Just Wild Beat Communication
31 May 2009
It's been over a week since my friends and I went over to Germany to play in the German Reach Mahjong tournament. It was an enjoyable trip overall, but it did have a couple of rather annoying moments. One of those being the half-hour delay to our train back to Bremen from Hanover, and the other the extreme lack of sleep from staying overnight in the airport. Of those two, the train delay was definitely the most irritating. I was extremely tired after staying awake for thirty-six hours straight and it was something I really didn't need. Plus the fact that the German announcer didn't tell us what was happening in English, when it's an international station, really got on my nerves. I think the reason for the delay was down to the football fans (of which there were hundreds) that were crowding the train station, both in Hanover and Bremen. In any case, it was severely irritating. I hope that I'll never have to experience that ever again!
Apart from those two niggles, the rest of the trip was good. We did run into a massive rain shower during the afternoon in Bremen but it cleared up not long after it started. We spent a few hours looking around the city and got lots of free rides on the trams. Speaking of the trams, it appears that you don't actually need to buy a ticket for it, even though there are ticket machines on-board. You see, no one actually comes around and checks for tickets. And the locals don't ever buy them either. So I'm guessing the machines are only there to fool naive little tourists like us. Another interesting thing about the trams and trains in Germany is that they use a very strange bell tone when they announce each stop. It's a single, very dull 'dong' sound - very similar to that of a death toll. Extremely eerie, especially at night.
The tournament itself was fantastic. We only just about managed to get there on time, thanks to some ingenious navigation by the sun. The first round was extremely nerve-racking but I soon settled into a rhythm and played three decent rounds. By the start of the fourth round I was in 25th place. Unfortunately, I began to chase the win in the last round and lost about 20,000 points. If that hadn't happened then I would have finished in the top half of the table. Unfortunately, it did and I finished in 35th place in the end, which I was slightly unhappy about. My friends, rather disappointingly, finished in 42nd and 45th place. But it is our first tournament and I'm sure we'll be able to do a lot better next time, when we've actually had a decent night's sleep!
I've finally got around to taking a picture of my figure collection. The Ignis figure that I ordered arrived last Tuesday and it quickly became my new favourite. The detailing on the figure is fantastic and Ignis' pose is extremely fluid and dynamic. The cast-off features are an interesting bonus but doesn't really add that much to what is already a superb figure. My only concern is that the whole figure is supported on only one pin in Ignis' left foot. This means that there's a risk of the figure leaning over after awhile. I don't think it shouldn't be too much of a problem, though, as the tentacle also provides some extra support to the weight of the figure. I'll just need to make sure I check it regularly for any signs of it leaning.
Posted byHocchan at 8:24 pm
