OK, by the way, Liverpool has since scored 18 goals in about 4 matches....
It's now Sunday morning and as usual, someone else' handphone alarm went off (not mine), but I woke up first....So we freshened up, got ready and left the hotel by about 8.15am. The cool thing this time was that we booked for Sunday night as well, so no need to lug around our whole travel bag and stuff and look like nomads at the tournament (last year that was what happened). Breakfast was unfortunately not Burger King.....Since we were somewhat late (by my standards, anyway, we were there early), we had to go to the venue first, scout around and then decide to have breakfast near the venue.
Breakfast for everyone was similar to KL, Roti Chanai, Fried Meehon and Wantan Mee for myself. No pork though, damn. After a quick (like 15 minutes?) breakfast, we returned to the venue where I proceeded to find some trade opportunities. Dawn made some moves on some Adrian she met last year, though it's intentional here to mean something else, when it actually wasn't. Who am I not trying to confuse here??? Moving on..
Trading didn't go very well in the beginning, probably because everyone was tense over the looming round one...In any case, let's see if you notice anthing about my next seven matches...
Oh, in case you forgot, I'm playing Face Your Freakin' Hero
Round 1:
Edge (Superstar Value(SSV) 3)
Was actually quite confident I'd nick a win, simple because I didn't know any better. Prematches that included Fan's love an Underdog, and I'm an Underdog, sent my SSV sky high and Edge having a handsize good for Road to Victory(RtV). However, due to my lack (none) of practice, I played like a noob( amatuer) and let Edge smack me silly and call me.....I of course, lost....
0-1
Round - 2: Rob Van Dam (SSV 3)
This is actually a kid that Dawn had to rematch with, after (not sure who) they decided to play wrong opponents for round 1. Dawn won the match, got incorrectly paired down to play me, and thus her opponent met me instead (Swiss Round rules....Don't know about it? too bad, haha). Being a kid that he is, he wasn't very confident of his deck and thus by sheer maturity, I won. (yes, me the bully...)
1-1
Round 3: Big Freakin' Machine (SSV 3)
Yet another kid, but this one knew how to play the deck. The moment he dropped the Throwback (TB) Inferno Match, I knew I was doomed. Before we even started the match, I had lost about 20 cards to overturn..Safe to say, I killed myself this match.
1-2
Round 4: Shelton Benjamin (SSV 3)
Aha! My namesake, and a 'tou tai' (student) to my SuperStar....Unfortunately my lack of playtesting meant that I was yet again bashed to bits, and My Freakin' Hero was freaking out due to the number of losses that I have. At this point I was truly contemplating dropping...Wonder why I didn't...Oh, I had a trend, i wanted to know if it would continue...
Round 5: Chris Jericho (SSV 3)
This is by far my best matchup, simply because locally I have a "jericho" player who does nothing but say "Dis-card...a-card..." every turn. Knowing how this SuperStar worked, I manage to do the unthinkable....I Victory rolled this basta@^@^@^@@^!!!!!!!! fyi, this is what the local guy does to win..(you know who you are ,you pirate!).
2-3
Round 6: Junkyard Dog (SSV 3)
Who the hell is this??? His ability was that all his grapples are -7F...Which meant a lot of the big grapple manuevers can be thrown at me from the start. Couple that with him playing Hell in the Cell, I was doomed. I was actually trying to save myself, but my last ditch effort with Do You Live By the 3 I's to shuffle back 7 face/heel cards didn't save my ass and I lost in the end. ( I also cheated by shuffling It's True! It's True! which isn't a face/heel card for me....)
2-4
Round 7: John Cena (SSV 3)
See the trend? I did.. This John Cena player probably played this guy for fun, because he idolises Cena, or he doesn't have any deck and was given Cena to play with. Cena is actually very week in the meta game, and therefore even without my playtesting, Cena lost....A clear indication he was just as ill prepared as I was...He didn't dicard my backlash card at all, and he had about 15 fortitude....
3-4
And so goes the ex- 6-1 performer to a meager 3-4 result. I should be ashamed of myself...Actually I am....NOT!! (lie)
So what did Benjamin Lam learn from this fruitless venture to Singapore?
1) Who needs a backstage signature when all your opponents were SSV 3? Reduce their SSV so that they could Underrated SuperStar???? I tell you, SSV 3 SuperStar rocks now!
2) Don't go to a tournament unprepared, thinking that theory is suffice. My indecision cost me lots of games, if not all, and my lack of playtest as well.
3) Have burget King for breakfast, lunch and Dinner, no matter what your other travelling mates say...Else, what else have you got good to remember by??
Oh, I also failed to mention we did end up having Burger King for lunch.. While they shared a set for 3, I had my own set...But that's not the main story....
Oh, time to go home, last part coming next!!
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Singapore - 2006 Quick Note
(Writing this has been harder than I thought this year. With the slowing down of blogging amongst people I know, as well as my own laziness, coupled with my stresses at work and home, this is going to take me quite a while to finish..But I will finish it, albeit very slowly.....And with loads of memory losses)
Friday, March 10, 2006
Singapore, 4th March 2006 (part II)
So where was I?
Oh, we discovered that we were about 300 lots away from our hotel on the same street. With the luggage that we have, the 300 lots weren't as appealing as you'd think. But our need to settle down (as in check in, not anything else, mind you) as well as my need to, ahem, clear certain parts of my body, was good enough motivation that we proceeded to the hotel asap...Oh, asap differs especially when you have people who don't walk fast (you know who I mean, haha).
Upon reaching the entrance to the hotel (fyi, it's a budget hotel, so no fancy lobby to s(h)it and wait...Me and Azmin went up to the reception on 2nd floor to check in..(read this) As we checked in, the receptionist/front desk/owner (probably) asked if it was just 2 persons....And Azmin said yes!!Then we got a room that just outside the reception!! Once we moved into the room, we had to decide quickly how we were going to get Loco & Dawn in as there was no way would could sneak them into our room. It didn't take too long for Azmin to 'bear it all' with the hotel and bring in the rest, while I decided to clear my bowels. (!)
After I finished taking care of myself, I found it worrying that they were still not inside the room. My guesses include:
1) They came in, and went out to chill;
2) The hotel said no to having 4 persons in the room and forces them to check in in another room, thus Azmin is with them;
3) The hotel has no other rooms and wants them elsewhere;
4) The hotel isn't happy we (Azmin, I'm so crucifying you on this one, haha!) lied, and thus god knows what else would have happened'
5) They're still negotiating the deal.
So I decided to go out to look for them, only to discover them all seated in front of the room and the reception. It seems that the hotel does not have extra keys, and the one I have in the room (needed to turn the power on) was the only key that can unlock our room door. So they had waited all this while (I was happily freshining myself, haha) and they were obviously unhappy. It didn't help that I could see no wrong in what I've (not) done, I mean, I really didn't know. But an apology would have made things easier. And you guessed it right, I didn't apologise.
So while Dawn proceeds to freshen herself, the guys (3 Liverpool fans, btw), decided to do some deck practice. At the same time, the trip got it's eventual name, 2 liverpool fans, 1 random girl and a dumba$$ in the toilet came from....that's not relevant. It did, ofcourse, made me feel bad (I actually reacted like a very mean kid, haha)...Fortunately, the other 2 liverpool fans were more adult than myself and the whole situation was 'resolved' peacefully. It wasn't fully resolved, but an understanding was achieved to allow us to proceed with the trip without too much bad blood.
Oh, I should mention, I haven't decided on which deck to play yet. I brought GoldBerg & Chris Benoit, as well as borrowed (insert serial caller)'s Your Freakin' Hero...but still continued to question myself who to play. Everyone's advise to play the deck I'm most comfortable with didn't seem to sink in, and I continued on my streak of insanity by even building yet another deck, RVD, and playtested it that night. It didn't work, of course (and thank god, you'll find out too tomorrow) so try and guess who I played the next day?? (Those who already know need not answer aloud).
In the end, after several games (which actually isn't enough), I decided the inevitable......I shal play Your Freakin' Hero!!! And then I proceeded to go to sleep, got to wake up early tomorrow, you see.
Sidenote: The was EPL that night, and as usual I decided against watching the Liverpool match. They didn't lose, but they didn't score either....And they haven't won since....boo hoo..
Oh, we discovered that we were about 300 lots away from our hotel on the same street. With the luggage that we have, the 300 lots weren't as appealing as you'd think. But our need to settle down (as in check in, not anything else, mind you) as well as my need to, ahem, clear certain parts of my body, was good enough motivation that we proceeded to the hotel asap...Oh, asap differs especially when you have people who don't walk fast (you know who I mean, haha).
Upon reaching the entrance to the hotel (fyi, it's a budget hotel, so no fancy lobby to s(h)it and wait...Me and Azmin went up to the reception on 2nd floor to check in..(read this) As we checked in, the receptionist/front desk/owner (probably) asked if it was just 2 persons....And Azmin said yes!!Then we got a room that just outside the reception!! Once we moved into the room, we had to decide quickly how we were going to get Loco & Dawn in as there was no way would could sneak them into our room. It didn't take too long for Azmin to 'bear it all' with the hotel and bring in the rest, while I decided to clear my bowels. (!)
After I finished taking care of myself, I found it worrying that they were still not inside the room. My guesses include:
1) They came in, and went out to chill;
2) The hotel said no to having 4 persons in the room and forces them to check in in another room, thus Azmin is with them;
3) The hotel has no other rooms and wants them elsewhere;
4) The hotel isn't happy we (Azmin, I'm so crucifying you on this one, haha!) lied, and thus god knows what else would have happened'
5) They're still negotiating the deal.
So I decided to go out to look for them, only to discover them all seated in front of the room and the reception. It seems that the hotel does not have extra keys, and the one I have in the room (needed to turn the power on) was the only key that can unlock our room door. So they had waited all this while (I was happily freshining myself, haha) and they were obviously unhappy. It didn't help that I could see no wrong in what I've (not) done, I mean, I really didn't know. But an apology would have made things easier. And you guessed it right, I didn't apologise.
So while Dawn proceeds to freshen herself, the guys (3 Liverpool fans, btw), decided to do some deck practice. At the same time, the trip got it's eventual name, 2 liverpool fans, 1 random girl and a dumba$$ in the toilet came from....that's not relevant. It did, ofcourse, made me feel bad (I actually reacted like a very mean kid, haha)...Fortunately, the other 2 liverpool fans were more adult than myself and the whole situation was 'resolved' peacefully. It wasn't fully resolved, but an understanding was achieved to allow us to proceed with the trip without too much bad blood.
Oh, I should mention, I haven't decided on which deck to play yet. I brought GoldBerg & Chris Benoit, as well as borrowed (insert serial caller)'s Your Freakin' Hero...but still continued to question myself who to play. Everyone's advise to play the deck I'm most comfortable with didn't seem to sink in, and I continued on my streak of insanity by even building yet another deck, RVD, and playtested it that night. It didn't work, of course (and thank god, you'll find out too tomorrow) so try and guess who I played the next day?? (Those who already know need not answer aloud).
In the end, after several games (which actually isn't enough), I decided the inevitable......I shal play Your Freakin' Hero!!! And then I proceeded to go to sleep, got to wake up early tomorrow, you see.
Sidenote: The was EPL that night, and as usual I decided against watching the Liverpool match. They didn't lose, but they didn't score either....And they haven't won since....boo hoo..
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Saturday, 4th March 2006
It's 6.10 am. I'm actually quite awake, but sometimes getting out of bed isn't as easy as it seems. So after a couple of snoozes (of my alarm) I finally woke up to get reasy for the trip to Singapore. Then some bloke (you know who you are) decided to call me while I was brushing my teeth! At least it's good to know the rest have woken up too, but getting a call at 6.45am when you have already awaken isn't very nice. However, when you are asleep.......
Got a ride from my sister all the way to Puduraya. Meeting time was supposed to be 8.00am, however I arrived at 7.30am instead (This is not the only time where I do a reverse of the Malaysian timing culture). Called the others to ascertain their location and ETA and then proceeded to find a Mamak restaurant to have some tea. I wasn't feeling so well in the tummy, so couldn't bring upon myself to look for a moeny changer or get the tickets for our rides down to Singapore. About half an hour later, Azmin called to find out where I was, only to pass by the Mamak and not know I was there because they thought I was inside Puduraya...
Oh, maybe it's time to introduce my travelling party....There's me, well, you should have known that by now...There's Azmin, who also went to Singapore last year for the same event. There's Dawn, who for the second consecutive year, is the only female player in the tournament, and lastly there's Loco, the 'new arrival' who isn't that 'new' really because he's actually older than all of us... So this was the trip of 2 Liverpool Fans, 1 Random Girl and a DumbA$$ in the Toilet (Did I get this right? Something like that lah, ok?) I'll explain the dumba$$ later...
Funny number 1: All 3 'veterans' forgot about getting Singapore currency, and as it was way too early, the money changer isn't open. While the turn of events made it possible for us to change Sing dollars before we boarded our bus, the truth is, we would have gotten better rates had we have changed in Singapore instead.
By the way, we managed to secure bus tickets for a Bus to leave at 9.00am, only to have the 'traffic' situation in Puduraya make us wait until 10.00am before the bus went on it's way. Thus we managed to get some Sing dollars, as the local money changer opened at 9.00am.
Funny 2: As I mentioned, I had some issues with my digestive system, and took the delay as a chance to 'relieve' myself. However, i took longer than the gang expected, so they sent Azmin to go search for me. After I was done, I noticed 4 missed calls (god knows why I didn't hear them in the first place) and an sms "dude, where are you?". I rushed to the platform only to find Azmin is still looking for me...Luckily we all managed to get on the bus together (obviously helped by the late, late bus).
The bus stopped somewhere in Batu Pahat, I think, for a break. We alighted for lunch, and then Azmin and Loco made a startling discovery...It seems that a certain cashier was demanding a lot of their attention, and they made very little effort to hide it. They also brought to my attention that one of the passenger was somewhat, tomboyish. Unfortunately, me in my unwell state (still having stomach issues) it took Dawn quite a number of sentences before I got what they were saying. Back to the cashier, Azmin made a second trip for tissue, while Loco was admiring the scenery very much. We only had 1/2 an hour, though, so time to get back on the bus.
Nothing much else happen, we passed through Malaysian Border, then Singapore Border, with little fuss. Loco was made a pass on by the Singaporean Immigression officer, but other than that, nothing we didn't expect.
Conversation 1:
"So Azmin, do you know where our Hotel is?"
"It's on Beach Road."
"And how do we get there?"
"I don't know."
"So you have the map with you?"
"No."
"You have their number?"
"Yes. And the address too."
(Please note that having the number isn't reall helpful as all of us are on prepaid mobile phones, and calling/receiving calls cost a bomb!)
In the meantime, we were also having this serial caller calling each of us, one after another, almost every other hour..(You know who you are)..Will talk about that person later...
The bus drove into Beach Road (road signs help, I tell you!) and we asked to be allowed to board off. However, the driver explained that Singaporeans are very strict towards where busses may offload their passengers, so we only manage to get off (ahem) another block away. Taking all our stuff, we had to walk about 150-200 metres before reaching the junction of Beach Road.
Conversation 2:
"What's the address again?"
"97 Beach Road"
!!
The lot number of the first building on Beach Road that we saw was 397!! Long, long walk ahead....
(to be continued...)
Got a ride from my sister all the way to Puduraya. Meeting time was supposed to be 8.00am, however I arrived at 7.30am instead (This is not the only time where I do a reverse of the Malaysian timing culture). Called the others to ascertain their location and ETA and then proceeded to find a Mamak restaurant to have some tea. I wasn't feeling so well in the tummy, so couldn't bring upon myself to look for a moeny changer or get the tickets for our rides down to Singapore. About half an hour later, Azmin called to find out where I was, only to pass by the Mamak and not know I was there because they thought I was inside Puduraya...
Oh, maybe it's time to introduce my travelling party....There's me, well, you should have known that by now...There's Azmin, who also went to Singapore last year for the same event. There's Dawn, who for the second consecutive year, is the only female player in the tournament, and lastly there's Loco, the 'new arrival' who isn't that 'new' really because he's actually older than all of us... So this was the trip of 2 Liverpool Fans, 1 Random Girl and a DumbA$$ in the Toilet (Did I get this right? Something like that lah, ok?) I'll explain the dumba$$ later...
Funny number 1: All 3 'veterans' forgot about getting Singapore currency, and as it was way too early, the money changer isn't open. While the turn of events made it possible for us to change Sing dollars before we boarded our bus, the truth is, we would have gotten better rates had we have changed in Singapore instead.
By the way, we managed to secure bus tickets for a Bus to leave at 9.00am, only to have the 'traffic' situation in Puduraya make us wait until 10.00am before the bus went on it's way. Thus we managed to get some Sing dollars, as the local money changer opened at 9.00am.
Funny 2: As I mentioned, I had some issues with my digestive system, and took the delay as a chance to 'relieve' myself. However, i took longer than the gang expected, so they sent Azmin to go search for me. After I was done, I noticed 4 missed calls (god knows why I didn't hear them in the first place) and an sms "dude, where are you?". I rushed to the platform only to find Azmin is still looking for me...Luckily we all managed to get on the bus together (obviously helped by the late, late bus).
The bus stopped somewhere in Batu Pahat, I think, for a break. We alighted for lunch, and then Azmin and Loco made a startling discovery...It seems that a certain cashier was demanding a lot of their attention, and they made very little effort to hide it. They also brought to my attention that one of the passenger was somewhat, tomboyish. Unfortunately, me in my unwell state (still having stomach issues) it took Dawn quite a number of sentences before I got what they were saying. Back to the cashier, Azmin made a second trip for tissue, while Loco was admiring the scenery very much. We only had 1/2 an hour, though, so time to get back on the bus.
Nothing much else happen, we passed through Malaysian Border, then Singapore Border, with little fuss. Loco was made a pass on by the Singaporean Immigression officer, but other than that, nothing we didn't expect.
Conversation 1:
"So Azmin, do you know where our Hotel is?"
"It's on Beach Road."
"And how do we get there?"
"I don't know."
"So you have the map with you?"
"No."
"You have their number?"
"Yes. And the address too."
(Please note that having the number isn't reall helpful as all of us are on prepaid mobile phones, and calling/receiving calls cost a bomb!)
In the meantime, we were also having this serial caller calling each of us, one after another, almost every other hour..(You know who you are)..Will talk about that person later...
The bus drove into Beach Road (road signs help, I tell you!) and we asked to be allowed to board off. However, the driver explained that Singaporeans are very strict towards where busses may offload their passengers, so we only manage to get off (ahem) another block away. Taking all our stuff, we had to walk about 150-200 metres before reaching the junction of Beach Road.
Conversation 2:
"What's the address again?"
"97 Beach Road"
!!
The lot number of the first building on Beach Road that we saw was 397!! Long, long walk ahead....
(to be continued...)
Friday, March 03, 2006
Singapore 2006!
It's that time of the year again where I make my way to Singapore for a Raw Deal Tournament. For those who have actually followed this site, you'd recall my 'amazing' adventure last year.....Ok, maybe not that amazing, but who knows??? So I'll make a pre-empt move today and talk about it before it even happens!
Singapore Raw Deal Qualifiers 2006 - Prologue
I've actually been deck testing for a 2 weeks (only) and have not yet settled on a deck. This time the travelling party is much smaller, with only myself, Azmin & Dawn from previous trip and Loco who's the newbie....I mean, new to this travel to the next country and bash up singaporeans in a tournament.....Wait, I think he's done those too, just with a different card game...Oh, whatever....
So the past four days have had me going to AmCorp Mall every night, trying to get back in the groove of playing wrestling....You see, I've been somewhat sidetracked for a couple of months with other, erm, 'priorities' not amounting to future planning. In fact, nowhere close..Oh what the hell, I've been Anachronism-ing, playing Space Rangers and Football Manager 2006 on PC. Therefore my wrestling skills have somewhat, dwindled?
So, back to wrestling, as I mentioned, I can't decide on what deck to play. So I'm currently deciding between Chris Benoit, GOLDBerg or Your Freakin' Hero ( those with no WWE interest would have no inkling what I'm talking about). I haven't even built the Benoit deck yet, and am relying on another player, who, unfortunately can't go, to supply the Freakin' Hero deck. Oh well, what should I do???
Tonight I have to build a Babe of the Year deck for Dawn, pack my luggage, pack the stuff I need to bring to Singapore, and hope that I wake up on time tomorrow.....Did I mentioned I offered to be an alarm clock for Azmin??? I wonder if I'll oversleep and miss the whole thing.....Actually, that's not too bad an idea....
Wait.....MY CREDIT CARD WAS USED TO BOOK THE HOTEL!!!!!! I can't not go!!!!!
Singapore Raw Deal Qualifiers 2006 - Prologue
I've actually been deck testing for a 2 weeks (only) and have not yet settled on a deck. This time the travelling party is much smaller, with only myself, Azmin & Dawn from previous trip and Loco who's the newbie....I mean, new to this travel to the next country and bash up singaporeans in a tournament.....Wait, I think he's done those too, just with a different card game...Oh, whatever....
So the past four days have had me going to AmCorp Mall every night, trying to get back in the groove of playing wrestling....You see, I've been somewhat sidetracked for a couple of months with other, erm, 'priorities' not amounting to future planning. In fact, nowhere close..Oh what the hell, I've been Anachronism-ing, playing Space Rangers and Football Manager 2006 on PC. Therefore my wrestling skills have somewhat, dwindled?
So, back to wrestling, as I mentioned, I can't decide on what deck to play. So I'm currently deciding between Chris Benoit, GOLDBerg or Your Freakin' Hero ( those with no WWE interest would have no inkling what I'm talking about). I haven't even built the Benoit deck yet, and am relying on another player, who, unfortunately can't go, to supply the Freakin' Hero deck. Oh well, what should I do???
Tonight I have to build a Babe of the Year deck for Dawn, pack my luggage, pack the stuff I need to bring to Singapore, and hope that I wake up on time tomorrow.....Did I mentioned I offered to be an alarm clock for Azmin??? I wonder if I'll oversleep and miss the whole thing.....Actually, that's not too bad an idea....
Wait.....MY CREDIT CARD WAS USED TO BOOK THE HOTEL!!!!!! I can't not go!!!!!
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