DJ In-House

...like, literally. I just bought my Vestax VCI-300 MK2, my ATH-M50 headphones, and a pair of speakers for me to spin at home. Can't wait to do some DJ-ing at home! But, after this week. Hectic week ahead!

And I found a lot of my old pictures that I used for my blog in the past. Shall "recycle" them again!

And You Ponder...

... if she'll ever notice you. 

Because when she's gone,

you won't want to be there when it happens.

VS System TCG

Well, because I'm sick of studying, I decided to take a break and write a post about this card game. VS System started a long time ago, and as much as it tried to survive, it just never manage to capture people's interest. Which I fail to understand.

VS System allows you to use your favourite heroes, villains and teams in Marvel comics and DC comics, with a few others such as Hellboy. But mostly Marvel and DC. Today I found a card shop that sold this X-men starter deck for $10 (it was $15 long ago) and this deck box which was actually not for sale because the guy did not know how much it would cost now. That is how old this game is.

I like the Justice League deck box! Artwork by Alex Ross! Saw a guy having this a few months back and now I finally got one for myself!

To talk about this card game, I decided to show this starter deck as an example. I already bought one of this way back, but I decided to buy one more... just for fun. Anyway, in this box holds 2 decks, ready-made in a sense. Why I say so is because this game actually needs you to have a deck of 60 cards, which I think is slightly overkill. I mean, how the hell do I shuffle 60 cards? The box contains 26 cards per deck. The 2 decks are X-men and Brotherhood. Apparently, this set came out when the first X-men film was released. Hence you will notice that most of the characters given in the decks are same to the ones that appeared in the film. Thankfully, the artworks use the costumes of the comics-counterparts.

I won't go through the how-to of this card game, but I'll share about it in general. You can use any characters from any team, such as Brotherhood, and even have a deck containing multiple teams as long as you have team-up cards to allow team bonuses to be shared. I could team up the JLA with the Avengers if I wanted to. From big guns like Superman and Captain America to smaller ones like Morlocks and Outsiders, VS System covers a lot of the Marvel and DC universes.

Through the years VS System tried to give itself a fresh look in terms of card design in order to keep people interested and attract new players. However they must have failed badly because the card game was discontinued a few years back. I have to admit, Singapore did not really promote this game. I only could buy the newer sets from a particular comic shop called Comic Mart at Raffles City, which closed down eventually. That meant that I could no longer buy the newer sets, and had to stick with the older ones which can still be found at card shops around the island.

Every character has multiple versions, hence you can have more of your favourite character in the deck. Take Magneto, for instance. I've 2 different versions of the level 7 Magneto, both with different effects but still just as fearful.

There are many teams to make, such as JLA, Gotham Knights, Teen Titans, X-men, Ultimates, Spider-Friends, Sinister Syndicate, Gotham Inmates, Fantastic Four, Brotherhood, Hellfire Club, Green Lanterns and Avengers. I'm not sure why, but I purchased many of the cards for collecting. I bought boxes of booster packs from many series and many starter decks just to see what cards I'd get and add to my collection.

I made plenty of decks with the cards I got, but I never found anyone to play with. Nobody seemed to play this game, and hence I could only look at the cards and admire their beauty. I think VS System would be better if it was promoted more, their rules a tad simpler, and the deck size reduced to 30. I've been making my decks of 30 cards because I feel that 30 is enough for a game to last. I presume the 60-card size is to merely make chances of getting the cards you want less to... make the game more challenging? I don't know. Either way, as a comic book fan, I feel that this game actually had the potential, but somehow failed horribly due to dumb luck or something. Even the PSP game, Marvel Trading Card Game, was not well-received. And the cards given were the old ones with the new ones only obtainable from downloadable content(which I couldn't get because by the time I tried, the website was closed down).

BATMAN BEYOND!!!!! Love this toy ^^

Do You Ever Feel That Way?

Road to Nostalgia

Recently my dad's mom passed away. That makes both grandparents from my dad's side gone. Yesterday I got to see some really old photos, as far back as my parents' wedding and nearer ones like me when I was still in Primary school.

Looking at the photos, I see my grandfather, his hair still black, smiling away. He looked so happy, so joyful. This is a total contrast to his last few months, bed-ridden, his body frail and skinny, his words incoherent, his temper foul, and yet, his eyes were the eyes of a sad man, who could do nothing but helplessly wait for his time to come. What changed along the way?

Looking at the photos, I see my grandmother. She had that fierce presence in the photos, like those cunning mother-in-laws you see in those Chinese dramas. Not saying that she is, but that was the best way to describe the air she had. I never really interacted much with her, but the week before she passed away, I visited her once, and as I stared into her eyes, I saw glassy eyes staring back at me, as if searching my soul for something. Maybe she wanted to see if I was worth being the oldest grandson. Personally, I could tell that she was the kind who favored the sons over daughters, and same went for grandchildren. I'm not a big fan of such biasness, which probably was a reason why I never felt (or wanted to be) close to my grandmother. To me, a person's character speaks a lot, whether relative or not. Maybe that's why, all those years, I failed my role as the oldest grandchild (and grandson) in the family tree.  Yet, I am not sure what I'm suppose to do as the oldest. How does one fail if one knows not what he is to achieve?

Looking at the photos, I see my dad. His big smile on his wedding day, with his even bigger glasses. It's some trend in that time I guess. He didn't seem to age much, looking almost the same as the photos, except maybe a bit thinner, probably the result of raising two kids and being a breadwinner of the family. Back then, would he have thought that he would have to bid farewell to his parents? Did he send them off with any regret?

Looking at the photos, I see my mom. She looked so young. And she actually look the same now, except for slight wrinkles from aging. And I found out she gave birth to me when she was only...24? That's quite young, I exclaimed when she told me. But she never went to university, and started working at quite a young age, so I guess 24 was a reasonable age to have a kid. My dad's 5 years ahead of her, by the way. Seeing her in the photo, I wonder what her dreams and ambitions were. Would she realize that she was going to be a housewife, and her only goal in life would be to see her two kids graduate and have promising futures? That is all she seems to ask for in life right now, and sometimes I wish she could be more self-centered and think more for herself.

Looking at the photos, I see myself, so small and innocent, with a big smile showing all my teeth. My mom looked at the photos and told me that it was a long time since I smiled like that. And yes, she was right. That smile I did was the kind that showed the world that I was a happy kid, when nothing else mattered than the now, and that I was having a good life. It was the kind that never bothered about what people think or said about me. It was a carefree smile.

Its nostalgic, looking at the photos. How much we've changed, how much has happened, how people have come and gone in our lives. 21 years since I was born, and here I am today. Makes me wonder what life has planned for me, and how things would be when I look back at the time when I was 21.

Damn Girl...

... why are you so irresistible?

But then again, I decided not to trust my heart anymore.

End Of Recess Week

Well, this week ended so fast it felt more like recess weekend!

Finally uploaded my first mix! I'm honestly not too satisfied with it, mostly because I feel that most of my transits between the songs were horrible. It didn't sound so bad when I was recording it, but it came out that bad. Still, it just motivates me to try harder! Maybe I should record a small mix once a month or something! Make my Soundcloud more active!

Seeing two of my friends getting into relationships makes me wonder will I be like Ted. Obviously trying to look for a girl doesn't work; I've been trying. Maybe my expectations are too... High? But then again, it doesn't seem to bother me much, to my surprise. It's like I don't really bother about it anymore. If it happens, it happens. If not, why worry over it?

Need to start the making of my costume going.

Lots of projects and work to do. Really, really looking forward to the long holidays after this semester!