Showing posts with label Scrabble. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scrabble. Show all posts

Sunday, April 18, 2010

LBH was horrible and the last MSA mini......

wasn't ideal, 3rd place after failing to keep pace with Nigel (Recalling the 2008 Scrabble Scramble) and then stumbling over my last opponent by winning by single digit (well, he opened with a natural TOAZING....ggggrrrr.....) to allow someone to pip me on spread.

And don't even get me talking about LBH.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Lim Boon Heng Cup

Here I come!!!

Guess this means that JB mini will have to wait.
OTOH, I probably will scrap my Australia trip and have to reconsider WPC in light of the new dates and venue (do I really want to spend all that money on a 10 year visa that will only be worth 1 trip?)

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

WSC and CSC epilogue

WSC 70th place (half a win up on 2005 record). 11-13, -262.
Just pissed mad that I had to play compatriot, Vannitha Balasingam in the last round. And Malaysia is confirmed losing a spot, so shared responsibilities all round. (and that includes you, Ganesh)
CSC Open: 10th place, RM500, 27.5-17.5, + 1317.
No chance to play Premier this year, so I need not take responsibility that Causeway team has been dropped (Hell, I would rather Team Malaysia play and get dropped than being merged with Singapore to form Team Causeway). Time to start boosting International Rating to make the International teams (I think the 1911 rating I got from these two tourneys is a good headstart)

Foreseeable 2010 Itinerary
April: 2010 Australia Nationals, Adelaide
June: 25th King's Cup, Bangkok
November: WPC, Toronto/Dallas/Whereever (There is always the Malaysian Open for backup)
December: Causeway Scrabble Challenge, JB

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

King's Cup Epilogue

Good: 16-10, +93, 16th place (one win up on last year) Personal Record

Bad: losing out on 10th place by a Helen Gipson or Lukeman Owolabi or Panupol Sujjayakorn

Ugly: Free challenge is such a bitch to deal with. Then again, there was Cream & fudge Factory which I visited like 5 times throughout the tournament, my poor waistline. My bowling scores on Friday or Saturday night.
Preparations for Nationals: Double NADA!!!!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Penang Open epilogue

Good: 5th place, RM 700 richer
Bad: rating should drop, 13 wins out of 20, ding-donging most of the way at the beginning.

Ugly: Diarrhoea attack on 1st night, Acid Reflux this morning, GI syndrome all the way. Cardbox just exploded today, 2000+ and counting to conquer in a few days.

Upside: no end-tourney slide, won 7 out of the last 8 games. (I think I managed to pass the curse on to Alex Tan)
Preparation for King's Cup: still NADA!!!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Scrabble updates

Zyzzyva: 1.4xk 7s and 8s with bloated indigestions, must be the 6Ls K words......oh well, not going to reset cardbox just yet.

Strategy: sux!!!

Practice: sux!!!! need to plan some online sessions with pakorn or helen.

Preparation for Penang Open: what preparations?
Preparation for King's Cup: Nada too.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Where did the script go wrong?

Singapore Open:

First 10 games: 9-1, 2 clear of the field and in pole position (good)
Last 6 games: 0-6, 7th barely scoring any points if this was the F1 GP (bad)

Playing phonies like HILIS* (unchallenged), OBIITS* (unchallenged), VOIDLESS* (challenged). (Really Ugly)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Going for the Singapore Open

Okay, I was feeling rusty right now and wanted to put about an extra 3000 bingos to use on the board before Penang Open. Hence the Singapore Open trip at the last minute. Actually, just wanted to get my mind off a crappy date that bombed.
Despite leaving it until Sunday to buy the train tickets, managed to snag lower berths in the middle so I should be fine. If all goes well and the field plays terribly, I should win this. And Penang Open. and King's Cup. But who am I kidding, Pakorn just registered for Penang Open. Then again, only 4 repeats.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Australian Nationals 2009 - Redux

Good: Enjoyed the weather, enjoyed the tournament, enjoyed the full cream milk, enjoyed the food.

Bad: Finishing 20 something with 13 wins and 2nd highest spread.

Ugly: Last 3 games. Go see for yourself.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

3rd MSA WSC Qualifiers

Great: Won it. 11 out of 15 games, 900+ spread thereabout. RM200 (in the bank)

Good: prep for Australian Nationals, needed a confidence boost after Millecup, 31 bingos in 15 games.

Bad: playing unchallenged phonies like DEAVY* and VIBED* and getting away with it. Still need to work on tactics.

Ugly: That heated debate about the WSC team. I really want Jocelyn to go this year. (Edit:) Blowing the prize money on a sushi dinner. :P

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

To play or not to play

There will be a local Scrabble tourney next weekend, which will jam up my dinner appointments schedule on Friday, Saturday and Monday (not to mention that they are all wine tasting menus so I will probably be playing at around 20% peak performance)

What a dilemma...trilemma....quadrilemma....

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Australian Nationals 2009

Perth, here I come.

At least it will be on Easter weekend, have booked the flight and accommodation.
Now to renew the passport and get an ETA Visa.

PS: I know I haven't been posting about food much.
Will probably throw all the photos I have on one page with some captions.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Thank god for Millecup

Okay, first tournament jitters over. 4th place was a so-so finish even if I was seeded 4th but I still lost rating points. Not many fantastic things except for the niner that turned around a game where I was like 2 bingos down and playing catch-up. Funny how luck changes midgame.

On to the next one. wonder if I can win it (wish I could give Nigel a run for his money, last year's Scrabble Scramble was very painful to lose)

On another topic, I dislike the team allocation for Malaysia this year at Causeway (and I most definitely do not want to play my countrymen even if I make the international team), not that I will make the cut for that anyway. At least we get more spots for the WSC.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Moving on...

I guess I have to admire people who can give up Scrabble (at their peak) totally for any given period of time (even when some of them do come back for Act II). Brett, Perry, Cappelletto, Ganesh.

And you have the constant: Nigel,

Me, I still haven't ascended any peaks, never won any tournaments in the top division, haven't studied the entire dictionary, haven't mastered all the strategies and tactics. It's feel kinds of weird leaving the game on the way up but not at the top or over the peak.

I wish my mother would tell Tiger Woods to give up golf before he won any Majors and take over the family business.

No Scrabble tourneys for me...so far

The 1st WSC qualifiers clashed with work.
The 2nd one with a party that I am organizing.
The next one, Millecup in Singapore, might get derailed if I am sent off for a workshop in Penang the Wednesday before.

When the heck am I going to play in tournaments this year.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Going for Causeway

On paper, Malaysia is probably one of the weaker teams (if not the weakest one) since we have lost the service of Nigel Richards (playing for the inaugural New Zealand team) and Ganesh (retirement, whatever).

At the very least, we will have breakout Ong Suanne anchoring the team with Aaron Chong backing her up.

Me? I will just settle for being the whipping boy on the Malaysian team, assuming Tan Jin Chor doesn't beat me to that title. Whipping geezer...that has a nice ring to it.

PS: I guess I will have to mention Vannitha Balasingam somewhere, so here.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

What a ??? weekend

Friday 8pm, Old Town Kopitiam Cafe, Cheras:
Start boardgaming session.

Saturday 4am, Old Town Kopitiam Cafe, Cheras:
finish boardgaming session. Games played: Mystery of the Abbey, Cafe International, 1870.
Picked up my 18EU (WWWWWHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!)

Saturday 5am, Home, Selayang:
Reach home, converse with mum, check emails, prepare laptop for Interschool Finals, shower, breakfast.

Saturday 7.30am, Home Selayang:
Leave home for Bukit Bintang.

Saturday 8am, Bukit Bintang:
Arrived, park car, go to office, update last remaining software and download virus definition, go to BTS.

Saturday 8.45am, Berjaya Times Square:
Arrived, loiter, double check with registration, update players list, walk around with laptop, check final details with Mrs Yap, printout pairings for first 3 rounds and we are roaring to begin!

Saturday 9.30am, Berjaya Times Square:
Inputting round 1 results.

Saturday 10.15am, Berjaya Times Square:
Inputting round 1 & 2 results.

Saturday 11am, Berjaya Times Square:
Inputting round 2 results, nodding off with results slip in hand, inputting round 2 results, err, round 3 results in the box piling up (I am slow due to boardgaming fatigue)

Saturday 12noon, Berjaya Times Square:
Wolfing down Big Mac, still keying in round 3. printout pairings for next 2 rounds.

Saturday 12.45pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Crash on stage in public (chairs too uncomfortable), drifting in and out of sleep with mumblings and giggles. Wonder how many people choose to record my public indifference.

Saturday 1pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Woke up, waddle to laptop, INPUT! input! input! input. input. input, input, input...input...

Saturday 1.50pm, Berjaya Times Square:
input...input...printout R6 pairings...input...input...input...

Saturday 3pm, Berjaya Times Square:
input...input...input...input...input...input...

Saturday 4.45pm, Berjaya Times Square:
input...input...input last result slip from R6. Hooray. printout R7 & R8 pairings. stayed behind and zyzzyva.

Saturday 5.30pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Halfway through zyzzyva, head back to hotel, get back in car, drive home.

Saturday 6.15pm, Home, Selayang:
Crash on bed, AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh!...........................

Sunday 6.30am, Home, Selayang:
Wake up, change, check laptop, drive.

Sunday 8.50am, Berjaya Times Square:
Park car elsewhere, arrive, setup, waiting for random dropout to screw pairings, random guy does dropout, screw pairings, don't reset pairings, bye-bye in the system (at least John Chew program can switch the guy "off -50").

Sunday 9.35am, Berjaya Times Square:
input. input. input. input. input. input...more helpers (good slaves actually). input...input...input...

Sunday 11am, Berjaya Times Square:
Photo op, doesn't buy time, still trying to catch up on backlog of results slip (about 50+ of them), GO ME!

Sunday 11.05am, Berjaya Times Square:
starting repeat rounds, printout pairings, relegate 41+kids onward to RR groups (again) just to keep them out of my hair.

Sunday 12.30pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Finally inputted R9, printout pairings for top 40 kids, troubleshoot.

Sunday 1.15pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Finally get my Big Mac, input...input...input...input...

Sunday 3.45pm, Berjaya Times Square:
input 5...input 4...input 3...input 2...input 1...FINISHED!!!!!! printout, printout, printout...

Sunday 4pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Mrs Yap announces results, prize-giving

Sunday 4.15pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Discover boo-boo in keying in result.

Sunday 4.17pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Boo-boo rectified (Go ahead, Tony, gloat!)

Sunday 4.30pm, Berjaya Times Square:
Zyzzyvaing, edit .tou file, zyzzyvaing, calculate ratings, zyzzyvaing until 7pm, leave for Oversea Restaurant Imbi.

Sunday 7.30pm, Oversea Restaurant Imbi:
enter room, order, eat...eat...eat...converse...eat...eat...eat...nibble...eat...eat...eat...

Sunday 9pm, Oversea Restaurant Imbi:
eat...eat...eat...converse...eat...eat...eat...stuffed...eat...eat...eat...converse...eat...eat...eat...dessert

Sunday 9.45pm, Bukit Bintang:
drive 5 SPECs boy to Subang

Sunday 9.47pm, Bukit Bintang:
detour through Changkat Bukit Bintang

Sunday 9.52pm, Bukit Bintang:
got pulled over by police for overloading my car. (Threw money out of wallet first!)

Sunday 9.57pm, Bukit Bintang:
Policemen pity students (& me), let me go, note to self: try to look more penniless next time if don't have student.

Sunday 10.13pm, Federal Highway:
Raining, road wet. (Retrieve money and put back into wallet)

Sunday 10.34pm, Subang:
Drop them off, head home, tidy up, update blog.


Tuesday, May 20, 2008

It's been 166 days since....

The 2007 Causeway Scrabble Challenge and I finally played in my first Malaysian Scrabble tournament of the year, and over the Wesak Day weekend somemore. Whoooooooo-boyyyyyyy! I am deflated.

Day 1: (AM)WWWW, (PM)LWLW
Day 2: (AM)WWWW, (PM) LWL

Note to self: Stop imitating Nigel by eating club sandwiches during lunch break.
2nd note to self: must replicate crabby, angry morning look and optimise it for afternoon sessions.
3rd note to self: continue to fake facebook update about doing zyzzyva every other day.
Nothing special about me for those 2 days, still Scrabble-rusty on Saturday morning, was just glad not to have met Nigel early until I work off morning crabbiness. Then again, I think I need that crabbiness and drive to beat Nigel. Besides, it's my first time beating Nigel twice within the same tournament and on the same day and managing to hoard him 5 times to myself (which is about 1/3 of the games played). Praise everyone else for their performance.

Now to pray for many milestones to come. (like a National Champion title this year? I can dream after all)

Sunday, September 30, 2007

7th Equatorial Cameron Highlands Scrabble Tournament

Good news: Made top 10

Bad news: Rating drop below Kong Chock Heng

Ugly news: 9 wins out of 18, way out of my history (Horrible)

Uglier news: Tony sim dropped to 5th after playing nigel 7 times (including the last game) and only drawing 3 blanks out of a possible 14.

Ugliest news: now have to wait and see who drops out of Causeway

Better news: I am ahead of Vannitha in the pecking order.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

On the way to cameron highlands

Driving along with Nigel and Jocelyn in my car.
currently taking a break at the Tapah northbound stop and testing out the Wifi here (it works but it is an unsecured network so I better break off soon after checking my email).

Maybe I will let Nigel take over as the driver.

No contact from Alex Tan's car.