Way overdue....

Ok, it's now more than 2 months since I started the Singapore adventure, so I better finish it off or even I won't remember the details.....So where were we???


After making the blunder of the millenium; head between my legs, we strolled out of the tournament area and headed back home. Our mission was to go to the Chicken Rice shop we patronised last year. Emil, Loco, Ahmad, Azmin and I decided we could walk there (actually, I was just walking aimlessly, still distraught over my own stupidity). Unfortunately, due to poor sense of direction, we ended up heading out of Suntec Complex like headless chicke...cocks..Hmm, just trying to get the gender right.

So the Anal Planner gets a little ego boost when everyone looked a little lost and I got to lead them out of trouble again. In no time, we were back in familiar territory and I basically had the whole route to the Chicken Rice shop in my mind. People should just learn to accept I have better sense of direction MOST of the time. Aftr 15 minutes or so of walk, we arrived at our destination only to find that the shop is closed. On a Sunday. Nice business decision. With that, we proceeded to the Bugis (something something, I don't recall the name) Complex to scour for food. Burger King was somehow no longer an option, Moss burger was a non-favourite and the other fast food just didn't cut it. For some illogical reason (other than being sick of Fast Food), we wanted to find the food court. Yes, food court. A place we normally wouldn't go to in Malaysia because it's just expensive hawker food.

As usual, I (ok, others may remember this differently, but this is MY BLOG, so the story will FAVOUR me...bleh!) led all of us to the food court which was jam-packed. It took us more than 10 minutes to find a seat. When we (as in me, Emil & Loco) did, we decided to toy around with Azmin & Ahmad by not directly signalling them we've found a table so they stood around looking like lost scouts for another good 5 minutes or so before they finally spotted us. Food was so-so. After food, we stopped by a bookshop and Loco bought a magazine. I don't recall the name, but it was one of those for MEN magazine. I think you can't get it in Malaysia types. Go figure. Getting back to the main floor (did I mention the food court was at lower ground?), Emil, Loco & Azmin needed to look for a money changer. While they went looking, Ahmad and I stood just inside the complex looking over the fountain area. There we spotted a teenage female probably no older than 16 wearing really revealing clothes. Now, no offence, us being all male, it should be a sight for sore eyes. But it wasn't. The problem lies with this girl wearing really low pants/skirt (I can't remember) that showed a little too much of the butt crack. Trust me, it looked horrible.

Side show aside, eventually they found the moneychanger (they took like, 30 minutes or something?) and we begin to plan for our route home. At the entrance, I had an urge to get some Moss goodness so while everyone (Ok, Ahmad doesn't smoke while Azmin is a closet smoker) was smoking outside, I lost some SGD for some rice goodness (ok, Moss(is this the right name?) isn't that nice after all.). From there, we needed to indentify the direction home, so the best person to do it was no other than myself (OK, I'm trying very hard to forget my biggest gargantua mistake here, so cut me some slack, will ya?). In no time we were back to familiar ground and the passage home was clear.

15/20 minutes later we were back to our Inn. With Ahmad and I now staying at the dorm, we got our stuff and went straight to 'book' our beds. I had this inkling they didn't note down our bookings, but I couldn't be bothered anymore and decided if they realised that our night wasn't booked, I'll kick up a super Customer Dissatisfied Storm and force them to let me stay for free. Wait, I already paid up last night....hmmmm....Luckily they didn't try to evict us.

That night we played some Big-D and because I insisted on not gambling, they didn't as well. 5 packs of expensive 7-11 bought crackers and 1 bottle of liquor later, we had enough of Big-D and returned to the dorm. Ahmad chatted up some new guest in the dorm, followed by Azmin, Loco & Emil ( I couldn't give two hoots, or I'm just shy...I think your guess is as good as mine). Midnight almost arrived and we decided it's mamak time. For some unknown reason, we decided to venture further than our comfort zone and explore the area around Little India...At 12am in the morning...Geeze, no wonder people get in trouble when overseas...Nevertheless, 5 men should be able to keep each other safe, even though we were in a foreign area, so we walked...And walked...And walked....And walked...And walked...And walked...And walked..............Ok, we probably just strolled for like, 15 minutes, but without a real sense of direction (where they wanted to go I have not been before, so I can't get to a place I don't know) it felt REALLLLLLY long....We finally reached the area they wanted to go, but somehow couldn't get the food we wanted. So we walked some more.....(you insert the walking bit here) before finally settling down on what looked like a place with Wrestling on show (not enough of it already??) and then ordered some meatballs or something and fries. Oh, they had beer too.

Some 20 minutes later, I think, 5 sleepy heads decided enough of this late night hangout, it's time to go back and sleep. I may not know how to get where we were, but I sure knew how to get back. If I was on my own, I would have reach the Inn in probably 10 minutes tops...But you know how fast tipsy sleepy men walk....Wait, if I was alone, I wouldn't have ventured so far.....Oh well..

Fast foward to the next morning. Again the first to rise (yeah yeah, who gives a shite if that's not true), I freshened up ahead of the others and after we were all done, we went over to get some bread and jam. Unfortunately we failed to buy fresh ingredients for Emil to cook for us, though I doubt he was in the mood anyway. Breakfast was a non-event and not long after we met up with Herman at Bugis station (yes, just under the Bugis complex) with of course more walking and 30 minutes delay. Next stop to no one's surprise (except maybe Emil & Ahmad) we headed towards the same 'hidden' bus station we found last year. A hop on a bus and minutes later, we were at the customs. Someone got stopped by the Customs again. Do I need to say who??

The other five of us (now is Ahmad, Emil, Herman, Loco & I) had to wait for Azmin to get closely acquainted with the Customs officers again. This time they took him to the room and he returned after awhile. (No one dared ask what happened inside. But I'm sure Azmin will tell you all about the horror stories that he experienced....hahaha...) Aside from asking him to pay for lunch, nothing else was worth mentioning. We soon reached Larkin and within seconds had tontos trying to get us to take their bus to KL. Thinking that Herman should be a old hand (since he travels to and fro KL-Singapore monthly) at identifying good busses and cheap ones too, we let him handle the haggle. He did, getting us a bus leaving very soon (which turned out to be 30 minutes later) at RM 30 and supposedly non-stop to KL too. Loco, in particular, was very outspoken in reminding Herman about this. In the end, we stopped not just to have a short break, but we went into Seremban too. if you know Loco, you can guess what he would do in response to this (No, he didn't play any counter spells nor fast effects that removed passengers...err, creatures...).

One hour late, I think, a long ride on the bus and me watching Herman play Tekken on the PSP (which looked so good I feel like buying it for myself!) we finally arrived in good old Puduraya. From there, as though we've truly had enough of each other, it was rather quick that we decided to go our seperate ways. Actually, I think I was the one who broke off from the group fast. I'm not sure what the rest did, but I tried hitching a ride with my sister who works a few blocks away ( I work there too..) to no success. I took a cab in the end.

That's the end of my Singapore Adventure. I learnt some really nasty lessons, got to travel with a bunch of guys who were quite fun if only I played my part and I'd say was quite a success planning wise. I can't wait to do this again next year. Hopefully the dwindling turnout isn't going to put an end to the Qualifiers in Singapore....Unless we can grow fast enough in KL to get one of our own??


Oh, let me remind my disclaimer. All the names are fake. Really. If you don't believe it, ask Ahmad, Andy, Azmin, Bryan, Emil, Herman, Loco, Michael Toh & NebNeb...They'll confirm these aren't their names....The TRUTH......

Learning the hard way...

Is something I try my level best not having to do. The trick is to be able to learn from other's mistakes and accept that not all things could have been done better. The problem of course is some people have a thing with wanting to prove they can be better, in which case they will most likely learn things the hard way. Unfortunately for me, sometimes you can't avoid it and learning this way surely leaves a permanent impression (not to mention the amount of people who will remind you of your mistake!)

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2 cabs and 10 minutes later, we arrived at Suntec Convention Centre. As this was my third time, I was on autopilot and proceeded directly to the tourney venue. The venue this time was smaller compared to the past 2 years; The latest expansion of Raw Deal left it's mark in Singapore with many quitting and some saying that this was their swansong before letting their cards go on cheap, which is excellent for us from Malaysia. Unfortunately I forgot to do the enough wheeling and dealing to gain from this 'sale'.

As usual, first thing we do once we arrived was to complete our decklist and register. No prizes for guessing who registered first! Just for the fun of it, the 'lovebirds' in the photo are Azmin & Andy while NebNeb is just behind that much despised Evertonian known as Ahmad.

Our final Malaysian player was Michael Toh, who thought he could drive to Singapore at 2am in the morning and play in a tourney when he arrived. It's no surprised he didn't exactly win much and dropped out after awhile; Not before convincing the Organiser to grant him the prizes for 32nd to 48th placing (he was number 49th, which is the number of players that day). We made up a sixth of the total turnout, which is our biggest yet. To commemorate this and thanks to Loco for bringing a camera, here's the Malaysian Contingent 2007!

For the fun of it, since all the names are fake anyway, from L-R:

Andy"Rowdy Piper" Putra, Michael "Batista" Toh, Emil "Ken Kennedy" Ali, Me "Mr. PPV" la, Bryan "Leader of the Peepulation" See, Lo "Stacie Kiebler" Co, Azmin "Victoria" Mohd Khalib, Ahmad " Al Snow" Farith Ismail & last and (not) least Neb "Edge" Neb...

Because I've taken so bloody long to reach this stage of the trip, I don't recall all my matches anymore. I'll try to relate what I do:

Round 1: Largest Athlete in Sports Entertainment

It was supposed to be a walkover and walkover it was. Taken out by huge new REVO manuevers, my MrPPV eventually pinned since I had limited reversals and he kept pummeling me over and over again. 3 Manager Interferes and 1 Fury of the Storm wasn't enough to handle all those collosal manuevers. 0-1

Round 2: ????

I won this match, but I can't recall who I played against....1-1

Round 3: ????

Can't recall either, but won. 2-1

Round 4: Rowdy Piper

Luckily it wasn't Andy's, else he would have known the problem with my deck. With Piper's ability, I had no other option but to let him go ahead by 10 fortitude before my Let Me Get a Shot In would be usable. After that, it was relative smooth sailing for me against him since I had manuevers he couldn't reverse. Unfortunately, again due to my lack of omni reversals, I was running out of defence and have yet to kill him off. With 10 or so cards remaining in my arsenal I got hit by a Claw which I reversed illegally with It's Great to be Back Here. My opponent didn't realise it until he hit me again with Claw; This time the spectators help us both realise our mistakes. Knowing that, a final Apply Illegal Leverage after the Claw would have finished me off, but luckily he didn't have his Apply. I won. Just (and illegaly to some extent) 3-1

Round 5: Bobby Heenan

This was a round I should have won. My opponent went first turn Pump Kick. Later he went Clutch, Apply & Boston Crab which I took all, without realising a timely Undermine the Competition would have ended his turn when he 'Applied' me and leave him with just 1 fortitude. I didn't and after recovering a bit I couldn't kill him off as he continued to recur. Enforcing Rikishi, in the end he kept on hitting me with The Brain until I ran out of reversals. I lost, quite stupidly (this is still not my worst mistake!) 3-2

Round 6: Hurrifriends

At this point I thought I've missed the top 16 cut, with Diversity rules enforced and another Mr.PPV ahead of me. Not to mention no playtest with Hurrifriends before, so I have almost no idea how to deal with this. Luckily the deck relies too much on the Manager to draw an ungodly handsize; Without it (thanks to Unscripted), the deck was doomed. Needless to say, I won. 4-2.

That was it. 4-2, 17th position and second best as Mr.PPV. Or was it? By some stroke of luck the top Mr.PPV had decklist issues and got DQed. Hearing this ( I was about to leave the premise), I quickly went to see the Organiser to explain that as the next Mr.PPV and higher positioned player, that top 16 spot should be mine. He agreed and so for the first time in 3 years I made it to the elimination rounds. Happy and nervous, I was obviously ill-prepared for the occasion and it told in my next match.

Last 16: Paul Heyman

Herman told me this is the most experienced Paul Heyman in Singapore and I should not underestimate him. With a starting hand of 2 That's Broken, I could hardly believe myself since I could search for another one with R-V-D, making it so easy for me to find my Sidewalk Slams (TB) which reverses foreign objects; Heyman's main manuever type. Knowing he will enforce Cole and over time strip my hand of reversals, I went truly aggro from get go and it was a matter of time before I had control in the match. With his manuevers easily reversed with 2 hidden Sidewalks and 1 Elbow to the Face, I hit him with one last Trademark Finisher and he had no cards in his arsenal. He is count out. I win. Then I said, "Go". My opponent gave me a surprised look while I was busy thinking how to pin him next turn. Only during his turn did I realised I had already won, but it was too late. He flipped in Duchess of Queenbury Rules and recovered from the count out. Now that he has recovered, I eventually got pinned by the most obvious way; First Blood Match stipulation. My fairytale trip to Wrestlemania was over.

I had won but in the end I lost. While me playing in the eliminations wasn't really deserved, you know what they say, "Make the most out of every opportunity you get. You never know when you'll get the next one". I didn't and thus this is me learning from the hardway. Last year I learnt to NOT go to a Qualifier without playtest; This year I learn that Count Out COUNTS!!!

Oh well. The rest finished not as good as I, though I doubt they expected to do as well as I. Higher you climb, harder you fall. Just for fun's sake, here's Loco with all his Manuevers on the table losing to the Home Team with just 2 Judo Chokes(TB) on the table. He's since promised to tear every Judo Chokes(TB) he sees in play.

Will finish of the last part of the Singapore trip in the next post. If you see me and feel like making me go all mad over you, feel free to remind me of my greatest tournament mistake.