I must be adapting very easily to the new updates then - the new sounds don't bother me, they became natural (I don't even remember what sound doors made before, if they did at all).
I shall now give account of the
Technic Launcher. It is essentially what I've been missing from MC when it comes to mods: being able to choose between different modded - or the vanilla - versions of MC without juggling JAR files and folders around. On startup, you get to choose what supported mod pack you want to play (e.g. Technic, Tekkit, YogBox, Hack/Mine), and after the usual login, you play MC with the choosen mod. The launcher creates a separate folder for each of mod packs you start up.
So I booted up the Technic Pack yesterday. I spawned near a surface lava flow that was surrounded with dark basalt stone, I found a Mayan settlement (Millenaire mod), a disturbing number of crocodiles in the nearby area (if they manage to attack you, they will hold you between their jaws for a while and you can't attack them - courtesy of the Mo'Creatures mod) and many other things which I haven't figured out yet, I'll only relate to the wikis when I get over the novelty of the whole experience.
Oh, and I was exploring a cave as usual, when a hornet flew at me from the darkness and attacked me. Stuff of my nightmares, but now I shall face them, thanks to Technic...