My first Hearthstone tournament

Soe min alerted me to this tournament that went on at Bugis+ : basically there were 8 time slots where 12 people can sign up in each time slot, and your aim is to win as many games in a row against the AI opponents, in sequence (from Mage to Warlock, then move on to insane), within one hour. The highest streak of each time slot moves on to the playoffs. One caveat - you could only use the preset basic decks.



 

I went on Friday, and lost on my 6th game due to a stroke of bad luck. Soe min went for a time slot after me, and he won his slot with a streak of 12. He kept egging me to go again, but I was abit reluctant as it is quite dependent on luck. But after my basketball was cancelled, I went down to Bugis again on Sunday.

It was kind of a rush - I actually planned to go for the 4pm slot, but I decided to rush over to try to get into the 1.30 slot. Somehow, to my luck, there weren't that many participants, and so I managed to get into it despite arriving at 1.20pm (on Friday, the 3.30pm slot filled up by 3pm sharp, the moment they opened registration).

I was the second wave, so I had to wait for the first 6 participants of my slot to play first. I watched nervously as I hoped that the other participants lost (so that the highest streak to beat was lower). In the end, the highest in the first wave was 9.

The previous day I had actually tried out at home to see what I could hit in an hour, and I actually got 14 wins in an hour. So I knew I could beat the 10 win streak no problem.

So I went in, and played. and played. and played. And as the time ran out... I hit 12 wins.. and narrowly beat second place who had 11 wins! (I used Mage until Priest Normal, then used Priest against the Priest, Rogue, Pally, Warlock, then switched back to Mage against Expert AIs. I found this most optimal as I had difficulty beating Priest Normal with Mage when he drew well)

This meant I won $50 and qualified for the playoffs, together with Soe min. So we waited around for the playoffs to begin, and they randomly drew for matchups.. and me and soe min got drawn against each other >< We wanted to only face off in the finals but... oh well.

The games went in my favor due to a nice stroke of luck, and I took the series 2-0  (Mage > Priest; Mage > Mage). I won another $50 because of this! Then came the semifinals .. which I lost narrowly 2-1 :( (Mage > Priest; Mage < Mage; Mage < Mage) The last game was pretty tense and close, and everyone was watching it, and when the game ended, everyone actually applauded us. Wow. I would have felt on top of the world if I had won.  :(

Oh well, it was a fun event overall. I also got to go on stage to play a game (which I won easily, and won $5), hopefully the photos get uploaded by the organizers. I also won another $5 from answering a simple question (Name another Blizzard game). Overall loot - $110 :D

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This post is over 2 weeks late, but hey, better late then never right?

On 6th of November (actual date is 5th, but I was busy), I celebrated my third year anniversary with my girlfriend by going for a simple dinner date at Fosters Steakhouse @ Holland Village. The food was really good albeit a little pricey. But it was alright. Good food with good company. My idea of a perfect date (romantic or platonic friends both).



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't believe it's been three years since we've been together. That's a pretty long time if I think about it - three years ago, I was a helpless freshman in university. Now I am a junior (as they call it in America) who can't wait to graduate.

I'm grateful for this lovely girl who somehow sees something in me - this ordinary, unambitious, common person. I'm not the best of boyfriends - I don't send my gf home, I don't really spend a lot of time with her (well we see each other every weekend for church, but we don't have regular dates, unlike some other couples I know), and when I do go out with her, I'm not really good at staying out late.

I get tired and some sort of mental clock kicks in and I'll start wanting to go home just to rest, to unwind, to relax. That's assuming my social energy hasn't depleted before that.

I feel bad sometimes for giving her the subtle 'Hmm, what time is it' to hint at my fatigue, when I can see it in her eyes sometimes that she just wants that much more time with me. How do humans do it? This whole hanging out with people you love for long periods thing. I think I'm an alien. I'm like that for everyone - my bestie, my sbff, my close friends - our meetings don't really last long while I hear of other people talking for hours or something.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess what I try to do is to give more quality over quantity. I try to be there 100% when I'm out with my girl; I've had the habit of keeping my phone out of sight just to send the indirect signal that says 'hey, I don't care about the rest of the world now, I'm here with you now and that's what my mind's on'. I hope that compensates for my inability to stay out for long.

Or maybe the trick is to start dates earlier. If I get tired only at night, maybe if dates started from afternoons and extended to the night, then they would be longer right? Ok, I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this. Just letting thoughts flow. Mindfulness right. Nonjudgmental processing of ongoing thoughts.

For the recent year, I haven't had much doubt when thinking about our future together. And more recently, with a church friend getting married, we've been talking about weddings and stuff as if it was a natural progression, when in fact if you look at the journey we've taken it was quite a rocky one. But I guess it's through this rocky journey that we understand each other better, and iron out things that would be worse to get into after marriage.

I thank God for blessing us these past 3 years, for giving both of us the maturity and patience to bear with each other's shortcomings. For working through all the disagreements we've had. Relationships are tough. But they also bring great joy. The line 'if it makes you happy, it makes me happy too' is all too cheesy, but I've come to realize it is 100% true when it comes to her. When I see her smile and laugh, real, genuine smiles and laughs, my heart smiles.

It's not been easy, but it's never supposed to be easy. Every new year as a couple brings more challenges, fresh perspectives, new insights. Here's to 3 more (and hopefully many more) challenging yet fulfilling years to come.



 

 

 

Puzzle Puzzle

For my third anniversary with my girlfriend I created for her a series of puzzles to solve to finally reach a video of me singing for her.

While I'm not going to share the video with everyone, I thought I could let others try the puzzle too :)

So yup, the puzzle is over at http://thisisalanzblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/level-0-white-spaces/

The password to unlock level 0 is 'rawr'. (without the inverted commas). Enjoy!

 

 

Feel free to leave comments if you need hints!