Robot Claw

Went to Adam’s yesterday for a full day of Magic playing. Thanks to Bernard, I had an entire box of Foundations (a recent set) that needed opening!

And so we did! We played three rounds of sealed (6 packs each), a fourth round with decks we’d made using our entire pools, then a fifth and final round using five-colour decks we also made with our cards. Fifteen games in total, and when the dust settled Adam had won 8-7. Including lunch this took about eight hours!

It was some of – if not the – most fun Magic we’d played. The set is very well designed with a high power level and great card synergy. Our decks were always well-matched and very few wins were easy. Thumbs up for Foundations!

We also got lucky with cards, and I’ll be taking about ten of the pricier ones back to the USA to sell back to the store I got the box from. Hopefully I’ll get enough credit to secure another box for next years festivities 🙂

Tried these yesterday as well. They have a slight hint – maybe a memory – of sausage roll in them, but mostly just taste like plain corn chips. I wasn’t a big fan, so these can stay here in Australia!

I’m with mum now, and things are good. This is the part of the trip where I eat too much and spend lazy evenings watching game shows and writing postcards. I stamped 47 this morning, including using old stamps which were a gift from Sue:

Today the awesome rains that have caused widespread flooding ended and we went to the local mall for lunch and some shopping. It’s a shame I hadn’t seen these pants earlier because they could have been useful during the downpour:

Australian shops are similar to American stores now, but the dollar stores have an entirely different selection of ‘copyright be damned’ toys in them. Many times I have showcased unusual finds here but this sword I saw today was uniquely eye-opening:

Whether it’s called The King Swords Weapon or The King’s Super Swords or The Kings Weapon Of The Most Fun Toys, the obvious feature that caught my eye was the character Lightning from Final Fantasy 13! The sword is garbage of course, but one day this item will be covered by completionist FF collectors. Looking at this photo now, I should have bought one!

We won’t speak of this Lionel Ritchie cutting board, except to say the fact it’s wood would make incinerating it quick and easy!

Lastly, a new installment in the abandoned Salt & Vinegar chip reviews, with these ‘Epic Salt & Vinegar’ chips from Smith’s.

I never revealed here but the reason we stopped reviewing Salt & Vinegar chips was because eating them in large quantities is risky business. The vinegar often hurts my mouth and if ignored, even my eyes. The flavour may be good, but surely the pain suggests the opposite?

But these particular chips were insanely powerful, and to be honest difficult to eat. Mum even said she was surprised they were ‘allowed’ to be sold! I may have eaten half the bag, but we’ll blame that on jetlag and simply state that even one single chip is enough to convince me never to buy these again 🙂