Up and Left

One of my colleagues, Winston, just up and left today. It was so sudden. Didn't even see him in the morning and the next thing I know someone was already clearing his table and then I knew he left.

Didn't say a thing and didn't gave a sign. What actually happened?? It's a mystery that bogging my mind now. Tried to call him but no response. Why the secrecy I wonder.

Some guy (who is also leaving soon) speculated that he might have joined a rival firm which due to his position as a marketing exec gave him the right to be given a day's notice by the company to leave. Had something to do with marketing information and sensitive intel.

The other possibility was that he has breached some security measures of the company and was given the boot.

The last one is probably due to performance but this is the least possible one as I can see that he is quite ok with his work leh.

Soooo strange! Oh well...

I cannot deny that it's a little disconcerting to see someone whom you have interacted so closely in the past months just disappearing like that - and without even leaving a word. We may not be bosom buddies but still...

***********

Yesterday saw me and Jo catching the media preview of You, Me and Dupree at the refurbished Cathay Cineplex. Owen Wilson is as hilarious as ever and well, Kate Hudson, what can I say? She's gorgeous and has this charm I find really womanly and cute at the same time. Loved her since Almost Famous and although I have not caught every one of her shows, she is an actress whose shows I always will enjoy whenever I get the chance to catch one.

It's a lovely flick, sweet and kinda realistic at the same time at some parts. Some of these bits you will only understand when one gets married...











Anyway, going to catch World Trade Center tonight as I managed to get media preview tix for it. Should be a good show.

To The 3rd Round

As many of you may well have known, the Wife has made it through the 2nd round of auditions for the Project Superstar Slimming Package plan on last Sunday. Later I will be going with her to Topshop for a stylist session. Hope something good comes out of it and can improve her chances for the 3rd audition that's to be held at Mediacorp this Saturday.

Heard from her that it will be an all day affair and she will only be let out at 10pm which also means that she will not be able to attend the Moonie Sept baby celebrations. Remember you got to hear of it from here first.

Anyhow, will join the rest of the Moonies myself in her absence and going back to Mediacorp to pick her up. Really pray that she makes it. And if that is to happen, then the 4th stage will be to sing at the Suntec fountain area.

Sooo exciting!!!!

1000+ views!

Wah, it's a proud moment for the Dyslexic Pimp indeed. This puny blog filled with inane ramblings of a heartlander slob with neither the looks or the dough has been viewed more than 1000+ times since its inception last year!

Let's pat ourselves on the back and here's to more bo liao moments that you spend surfing dyslexicpimp.blogspot.com instead of doing your honest work in the office / studying / making out.

Thank you guys!

1000+ views!

Wah, it's a proud moment for the Dyslexic Pimp indeed. This puny blog filled with inane ramblings of a heartlander slob with neither the looks or the dough has been viewed more than 1000+ times since its inception last year!

Let's pat ourselves on the back and here's to more bo liao moments that you spend surfing dyslexicpimp.blogspot.com instead of doing your honest work in the office / studying / making out.

Thank you guys!

A Song From Me

I thought sometime alone
was what we really needed
you said this time would hurt more than it helps
but I couldn't see that
I thought it was the end
of a beautiful story
and so I left the one I loved at home to be alone(alone)
and I tried to find
out if this one thing is true
that I'm nothing without you
I know better now
and I've had a change of heart
Chorus:
I'd rather have bad times with you, than good times with someone else
I'd rather be beside you in a storm, than safe and warm by myself
I'd rather have hard times together, than to have it easy apart
I'd rather have the one who holds my heart
whoo-oo-oo-oo yeah

And then I met someone
and thought she could replace you
we got a long just fine
we wasted time because she was not you
we had a lot of fun
though we knew we were faking
love was not impressed with our connection they were all lies, all lies
so I'm here cause I found this one thing is true
that I'm nothing without you
I know better now
and I've had a change of heart

(Repeat Chorus)

I can't blame you if you turn away from me, like I've done you,
I can only prove the things I say with time,
please be mine,

I'd rather have bad times with(please be mine) you,
than good times with someone else(I know)
I'd rather be beside you in a storm(anytime),
than safe and warm by myself(so sure baby)
I'd rather have hard times together,
than to have it easy apart
I'd rather have the one who holds my heart(my heart)

I'd rather have bad times with you(surely),
than good times with someone else(surely)
I'd rather be beside you in a storm(oh yeah),
than safe and warm by myself(all by myself)
I'd rather have hard times together,
than to have it easy apart(you know it)
I'd rather have the one who holds my heart

I'd rather have the one who holds my heart
I'd rather have the one who holds my heart
whoooo.....who holds my heart

- I'd Rather, Luthor Vandross

Just wanted to suddenly post this because this song got floated into my head when I was surfing the Net today...particularly this blog by a female blogger I never really knew. Pretty touched by this song really.

Is It Peace? Or Are We Merely Silenced?

Wake up fellow peasants! When can we see the ways of the Powers is no longer good for us? Do we really want the things that they want for us? Are you just faceless, voiceless entities condemining yourselves to an ignomible demise??

Read this passage from Yawning Bread, a site famed for its incising, in your face social commentaries of the land of Sillypore. And no, if you, the Powers, are so much as watching me. Let me tell you that I am no Partisan player. I am just somebody unafraid of change, a word you are so fearful of.

Peaceful Streets


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





In an unusual public statement, the Singapore police said last week that if anybody behaved in a way that threatened another, they would shoot to kill. It's very extraordinary that they should trumpet this stance.
The context we all know. Singapore will be hosting the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund from 12 - 20 September 2006. Aware that lots of activists typically hold protest demonstrations around such meetings, the government has simply banned them.

The justification they have used is that of the threat of violence and terrorism. Indeed, many such summit meetings have been accompanied by rioting, and rioting tends to capture headlines. What is ignored is that many more demonstrations go off peacefully, and that people who want to plant bombs -– that is, terrorists –- do not need a riot or even a peaceful protest to do so.

It's not as if in those other cities, groups had obtained permits to riot. Of course not. Their permits, or their freedom, were only to protest peacefully. In every case, if they rioted, they rioted despite a ban on violence. So what has banning peaceful protests got to do with forestalling violence and terrorism?

And yet, very few Singaporeans have asked these questions. Forget the few blogs that foreign journalists like to monitor. I daresay the vast majority of Singaporeans accept and applaud the government's position.

Foreign journalists are apt to write stories about how authoritarian the Singapore government is -– and indeed it is authoritarian -– but I would suggest to you that that is only half the story. The other half is how and why Singaporeans prefer it that way.

Foremost among the Singapore politicians who speak the language of human rights and civil liberties is Chee Soon Juan. He has pointed out -- and I think, with considerable validity -– that if we want to get change in the face of such tight controls over so many facets of life in Singapore, civil disobedience is a necessary strategy.

Chee is lionised by the foreign press. He is very articulate, and in the light of a broader understanding of social and political history and the rise of liberalism, his position makes eminent sense. At the same time, he is persecuted by the Singapore government for his outspokenness. He makes good copy.

However, in the last general election, his party won the lowest share of votes of all the opposition parties. Just 23 percent of voters in the constituency where his party had candidates voted for them. It appears that Chee's message just can't get any traction with Singaporeans. People don't seem to give two hoots to questions of human rights or civil rights, which is his party's primary message.

So here again, the real story may not be what Chee is saying or doing, but why Singaporeans are so deaf to it all. Here is a people who, by any standard, are well-educated, with access to the English-speaking world, middle-class -– for many, their basic needs hardly trouble them –- and well-travelled. Why are Singaporeans so docile and domesticated? What is this special breed that animal farm has produced?

That, I would suggest, is the real story.

* * * * *


State censorship and its control over the domestic media explains part of it. But more insidiously, it is self-censorship that keeps the show running.

Reporters self-censor. Academics self-censor. Bloggers self-censor. But more than that, they take it upon themselves to censor others.

"Is this too political?" they ask. It's a very common question in Singapore, but seriously, what is this concept known as "too political"? What does that mean? Too political for what? For your own health?

As some of you may know, I have a commentary website called Yawning Bread. Every few months or so, I would get an email from someone I do not know saying things like "You're so brave. But are you sure they're not monitoring you?"

What's the purpose of such emails? They're not telling me something I don't know. They're just spreading the fear that they themselves feel, but thinking they're doing others a favour by "warning" or "advising" them.

The fear is very widespread, infecting not just the poor and powerless. Just the other day, at another panel discussion, someone raised the question of suing the government over some constitutional right or other. One of the panelists then replied that yes, the idea is well and good, but first you have to find a lawyer who's willing to take up your case. There was nervous laughter all around. The audience recognised a shameful truth in that answer.

It goes beyond fear. There is also what I call the collective Stockholm syndrome. You see many Singaporeans who have gone beyond submitting to the restrictions through fear, to rationalising why those restrictions are good for us. Why do we want free speech? It will only cause racial and religious tensions and lead to disharmony. It will pollute young minds with pornography and homosexuality. Why do we want the freedom of assembly? It will only permit troublemakers to hold protest demonstrations, riot, and scare away foreign investors. We rationalise as undesirable what we're not permitted to have.

And that is perhaps why despite a stark absence of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, many people do not see it as any infringement of their basic rights. Quite the other way: they see it as one more example of wise government, protecting us from chaos.

You want examples? Look at Thailand. Look at the Philippines. But nobody ever says look at Britain, Australia or the United States. Rich, creative and free.

But where did that initial fear come from, from which this habit of self-censorship, peer-censorship and even the collective Stockholm syndrome grew? From our history since 1965. Through these 41 years, opposition politicians and other dissenters have been detained without trial -– in the case of Chia Thye Poh, for 31 years -– or sued for defamation for millions of dollars, bankrupting them.

So, yes, one can trace responsibility ultimately to the Singapore government through these years. But the story today is much more layered than simply one of an authoritarian government riding roughshod over the citizenry. Many private citizens have become equally complicit.

* * * * *


So now, we have a kind of vicious cycle. The internalised fear of the people, the unchecked authoritarian instincts of the government and the vast array of laws and regulations that enable those instincts to be translated to actual control, all reinforce each other.

How will Singaporeans break out of this cycle?

I believe one of the questions on your minds is whether the internet, particularly the rise of blogging, will be the key to unlock shackled freedoms. Or is the government, sensing a threat from new media, going to clamp down on it like they have with old media?

I am not truly optimistic that blogging will make much difference. Blogging is only a tool. The question is really whether Singaporeans, in enough numbers, have the courage to speak out, to unlearn what they have internalised throughout their lives. Perhaps a small minority will blaze a trail for more to follow. I certainly hope so.

Will the government clamp down? I don't think so. I think the internet will remain free, but the government will attempt to skew the public's perception of the credibility of bloggers. The example they may want to follow is the way they have permitted opposition politicians like Chee Soon Juan and J B Jeyaretnam some freedom to continue speaking and publishing their books while systematically painting them as scoundrels and troublemakers, so that they never get a sizeable audience. They are not so much silenced, as marginalised in terms of public credibility.

I wonder whether a similar campaign has been launched. We are witnessing today an incessant attempt to paint the government-complaisant media such as the Straits Times, as trustworthy, truthful, balanced and so forth, and by contrast, the blogosphere as unreliable, with suspect motives.

Will they succeed? It's too early to say. In any case, this is not the reason why I am pessimistic, and I'll tell you why.

* * * * *


Just a week ago, I was at another forum where I learnt that only 4 countries in ASEAN have human rights commissions or their equivalents, such as ombudsmen. They are Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.

It struck me that all four countries underwent a revolution or at least a very deep crisis during the last 20 years, and in all cases, an active civil society and a public appreciation of the importance of human rights sprang from those crisis points.

The Philippines had the People's Power revolution in 1986 when dictator Ferdinand Marcos was deposed. Thailand had the revolution of 1992 when General Suchinda Kraprayoon was forced to resign. Indonesia suffered so badly from the Asian Financial Crisis that Suharto had to step down in 1998. The same year, amid economic distress in Malaysia, the sacking of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was a shock to the country's body politic.

It's not easy to draw commonalities from these 4 crises. In the Philippines and Indonesia, economic failure, corruption and gross inequality formed the background to the revolutions. In Malaysia, it was a schism between Mahathir and Anwar.

The Thai example might be the most interesting for Singapore. My imperfect understanding is that Suchinda tried to turn the clock back and impose military rule in all but name against a backdrop of rising democratic aspirations. Thousands came out to protest in the streets, the army opened fire and shot many dead.

Why would the Thai example be "interesting" for Singapore? Are there rising democratic aspirations in the little country? If not, what would it mean?

Given these examples, it is a sobering thought that before we realise why human rights, including the freedom of expression, are important, Singapore too may have to suffer a deep crisis, be it economic failure, scandal, schism or brutality. We are unlikely to enjoy a gradual liberalisation mostly because it is not in the ruling party's interest. I have a fear that Singapore will ossify, fall behind other countries, sink low, before we see the error of our ways.

At this point I will recall something a Straits Times journalist told me about a meeting some years back with then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. Goh was musing about how the vast powers that the People's Action Party had accumulated would be terribly dangerous if they should fall into an opposition party's hands. If ever an opposition party won an election and inherited those powers, the People's Action Party might never stand a chance of making a comeback.

"But the PAP seems to have drawn the opposite lesson from this observation," the journalist said to me with some dismay. "The lesson they drew was that they must never, ever lose power."

Yet, in the course of any country's history, crises always happen. And Singapore will have our fair share.

What sorts of trends might lead to a crisis? I certainly don't have a crystal ball, but I would suggest, watch the income gap. 30 percent of Singapore households got steadily poorer over the last 5 years, even as the richer got much richer. In the last election, many of these 30 percent continued to vote for the ruling party, but how long before their patience runs out?

Scandals, schisms -– these are hard to predict. But no regime is forever immune to them. Sooner or later, Singapore will face a big one too.

The rigidity of Singapore's political edifice, epitomised by our tight, doctrinaire controls over expression and assembly suggests that the regime will not be flexible enough to absorb shock. The government's instincts when they face criticism is to batten down the hatches and hammer the critics rather than accommodate.

A society that takes noisy political debate and public demonstrations in stride -– and responds to the concerns raised -– is a healthier, more resilient one. By many measures, that, Singapore is not.

* * * * *


Chances are, the World Bank and IMF meetings will be carried off without a hitch. There will be no significant street gatherings, barely one unfurling of a banner. And the Singapore government will proclaim their great success in hosting the event.

Look at our peaceful streets, they will say, and we will look. But do we see restful quiet or sterile silence?

© Yawning Bread

So tell me, are we enjoying Peace (tm) or are we merely a Silenced lot?

Stepping Into The Forbidden City

Yesterday saw the very first time I ever watched something in the Esplanade since Lao Goh, the visionary for the durian building has passed away.

Quite sad really.

But anyway, Iw as there to watch Dick Lee's Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress and it was really a very good show. I have always loved to watch musicals just that I am always broke and if it's not the fact that I got a 1K payout from my insurance premiums I would have missed the show again, two years after its first opening in Singapore. The same Durian place also.

Thing was, the Wife and I watched the afternoon slot which meant no Kit Chan, but the interesting thing was the Wife's very good friend is actually acting as the Empress in the stead of Kit who has opted out of acting in noon shows so from now on the noon shows will be fronted by the Wife's chum, a good singer in the name of Celine Tan.

I was blown away by all the singing and the dramatics. Rarely was I ever left not feeling a sense of sympathy for the Empress Dowager who was really portrayed as someone who is looking for a friend she can trust in the palace where she has been fighting all her life in just to survive.

Of course, the real-life Empress could have been a monster but the one in the show was a piteous character. A mother who was torn from her son, only to see him die in her arms at a young age. A helpless ruler who is forced to do the things she thinks are right for an ailing China but turns out really bad. All the while enduring the scathing reviews and lies on her personality and character by the prevailing Western-dominated media of China at the turn of the 20th century.

Very, very good show. If you guys have not watched it yet, then please do, even if you need to buy the cheapest ticket. Simply hearing it for youself is an experience in itself. Mona was talking and raving about this show called "Rent" in her previous posts and I wonder when it's coming to Singapore or has it already?

I really don't know but I hope I can watch it.

After a jaunt in wartorn China...

The Wife and I stepped into too cool for your shit Miami where we saw Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx in Miami Vice. Didn't pay a single cent as it was a media preview which was all good considering I spent a bit on both the musical and the Wife's presents since it was her birthday yesterday.

But it was worth it la, we were happy after all.

PS: Miami Vice is really cool. I didn't watch the original TV series but in the movie, Gong Li is a hot chick even at 40+ and I like Jamie Foxx's character as Rico. Colin Farrell's hair sucks and is damn ugly imho. Gawd. There was this part where I got a side view of Gong's pair of love pillows and ya, there were quite a bit of cut scenes due to nudity. Damn, just raise the bar to R lah.

Stupid censors put it at NC-16...grr.

My Superstar

And so the Wife decides to heed my incessant pesterings and went to take part in the Project Superstar auditions that were held at the HDB hub over last weekend. Yes, it's that "Project Superstar" that spawned the entire Kelian Weilian phenomena courtesy of Channel U.

We lived nearby so it wasn't nearly as ardous to make our way there, that and the fact that we are two people with nothing much on our hands to do made the choice to get our arses down to the audtions a relatively easy one.

Anyhow, it was a Saturday, the 9th of September when we trooped into the open space right in front of the Ah Kun Toast outlet when we encountered a massive queue. Well, not that massive in comparision to the Singapore Idol one, but it was sizeable.

Throngs upon throngs of eager beaver young girls wanting to make it big. Gosh, is being a star that desirable in Singapore? But I digress.

You may ask why the hell would I want the Wife to take part in a contest that I absolutely do not believe in. Well, simple la. It's the slimming package, heh. Coz you see, we are going to be married end of next year and if the Wife is good enough to make a name for herself, then it will be probably no-brainers that the powers-that-be will be offering her a slimming package. It's standard I tell you.

Even Kelly Poon got one and by the cholestrol gods, does the woman even look like she needs one?! So there you go.

Anyway, we were told that there are too many clowns there already and there won't be anymore auditions going beyond 6pm that day so we were made to take a number and come back on the next morning at 10am.

Come Sunday, the Wife and I once again walked the path down to the Hub and lo and behold, no queue yet! So she pretty quickly got into line...

...got herself registered...

...then waited to get her picture taken in front of that white backdrop like any other Superstar hopeful...

Soon after the girls (I forgot to mention that the auditions were for the female category) are taken into this waiting area where the Wife will wait for a chance to sing in front of three judges as she will later relate to me.

Well, to cut the story short. After more than an hour of waiting on my part, she suddenly appeared in front of me (I was fiddling with my PSP out of sheer boredom) and then began to blabber that she got in!

Oh...my...gawd...(to be said in true FRIENDS style)

And so we (or rather the Wife) are (is) off to the second auditions happening on the 17th, same place and all.

Watch this space, folks.

Now Repeat After Me...

Sayaka Isoyama is HOT! Check her out! Look at the massive...eyes, dammit. She is one of the latest Japanese idols to it my radar and she is someone I don't mind meeting down the streets, hello, nurse!

Now check out her video, you know you want to!!

This one's for the guys!!

Enjoy.

Greedo Shot First, I Swear

Or so Han Solo would say. But check out upcoming Lego Star Wars 2 for the PSP! I would be Bantha poodoo not to get it.

It looks really sweet...and this time LucasArts is backing it now that the first game proved to be such a money-making hit, the losers. I do feel for Traveller's Tales, the makers of this fine, cute game that has lots to offer for the young and old fans alike.

Cannot wait to play the game!


















Way cool!!!

My Makaimura is COMING!

Dear Jason Woo,

we are glad to inform you that your recent order has been shipped out.

Order number: 628262
Shipping method: DHL
(Please note, only UPS shipments can be tracked online!)

You can find your parcel information by simply clicking on the link below.

You must have saved your user data in a cookie for this to work. Alternatively you may log in manually and copy paste the URL into your web browser's address bar afterwards.
http://www.lik-sang.com/history.php?order_id=628262

For your reference, your registered e-mail address: lupyuen@ncs.com.sg

Please note that usual Airmail shipments take approx 7-20 days to arrive depending on the destination, while express services will reach your country in mostly 2-4 days only. Only UPS shipments can be tracked online globally.

We like to thank you for choosing Lik Sang, your Hong Kong video game export specialist and would be pleased to assist you with any other purchase in the future.

With best regards,
Your Lik-Sang Team

I think it's coming tomorrow, my very own copy of Ultimate Ghosts N Goblins (That's Goku-Makaimura in Japanese) for the PSP! Now I can brain some fugly ghouls and save my own digitized Princess in distress on the bus, the MRT and the humble home! Think the wife is going to be THE one braining me for my excessive gaming, what with cards and my handheld addiction and all...





















Now when is my DS Lite coming???

Snakes Redux

So me being stubborn and goddamn dogged about the whole thing, decided to just grab the entire Snake deck that so ungloriously bombed on me in the qualifiers two weeks ago and proceed to try to win back some morale in last week's Friday Night Magic.

The stake: Coldsnap Booster packs for the Top 4 players and a copy of a foiled Astral Slide card imbued with the FNM logo - the giveaway flavor for the entire month of September.

"Cannot buy one, must win then can get," said the shopkeeper.

So I lan lan lah, must play lor. Would prefer to just buy the card though as Astral Slide is one of my tournament favorites...

Booster packs to me were a hit / miss affair since they are giving out Coldsnap boosters. The set's isn't exactly being raved about online and the cards that were chase rares were few and far between AND I have already gotten most of what I needed from the set overall.

Ok, cutting to the chase, I got into Top 4 with the damn Snakes on a Plane.dec.

Here's the build (or what I can remember off-hand while typing this in the office...):

Land
Forest x 4
Island x 4
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers x 1
Minamo, School at Water's Edge x 1
Breeding Pool x 3
Simic Growth Chamber x 4
Novijen, Heart of Progress x 1
Yavimaya Coast x 4

Creatures
Sakura-tribe Scout x 4
Sakura-tribe Elder x 4
Coiling Oracle x 4
Ohran Viper x 4
Patagia Viper x 3
Seshiro, the Anointed x 2
Meloku, the Clouded Mirror x 1

Spells
Sosuke's Summons x 4
Remand x 4
Coat of Arms x 3
Umezawa's Jitte x 3
Gifts Ungiven x 2

Sideboard
Pithing Needle x 4
Spell Snare x 4
Sundering Vitae x 4
Arashi, the Sky Asunder x 2
Silklash Spider x 1

First match: Erayo Ninja Win 2-0

Both games saw me somehow making my opponent so screwed on mana with my shuffling and cutting "techniques" that he was cursing after the match. He's kind of a gaming friend of mine and I felt sorry that he has to lose that way. But sorry pal, the foil's at stake, man. I really want it so I guess I was really meant to win it tonight.

Anyway, Earyo Ninja is the top deck at the recent German Nationals so the deck's no pushover. I played another game with it after the game proper and promptly lost. Heng I won the real thing... :P

Second match GWR Zoo Lose 0-2

Cheebye Zoo. I love the deck to bits but really hated playing against it. Not to mention that my opponent was kind of irritating at times and shuffled my deck in piles of three to try and screw me but it didn't work in the end. But I still lost la.

There's something about undercosted, overpowered creatures that wins games I tell you. Turn one Isamaru (2/2), turn two Watchwolf (3/3) and turn three Burning-Tree Shaman (3/4) are no laughing foes when all you've got are a bunch of 1/1 snakes to try and block with. Bad trades...

At least I can still block, you say?

He then proceeds to run me over with a timely, top-decked Bathe In Light naming Green. That bloody card makes his zoo critters unblockable since all my Snakes were green! Sigh...

Both games ended this way, I tell you.

Third match U/R Vore Win 2-0

Now's the turn for my opponent to experience the good old mana choke. Not the kind that sees you drawing two lands and then stalling mind you, but the type that sees you drawing land after land with no spells in sight.

In such cases, the hungry pythons in my deck normally swallow you whole...

Ok, so there was a point in the second game when he threatened to stabilise with a Keiga, the Tide Star in play which bashed my face for 5 for three whole turns, dropping me to five life. This was my fucking final turn to do something. He had no blockers (the only creature being Keiga), had three cards on hand which could be a handful of stupid counterspells and plenty of mana to counter me with.

I've got a couple of snake tokens and two Patagia Vipers (these are the only snakes capable of blocking the Keiga since they fly). I topdecked an Umezawa's Jitte, cast it, no response.

I equipped it to a Patagia Viper, no response.

I bashed.

He scooped.

Yay!

Fourth match Wierd-ass R/G Land Destruction Win 2-0

Now this is some wierd deck. Must be homebrew. Anyway, the idea of the guy's deck is to accelerate his mana, nuke your bloody lands and then plonk down some big-ass shite and eat you alive.

Doesn't work man.

The snakes love me that night as they gave me land after land and Sakura-tribe Scout working her tight reptilian butt overtime to throw lands for me. I ain't got no mana problems that night when my opponent has to try to keep me off Sosuke's Summons' mana AND making sure he's not getting nicked in the arse by 1/1 snakes.

Second round we sideboarded.

I took out Seshiro and Meloku and put in the Silklash Spider and Arashi, the guys with high defense aka butts for fear of Wildfire. You never know these rogue decks, I tell ya.

The second game saw him laying a Burning-Tree Shaman and a Ohran Viper of his own while he stares at my army of Samuel L. Jackson fans. He attacked, I used four snakes to block his Shaman and killed that heretic. I then used another snake to block the Viper.

No damage to moi. But the vermin population is still being kept under control. Barely.

I then recast a cheap Snake to retrieve my Sosuke's Summons from my graveyard and then cast the Summons for two more Snake tokens. My opponent groans. The fact that he was stalled on red mana didn't help his cause.

I then top decked a Coat of Arms to accompany one that was already on my hand since the round started. I cast it, my opponent Naturalizes it in response.

No surprise there as I sort of expected that coming from a Red/Green deck. I had creature number superiority so I was not too worried unless he Wildfires whch he didn't to this point, phew.

The next turn sees me casting the second Coat. My opponent "wah lau-ed" and asked me how big were my snakes now.

"They are all 7/7 now," I said.

"Die la you, how much life you have also not enough la," remarked Lucas, one of the regular good players at the shop.

Opponent scooped. He had not blockers, ergo, butt gets raped by snakes...

Oh well...

And so I got into Top 4 with a score of 3-1 and the rest of the top three players decided to split as it was late and they wanted to go clubbing.

Got five packs of Coldsnap and here's my rare haul:

1 x Garza Zol, Plague Queen ($1 rare crap)
2 x Arcum Dagsson (Chao cheebye crap, $1 rare, get two some more!)
1 x Jester Scepter (at least something but not terribly valuable either...)
1 x Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper (crap crap crap)

Still, not bad for a Snake's night out...

Stuck @ Work While The Weather's Tempting

Feel like sneaking out later to pay my premiums and get a breath of fresh air. One week in the office is murder and the thrill of running off before the official time certainly brings back memories of my one and only purposeful truancy attempt in school way back in 1996.

LOL!

PS: Need to check if Sales guy's going out so can hop on a cab with him...