my laptop's days are numbered. Come on; I just reformatted a couple of days ago. Oh, well. I couldn't really get to sleep any more after that.

At night, I waited for the regular shows on TV. Normally, I'd stock up on Ruffles and Oreos, but not this time. I'll just have to be content with plenty of water as CSI came on. And now, here I am typing this. I guess I will occupy myself with Darrell's cartoons and anime until I go to bed. I hope I get well soon cos' I have not been getting as much rest as I should.

With all the things happening to me recently, I might very well be experiencing depression soon.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I recently realized that I have lost my MP3 player. I have always put it in the front pocket of my bag and it has been that way for very, very long time. It must have fallen out when I wasn't paying attention. I never thought I would drop something so noticeable and miss it. Argh, how careless of me. I don't think I will be getting a replacement, though. If I ever get a PSP, then it shall double as my new MP3 player.

Once again, I am blogging with a freshly reformatted laptop. Yes, it happened again. I think I deserve to be in the Guiness Book for having the most problematic computer in the world.

I just decided to update my Zone Alarm firewall today since the update notice had been pestering me for days. Halfway through the update, the Blue Screen of Death appeared and I had to reboot, but after that, I learnt that my Zone Alarm had completely disappeared. I tried to re-install it but couldn't because my computer still thinks it is there. I went over to the official forum for help and realized that people were complaining that the new update was buggy. Oh, damn. Before I knew it, my computer kept freezing whenever I tried to start any program and I knew it was time for a reformat. *Sigh* I still thank my lucky stars that this is all happening after I have left school. The only things I have lost are my comics and anime (once again).

The Weekly Penguin Report

Oh, no. I haven't updated all week. Basically, I have been experiencing half-day days since I wake up at around lunchtime. My eyes have been hurting a lot, probably from staring too much at the computer screen; so what else is new? I am glad there is still Optrex sitting in the bathroom.

i. Mario Kart (NDS)
I have been playing this game a lot recently. I bought it because it was the NDS' first online game. I may not have a wireless router at home, but I am able to detect the connection of several neighbors using my laptop so I thought I could piggyback on theirs. Little did I know that, upon getting the game, I forgot that the NDS' wireless range was only around 10 meters, so it could detect anything. Argh. Oh, well. At least I can play online at Chris' shop, using an unknown connection belonging to someone else. I even made a little 32x32 penguin logo (with the help of a program, of course) to be used as my online emblem. Wee.


While on the subject of emblems, some people have mentioned that there are a lot of obscene emblems used online. I am fortunate not to have seen any myself yet, but here is a little comic strip to illustrate my point: VG Cats 176 - Pimp Your Ride. (VG Cats is one of my favorite web comics that parodies video games; updates every Monday. Wee. Perhaps one day, I'll write about the web comics I read.)


ii. Regular Weekend Stuff

Nothing much to say. Just the usual card & arcade gaming at AMK.

On Saturday, I drafted VS and then watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was pretty good but super long as it lasted from 8:00 pm to 10:30 pm.

On Sunday night, some officers (not the police, though) took down our names for playing cards and our NDS/PSP at McDonalds. It was so lame; I told the McDonalds staff that they'd better put up warning signs for such things, though I wish I had been more forceful about it cos' I bet they won't do anything about it. Hey, if I can't play cards or video games at McDonalds, then no one else can.


iii. Finally, Some News
I have been waiting anxiously since my interview last Tuesday, hoping to hear from CareerTrends. I told myself to give it a week before I start worrying, and to my surprise, they did call me exactly seven days from last Tuesday. This time, he asked for some additional information about myself and told me that the company might arrange for another interview with me either this week or next week. Wow, I am now pretty deep into this job application; I hope that I will be finally landing the job and it'd be the end of my hunt.


iv. Darrell's Goodies
Darrell lent me his external hard drive full of various cartoons/anime goodies. My lost comics were also inside, too! I have begun watching the Justice League (wow, 4 seasons), skipping over some episodes that I've caught on Kids Central before. There is also Gundam SEED Destiny but I am hesitant to watch it since a lot of people say it is not very good. I was surprised to see that there was USA YuGiOh GX and I had a good laugh at how lame it was by watching the 1st episode; the card images were screwed up (censorship and localization) and Chronos was butchered till he is no longer funny or entertaining. Anyway, I believe this goodie stash will keep me occupied for a couple of weeks.

I Hope I Get It~

My job interview on Tuesday ended early so I went straight home. I only met the recruitment agency (CareerTrend Recruitment Service) that was doing the hiring for the company so I had no chance to sell myself (I actually memorized some lines the night before). All the guy said was that he'd call me if they plan to hire me.

There was one thing that happened, though. After I have filled out the form, I handed it to the receptionist and she muttered something while pointing at a line I have omitted. I realized that I had missed the box to sign my name cos' I have misunderstood it to be under the 'for Official Use' section. What was most shocking about this was that I thought I heard her say, "Do you have a problem signing your name?" She mumbled it out, so I can't confirm it and neither could I ask her to repeat it. If it was, I would have gotten pissed off and retorted, "Do you have a problem with being nice?" But anyhow, I just signed and got on my way.

When I got home, my Mum told me that my chances are probably pretty high cos' they were asking for someone to work 10 hours a day that Changi Cargo Complex and I was probably the most suitable candidate given where I live. Oh, well. I hope it is true, cos' based on the fact that they have advertised this post twice within three days, it seems like the company is quite urgent. In the meantime, I shall take a break from sending out resumes for a week in the hopes that I get a response.

Scored 1st 'Real' Job Interview

I received a call in the afternoon today. It was regarding my application for the Ops Freight Officer job at Changi Cargo Complex. I kinda messed up the phonecall but the person did schedule me for an interview tomorrow. I am not sure if it was a 'test' but he asked me, "Why did you choose to apply for this job?" and I fumbled with a lame answer. Later, he then explained that he was asking this because it was a logistics position whereas my degree was for computing Logistics? I thought they listed this under the Adminsitration jobs section.

Anyway, I kinda look forward to the job because it is one of the more unique ones I have come across as opposed to a typical desk job. Training is provided, the workplace is close to home and I get to stay up late every day because it is done in shifts and have uneven working hours. Oh, and the job name sounds authoritative (sort of).

This is the first proper job interview that I have scored myself (and not through recommendation or relations). I am quite pleased that Giant Hamster's critique on my resume was actually effective; I sent out 4 applications so far and had already gotten my first reply. I then went out to get my hair cut (even though I feel that I don't really need one) and photocopied my educational certificates. I hope things go well tomorrow.

The Penguin Goes to Suntec

It was another VS PCQ day. And I am running out of ways introduce my monthly PCQ blog entries, let alone coming up with a non-repetitive title. I woke up early to join the DJL Sealed event. It was quite tiring and my score was a sad 3-5 (The actual match descriptions are in the blog entry below as usual; I promise they are more concise and less long-winded this time.)

The SOR was there (namely Nuclear and KS), but I have grown to embrace their presence. CKTeacher was quite unfortunate to have passed away 2 Secret Origins from his boosters and, despite having a 4-2 record by round 6, he had to drop and leave for an appointment. Jess was around, too, and Mango surprised us all by popping up in the evening. Too bad the Mango wasn't accompanied by a Kitty; the purple ball of yarn trick no longer worked (okay, tagboard joke here). Mango joined me for dinner while everybody left. wee.

The DC Modern Age Constructed was pathethic with only 8 participants. Yup, the top 8 was already determined from the moment it started. There were 6 GLEEs, 1 Qward and 1 Superman Robot. Yong Siang from CCK played the only Super Robots in a field of GLEE decks, but I think he wasn't sure what he was doing and didn't do too well. At least he was assured in the top 8. I bet so many people who joined Sealed felt cheated. hehe. Hurray for Golden Age next month.

To my surprise, I saw Edwin (the AMK guy with problems walking) wearing a Judge t-shirt today. He told me that he got the job through Edwin (the UDE guy). He was given 15 packs for working 10+ hours with lunch provided. I chatted him during my breaks to keep him company.

At the end of the day, we were about to leave. Julian reminded me that I could redeem my Sneak Preview ticket/coupon for a DJL booster but I was lazy (since it was only 1 pack) and told him that I have 'lost' it. But after a while, I decided 'what the hey' and dug through my messy wallet. I finally located the coupon and went back to redeem that one booster. I rubbed the pack with my hand, praying that my luck would change and I would finally get my first DJL money rare. And then I was giggling uncontrollably like a little girl when I pulled Secret Origins. It was a lucky pack after all.

I took the MRT back and dropped by at White Sands to shop. I found that they had a Video EZY branch and went to browse. When I saw that they had Spiderman 2, I immediately signed up for a membership and rented it home. I must say that it is a great show; I wish I watched it earlier. It has moments of drama, anxiety, romance and action; heck, it has everything and it all ties up very well. I have a lot of respect for the series now.

VS PCQ - DJL Sealed (13th November)

There were 8 rounds of swiss today. The sound of it turned me off as I worried how I was going to handle fatigue through the day.

Deck Construction

I opened pretty good packs, consisting mostly of Secret Society characters and even Sorceror's Treasure. Too bad they will not be mine. Two seats away, someone was complaining that he got all crap. "Argh, I got so many copies of this guy. There's three versions of him; just too bad they will replace one another." I wondered what it was.

Then it was time for deck swap and we were told to pass our decks two places to our left. To my horror, I was on the receiving end of the pile that the guy was complaining about. I braced myself as I fingered through the cards to see what were the 'three versions' he was talking about.

Lex Luthor, Nefarious Philanthropist.
Lex Luthor, Criminal Genius.
Lex Luthor, Evil Incorporated.

Oh my god!!! Damn you, Lex Luthor! *shakes an angry fist*

I went and made a mess of deck since the character pool was too evenly spread out for me to focus on any dedicated team. I probably had 7 affiliations in my deck (including dual affiliations). If that is not a mess, then I don't know what is.

Oh, well. Here are my matches. I went 3-5 in the end. To keep things short, I shall post all my losses only cos' they are more fun and meaningful to read. The fun thing about PCQs are meeting people whom you have played with before; it made things feel more 'homely'. I had fun despite losing so much. Wee.

Loss 1: Mr. PMS II
I saw that my 2nd match opponent was Keng Yin and was like, "Oh, no. He's gonna remember that I lucked out during the Sneak Preview and would be mad at me." Fortunately, he seems to have forgotten and we played normally. Keng Yin was playing with the cards that I opened (gah, my Sorceror's Treasure!). Nothing strange happened except that he didn't allow me to retrace one of my moves, even though I requested it two seconds after performed it. "No, you can't," came the stern reply. That didn't cause me the game but it stung. Maybe he does remember.

Loss 2: I Hate Black Canary
In this game, I had a very rocky start and only my 2nd and 4th drops going into Turn 5 against my opponent's three characters. I recruited the 5-drop Black Canary in front of my 4-drop and considered my moves. Just as I was about to declare my attack, I glanced over my characters and suddenly realized that my 4th drop and 5th drop were the same person, despite one looking like an anime chick and the other like a deranged Barbie doll. "Sh*t!!!" I exclaimed loudly (which I rarely do in a card game, but this was too much for me to contain). The old Black Canary got KO'ed, the rest of the game was hopeless. He even had Amazo to come out to seal the deal with 22 ATK on turn 8.

Loss 3: The Misty Man
This was the guy whom I faced in the first match of the DJL Sneak Preview; the guy who loved using The Mist to move my guys. As the match began, he recognized me and joked, "Ah! It's you! I shall try to have my revenge." He chose evens, saying that his games usually ended on turn 6 for either him or his opponent. I was surprised that he used The Mist again. He kept it alive throughout the game with its Evasion and sent most of my characters into the hidden area. I died because most of his attacks were aimed directly at my noggin'.

Loss 4: See-Saw
This was a very exciting match. I pushed real hard in the first 3 turns, using practically all my pumps & tricks to hit hard and fast. I had a very good board presence by turn 5 and did not hesitate in letting Darkseid kill off my own characters just to whittle down my opponent's. I guess I was getting overconfident and becoming reckless since I was leading with 40 to 20 endurance. Turn 6 was the crucial moment; my 6-drop failed to stun his one due to all the cards he played to save it (2 Balance of Power, Shake It Off, Magnificent Seven, etc). I have used up everything up my sleeves so I took a thrashing from turn 7 onwards. I was kinda relieved that he had like 5 plot twists flipped face up, but to my horror, he had some more plot twists to use on turn 8. It was too much for me; his plot twists selection was just too rich.

Loss 5: The Ally Guy
This was my last match for the day so I planned to relax. That was until I saw that my opponent was a pretty noisy kid. Again, I started with the upper hand, with Scarecrow: Fearmonger eating all sorts of counters all the way till turn 7. Then his Rama Kahn came out. I managed to reduce his life to exactly zero, but he powered up twice to gain 2 life with Faith. The game went to turn 8; I was happy with my board having a 7-drop, two 6-drops and a 5-drop. It was his initiaitve and all he had was Rama Khan, 4-drop Black Canary, Faith, and an Illusionary Warrior. Then the nightmare happened; he powered up more than 5 times this turn using a variety of effects, triggering all his Ally abilities multiple times. My 4 characters exhausted without any hope of retaliation, he gained 5 life and he reduced my character's attack to prevent stunback. All he did was hit me once to put my life below zero and ended his turn. Evil Ally cheese turned the game.

The Penguin Ponders

Gee, the last week passed so quickly (thanks to my illness) that I did not have to bother myself with looking for ways to pass the time. Oh, well. It is a busy period for just about everyone that I know so I am back to occupying myself with the Internet, the TV and my PS2.

Life went on for me when, out of nowhere, Giant Hamster (the man who singledhandedly saved my final year project) popped up on MSN. He always seem to appear at the most opportune times like a fairy godfather of sorts. He talked about work; he was now a System Analyst at SingTel ("Damn programmer job," he remarks). I told him that I had sent a few resumes here & there, and he offered to have a look at mine. It was then I learnt that my resume was done totally wrong. He showed me his; it was entirely different but, hey, it made a lot of sense. I figured that my prospective employers were probably more interested in reading about my experience, skills and talents as opposed to which schools I was from and what I grades I've got. Oh, well. Looks like it's back to the drawing board for me. Giant Hamster also added that it's okay to get temp jobs first, even if it is just to fill up my resume and make it look good for future applications. I'll keep that in mind.

Looks like I've learnt something new today. I am once more another baby-step closer to accomplishing my goal of getting a job. Then maybe I can sleep better; those darned pills aren't doing a thing in improving my insomnia. Maybe if I get off my lazy butt and actually do something about it, I might hopefully be able to start working before 2006 rolls in. Yes, I know I am very lazy; I usually get motivated for a spur of the moment, then after a few days, I am back to idling without a care in the world.

*Starts spinning without a care in the world.*

Sick All Week

This may be starting to sound a little cliché but I seem to fall sick every time after a day at any VS event. Himura said that he kinda expected it, seeing that my eyes were all red at the JLA Sneak Preview. So evil of him.

On Monday, I stayed home in front of the computer and took some Panadol every meal time. I was supposed to go out with everyone on Tuesday so I tried to improve my condition by drinking lots of water and forcing myself to sweat (I hear that was supposed to work). It was all for nothing and I ended up going to see the Doctor on Tuesday which was Deepavali. This time, I told him about my insomnia and he gave me some 'relaxant pills' (not sleeping pills) cos' he attributes my sleeplessness to stress.

I went home and immediately fell asleep. I woke up in the evening to catch "Bend It Like Beckam" on TV. After that, it was more sleep again. On Wednesday, I finally felt better and got up to use the computer in the late afternoon. I even looked in the mirror and was like, "Oh my god! My eyes are WHITE!" Yeah, I was real happy. It feels good to have recovered. But now, I am unable to sleep as easily when I was sick, so I hope those relaxant pills come in handy.

Fun & Games: VS JLA Sneak Preview

The Justice League Sneak Peek was on Sunday. My previous Sneak Preview (the Avengers one) was ruined by my reservist mobilisation so I was quite thankful that I was able to enjoy this one without any worries.

The night before, I told myself I would try to sleep early but WWE Afterburn & Bottomline kept me up till 3 am. I though I'd be ready to sleep but I ended up tossing & turning in bed until I decided to get up and play Dragon Force on my PS2. Time passed quickly till 6 am and it was then I decided to go lie on the bed. I couldn't really get to sleep and woke up at around 7:30 am and prepared to go to Suntec City.

I arrived at Suntec at around 8:30 am and lazed around. Nulcear and KazuyaSato were really there so it looks like the SOR have indeed started VS (*shudder*). I signed up for the 1st Flight and it began at around 9 am. I was very excited as I cracked open my packs but, to my dismay, I had stuff that I could not foresee myself using. Now, everyone knows that I am an easily-contented person; I just wanted any rare that looked cool or could go into any one of my many affiliated decks (even the junk ones) and I'd be a happy man. But nope, I did not get any.

The 1st Flight lasted very long and I finished my four rounds by 1 pm (I have put the match descriptions in a separate blog entry; just scroll down). I was very delighted that I have managed to win the Martian Manhunter EA and I traded my booster packs for the deck tin. Everyone told me the deck tin was a waste since the play mat was more valuable and fast running out. I chose the deck tin because it was more practical; I still have the Green Lantern play mat and it is collecting dust under my bed (still wrapped up, though). I'll probably try for the play mat later if I have the chance.

We then went for lunch at the food court. Chicken chop with rice & mushroom soup. Yummy.

By the time we returned to the Sneak Preview, I was very tired. I was planning to join two flights today to increase my chances of winning the EA but, since I already have it, the sense of urgency was no longer there. I decided to sponsor someone to play for me since I was hoping that my luck will change and I'll get some good cards. Mango... I mean, Fengo, was the best man for the job since he was young and entitled to three additional free boosters.

Fengo got me some 'okay' cards this time though there were duplicates of crap I had opened during the 1st Flight. There was no more play mat (but I would later learn that they replenished their stock for later flights). I was a little bitter at the cards that I've gotten today and didn't want to go home 'empty-handed'. I went ahead and bought a 'Lookalike Squad' from David for $8 even though I fully know that it'll drop to $2 crap-rare status one month later (but if it doesn't, I'll still be thankful cos' it means that Team Superman has gone from junk team to tier 1). Oh, well. I just didn't want to go home without owning a card that I actually wanted. Fortunately, Orchi dissuaded me from going crazy and spending $20+ on some of the other card singles just to satisfy my impulsive needs.

I went home immediately after Fengo completed his flight since I was sleep-deprived. I reached home at around 6 pm, had a quick dinner and took a dive for the bed. I thought I would sleep all night but I ended up waking at 10 pm. (I actually thought I had woken up at 10 am on the next day.) I suddenly remembered Darrell telling me they were showing WWE: No Mercy at 12 midnight, so I stayed up to watch it. Wee.

Looking Back: JLA Matches

JLA Sneak Preview Matches

Deck Construction:

I joined the 1st flight of the day, so there was no deck swapping. Darn, I was cursing myself to get crap before coming. And yes, I did get crap. Aside from Wonder Woman (the one that was previewed at Metagame) which was really a borderline card, the rest were mostly mediocre cards that I would probably never use. I felt a little sad when the people around me were excited with the Hero's Welcome and Lookalike Squad that they got. How I wished I could swap with just any one of them.

I was hoping to build a deck using the Injustice Gang or JLA since I liked to play mostly curve. I was a little disappointed when I realized that my JLI character pile was the biggest as they were supposed to be weenie-based. With all the JLI/JLA dual affiliation guys around, I sorted out the better characters from JLA and JLI for my deck and added in a few good apes (Gorilla Grodd and Ultra Humanite) for good measure. I was quite delighted to find that my JLA were quite thematic with famous faces like Batman, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter. It made me feel excited about playing it. For my plot twists, I was being lazy and just sorted out all the ATK/DEF pumps and power-ups that I could find. Thankfully, some of them were JLI/JLA-stamped so I didn't have any major headaches on what to take out.

Match 1:

My opponent had The Mist out on and I found it to be quite a pest. It traded stuns with my character and sent one of my guys to the hidden area. I also making a few mistakes in attacking, having forgotten that it actually has Evasion.

I recruited Wonder Woman on turn 4 and my opponent named "Rallying Cry". I had no idea what it was until he attacked his 3-drop into my Wonder Woman and flipped up 2 of it. I picked up the card, saw "+2 ATK / +1 Def" and went, "Oh wow". Wonder Woman's Cosmic counter dropped off.

The game went to turn 6. He boosted out Scarecrow: Psycho Psychologist which forced me to draw 3 cards. He used its ability and burnt me for 8 damage since I had 8 cards in hand. That was very, very painful. He collided The Mist into my largest drop and sent it to the hidden area to allowed his biggest guy to direct attack. I was in for a lot of pain, but fortunatel, I managed to bring his life below 0 during my attack.

Side-Story: Mark to my side was playing with Scarescrow: Fearmonger and was having a lot of fun eating his opponent's +1/+1 counters, Cosmic counters and whatnot. He had a huge board with many counters. Somehow, I felt that UDE featured quite a lot of Cosmic in this set just so that Scarecrow can eat them.


Match 2:

I got out Wonder Woman on turn 4 and every turn, my opponent would name 'Token Resistance'. I had no what it was, but my Wonder Woman managed to survive till turn 6 with her Cosmic intact. I think that probably saved me a lot of unnecessary headaches.

I realized my opponent was playing a 4-resource deck; he reservist-recruited Black Canary out on turn 5, followed by Tasmanian Devil on turn 6 without replacing a resource to keep himself stuck at four. All I knew was that, even though he did massive damage to me, his characters always stunned on the attack since I curved up progressively, allowing me a couple of direct attacks for the win.

Side-Story: Poor Himura was playing against Oreo (Orry). Oreo seemed like he was having PMS, trying to find fault with every move Himura played and just plain rules-lawyering.

I met David and we talked. I told him that I was nervous as I had 2 wins already and just needed 1 more to get the winner's EA. David told me that I could try to 'negotiate' if I had to. Like, if I wanted more packs, I could offer to concede to my opponent in exchange for his prize boosters or vice versa. He says that sometimes, the people may want the boosters over the EA . That's interesting. I hope I don't have to try such a thing.


Match 3:
My opponent was Lee Keng Yin. This is probably the first time I got to play with him. He was a very friendly casual player for the first few turns... until things didn't start going well for him. Meh.

I mulligan'ed away a hand with several 6- and 7-drops and got... another hand with 6- and 7-drops and several plot twists (the plot twists were pumps, though). I thought I was gonna lose this one. I managed to draw into a Blue Beetle on turn 2 and used him to tutor for Booster Gold. On turn 3, I drew into Aquaman was very relieved as his sizeable 6/6 body fended off attacks. My top-decking luck continued as I drew into my 4-drop, John Stewart and played Roll Call to gain 3 life and cycle 2 cards (so far, everyone who have seen me play this card said it was 'nuts'). I discarded a pump for Roll Call and he remarked, "Wow, if you discard that, it means your hand must be good." Well, I had no choice since I was in dire need of keeping my later drops. Keng Yin team-attacked into John Stewart but I managed to get away with a defensive pump (Shake it Off). He sighed as it failed. I struck back and he, too, had a defensive pump (Wall of Will) but I had a Glass Jaw ready. He commented that I had "a lot of good cards" and "all the answers". On turn 5, I missed my drop and recruited a 2-drop and 3-drop. At first, I thought that this was a 'bad play', but then I realized that I had the Justice League Force team-up that granted bonus to my team-attackers. I managed to stun most of his characters. On turn 6, I got out Hal Jordan. He tried to attack but I powered up with Reform the League. He was a little sick by now and Oreo was watching and agreed that I indeed had "all the answers". "I might have a chance if you miss your 7-drop," Keng Yin said, "You have been curving almost perfectly." But I had my 7th-drop since turn 1; I recruited my Guy Gardner and attacked for the win.

Oh, well. Who cares if I am a luck sack. I was just making the best of what I drew; not like I can just pretend I didn't have all the pumps.

Sidestory: Oreo had dropped so I was the only one left with straight wins. I decided to stay on, since I had a chance of meeting Himura. If so, I might throw the match to him so that he can get an EA, too.


Match 4:

My opponent was not Himura, but I was in quite a good mood. I told him that for our game, no matter who wins or loses, I could report him as the winner if he wanted. He misheard me and exclaimed, "You want ME to concede to YOU?!" (Okay, even I would be pissed if someone asked me to do such a ridiculous thing.) I tried to explain myself again, but it seemed that my opponent was quite a righteous person and tried to dissuade me from doing such a thing. "Okay, I guess we'll just play normally then." I said.

I mulliganed and got a handful of characters but they were all big drops. He did an interesting 'combo' on turn 3. He recruited Booster Gold with a boost to get Blue Beetle, then used Blue Beetle to get a 1-cost Equipment to make use of the remaining free resource point from the boost effect. I managed to recruited Mr. Miracle who was promptly stunned. On turn 4, I cringed as I failed to recruit any drops at all. I got smashed for tons of damage. On turn 5, I drew into Martian Manhunter and under-dropped with him. He got out Steel and it tutored for an equipment with it. *gasp* It was an equipment deck.

I considered my options; he had all his drops from 1 to 5 versus my 2 lonely guys. I was thinking of trying to force him to reinforce his small guys and went for his 1- and 2-drops. At this point, he stopped me and asked, "Hey, are you deliberately trying to lose the game to me?" I was kinda surprised and he pointed out his equipment to me. I read it and realized that the High Tech Flare Gun allowed him to attack hidden characters, namely Martian Manhunter. I re-assured him that I wasn't trying to lose to him (though actually, my original plan was just to try to bully the small guys). This guy was obviously quite strict about his morals, so he allowed me to re-trace my steps and I did a 'proper' attack on him.

I got out Hal Jordan on turn 6 and moved away Steel who was protecting a 2-drop. After he attacked my guys and passed to me, I decided to go for massive breakthrough to bridge the huge gap in our life. I made Hal Jordan go for his 2-drop, but to my surprise, he flipped up a Location (The Castle) and promptly reinforced it.

Turn 7 was his initiative, but my Guy Gardner was too much for him to handle since all my drops from 5 onwards had willpower. His equipments were simply not enough and he couldn't attack effectively. I struck back on my attack step and won.

Sidestory: The match was over and I offered to report him as the winner. He asked why I was doing this (probably suspicious there might be some strings attached) and I simply said that "two happy guys are better than one". He finally realized that I was not trying to squeeze any benefits out of him and thanked me as I reported him as the winner.

Oh, and Himura was playing against Keng Yin with Oreo watching. Poor Himura suffering more PMS bursts. hehehe.

Conclusion:

Anyway, I was extremely pleased with my performance and my prizes (the Martian Manhunter EA and the deck tin). It was an immensely satisfying feeling to off-set the fact that I just paid $40 and opened totally crap cards from all my boosters.

No ICT for Penguin This Year

I e-mailed PlayWorks for the journalism job and, at the same time, my cousin SMS'ed me to tell me that she had just forwarded my resume to her business contacts. (I was hoping she'd forget.) I guess I should be expecting some replies over the next few days. I just hope PlayWorks get to me first cos' it is rare a job that meshes with my interests.

I woke up today and got an SMS from Mindef informing me of an upcoming annual ICT (In-Camp Training). This would be my very first reservist training ever since I ORD'ed in 2002. I have been wishing that the notice would never arrive but alas it did. I logged onto MIW to check and, to my surprise, my ICT was scheduled for May 2006. Hurray, I am spared from all army nonsense this year. Wee.

Oh, well. Weekdays have always been a great challenge for me in finding things to do to tide me over till the weekends. It is extremely difficult to pry people away from the comfort of their homes and it will be even more so come November when everyone is busy with school and exams.

The TV is my best companion on weekdays. I wonder what is the program that everyone catches without fail. For me, it is always C.S.I. on Tuesdays and the Amazing Race on Wednesdays. Other than that, I have nothing to watch. Poor me.

I have been downloading more comics to rebuild my lost collection. I have started on the massive Infinite Crisis storyline and Avengers Disassembled, both of which are very dark, gloomy and sad.

I have also been playing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (a PS1 game) on my PS2 (I never realized the importance of backwards compatibility till now). It's such an old game but I decided to play it again since I was dying for more Castlevania goodness after having completed Dawn of Sorrow on my NDS. But hey, the game was a massive hit in 1997 and, to me, it is still just as good today.

I have now reached the middle of the week. The weekends are getting close and I can smell it. I am very much looking forward to the VS System JLA Sneak Preview on Sunday.