OK...i confess...i'm in love with Prison Break. and my top 10 as well.

there you go. i've gotten it off my chest. now i can talk about it freely. wow, what a relief to finally let it out?! currently, i'm near the end of the 2nd season. its getting pretty good again. nothing beats the first season where they are actually still in prison trying to break out, when everything was just a little simpler and a little complex all at the same time. the badguys in the first season are so much more cooler than the 2nd season. those of you who watch know what i'm talking about.

life has been pretty good for mai kao and i. the other day we woke up and walked around town and realized we really like living in Shanghai. its a great city to live in and a great place to save lots of cash. its like living in downtown Chicago but with the costs of living in Dixon. serious, it can be that inexpensive if you try...which we do a poor job of doing...but it can be done. when all is said and done, i will miss this place and season in mai kao and my life.

mai kao's cooking is off the hook!

these are some upcoming trips that mai kao and i hope to embark on this upcoming year. traveling around asia is pretty cheap if you can get over here.
1. vietnam (for the 3 week vacation in late Jan.)
2. S. Korea/Japan trip
3. Australia/Malaysia? hopefully
4. Israel...if we can afford it.

oh one more thing. last week we got a christmas tree and decorated it. we love it so much, we leave the christmas lights on all night long. in this season we are glad to have each other, but we miss our friends dearly. when sarah left to go back home, it really reminded us how much we love each and every one of our family members, cousins, nieces/nephews, friends who are closer than family, and church. keep us in your prayers and remember us when you are celebrating something.

josh out.

this next part is for the magic guys...if you dont want to read about magic you can skip this next part. its been inspired by the outlaw Xaycho Kong. my top 10 favorite magic cards. in no particular order.

1. Reveillark - i was never really a fan of reanimation until Reveillark. i've always known how cool reanimating something was but never how devastating it can be to your opponents. this guy is super annoying, when he is cast your opponent is caught in a Catch 22, do they kill him and let two creatures with devastating abilities come back into play? or do you let him fly over and smash you in to face for 4? either way you lose.
2. Avalanche Riders - possibly my favorite creature of all time. it took me months to find 4 copies of this guy the old fashioned way of going to stores and trading friends. how cool is coming into play, destroying any one land and then getting a creature with haste in return for R3 cc? probably way cooler than anything you've ever imagined for in a magic card! he's got an echo cost, but thats nothing a good blink cant take care of...he he. if land destroy ever makes a comeback as a viable deck, i will be on that train...
3. Mystic Snake - i love creatures with CIP (comes into play abilities) especially ones that get rid of stuff. this guy counters anything and you get a creature! his only downfall is his casting cost, but i've always been a fan of blue/green ever since the days of U/G madness.
4. momentary blink - who would have thought that making your creature leave play for a split second would be so cool? this card can be used for evasion, and cool tricks involving comes into play abilities...see the three creatures above!
5. Stasis - never has a card been a lock all in itself. its a hard to play against and play with, thats why i like it. i like cards that make me a better player, cards that force you to stop and think for a bit. with this card you have no choice but to stop and think about your slow death...b/c all your permanents will never untap again! too dirty of a card, thats precisely why i like it.
6. lightning helix - my favorite burn spell of all time. i am never sad to draw this card...ever.
7. shepard of rot - what? all your favorite cards dont have to be tournament staples. i've always loved how suicidal this guy is. with my suicide zombie deck of the onslaught era i posted nearly a 60% draw percentage with this guy...what i mean is whenever my opponent thought that they were going to win, i would tap this little bad boy and kill both of us right there on the spot. you dont know how annoyed my opponents would be that no one won.
8. wild mongrel - i love this creature. it ranks up there with tarmogoyf as one of the best 2 drops ever. period. your opponent is trying to shock it? you just discard a card to it to give it +1/+1. okay then, so your opponent tries to terror it? well, you forgot to mention to your opponent that you also turned it black! how annoying! i rode this guy all the way to game 3 of the finals of a tournament i once played back in St. louis.
9. Pavement - Terror Twilight, okay so this is not a magic card. its an album. i ran out of cards to post on okay? if you havent listened this album, you should. enough said.
10. oh i finally thought of another one...Makeshift Mannequin. instant speed reanimation. ridiculous with mulldrifter, persist creatures, and shriekmaw. in fact, many decks are tier 2 based just on the mulldrifter/shriekmaw/Mannequin interactions. thats just how powerful it is. also, a good budget card. if you noticed all my cards on my list arent expensive, except for maybe the reveillark. for the most part i;m a budget player so this card fits in real nice for me.

okay peace out for real.

josh out.

p.s. christmas wishlist
1. a black/white eventide deck. not the precon but a fully constructed one.
2. glen elendra archmages
3. poopy face.