To all who visit, a very Merry Christmas to you! As is the tradition in my family, we host a huge party on Christmas Eve, but do just about nothing on the actual Christmas, and as usual, my dad requires a kitchen boy/dogsbody, which conveniently happens to be me, and always halfway through a Dark Crusade game or a Pest Control match on Runescape. After much time, effort and swearing from dad, the dinner was finally rolled out in time for most of my extended family.
All my presents involved clothes of some kind, mostly shirts this year. It seems like as the years go by the presents get less and less impressive. Man, I feel old already. After the dinner and presents was the usual haze of Coke and chips and monopoly games which follow just about every celebration my family has. Had a splitting headache halfway through (I blame the ham, always does that to me), so all I can recall is someone getting owned in Monopoly in my room (Might have been me). The party lasted until somewhere around 2. The next morning I found myself asleep on all present wrappings...
Of course, as fun as Christmas is, it normally signals to me that school isn't very far away either. Ah bugger, guess all things have to come to an end...
P.S Sam, where's my Uzi! Did the Bolivian smugglers lose it or get arrested, because I haven't received it yet!
Tuesday, 25 December 2007
Monday, 17 December 2007
Everyone is away
Seems like just about everyone is out of the country right now. Tim is somewhere in Germany, Munich I think, Sam is in Bolivia (If someone's arrested for arms smuggling, there we'll know who it is...), tall Chris is somewhere, big Chris is somewhere, Daryl is somewhere, most of the Sec 3 squad is in either Malaysia or New York, and JC is at NCC camp, which might as well be in another country.
Anyway, the night before he left for Bolivia we stayed at Sam's place again, but it was much quieter with Sam Wang and Big Chris. On the bright side, that meant that with just four people we didn't have to take turns using the Box Of Fun. Our theological discussion this time being about Halos, and what counts toward a Beyond the Grave kill. Though I have significantly improved at multi-player, most of my kills consisted of waiting for Mark, Bryant and Sam to fight each other then moving in to pick off the survivors who would by then be low on ammo and other nasty, painful implements to hurt Slummer with, although people have stopped depending on me to be a quick source for kills, that much I'm grateful for...
Sam's dad ordered us to sleep around midnight, and we could have kept ourselves occupied the whole night with my laptop if Sam had remembered his password to his wireless, but seeing as how computers commit harikiri when he goes near them, it might have been a bit much to expect that of him. I tried guessing his password but gave up after 10 minutes. On the other end of the spectrum Tim's wireless wasn't even secured when I went there. Made life easy, but I wouldn't have done that if I were him.
Anyway, unable to play on the 360, I raided Sam's ample bookshelf in the hopes of finding interesting reading material. I settled on Ciaphas Cain : Hero of the Imperium. We were just starting up his computer when his mum came in, and we promptly claimed we were hungry, which wasn't a lie at the time, and his mum, the wonderful lady she was, made us a quick supper of corned beef and instant noodles. I continued to read about the exceedingly lazy, but quick thinking and amazingly lucky commissar with the most plot armour I've ever seen until around 3 before I dozed off.
In other news United has come out tops in last night's hot tempered with Liverpool, winning 0-1 at Anfield, with Giggs unexpectedly sending the corner kick away from the penalty box across the ground. I actually though he mis-kicked when I watched it, but he actually intended to send it to Rooney, who took a low shot/pass which somehow went through the legs of 10 players without being blocked. I doubt he was actually passing, and Tevez just happened to be there to deflect it in during first half extra time. He would have been offside if Benayoun hadn't been camping on the goal line trying to block a goal he didn't manage to stop. Anderson and Evra on the other hand, did a much better job of it when Van Der Sar crashed into his own defenders twice when trying to catch a corner kick, but still saved by the goal line camping duo. Admittedly though, Liverpool could, and should have won, after being denied two goals on the line and the referee not seeing a Tevez handball in the penalty box. Zach will be in a bad mood, I can tell you that...
Although my dad demands I be a United fan since he's been one for the last 22 years, I do enjoy watching Arsenal games, and normally back them if they aren't playing against United. Against Chelsea (minus one Drogba and one Essien) at home, I was quite sure Arsenal would win, and win they did, with another goal close to the end of half time, with more than a little touch of irony. The one who sunk Chelsea just happened to be William Gallas, the ex-Chelsea player who turned renegade and supposedly threatened to score own goals when Chelsea refused to let him transfer, out jumped Ben-Haim to score from a header after Cech strangely failed to catch the corner kick.
The match was hostile at best. The home crowd booed loudly whenever Ashely Cole had the ball. Seen as a traitor to Arsenal and dubbed "Cashely Cole" after he moved to Chelsea for higher pay, he was pelted with fake notes on his first match against his old club with Terry pulling a sliding tackle on Fabergas AFTER the latter had already fallen to the ground which meant his studded foot plowed straight into his chest, which earned the Chelsea and England captain as well as Lampard (Probably couldn't keep his mouth shut) a yellow card, and Arsenal retaliated with Eboue crushing Terry's foot which resulted in a yellow card for him and Terry having to be brought off with a suspected broken foot. The home crowd also chanted "Ian Wright, right, right, riiight..." when Wright-Phillips was taken off to taunt and remind the Chelsea winger that he is simply no where near as good as his adoptive (dad says illegitimate more likely) father and Arsenal striker hero Ian Wright. The tension spilled over after the final whistle had blown, a brawl erupting between Joe Cole (No relation to Ashley Cole) and Fabergas.
Anyway, the night before he left for Bolivia we stayed at Sam's place again, but it was much quieter with Sam Wang and Big Chris. On the bright side, that meant that with just four people we didn't have to take turns using the Box Of Fun. Our theological discussion this time being about Halos, and what counts toward a Beyond the Grave kill. Though I have significantly improved at multi-player, most of my kills consisted of waiting for Mark, Bryant and Sam to fight each other then moving in to pick off the survivors who would by then be low on ammo and other nasty, painful implements to hurt Slummer with, although people have stopped depending on me to be a quick source for kills, that much I'm grateful for...
Sam's dad ordered us to sleep around midnight, and we could have kept ourselves occupied the whole night with my laptop if Sam had remembered his password to his wireless, but seeing as how computers commit harikiri when he goes near them, it might have been a bit much to expect that of him. I tried guessing his password but gave up after 10 minutes. On the other end of the spectrum Tim's wireless wasn't even secured when I went there. Made life easy, but I wouldn't have done that if I were him.
Anyway, unable to play on the 360, I raided Sam's ample bookshelf in the hopes of finding interesting reading material. I settled on Ciaphas Cain : Hero of the Imperium. We were just starting up his computer when his mum came in, and we promptly claimed we were hungry, which wasn't a lie at the time, and his mum, the wonderful lady she was, made us a quick supper of corned beef and instant noodles. I continued to read about the exceedingly lazy, but quick thinking and amazingly lucky commissar with the most plot armour I've ever seen until around 3 before I dozed off.
In other news United has come out tops in last night's hot tempered with Liverpool, winning 0-1 at Anfield, with Giggs unexpectedly sending the corner kick away from the penalty box across the ground. I actually though he mis-kicked when I watched it, but he actually intended to send it to Rooney, who took a low shot/pass which somehow went through the legs of 10 players without being blocked. I doubt he was actually passing, and Tevez just happened to be there to deflect it in during first half extra time. He would have been offside if Benayoun hadn't been camping on the goal line trying to block a goal he didn't manage to stop. Anderson and Evra on the other hand, did a much better job of it when Van Der Sar crashed into his own defenders twice when trying to catch a corner kick, but still saved by the goal line camping duo. Admittedly though, Liverpool could, and should have won, after being denied two goals on the line and the referee not seeing a Tevez handball in the penalty box. Zach will be in a bad mood, I can tell you that...
Although my dad demands I be a United fan since he's been one for the last 22 years, I do enjoy watching Arsenal games, and normally back them if they aren't playing against United. Against Chelsea (minus one Drogba and one Essien) at home, I was quite sure Arsenal would win, and win they did, with another goal close to the end of half time, with more than a little touch of irony. The one who sunk Chelsea just happened to be William Gallas, the ex-Chelsea player who turned renegade and supposedly threatened to score own goals when Chelsea refused to let him transfer, out jumped Ben-Haim to score from a header after Cech strangely failed to catch the corner kick.
The match was hostile at best. The home crowd booed loudly whenever Ashely Cole had the ball. Seen as a traitor to Arsenal and dubbed "Cashely Cole" after he moved to Chelsea for higher pay, he was pelted with fake notes on his first match against his old club with Terry pulling a sliding tackle on Fabergas AFTER the latter had already fallen to the ground which meant his studded foot plowed straight into his chest, which earned the Chelsea and England captain as well as Lampard (Probably couldn't keep his mouth shut) a yellow card, and Arsenal retaliated with Eboue crushing Terry's foot which resulted in a yellow card for him and Terry having to be brought off with a suspected broken foot. The home crowd also chanted "Ian Wright, right, right, riiight..." when Wright-Phillips was taken off to taunt and remind the Chelsea winger that he is simply no where near as good as his adoptive (dad says illegitimate more likely) father and Arsenal striker hero Ian Wright. The tension spilled over after the final whistle had blown, a brawl erupting between Joe Cole (No relation to Ashley Cole) and Fabergas.
Friday, 14 December 2007
A Gain, A Loss
Training ended for Christmas, and will stop until the 28. Ordinarily this means even more free time in addition to the holidays, but this year, it means even less time to prove myself as a worthy addition to the starting 15.
The year which has seen stellar improvement in my academic form has also borne witness to my declining influence and hold on the team. I started every match last year, and played all of them from start to end except for the first two. I even had hopes for starting on the B Division team this year, since the senior wing forward had left the school.
It was still no surprise to me that I was still a substitute then, as were most Sec 3s. With that failed plan that my father cooked up to get me to do Bio at the expense of all my Wednesday trainings for 2 terms I lost any chance I had of starting. I still managed 3 substitute appearances, and I was the second most used Sec 3 substitute after George who had four, and we should have been tied since he went in instead of me for one match since I rushed out to help Gabriel when he was injured, and seeing as I wasn't available on hand, Coach brought George on instead.
The failed plan seems to have had long lasting effects. My tackles were either inaccurate or poorly executed, if ever done at all from the lack of practice, my fitness drained when a possible asthma relapse robbed me of my stamina, and a badly healed injury has left a bony lump on my right leg which would leave me in agony if anyone knocked against it. With even Sec 2's who had shown little promise this year's disappointing C Division squad being selected ahead for me, the writing on the wall was becoming glaringly clear. Shape up or ship out.
The future appears bleak for now. Amos could be moved down to wing forward from an in centre, and should that happen I would be in big trouble since I have little hope of pushing my old understudy Max off the team. Playing as my opposite wing forward since he was Sec 1 and a year my junior, he would look to me for guidance. Vice captain of the underachieving C Division squad, a post I felt he fully deserved, he would certainly be picked first should a decision come down to deciding between him and me. He is like a more advanced version of me, same build, same size, same speed, same playing style, but better, like T800 to T-X, IE6 to IE7. The nice guy that he is, he denies it all the time, but he has already surpassed me. Max, modesty is another type of lying, you already went past being my junior and my equal.
There is still hope though. Some of my tackling has come back, as well as my speed. Jamal thanked me for boosting his confidence in tackling after he managed to take me down during one training. Two ways I could interpret this, one would be my team still holds me with some sort of esteem, or two, I've degraded enough to be taken down with relative ease by my juniors, albeit the second vice captain. Hope like hell its the former. With Matthew's return still unconfirmed, that leaves a position possibly open in the forward pack. Although I'd be playing prop instead of wing forward, I'd gladly grasp any chance for a starting position right now.
It seems like someone above is telling me I can't have both things at the same time. At this time last year I played well, but my studies were not too good. With a final year average of 67.75 and an L1R5 of 13, its a big improvement from last year's 62 and 20+ for L1R5. I refuse to use the term can't have your cake and eat it too, since cake is for eating anyway, but it seems like I cannot do well at both at the same time. With the O-Levels drawing nearer, I would pick my studies over rugby should I be forced into that decision, but right now, I want to be part of that starting 15 for the season.
The year which has seen stellar improvement in my academic form has also borne witness to my declining influence and hold on the team. I started every match last year, and played all of them from start to end except for the first two. I even had hopes for starting on the B Division team this year, since the senior wing forward had left the school.
It was still no surprise to me that I was still a substitute then, as were most Sec 3s. With that failed plan that my father cooked up to get me to do Bio at the expense of all my Wednesday trainings for 2 terms I lost any chance I had of starting. I still managed 3 substitute appearances, and I was the second most used Sec 3 substitute after George who had four, and we should have been tied since he went in instead of me for one match since I rushed out to help Gabriel when he was injured, and seeing as I wasn't available on hand, Coach brought George on instead.
The failed plan seems to have had long lasting effects. My tackles were either inaccurate or poorly executed, if ever done at all from the lack of practice, my fitness drained when a possible asthma relapse robbed me of my stamina, and a badly healed injury has left a bony lump on my right leg which would leave me in agony if anyone knocked against it. With even Sec 2's who had shown little promise this year's disappointing C Division squad being selected ahead for me, the writing on the wall was becoming glaringly clear. Shape up or ship out.
The future appears bleak for now. Amos could be moved down to wing forward from an in centre, and should that happen I would be in big trouble since I have little hope of pushing my old understudy Max off the team. Playing as my opposite wing forward since he was Sec 1 and a year my junior, he would look to me for guidance. Vice captain of the underachieving C Division squad, a post I felt he fully deserved, he would certainly be picked first should a decision come down to deciding between him and me. He is like a more advanced version of me, same build, same size, same speed, same playing style, but better, like T800 to T-X, IE6 to IE7. The nice guy that he is, he denies it all the time, but he has already surpassed me. Max, modesty is another type of lying, you already went past being my junior and my equal.
There is still hope though. Some of my tackling has come back, as well as my speed. Jamal thanked me for boosting his confidence in tackling after he managed to take me down during one training. Two ways I could interpret this, one would be my team still holds me with some sort of esteem, or two, I've degraded enough to be taken down with relative ease by my juniors, albeit the second vice captain. Hope like hell its the former. With Matthew's return still unconfirmed, that leaves a position possibly open in the forward pack. Although I'd be playing prop instead of wing forward, I'd gladly grasp any chance for a starting position right now.
It seems like someone above is telling me I can't have both things at the same time. At this time last year I played well, but my studies were not too good. With a final year average of 67.75 and an L1R5 of 13, its a big improvement from last year's 62 and 20+ for L1R5. I refuse to use the term can't have your cake and eat it too, since cake is for eating anyway, but it seems like I cannot do well at both at the same time. With the O-Levels drawing nearer, I would pick my studies over rugby should I be forced into that decision, but right now, I want to be part of that starting 15 for the season.
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
In the thick of it
Well, halfway into the holidays, and I'm certainly enjoying it. After sleeping before midnight for a change, I managed to get up somewhere around 8, knocked the Imeperial Guard off Kronus in the Dark Crusade campaign, which leaves only the Chaos.
Went to Bryant's at around 3 so he could begin to pay off the money he owes me after I photostated a few things for him and copy down the questions we need to do for Chemistry homework. Since he's broke after buying yet more Birds Of Prey comics, I decided the best form of payment was via Gamecube hours. Speaking of Birds Of Prey, apparently, the Gail Simone posting on his blog is apparently the real deal. Yes, the actual author (Okay, ex-author) of Birds Of Prey is visiting his blog on a regular basis. Of course, both her and her husband now refer to Bryant as "the Sex Man", since all they remember of him were the nature of his questions (See his blog for details). Then again, with the ex-author of your favourite comic visiting your site on a regular, a guy can't really ask for more can he??
Anyway, on to the visit. Despite having a new widescreen plasma TV that has ports specially designated for running diagnostics tests, we couldn't figure out a way to hook his Gamecube up to it. In the end we gave up and played on on the TV in his bedroom, smaller, older, but reliable with the plugin ports in obvious areas. I continued with RE4 where I left of at Sam's place. Mendes, one of the boss fights, must have got stuck in a nuclear chamber with an insect of sorts, or his mum had a thing for centipedes. We have now dubbed all the herbs smokable weed, the combo of Green, Red and Yellow herbs mother of all weed, and the First Aid Spray as Weed Substitute. Eventually I reached the water room where out of frustration, I finally gave up and we moved on the Super Smash Bros Melee. I just can't remember how I got past it with only the bolt action rifle the first time we played it.
----------
(Arriving at pile of rubbish in RE4)
Me : Is that searchable??
Bryant : Yeah, we'll find a colony of Slummers already camping there
Me : Geroff, this my patch see??
----------
Super Smash Bros Melee was a massacre, with Bryant showing no remorse as he hacked the living crap out of the adorable little pink puffball Kirby with Marth. I used to think Marth was a chick till corrected at Sam's place. Seriously though, what kind of guy wears a tiara??
Went to Bryant's at around 3 so he could begin to pay off the money he owes me after I photostated a few things for him and copy down the questions we need to do for Chemistry homework. Since he's broke after buying yet more Birds Of Prey comics, I decided the best form of payment was via Gamecube hours. Speaking of Birds Of Prey, apparently, the Gail Simone posting on his blog is apparently the real deal. Yes, the actual author (Okay, ex-author) of Birds Of Prey is visiting his blog on a regular basis. Of course, both her and her husband now refer to Bryant as "the Sex Man", since all they remember of him were the nature of his questions (See his blog for details). Then again, with the ex-author of your favourite comic visiting your site on a regular, a guy can't really ask for more can he??
Anyway, on to the visit. Despite having a new widescreen plasma TV that has ports specially designated for running diagnostics tests, we couldn't figure out a way to hook his Gamecube up to it. In the end we gave up and played on on the TV in his bedroom, smaller, older, but reliable with the plugin ports in obvious areas. I continued with RE4 where I left of at Sam's place. Mendes, one of the boss fights, must have got stuck in a nuclear chamber with an insect of sorts, or his mum had a thing for centipedes. We have now dubbed all the herbs smokable weed, the combo of Green, Red and Yellow herbs mother of all weed, and the First Aid Spray as Weed Substitute. Eventually I reached the water room where out of frustration, I finally gave up and we moved on the Super Smash Bros Melee. I just can't remember how I got past it with only the bolt action rifle the first time we played it.
----------
(Arriving at pile of rubbish in RE4)
Me : Is that searchable??
Bryant : Yeah, we'll find a colony of Slummers already camping there
Me : Geroff, this my patch see??
----------
Super Smash Bros Melee was a massacre, with Bryant showing no remorse as he hacked the living crap out of the adorable little pink puffball Kirby with Marth. I used to think Marth was a chick till corrected at Sam's place. Seriously though, what kind of guy wears a tiara??
Sunday, 2 December 2007
Rev Rev Rev!!
Stayed over at Sam's place, but I could only get there at around 11 at night due to other pressing matters. Got acquainted with Sam's neighbours and other friends who were staying over, namely Sam Wang, Chris and Mark, all of which were really nice guys.
We played RE4 and Gears before Sam's parents chased us to sleep somewhere near midnight. Then again, when did sleepovers include any actual sleep? After stating that the UBCS sucked since they always get owned by the undead despite being commandos and armed to the teeth with the standard Kalashnikovs and all, Sam decided to make a very violent rebuttal of that claim, and we ended up doing a mattress showdown.
---------------------
Sam with me in headlock
Sam : Is the UBCS gay??
Me : zzzzzzzz.............
---------------------
In the end we settled it with a compromise like civilized people, and agreed that though a good portion of the UBCS get owned all the time, some are still decently good. Its around this time that I realize its Sam's birthday.
No one could sleep, and after finding some rather dubious photos in Bryant's phone (Female Fire Warriors and female Guardsmen), the topic shifted to Warhammer, then slowly to religion. Sam, a proud atheist, was put out like a light. Eventually we did get to sleep at around 4. We all got up around 9, except for Chris who needed to go for tuition and left early.
We played Super Smash Brothers till around 1, had lunch, then headed off to the Writer's Festival, where Gail Simone, writer of the Birds Of Prey comic series, was holding a talk at the Arts House. Bryant is nuts about the series, Sam was excited since she wrote Deadpool, and the rest of us were there because we were going LANning after that.
Of course, we didn't count on nobody knowing where the bloody hell that was. From the taxi driver to the Singapore Tourism Board, no one had a clue. Bryant was hyperventilating until we finally found the place, which turned out to be just outside the Supreme Court.
Talk was okay till Bryant asked his first question regarding why Huntress dresses so promiscuously despite having been sexually abused in the past. My first thought was "WTF?!?!?" My second was to hide under the seat. Mark and Sam Wang followed suit. I didn't dare listen to his second and third one, but judging by Gail Simone's friendly reaction to him and the rest of us at the autograph session, I don't think she had any problems with them. Whew....
Bryant needed to get his fix of Birds Of Prey, so he didn't come LANning with us, which might have been a good thing, since we took awhile to find a LAN center with space and Dark Crusade. Eventually, when we finally did, we had a good time, mostly because I somehow conjured up 6 Flayed One squads along with the Lord and a Pariah Squad backed up by a couple of Warrior squads and an Immortal squad. Poor Sam Wang's Blood Angels never had a chance..... I should go back to Necrons.
We played RE4 and Gears before Sam's parents chased us to sleep somewhere near midnight. Then again, when did sleepovers include any actual sleep? After stating that the UBCS sucked since they always get owned by the undead despite being commandos and armed to the teeth with the standard Kalashnikovs and all, Sam decided to make a very violent rebuttal of that claim, and we ended up doing a mattress showdown.
---------------------
Sam with me in headlock
Sam : Is the UBCS gay??
Me : zzzzzzzz.............
---------------------
In the end we settled it with a compromise like civilized people, and agreed that though a good portion of the UBCS get owned all the time, some are still decently good. Its around this time that I realize its Sam's birthday.
No one could sleep, and after finding some rather dubious photos in Bryant's phone (Female Fire Warriors and female Guardsmen), the topic shifted to Warhammer, then slowly to religion. Sam, a proud atheist, was put out like a light. Eventually we did get to sleep at around 4. We all got up around 9, except for Chris who needed to go for tuition and left early.
We played Super Smash Brothers till around 1, had lunch, then headed off to the Writer's Festival, where Gail Simone, writer of the Birds Of Prey comic series, was holding a talk at the Arts House. Bryant is nuts about the series, Sam was excited since she wrote Deadpool, and the rest of us were there because we were going LANning after that.
Of course, we didn't count on nobody knowing where the bloody hell that was. From the taxi driver to the Singapore Tourism Board, no one had a clue. Bryant was hyperventilating until we finally found the place, which turned out to be just outside the Supreme Court.
Talk was okay till Bryant asked his first question regarding why Huntress dresses so promiscuously despite having been sexually abused in the past. My first thought was "WTF?!?!?" My second was to hide under the seat. Mark and Sam Wang followed suit. I didn't dare listen to his second and third one, but judging by Gail Simone's friendly reaction to him and the rest of us at the autograph session, I don't think she had any problems with them. Whew....
Bryant needed to get his fix of Birds Of Prey, so he didn't come LANning with us, which might have been a good thing, since we took awhile to find a LAN center with space and Dark Crusade. Eventually, when we finally did, we had a good time, mostly because I somehow conjured up 6 Flayed One squads along with the Lord and a Pariah Squad backed up by a couple of Warrior squads and an Immortal squad. Poor Sam Wang's Blood Angels never had a chance..... I should go back to Necrons.
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