Kestell's blog

Eng vs SA cricket

2010-01-18T10:00:00.000+02:00

So we are at the end of the series and the result was 1-1.

England won the first test quite convincingly and since then South Africa had to catch up.

The second test in Durban was drawn, with England 9 wickets down and still a long way off. So was the third test.

The third test had a bit of a ball tampering controversy where the English bowlers were caught on camera fiddling with the ball in untoward ways. South Africa decided not to lodge an official complaint, which quite frankly boggles my mind.

In the fourth test, which South Africa won, there were further controversy because of Graeme Smith's review that went against England. They handled that in such a baby like manner that they should be ashamed. It sounded like a primary school break time brawl over someone who did not want to be out where there is no umpire. If there is an umpire, you take what he says.

I think that Graeme Smith should have received the man of the series award, and ultimately wasn't because of this controversy.

Magic online draft

2009-06-08T18:48:00.001+02:00

So, I got this email that said I can get a FREE magic online alara draft.

Very cool.

However, I need to download MTG:online to do that. I don't even know how many, many, many MEGABYTES that will be to download.

Ouch. I have a couple of hundred megs to go this month... Let's hope it's enough.

So it turned out to be a VERY good thing...

2009-05-24T17:43:00.000+02:00

Last blog post I mentioned passing my level 2 renewal exam.

Turns out I am the only level 2 in South Africa that did so.

This is good... Because suddenly my chances of being sponsored to go to pro tours went from "the level 2 who is living in George, 430 km away from any real magic" (the irony of that term is beautiful, isn't it?) to the judge who drives 430km just to judge regionals.

And in other news... Shirley and I just passed the 6 months mark in our relationship. (yup, she'll be reading this!)

Very nice weekend.

2009-03-02T00:24:00.002+02:00

I had an awesome weekend.

I drove through to Somerset west and saw my family. My girlfriend (Shirley) and I had lovely times, and then we went to my sister-in-law's 30th birthday bash.

I am truly happy that Shirley and my family get along so well.

My weekend ended with me, passing my level 2 renewal test, despite the fact that I haven't judged in ages.

I had to prepare, and my expiration date got closer and closer, and I was slightly underprepared, but eventually I passed well. Good thing that you may look at the documents during the tests though. In only two cases did I actually change my answer after consulting the rules... And in one case I changed it to the incorrect answer!

New things

2009-01-13T22:17:00.002+02:00

So... My girlfriend read my blog today... which I suppose means, she will probably read it again...

She is Shirley, a very vibrant and energetic girl, who has an infectuous laugh. Enough about her... (it is, after all, MY blog, and she is likely to be one of the only ones to read this...)

Since my previous blogpost, I started playing GeoChallenge on facebook reasonably regularly. This is a game where in the first game, you identify flags. The second game, you identify countries by their shape. The third game you place well known cities on a world map, and the final game is where you place well known landmarks (such as pyramids, eiffel tower etc.) on the world map.

Today I am approximately 4 and a half months in George. I really struggled to settle into a church who has a decent bible study group, so me and Nicky started one... as of today.

I'm also involved with a play... Easter play... My main role is that of a narrator, but I understudy both Jesus and Judas, which means, that during the rehearsals, I'm pretty busy (the Jesus is absent for a couple of weeks)

I am very excited about the play.

One of the things that I REALLY appreciate of Shirley, is the way she makes me feel about myself. I have never seen someone who is that supportive and has so much faith in me. Thank you my "s kat".

K

George...

2008-10-05T22:16:00.002+02:00

So...

Facebook notes, get read more than my blog... Which is not suprising I guess, seeing as it is "advertised" to a population that knows me.

Anyway, here I am in George, 5 weeks exactly.

Quite a lot has happened in these 5 weeks, and one of them is, thankfully, payday.

Moving is expensive, and living alone, is expensive.

Datingbuzz happened, I met 4 girls through it. One found me through Facebook, which I thought was nice and resourceful, and more girls should use that. The other 3 all actually also had subscriptions. (I just need to add that none of the girls I met is really someone I'm interested in, for varying reasons)

Cactus happened, and I met a guy... Named Nicky... Ohh.. Cactus is a drinking hole in George. It supposed to have a mexican vibe, but essentially all it is, is Tequila promotions.

Danskraal happened (for my non-afrikaans readers... Dans is Dance, and kraal is a pen... like a pigpen... ironic don't you think). And I met nobody of lasting impression there yet... Except my boss...

The bats&balls happened... Last friday. I really enjoyed it. But we'll have to see what happens with the people I met there.

Signing off...

Kestell

Trying to circumvent subscription

2008-07-07T23:10:00.002+02:00

Trying to circumvent the subscription fees of dating sites is something that has a certain appeal to it, at least for me.

Google is our friend, but I think that even a mention of google is probably edited out.

I for instance, put quotation marks around a part of my profile, which, if googled (in quatations), will hit my blog.

My line is "I love God, Life and Calvin and Hobbes" - In quotations. The only thing in my entire profile that is in quotations.

If we spread the word silently, we might manage something.

Becoming humble

2008-06-30T22:30:00.002+02:00

In church yesterday, Ds. Breda Ludik discussed a monk named Bernard who made a "ladder" to humility. This ladder goes both ways. And it has 12 "rungs".

When I think of humility, I think of service. But opposite humility is pride.

Pride is just plain ugly.

The one rung that stood out for me was confession. That is one tool that we have left to rust in the shed. Something that the protestants have discarded. I believe that is paramount to being humble.

We keep justifying our sins. I say that anyone would have done that. Or even, it is how I am.

I am guilty of it all. I am guilty of thinking I am better, or cleverer or whatever. I have disregarded people. I am proud, too often.

I don't listen enough.

Other people matter more...

Blogging revived...

2008-06-20T12:56:00.002+02:00

I blogged a bit in the past, but I never really had a purpose behind my blog.

Why would people want to read my blog?, *Who* do I want to read my blog?

Do I want magic players? or just my family... People who are personally interested in me, or just random people from the internet as a community.

Well, in the past my posts were not really aimed, it was just stuff that happened to me, like a diary almost.

So my blog was about me. Which is not really that interesting subject unless you know me... And even then, me talking about me is... well, enough about me :)

I'll try and make my blog a bit more relevant to an audience... Whoever is interested in reading.

A friend of mine is an avid blogger, and she made a very valid point... Blogging is as much about reading other blogs as it is writing your own. --- (I'm paraphrasing her to the point where she might not even recognise her own words, but it was pretty much what it meant to me.)

So I'm off to start blogging! (read blogs, that is)

Learning French

2008-02-22T13:52:00.002+02:00

I went to Paris end of 2006 (world championships of Magic), my girlfriend can speak French, and I had Latin, from which French is derived.

So I decided I'll be trying to teach myself French.

Like Latin, the verbs are all convoluted with endings that denote who is doing [the verb].

I now wrote an excel spreadsheet which can do "flashcards"... It was fun to write, and I learn pretty well.

I also downloaded Le petit prince (the Little prince), which is a children's book often used to help beginners in French.

My biggest problem will be pronunciation. The grammar and vocabulary I will be able to pick up through reading and studying. Pronunciation is the final test.

Helpful websites are french-linguistics.co.uk and french.about.com

Looking for a new job

2008-02-18T13:23:00.002+02:00

So, I know in general terms how it is to fear unemployment.

My contract ends 29 February and I have yet to receive an offer.

This is disconcerting, I have had an interview that went very well. But I have to admit that I was under a slight misconception as to how the contract thing would work out.

I have faith though. God has always provided for me.

Bethlehem - Place of Bread

2007-12-06T01:10:00.001+02:00

Ok...

So I acted the role of a tourist in our Christmas production.

I think it was quite an interesting angle on the whole Christmas thing. Very different than the usual 3 Wise men angle.

One of the main themes throughout the play was that Bethlehem means Place of Bread and that Christ uses the metaphor of bread for his body.

The setting is a group of tourists touring modern Bethlehem accompanied by a Palestinian tour guide. Two of the tourists have in depth conversations about what the significance is of the modern walls around Bethlehem and then also the bread theme.

Bread plays a vital role in the production. Bread is a symbol of life and nourishment. That is what Jesus came to give to the earth, and what we (Christ's body) also need to do.

So Christ's body is the church, but Christ also compares His body with bread at the last supper.

Christmas Carols and chords

2007-11-28T03:47:00.001+02:00

So I wanted a Christamas Carols songbook with chords for both Afrikaans and English.

here is what I have now:

[The entire word file was pasted in here, and took up a lot of space, will post a link as soon as I learn how to...]

Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH)

2007-08-06T01:22:00.001+02:00

Decklist Decklists,

Well I did a google search for EDH decklists, and I found very few. So I'll put mine up here. Currently it is totally unsorted.

/NAME: Teneb, the Harvester
[EDIT: I had TENEB's here, but posting 3 lists was a bit heavy, will link to it when I figure it out]

/NAME: Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1 Sol Ring
1 Trinket Mage
1 Counterspell
1 Remand
1 Memory Lapse
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Extraplanar Lens
1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Thieving Magpie
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Steal Artifact
1 Control Magic
1 Back to Basics
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Circular Logic
1 Jushi Apprentice
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Miscalculation
1 Spell Burst
1 Man-o'-War
1 Brainstorm
1 Mana Leak
1 Treachery
1 Bribery
1 Acquire
1 Impulse
1 Serum Visions
1 Opt
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Concentrate
1 Compulsive Research
1 AEther Spellbomb
1 Boomerang
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mana Vault
1 Condescend
1 Cancel
1 Hinder
1 Forbid
1 Capsize
1 Ophidian
1 Repeal
1 Confiscate
1 Aeon Chronicler
1 Remove Soul
1 Future Sight
1 Magus of the Future
1 Tinker
1 Foil
1 Dismiss
1 Deep Analysis
1 Fabricate
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
32 Island
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Minamo, School at Water's E
1 Temple of the False God
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Lonely Sandbar

//NAME: Numot, the Devastator
[EDIT: I had NUMOT's here, but posting 3 lists was a bit heavy, will link to it when I figure it out]

Self discipline vs willpower vs ...

2007-07-24T09:36:00.000+02:00

I think quite a bit.

And I try to think about places in my life where i can grow. And I found one (well more than one but...)

One such a place is selfdiscipline.

I read an article yesterday on it that said many people say "I don't have willpower. And accordingly I cant get things done."

Last night I discussed the difference between selfdiscipline and willpower.

Self-discipline in my opinion is: When you do stuff you don't like. (Like washing the dishes; stuff that has to be done but which is generally not good.) Essentially selfdiscipline is overcoming laziness.

Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry: self-dis·ci·pline
Pronunciation: -'di-s&-pl&n
Function: noun
: correction or regulation of oneself for the sake of improvement

Willpower on the other hand is: Doing stuff that you fear. (Like asking your boss for a raise --- these things will differ from person to person. For some people it will be to talk before a crowd, others jumping from an aeroplane). Willpower is overcoming fears.

Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry: will·pow·er
Pronunciation: 'wil-"pau(-&)r
Function: noun
: energetic determination

The terms are related. In the book "the way of the superior man" by David Deida, he says that the superior man faces his fears but does not violate them. So you need to acknowledge your fears and respect them. Look them in the eye as it were. Don't go trampling over them as if they did not exist, for then you are not truly conquering them -- you are merely dismissing them. And do not quiver at the sight of them, because then there is no growth.

As far as self-discipline goes. I think having an accountability partner helps. Being totally honest and open. Telling him* what your fears are, how you are faring in facing them. Telling him what where you think you need improvement. And he needs to be someone who does not fear you, who can tell you straight up when you are fooling yourself.

*"Him" and "he", can also be "her" and "she", obviously.

But I think that the thing that most people need is God's-Willpower. The power to give over to God, that he will provide you with willpower to do His will.

Nationwide... Nightmare

2007-07-17T02:59:00.000+02:00

So...

I flew up for a nice weekend at Hartebeespoortdam.

I bought some beer and some more liqour for the weekend. I could not drink all of it unfortunately.

The flight back to Cape Town was delayed by 2:30, and when I arrived at Cape Town International my bags were among the many that was not delivered.

I was promised that I would have the bags by 10:00 on the monday morning. By 10:00, no one had phoned me to tell me about the progress, so I phoned them. The bags had arrived in Cape Town!

I was promised that my bags would get to me before 12:00 initially and then when I phoned again, it was said I will have it by 5.

At 5 o'clock I called again, and I told the girl I expected to be phoned within an hour to tell me what happened to my bags. I was not optimistic... for good reasons. No-one phoned... and when *I* phoned this morning 8:30, the person who dealt with lost luggage was not in yet. I did not receive a phone call. I did receive an email reply to my SECOND complaint made through the webpage.

The manager said he'll get into it and told me to that if I did not receive it by noon I should let him know. At noon I phoned.

He must have done something then, because it arrived here at 1:00... roughly. The alcohol had all been removed from my bag. 13 Imported Beers (Amstel is imported nowadays) and a bottle gin.

There was one beer remained in the bag... It had a gash in, and presumably it leaked out... because my bag was WET.

I'm gatvol...

Facebook and the more...

2007-07-12T10:01:00.000+02:00

So, the facebook bug bit me...

I have a profile. A lot of random people calls me FRIEND now...

Three People I call friends, I cannot locate.

1. Paul Storm. He helped me through my 3rd year acedemically.
2. Taetse Vorster. My roommate in second year.
3. Hilton Bastick. He helped me fail my first second year :)

Psalm 119:17-24

2007-07-02T02:27:00.000+02:00

17 Doen goed aan u dienaar, dan sal ek lewe en aan u woord gehoorsaam wees.
18 Maak my oe oop sodat ek die kragtige werking van u wet kan ervaar.
19 Hier op aarde is ek op u beskerming aangewese, laat my tog nie sonder u gebooie wees nie.
20 Ek kwyn weg van verlange na u bepalings.
21 U straf die hovaardiges en die vervloektes wat van u gebooie afwyk.
22 Keer tog dat ek nie beledig of gesmaad word nie, want ek kom u verordeninge na.
23 Selfs al smee mense wat mag het komplotte teen my, sal ek my hou aan wat u neergele het.
24 U verordeninge is my vreugde, hulle is my raadgewers.

Psalm 119:9-16

2007-06-14T04:39:00.000+02:00

Ok... I don't think it makes that much sense to do these posts in english, since I'm memorizing the afrikaans version.

It took me longer to memorize the second 8 verses. I don't think I'll keep up with 8 per day.

9 Hoe kan 'n jongmens sy lewe skoon hou? Deur hom te hou aan U woord.
10 Ek wil aan u gehoorsaam wees met my hele hart, laat my nie van u gebooie afwyk nie.
11 Aan u beloftes hou ek vas, hulle weerhou my van sonde teen U.
12 Aan u kom die lof toe, Here, leer my u voorskrifte.
13 Al u bepalings wil ek een vir een opnoem.
14 Om volgens U verordeninge te lewe gee my meer vreugde as al die rykdom van die wereld.
15 U bevele bly my altyd by, ek gee ag op die pad wat u aanwys.
16 Ek verlustig my in u voorskrifte, u woord vergeet ek nie.

Psalm 119

2007-06-12T10:29:00.000+02:00

So...

The longest chapter in the bible.

It consists of 22 stanza's that in the hebrew each started with a different letter. Each stanza is 8 verses long. (176 verses) Each verse in each stanza starts with the same letter.

1 A
2 A
3 A
4 A
5 A
6 A
7 A
8 A

9-16 B

Etc.

And most of it is about the word of God, or the bible.

I am now reading it stanza by stanza (8 verses at a time). And I will try to memorize the whole psalm... (eek, now I put that in writing...)

Here is the first stanza, as I remember it in afrikaans. (I'm struggling to remember it all, but this is all part of the process... ok... darn, I had to look it up)

Psalm 119:1-8

1 Dit gaan goed met die wat onberispelik lewe, die wat wandel volgens sy woord.
2 Dit gaan goed met die wat sy verordeninge onderhou, die wat met hulle hele hart sy wil doen,
3 geen onreg pleeg nie en in sy wee wandel.
4 U het u bevele gegee dat dit ten volle uitgevoer moet word.
5 As ek maar net op 'n vaste koers kon bly en my aan u voorskrifte kan hou!
6 As ek al U gebooie in ag neem, sal ek nooit raad-op wees nie.
7 U bepalings is regverdig, as ek dit ter harte neem, sal ek U loof met 'n opregte hart.
8 Ek sal U verordeninge onderhou; Moet my tog nooit verlaat nie.

Life and Easter

2007-04-04T04:40:00.000+02:00

This post was left as a draft for a while... so it's a bit dated.

So, earlier this year one of my sunday school girls told me that she does not believe in God. That she believes it is a load of BS.

Now Easter... It's about Christ being crucified as a passover lamb, as attonement for our sins.

God is real. No doubt. I experienced God's loving touch again this Easter. I am blessed to have an eye that can see God in ordinary things. That means, when other people see a beautiful sunset, I see a gift from God. People might say that that is no proof of God's existence... That is true, but I believe it is that perspective that differentiates the believers from the non-believers.

It's all about perspective, and my vision is clouded by this perspective of mine. And I'm glad for it.

K

Conspiracy theories in Cricket

2007-03-19T02:27:00.000+02:00

So... A little bit of a saga going on in the Cricket World Cup.

Bob Woolmer DIED.

So who was he?

Well, I had a very high opinion of him. He moulded the South African Cricket team to quite a forceful unit in the late 1990's. He was the coach of the Hansie Cronje era. (and.. Hansie Cronje died pretty mysteriously as well...)

How involved was he in matchfixing schemes? Was it possible that someone thought he fixed the Pakistan vs. Ireland game, and killed him for it. The plot could get quite juicy.

But honestly; it does look sketchy that a man of 58 mysteriously dies less than a day after Pakistan is out of the world cup. However, I am not really someone who believes murder mysteries in real life.

I liked Woolmer. He tought guys like Cullinan and Kallis to sweep. Jonty was the guy who most took to that shot however.

May his soul rest in peace.

Yokohama...

2007-03-14T09:10:00.000+02:00

So, I've been sponsored to go to PT yokohama. (full sponsorship) ---Magic the Gathering...

It is 20-22 April and I'm flying on the 18th 7:30 in the morning to JHB (where I have to wait about 2 hours so 4hrs total), then to Hong Kong (20 hrs) then from Hong Kong to Narita (8 hrs)...

Hang on... I forgot to take the time zones into account... well here is my flight plans...
Getting there:

CX 7312 18APR Cape Town / Johannesburg 0730 0930 (this is 2 hrs ,I know that)
CX 748 18APR Johannesburg /Hong Kong 1245 #0755 (this is 20 hrs ,but I'm wondering if it's absolute)
CX 504 19APR Hong Kong / Narita 0910 1435 (5 hrs)

Getting back:
CX 509 24APR Narita/ Hong Kong 0945 1325
CX 749 24APR Hong Kong / Johannesburg 2345 #0655
CX 7313 25APR Johannesburg /Cape Town 1030 1240

Oh and then take a taxi/bus/train to yokohama. 27 km. Not too bad.

It seems like japan is GMT+9 and hong kong is GMT +8. (and SA is GMT+2)

So it's either 32+7 or 32-7... I think it's 25 not 39 hrs. Still 25 hours is still 2x to europe.

I'm surprizingly nonchalant about this. It's not nearly the same excitement I had when I went to Paris. I'm not sure why.

World Cup Cricket...

2007-03-14T09:05:00.000+02:00

So... The world cup's opening game was yesterday and the Windies won it.

South Africa... We must win this one. We are ideally situated to win this one. We'll almost surely reach the semifinals...

Question is: Where will we land in the Semi's

Personnaly I think the Semi- finalists are going to be, South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand.

I've put it in writing now.

K

2 months... :)

2007-03-13T10:36:00.000+02:00

So, Nicola and I have been going steady for 2 months today. I am eating lunch with her at a restaurant called le spoon, and tonight I'm treating her to a fine dinner at Steffenie's place. It's an awesome restaurant with a view of the entire Helderberg Basin.

And of course, she'll be receiving flowers.

I was contemplating going to her work this morning and greeting her with bubbles (but I've done that before and I don't like repeating myself too often)... An sms she sent told me she anticipated it... And was slightly dissapointed at it not happening. But once you get predictable, you should change :)

So, the lady in my life

2007-02-01T00:27:00.000+02:00

Nicola Kortenhoeven is the princess that I adore.
Here she is... on the left. The one on the right is Santie, a friend of ours.

Nationals deck

2006-07-06T13:06:00.000+02:00

My brother qualified for nationals playing Zoo... (this is magic: The Gathering)

I don't have all the cards for a proper Zoo deck (i do think it is an incredibly powerful deck though)

So I'm going RWu weenie

3 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Battlefield Forge
1 Boros Garrison
1 Azorius Chancery
4 Steam Vents
4 Sacred Foundry
// other 19
2 Genju of the Spires
1 Remand
4 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Seal of Fire
4 Lightning Helix
4 Char
// creatures (21)
4 Kami of Ancient Law
4 Frostling
2 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
3 Azorius Guildmage
4 Savannah Lions
4 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
SB: 3 Hand of Honor
SB: 3 Remand
SB: 3 Ninja of the Deep Hours
SB: 3 Blood Moon
SB: 3 Ghostly Prison

Currently the Sideboard is yet undecided. The azorius guildmage is a house.
And Jitte too.

Other possible sideboard cards include:
Azorius herald
pyroclasm
shattering spree
condemn
flames of the blood hand
pithing needle
etc.

It is a RWu sligh deck... It works remarkably well

Zuma's trial

2006-05-08T10:20:00.000+02:00

My previous post did not publish for some reason. Got it right now.

So today is Zuma's rape trial verdict. Personally I feel that I should follow it, because it may cause a HUGE swing in south african politics.

When one political party wins more than 70% of votes in a democracy the only way that the country will get a tight election is when that party divides. So if Zuma is found not guilty and decides to make his own political party, that will be *good* for south african politics. (as long as he does not win the next election)

Currently the verdict is not yet published.

Harry Laurie

2006-05-02T15:55:00.000+02:00

Hey people (this post did not publish the first time somehow)

I took off friday and did very little other than magic this weekend. We did have a family meeting on monday, 1 May. It is sort of in memorial of my grandfather's birthday. His name was Harry Laurie.

Well... He was a great man. He had 7 children (of which the eldest is my dad).

He died in 1998, and still every year, his children and grandchildren gets together in his honor. I think what he did well was he taught everybody that family counts. He had to work hard to support a family that size, but he was a clever man and studied to become an actuary and eventually he could provide quite easily for his large family. His sense of humour was very witty and clever. He was someone who enjoyed a good wine, of which there was enough of at this gathering.

He taught me to value family and precious times higher than money. That money was only a means to an end.

Magic over the weekend

2006-04-24T08:39:00.000+02:00

Well this weekend was the dissension prerelease and it was loads of fun.

Friday night was FNM, and I played a UWb honden control deck. I went 2-2 (2 wins 2 losses).

Can't remember too much about the tourney... Too much happened in between.

I do remember playing against Pierre, and sideboarding, but never putting the cards into my deck. My deck was therefor, too small and I received the appropriate penalty (a game loss). I proceeded to lose game three. That was kind of dissapointing, mostly because I beat him in the friendly game 4 we played.

I also remember getting smashed by Durham's lightning quick burn/zoo deck. The other 2 matches was reasonably easy I think.

Afterwards, Tiaan, Jerall and I went to Jerall's place and played Zombies until 4:00 (Cassey pleyed along). I was glad that I did not oversleep the next morning, since I was organising the saturday event. But that was great fun. (I won the first game and the last game was so close, that any one of the other 3 could have won it. Eventually Tiaan grabbed the victory just ahead of Jerall (who needed 1 kill) and cassey (who was also less than 5 squares from the helipad).

Saturday, I am head judge of the Dissension prerelease. I got another judge that I judged with in 2004 nationals to help me. He was a little rusty, but I think I got him interested into getting more active again. Loads of interesting rulings. --- I'll make a separate post later on.

Sunday, I decided to go to play in Cape town's prerelease against my knowledge that I was overly tired and still had to work today.

But it turned out I opened a great set of cards. Difficult to decide what not to play though.

I opened wonderful Rakdos (BR) stuff.

Rakdos, the defiler
some 9/9 trampler that gets -4/-4 for each card in hand
seal of fire
galvanic arc
keening banshee

And I opened great GWu stuff.

Azorious guildmage (this is the bomb)
minister of impediments (tapper)
Faith's fetters
some 2/1 viper that puts 1/1's into play
vinelasher kudzu
2 of the 2/2 graft dudes for 1G
compulsive research
another 2/2 flyer for 2W
1/4 wall for 2W
2 Carum's
seeds of strength

My deck was just very well costed.
And I had 3 bounce lands (one of each, simic, selesnya, azorius)

My curve was about like this
1
2 - - - - - - - - 8
3 - - - - - - - - - 9
4 - - - - - - 6
5
6 - 1

Which is great, because you keep dropping good stuff on turns 2 and 3.

I eventually went 4.5/6 or 13 points. I played against the winner in the last match, and had I won that one, I would have one the event. But he overpowered me.

Still I had fun and did well.

Oh and then I evaluated Tiaan for his judge test. Obviously it is more difficult than he thought being a judge. Magic is very intricate. But I have faith in Tiaan's abilities. I think there is a different mindset though. I am intrigued by interesting and difficult interactions. It has to be FUN to judge. I enjoy judging almost as much as I do playing.

I'll be the judge

2006-04-19T11:07:00.000+02:00

Ok, it had to happen eventually.

I am a magic: the gathering (to know more, this is their official website) judge. Level 2. This basically means I am an 'area' judge, which is more than a 'local' judge (level 1), although I have not done the last PTQ (pro tour qualifier). I organise events and be there for rules queries and penalties. I love the logic involved in the game. Intrigueing and complex interactions between cards.

I'm excited about the new set Dissension that is coming out this saturday... Well, actually the prerelease event is this saturday, the official release date is only later.

Many of the cards are already known (it's supposed to be a surprise, but info always leaks to the internet) and it's enough to really get people's attention.

The spoiler can be seen at http://mtgsalvation.com/spoiler/dissension

Tests and the rests.

2006-04-18T11:33:00.000+02:00

It's been a craze for a while to do some internet tests. My brother mentioned OKcupid on his site. And it's OK, even if a bit rude at times.

My interest lies with words and here is an interesting test.

http://similarminds.com/intdoor-verbal.html

It is a vocabulary test, and it is really difficult.

You be the judge

2006-04-18T10:33:00.000+02:00

The unfortunate thing is that only my brother and maybe a few others read my blog. The reason is that I want to guage what other people feel is fair. I think many people will be able to guess who is who in the scenario if you know me and the situation, but still...

3 people involved. Abe, Bob and Charles

Abe, Bob and Charles shares a house in a security complex. Abe pays R800, Bob and Charles both pay R1000.

In exchange for the extra R200, Bob gets to use the garage and gets the biggest room, while Charles has a an ensuite bathroom and a balcony.

The house only provides two parking spaces, the garage and the driveway. The third car (all have cars), stops just outside the house ... on a yellow line.

Now... a parking fine arrives. The fine is addressed to the household (Bob, Charles and Dave --- Abe replaced Dave in everything except the contract... Dave did not have a car). The registration number of the car mentioned in the fine is that of Abe. Abe was the one who most often stopped there, being the one who arrives first, so that Bob can get to the garage (without him having to move when Bob arrives).

A letter of warning had arrived a month or so ago, and Charles claims to have never stopped there since that letter.

The parking fine is R250.

The question is: How should the fine be handled?

Tom Lehrer

2006-04-13T09:03:00.000+02:00

Recently one of the words on Merriam-webster's (http://www.merriam-webster.com/) word of the day was "yen". It is actually a chinese word that means "a strong desire" initially, it was more specific though, a strong desire for opium.

And the previous time I saw that word was in a song by Tom Lehrer. I thought he just sang "yearn" with a bit of an accent. He was a singer (and also a mathematician), who sang amonst others this song... The first part is his little speach before he starts to sing. This is from http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/

MY HOME TOWN

Next we have the dear-hearts-and-gentle-people's school of songwriting, in which the singer tells you that, no matter how much sin and vice and crime go on where he comes from, it's still the best place in the world because it's home, you know? Sort of gets you. This example is called My Home Town.

I really have a yen
To go back once again,
Back to the place where no one wears a frown,
To see once more those super-special just plain folks
In my home town.

No fellow could ignore
The little girl next door,
She sure looked sweet in her first evening gown.
Now there's a charge for what she used to give for free
In my home town.

I remember Dan, the druggist on the corner, he
Was never mean or orner-y,
He was swell.
He killed his mother-in-law and ground her up real well,
And sprinkled just a bit
Over each banana split.

The guy that taught us math,
Who never took a bath,
Acquired a certain measure of renown,
And after school he sold the most amazing pictures
In my home town.

That fellow was no fool
Who taught our Sunday School,
And neither was our kindly Parson Brown
-(We're recording tonight, so I'll have to leave this line out.) *
In my home town.

I remember Sam, he was the village idiot,
And though it seems a pity, it
Was so.
He loved to burn down houses just to watch the glow,
And nothing could be done,
Because he was the mayor's son.

The guy that took a knife
And monogrammed his wife,
Then dropped her in the pond and watched her drown.
Oh, yes indeed, the people there are just plain folks
In my home town.

Notes
* In the studio recording this line is: "I guess I better leave this line out just to be on the safe side".
* In some live performances, this line is given as: "Shall I? No, I'd better not."
* The question that comes up over and over again is what is the line that is being omitted here? Answer: There isn't one. Leaving it to the imagination is funnier than any line could be. But for those who doubt that, feel free to try to come up with one and send it in. I've had little luck myself. One possible line I've come up with is "He knew to pull the blinds at all the 'parish meetings' in my Home Town," which at least has the virtue of having the proper number of syllables, but is hardly worse (or even as bad) as most of the lines that didn't get omitted. Anybody think they can do better? (I mean worse).

Blogging, RSS feeds and apostrophe

2006-04-12T16:26:00.000+02:00

I'm someone who really tries hard to spell correctly and increase my vocabulary. In my Gmail inbox (or just above actually) there is an RSS feed.

I am subscribed to various different RSS feeds, many of which are 'word of the day' of some dictionary or whatever.

I would really like to put those feeds up on my blog, but don't know much about HTML. I guess I'll need some HTML to do that.

One of my pet hates is the incorrect usage of the apostrophe in the english language.

I saw a billboard in Cape Town last year:

--- Overtake the Jones'

Now, that is wrong.

The apostrophe in English is used only to:
a) denote possession and to
b) show an omission of a letter.

That sentence should be:
Overtake the Joneses

I know it looks funny, but it is right.

How about this one.
The princess' dress is beautiful.

Again wrong ... If singular, it takes " 's ", and it does not matter how many s-es there are already... (whoa that is a difficult one, how does one spell the plural of "S" IMO you would *not* use an apostrophy, an apostrophy is not used for plural forms)

So it should be:
The princess's dress is beautiful.

Now:
The Princesses' dresses are beautiful.
That is correct, it is plural, now because there is an S, the apostrophe is not followed by an additional s.

However words where the plural does not end on an S, do get the 's. Like :

The mice's cheese.

Lastly, the usage of "then" when "than" is meant.

From a magic card: (frazzled editor)

So, the picture is not quite as clear as I hoped, but it is still one of my favourite magic cards from the unhinged set. (will make a post about that later)

Hello world...

2006-04-12T13:23:00.000+02:00

If you have ever tried learning a computer language of any kind, you would know what the title refers to.

Hello world... world of blogging.

So far it is pretty easy; no >print "hello world" stuff :)

Soon there will be more here.

Oh, and that's me. Now I should be able to upload a URL for my photo.