The road is of nice aspirations...

Re-established contact with Joseph Low, our erstwhile magic player from yesteryear. Currently he's in Miri, providing technical support for exploration work in Shell. Heya Joe!!!

A while back, he was one of our regular drafters. Our best memories were Onslaught block, where at one point I was opening the card Cruel Revival one too many times in draft to the extent he actually accuses me of hiding Cruel Revival in my pants!

It got to a point where to prove him wrong, I got Raj to sit behind me in a draft, and lo and behold my pack contained a Cruel Revival. I showed it to Raj, smiled, and proceeded to slam it down. But then Raj reminded me to at least check the other cards first... I apologised, and checked, and guess what I found: bloody Exalted Angel!!! I immediately changed my pick, and passed the Cruel around. But I proved my point, and dispelled the fact that I did NOT have a Cruel Revival in my pants , heh...

Then there was the time where Ahmad stopped playing Magic to play Warhammer. We were all ribbing him about it, until Joseph came up with the classic comment "yes we all know how you feel about Marines and their Privates!!!" Funny man...

And what Magic player could forget this: "The ladies have always commented on my sprouting vines prowess, but for 4 is unprecedented!!!!" HA ha ha ha...

All in all, we had great memories with Joseph, his deadpan humour was wicked, master drafter, and all around great guy.

And I'm still sorry bout the Chrome Mox!!! Really!!!

Looking ever onwards!!!

It's interesting the amount of things that time can do....

In time...

Homes can be created
Careers can be built
Interests can be discovered
Friendships can be forged
Wounds can be healed
Love can be found
Contentment can be achieved
Success can be made
Dreams can be fulfilled

Time reveals insights of new adventures!!!

Anything's possible, it's worth the wait. Take it as it comes...

Survival tips for Ahmad and Ben!!

Yes, two of our fanatical card-drawing wrestlers will be going ahead of us to Singapore in a train, on Friday night!

Since it'll be the two of you, I have the following for you just in case:

How to jump from a moving train:

1. Move to the end of the last car
2. If you have time, wait for the train to slow as it rounds a bend in te tracks
3. Stuff blankets, clothing, or seat cushions underneath your clothes
4. Pick your landing spot before you jump.
5. Get as low to the floor as possible, bending your knees so you can leap away from the train car.
6. Jump perpendicular to the train, leaping as far away from the train as you can.
7. Cover and protect your head with your hands and arms, and roll like a log when you land.

Got it guys? Yee haw!

Resolutions for the new week! (edited)

1. Finalise my two decks (Babe and Torrie)

2. Playtest more (and learn from it!!!)

3. Perform well in Singapore!!

4. Shave more (to reduce the pricklings he he)

5. Prepare game shop accounts (eep)

6. Clean up my pigsty of a room (er... rooms)

7. Demand my monthly wages (before the trip!)

8. Steady movement (minimise my trembling problem)

9. Find the words (for every use)

10. Teach well!

-----> Finally, a bonus short treatise on lips:

The lips are the focal point of the face during social interactions. The lips are composed of skin, muscle, and mucosa, and they lack direct bony attachments or infrastructure. Hence, the lips are elastic and pliable.

The lips play many important roles and are particularly important in both verbal and nonverbal communication. They are necessary for articulation of the letters B, F, M, N, and V (Salasche, 1988). In addition, people use their lips to communicate a variety of feelings through facial expression. The lips serve important functions in eating and imbibition. The competence of the oral sphincter is important during chewing and sucking through a straw.

Because the lips are vital for interpersonal relations, even the slightest asymmetry is easily detected and can cause devastating consequences.

New trailers

The latest trailer for Wrestlemania 21 is out!!! Starring Booker T and Eddie Guerrerro in a parody of Pulp Fiction! Check it out at

http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania21/trailers.jsp

Hideously funny, though the best is still the Basic Instinct trailer!!! Of course, these parodies are best watched only if you have watched the original movies, which include Braveheart and Forrest Gump.

Our wrestling road trip is almost due, just 1 week 1 day away!!! Guaranteed fun + I get to meet NAUVAL!!!! Yeah man, here I come! Look out for the wackiness that is my gang!

Leaping Knee to the Face pt 2!

At 4am, the stall shuts down and like it or not, it was time to go. But what to do next??!! We were getting a bit exhausted with our playtesting and wanted something normal for a change. Then a brilliant idea (Can't remember who thought of it): Gin!!!

Problem was, I only had 1 deck and there were 5 of us. So we walked to the local KIOSK only to find it was sold out. Undaunted, we walked, er, no, ran to the near 7-eleven! Suddenly there were 4 maniacs running and laughing on Telawi for god knows why.

Did I say 4? Yes 4, cause sleazy Andy thought that running around for know reason was less important than enjoying his ice cream. In any case, we reached 7E only to find out there was STILL no playing cards. Arghh, bad timing coz of CNY!

At this point Johan voices out that he has a brand new unused new rules UNO deck and suggested we get that. But we were still keen on Gin and after a while of gossip about random characters at the shop, we jumped into Johan's 4wD and headed for another 7E near the LRT!

Which had no playing cards either! So, we 'patah balik', and headed back. Johan asks about Uno again, but we were too wrapped up laughing about one nonsense or another, until Johan suddenly slams the brakes in the middle of Jalan Maarof!

read http://trionaleo.blogspot.com Feb 14 entry for the conversation!

So we got the cards and went to my place! We had some preliminary confusion about the rules, as the rules involved a 'launcher' that er... launched cards. Did we have a launcher? Er... no...

Note: I insist that the red and green look too similar!!! I don't care what anyone says. Shifty arseholes all of you!

It was loads of fun, but we finally tired and Johan and Andy went off. The rest of us collapsed and didn't wake up till 4pm! Didn't even notice that Dennis AND his uncle came in during the day!

Oh, and Loco got a elbow to the back and I received a Knee to the Face!!! Didn't realise it was a knee at the time though, was too dizzy and groggy to figure it out!

We woke up and Bohnanza'd for awhile before going for Snapping instead! Funnily, at this point in time Hari arrived with his gang, and actually wanted to show one of his pals, Daniel, the 'intelligent' games we play. Imagine his dismay to find out we were playing, of all things, SNAP!!!

Hari had to go off soon though, as they were having a birthday dinner at some Korean restaurant, and on cue, we stumbled out into the daylight to get some lunch, er.... early dinner for ourselves.

The day drifted away and it was soon time to part ways...

Final note: To all those who I spent time with in these last two entries, I just want to thank you all for a most enjoyable period. I totally loved it, and look forward to similar opportunities again!

WORD!!!

Leaping Knee to the Face !

Woke up to a phone call on Sunday morning from judging Ben! Rough transcript follows:

Ben: Hello!
Azmin: Hey Ben how are you?
Ben: Fine fine
Azmin: So where you at?
Ben: Outside
Azmin: Where?
Ben: Your place lah!
Azmin: Oh shit! Gimme twenty minutes aight
Ben: Okay

I look around, find indecent Johan and drama queen Triona missing, wake up joker Ahmad, ask him where the heck is loud-mouthed Johan, receive an answer from a wakening sexy Dawn, realise that crazy Shaz and random Ian are totally unconscious, check the mirror to make myself presentable (barely), run out the door, bump into Ahmad's mum on the way, say hi...

Then take a 15-minute cab ride to my place in Bangsar!!

See, I had spent the night at Warhammering Ahmad's place coz he was entertaining some friends. We decided to accompany him and ended up staying over. I actually intended to leave with laugh-a-sentence Johan, but he went off without me!

Anyway, I reached home, apologising profusely to need-to-relax Ben, and we did some playtesting be4 stumbling into Bangsar Shopping Center for an early lunch, or late breakfast. Seductive-yet-not May was her typical crude yet charming in-your-face self. I proceeded to chat her up, hoping to get a break. I even bought her a customised prosperity burger, but apparently the classic line of "Tell you what, it's yours for a kiss" just doesn't hold much weight nowadays. Either that or it's just me :D

In any case, the seductiveness of mouth-watering May was sufficient to distract me from winning my games (Hey, I needed an excuse for not winning, aiight?). Then I hitched a ride from singing Loco to Amcorp Mall, where I proceeded to win my 5th gold in the Boardalympics, i.e. from Settlers of Cataan. It went surprisingly well, and the only real worry was random Ian who at one point jumped in points. In any case, I fully expect to get raped in whatever game we play next.

DINNER TIME!! (... next posting!)

Adorable Triona suggested we eat at Bangsar at this Tomyam place which I thought was quite good. So off we went me, random Ian, tantrum-throwing Triona, wacky Ahmad and playtoy Loco.
It turned out to be pasar malam night so it was rather busy

Luckily, the Tomyam did not disappoint. It was as good as I remembered it! We had lotsa fun during dinner as we had Man U vs Man City on one TV and some Malay movie on another. What made it fun was the fact that the Malay movie on show was perhaps the only Malay movie I have ever seen that had so much sexual innuendo in it!

Smooth Loco figured he'd hang out with me for awhile, and confused Triona decided to join us. So we retreated to my place, played some wrestling, Bohnanza and chit-chatted. We were joined first by irreverent Johan, then Sleazy Andy after he finished work (2am). Thing is, these two had not had something to eat, so at around 3am we went off for food, and guess where we ended up?

The same Tomyam spot! Terrible Triona just had to have Tomyam again and she ordered the exact thing, Meehoon Tomyam! I had Kueh Teow Tomyam while the rest had paprik instead, which turned out to be the wrong choice. Oh well, we did recommend Tomyam...

To be continued....

PS: I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise for the screwiness of my phone lately. Lotsa people have gotten ticked off with this, I guess it's time to get a new phone (no money though... waaaa!)

Testdecking for Singapore!!!

I've been away for Chinese New Year in Port Dickson with relatives. It was fun coz it was at the beach but nothing really spectacular.. Had fun with cousins though...

Now however, it's all about the game! The Amcorp Mall gang are planning a getaway to Singapore end of February! For the wrestling championships, coz winner gets to go to US for the World Championships AND a ticket to WRESTLEMANIA!!!

Woo hoo! Can't really write much now . Will write about this Sunday's tournament, which is basically a warm-up for Singapore. Back to testing...

2nd wave

I see it coming from afar
Like a slow motion bullet
Like the headlights of a subway train
Like a ripple in the ocean
Like the clouds of dust signalling the coming of a dune buggy
As it makes its way across the desert

I know I should run
I know I should set up a defense
But somehow I stand motionless
Unable to act, unable to react
Waiting for the inevitable

It hits me,
I discover myself drown
I feel the gut-wrenching pain as the bullet pierces my skin
The calm sensation as my body is flattened on the tracks
The eerie serenity of drowning
The impact as the bumper slams into my legs, throwing me miles away

It will subside
As I know it will
Or at least, I hope it will
I want to recover
I just need to find out how...

Random!!!

First, look at this conundrum:

weetabix-mix-fix-six
entwine-nine-dine-wine
fourteen-unseen-teen-sheen
done-fun-sun-one

Second, let's play a game! Can you people identify the twelve songs for each of these beginning lyrics? Some are honest to God way too simple, others need some thought!

1. First I was afraid, I was petrified!

2. I can see clearly now the rain has gone

3. Never knew I could feel like this

4. After some time, I've finally made up my mind

5. Kiss me out of the bearded barley

6. Have I told you lately that I love you

7. And in your eyes I see ribbons of color

8. I just can't get you outta my head

9. Raindrops keep falling on my head

10. A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away,

11. This Romeo is bleeding, but you can't see his blood

12. You and I must make a pact

GOOD LUCK PEOPLE!!!

Message to Whoever you are

I believe I solved a mystery today. A puzzle that turned up a while back, late December I think.

Thing is, most likely it isn't someone directly involved, but probably someone who's acting on behalf (probably not even to the one's knowledge), someone I may not even know their name.

I have this to say, and I know you will eventually read this:

Stop.

I think we all know the status quo. There's no reason for you to do what you're doing.

So quit it.

Why should what I do or say bother you?

Buzz off ...


P.S: Yeah, this seems contrary to my last posting, but this is getting out of hand.

Guilt streak

Every now and then I look at my current actions and realise that I can be a total turd at times. Sometimes I don't think of consequences at all when I embark on glorious quests.

When I realise my errors, I do try to go back and correct them, but sometimes I just can't y'know. Some things aren't easily repaired. How many times have you wished you had done something in the past differently? Yeah, I know, I lost count as well.

I just want to be happy, is that so much to ask? I try to do so without the expense of some one else's happiness, but I often fail...

I've hurt people, I've been hurt, I try to please people, I try to please myself.

I'm human I can't help thinking about myself.

I try to be open as much as I can..

But I want to take this opportunity to apologise to all the ones I've hurt, or even just irritated, intentionally or no. I can't promise you I won't repeat those screw-ups, but I can promise you I'll try...

Weighing Risk

Boardalympics Update (apologies to non-gamers!):

Munchkin and Risk were the only games to see play since last Friday, Munchkin in the Matt, Azmin, Ian, Dawn (MAID) group and Risk in the Group of Doom.

In the MAID group, Ian dominated most of the game while Dawn was seen looking extremely bewildered throughout the game, having never played it. Swedish also looked confused yet he managed to progress steadily while Azmin talked the talk but never walked the walk, tumbling headlong from one blunder into another.

However, Ian's domination proved to be his downfall as he was constantly prevented from achieving victory by all three, allowing Swedish to sneak in for the win (we had all ran out of sabotage cards). Nevertheless, Ian pushed through for the silver, and Dawn the bronze. Azmin was left sputtering in the wind...

Watching the Group of Doom play Risk was fun. Predictably, Ahmad got screwed, as he was on top of the leaderboard. Winning two golds in a row propelling into the lead mostly says you will be shot down in whatever game is played next. Mostly...

Gotta get back to work. Got lots to do actually... Laterz......