My first Magic tournament

That last post bugged me, but then I remembered that Saturday was an awesome day for me!

I joined a Magic: The Gathering Prerelease Tournament which featured cards from the new set Avacyn Restored. Kind of a geeky thing to do but I wanted to exeprience it and find out what cool stuff happens during those events. Honestly, I was super excited when I bought my ticket.

Before the event I had to get some tips from my bud Maki from the office. So we looked over the card list online and plotted out strategies. Yes, if you geek out, it better be ALL out.

So I arrived at the event a bit early and met up with Vinno from the office, who was also participating. He had friends with him so we stuck together and ended up being in the same division with each other.

We were given 6 packs each and given 30 mins to make a 40 card deck. My strong cards were mostly red and white so I made a deck out of those cards. Crazy pressure building the deck, 30 mins flies too fast.

Probably, the only six pack I'll have in my life

Round 1 was against a super intense guy (who brought his own magic mat). My hands were shaking during the first game. He used a red/black deck and outplayed me with his expereince (?). Anyway I lost the first game but won the next two which made me win the round. That guy was scary because you could smell the frustration he had when he was losing. We had to have a judge rule one of the events that happned to my success! Eat it!

Round 2 was against one of our group, who was also a noob in the event. He used a green/red deck which had bigger creatures. Again I won two out of three due to good draws and my nifty creatures. What was fun about that round was that it was when we were filling out this achievement sheet which makes us eligable for extra freebies. I even quoted flavor text to get an achievement. So the Helvault which held the goodies was opened in this round and I got me a giant card!

Awesome art on an awesome card

Round 3 was against another of our group, but this guy was more experienced. He also used red/white but had cooler cards. I managed to sneak one win but lost the round. That was the end of my winning streak. The organizers gave free dice and tokens during that round which made me feel better.

Round 4 was a consolation round and I was against some dude who used green/white. What I felt weird was he insisted to shuffle my deck even after I shuffled it. Shuffler. Again, I won one but lost two against his bigger creatures. Maybe I was tricked with master shuffling.

At the end of the event, I went home with two more packs (my prizes), cool freebies and a fun memory of a really geeky day.

I think everyone should have days like these and geek out in their own way.  

Age rage at the carpark

Something crazy happened today. As I was getting out of my car, I accidentally hit the next car with my door. Nothing intentional, my hand slipped.

Out comes this guy who's in his 40's or 50's raging out on his bare feet. He shouted at the lady in his car (his wife?) for his slippers which he wore outside. He starts swearing and pointing at me for hitting his car. He even made me open my door again to see where it hit. There was a scratch but those which you could easily wipe off with your fingers, which I saw he did.

I was apologizing but all I was receiving from him was "PI mo". He was asking why I was in a hurry and that he would pay me back for what I did. He even asked if he scratched my car, would I get him back for that.

At that point, I realized this was not going anywhere, I said no and apologized again. I left my car there with him giving the benefit of the doubt that he had some goodness hidden in that fugly exterior.

I expected to see my car uncratched when I came back to it because maybe it was just an anger spurt old people have. Maybe maturity would kick in and replace age rage. When I came back, there it was. Fresh scratch.

What pissed me off was how low that guy went to, just to feel better. I so wanted to scratch his car back but then, that would just make me him. I left it go, plus I wasn't even sure if that was still the same car beside me. Funny how that could have ended up as a chain of car scratching.

Going home, a lot of different scenarios played off in my head on how I could have handled that better, a majority of them involving what to do with his car. And if majority of that invoved revenge, then I'm glad I played out the way I did.

I don't believe anyone deserves to be sweared on, even if it that person has wronged you. Hate it when someone at an advantage uses it to abuse others, just to make themselves feel better. All respect I had for that guy went to zero once that first swear came out. That guy clearly has issues (I hope them to be bedroom related).

I feel sorry or his wife in that car, seeing her husband blow his top off, there even so much "top" to blow off. And if his wife disturbingly enjoyed that, I feel sorry for their kids. Dealing with that shit at home must be terrifyingly annoying.

If he's that kind of person, maybe his car deserved to get hit.

Gunther

It's always sad when good people pass away. It's probably why it's always so when dogs move on, because they're always good people. Gunther was big and crazy but he was always one of the best.

You will be missed brother.

I20 Delivery Option

So my I20 form is ready for sending and I had a choce between 4-6 weeks delivery or 8 working days delivery. I played the rich kid card and used the express delivery.

It cost me $55, which now that I think about it, pains me, physically.

All in the name of this adventure I have this year.

Holy week

Dropped Anj at the airport yesterday. She's been here a week for holy week vacation. It was a short week but still a lot happened. She reserved a house at Nuvali for her parents which is super cool. I don't know who else can say that. Anyway, aside from the trip to Sta. Rosa, it was a steady weekend.

What's cool about this holy week was we were able to spend it with our families and not out on some vacation partying with friends. I think I've leveled up that way too, because as much as it's fun to party, nothing beats staying with family.

Anyway, felt bad seeing her go again. It's always a heartbreaking moment when she goes back to Singapore.

On difficult people

We all need difficult people to prove we could be better than them.

Weak?

"A man is never too weak or too wounded to fight, as long as the cause is greater than his own life" - Oenomaus, Spartacus: Vengeance.

On bad days

We all need days like these to prove we're strong.