Our first American football game!

December 24, 2006

Won a raffle from work, during a charity drive. 4 tickets to the SF 49ers vs. the Arizona Cardinals! Woohoo, our first football game, live in Monster Park! Vicki and Raymond joined us, providing transport and food! Showed us the culture of tailgate parties at the parking lot, and lesson on how the game works! Too bad the 49ers lost 20-26, but we saw a few good plays. Now I understand the game a little!

Housewarming party

December 16, 2006

Housewarming party at our new home! We had some friends, family and colleagues join us for a Malaysian style lunch, with nasi lemak, satay, lontong, rendang, roti jala.... many contributions to the table! Yummy!

Thank you for all the gifts! We love them!

Click here for more photos!

Tai Chi

Had been going for tai-chi classes at the gym... imagine that?

One big watermelon
Cut into two
One for you
One for me

I always remember this from young..... see if you know those moves!!

Actually, it's not that easy.... doing things slowly takes its toll on your balance and muscular strength when lifting and moving your arms and legs slowly.

I am learning the 'Yang' style of tai-chi, supposedly the most popular form. There's 3 parts, and I am learning part 1 now, at 'playing guitar' #10. When I can move the winds around like Jet Li in 'Tai Chi Master', I'll let you know. We'll spar in slow motion... and eat watermelon after that....

Here are the postures:
1 Preparatory posture

2 Taijiquan commencing

3 Stroke peacock's tail
Ward (right, left, front)
Divert and draw
Squeeze
Press

4 Single whip

5 Close arms and lift

6 White crane exposes wings

7 Brush left thigh and press forth right palm

8 Play the guitar

9 Brush thigh and press forth palm
Brush left thigh and press forth right palm
Brush right thigh and press forth left palm
Brush left thigh and press forth right palm

10 Play the guitar

11 Brush left thigh and press forth right palm

12 Circle foot and carry the hammer forward

13 Serpent slides back and seal with both palms

14 Cross wrists (end of part 1)

Light a million candles

Hello friends, please take part.

The innocent victims of Internet child abuse cannot speak for themselves.

But you can.

With your help, we can eradicate this evil trade.

We do not need your money.

We need you to light a candle of support.

We're aiming to light at least One Million Candles by December 31, 2006.
This petition will be used to encourage governments, politicians, financial institutions, payment organisations, Internet service providers, technology companies and law enforcement agencies to eradicate the commercial viability of online child abuse.

They have the power to work together. You have the power to get them to take action.
Please light your candle at lightamillioncandles.com or send an email of support to light@lightamillioncandles.com.

Together, we can destroy the commercial viability of Internet child abuse sites that are destroying the lives of innocent children.

Kindly forward this email to your friends, relatives and work colleagues so that they can light a candle too.

Happy Eid!!

Selamat Hari Raya!! In the US, yet we can still celebrate Hari Raya in style... a group of friends got together and cooked up a storm of Malay food....rendang, satay, begedel, ayam percik, lontong, sago pudding etc. etc.

Photo, courtesy of Sam.

Vote for your new 7 Wonders of the World!

Of the 7 ancient wonders, only 1 is left standing, the Pyramids of Giza.

Read about this in the news. Go check it out! Vote for the new 7 wonders!

I'm voting for the Giza pyramids to remain, and going for the Great Wall of China (one for the Chinese!), the Acropolis in Athens, the Angkor Wat of the Khmer, Chichen Itza of the Maya, Machu Pichu of the Inca and the Petra palace tomb in Jordan (Indiana Jones' temple of doom!).

The finals of US Open 2006 Division 1, Game 1

See the commentary official here.

I just came to the room, just after Round 1 of the finals for Division 1, between Jim Kramer and Geoff Thevenot. Guess what, even the top players play British words! The official commentary said it was a 'phoney', which in the sense it was, but it is an acceptable British word. Jim played 'ZOOEA', which is good for SOWPODS. Better yet, Geoff responded later by playing 'GENIE', hooking the E to make 'ZOOEAE', another British word. And none of them challenged each other!

Sidenote: I saw Marlon Hill ranting about them playing that word to everyone.

Jim won 390-374. Good luck to both of them. I am back in my room, packing to leave for the airport. Sayonara Arizona Biltmore!

Final Day of US Scrabble Open 2006

Day 4, final day of US Scrabble Open 2006. I feel nervous in the morning, like something is not right.... yes, I screwed up.... Something I did angered the tile-gods and they punished me left and right....

Round 22 - Opponent: Robert Collins, rated 905, seeded 31st

I meet Robert Collins again, whom I lost to by -11 points in Round 11. My first rack is FGHLMRX. I played 'F(I)G', and Robert immediately bingoed with 'VENDoRS'. For the next five racks, I get only 1 vowel each. Yet, amazingly, I managed to score 33, 26, 32, 31, 20 points, so I did not change my tiles. On my 7th rack, my rack became DLLRSSV, and with no where to play well, I changed LLVD to get AYII in return. Yeah, like AIIRSSY is any better. And in the end-game, I failed to catch the Q in his rack, because I missed the play-out of AIRIES(T). Anyway, I lost 305-384. And promptly dropped from 7th to 12th position. And Robert ended 2nd overall.

Round 23 - Opponent: Ben Lam, rated 1137, seeded 1st!

Now, if he is rated 1137, why is he playing in under 1000 raters? I guess he improved his rating after the cut-off date. Anyway, I lost to Ben by -11 points in Round 9, just like I lost to Robert Collins. I actually played pretty well this round, playing 'ZIL(L)s' for 66 points, and bingoed with 'TENNERS' later. Yet, Ben played a better game, maximing with 'J(OB)/JO' for 42 points, bingoed with '(JO)E/ErASION' for 74 points, (A)XIS for 33 points, 'VI(N)Y' across my TENNERS for 42 points. So, I lost 365-404. He played well. Ben ended 9th overall.

Round 24 - Opponent: Matt Canik, rated 906, seeded 28th

This is a young boy, who won several school championships. And he hoodwinked me thrice.... my own fault. He bingoed early with a phoney 'SLEETER' which is no good as well. It should be 'SLEETIER' but since it sounded feasible to me, I let it go. He later phoneyed with 'BEDY' which I did not challenge, since he opened up the triple-word lane. I replied with my own bingo of 'PADDieS' using 2 blanks, which is a waste. I also played 'OXEN/(JIN)X' for 40 points. Later, I had 'SATIRE+M' and he blocked my 'SMARTIE' bingo place with 'ORK' which I should have known is no good. But I did not challenge it. Worse, I totally missed another spot which I could have played 'MI(G)RATES' or 'MA(G)ISTER'. I played 'AM', and drew 2 tiles.... the 'A' and the 'M', the very same tiles I just played. What are the odds of that? So, I missed my all-important bingo. No doubt, Matt played well, with 'QUOINS' for 43 points and (Q)UIVER for 36 points late in the game. I could have won with the bingo. Lost 362-373, a mere -11 points. Guess what? Three of those players who beaten me by 11 points sat on the same table!!! Robert, Ben and Matt! Anyway, Matt ended 8th overall.

So, I lost the first 3 games in the morning! And dropped all the way to 20th position in 3 games!

Round 25 - Opponent: KC Frodyma, rated 931, seeded 48th

My luck finally turned here. I had some lucky breaks, playing 'Zo(O)/Z(A)' for 64 points, KEX for 36 points. I challenged 'CAJON' which was good, so I lost a turn. Later, my rack was 'AEEEEII', which I changed. 2 turns later, I bingoed with 'AWAITED' but I hooked A to a D, making 'DA', a British-only word! But she did not see it until too late, so the bingo stayed. She played a phoney bingo 'INCLOs(I)NG(S)' towards the endgame but I let it go, since I will win without challenging and playing '(C)UBE' at H12 to hit the triple word for 21 points to get ahead and possibly losing by challenging if INCLOSINGS turns out to be good. Well, I found out later that INCLOSING does NOT take the S hook. But I won 393-366, and got up to 17th position. From here, if I win my next 3 games, I can still have the chance to get to Top 10! Still hopeful. Anyway, KC ended in 6th position overall.

Round 26 - Opponent: Richard Hamilton, rated 880, seeded 39th

This was a close game, but I had the luck this time. I bingoed with 'RECITES', later played 'EXES/(JOB)S' for 50 points, and bingoed again with 'ENRAgED'. Richard bingoed also, with 'UnCLOGS' but was not enough. I won 411-377.

Round 27 - Opponent: Chris Nelson, rated 895, seeded 63rd

Another close game. Chris bingoed early with 'CASTINg', and I replied soon with 'SHOVERS'. He scored big with 'JEW(S)' for 30 points, 'FIZ/(I)F' for 42 points and 'oXE(N)/X(I)' for 38 points. And yet, I played close to lose by only 12 points, 320-332. Very very sad for me. Dropped to 18th position. And Chris ended 10th overall.

Round 28 - Opponent: Jeremy Hall, rated 820, seeded 61st

Now, this turned out weird. I wanted to play a good game to win 1 more game to remain in the top 20. If I lose, I know for sure I will go below 20th. And of all my luck, Jeremy was 'gibsonized' [note: not a good Scrabble word], and I am the 'gibsonee' [note: also not good in Scrabble]. Jeremy is from the Bay Area in California, so we knew each other. And he had already won 21 games to win the tournament in Round 27, so this game means nothing to his standing. Due to some rule in US, they don't play King-of-the-hill, but he is 'gibsonized' to play someone who, at best case scenario, will be the 11th position if he/she wins the final round. And that person happens to be ME!!! Man, how fair is that? Just so happens, there are a number of people at 16 wins and I have the highest spread, and for that, I get penalized to play with the champion? I don't understand Americans and their thinking. So, instead of me having a chance to get to the 11th position by playing others with 16 wins, I get to play the best player in the tournament with 21 wins!

The only good thing is, for the 28th and final game, I get to play in Table 1!!

Anyway, I have beaten Jeremy in club game in Palo Alto before, so our standards are not that far off from each other, I think. But I made my mistakes. We were scoring neck-to-neck. He started with 'ZETAS' for 48 points and in his 3rd move, bingoed early with '(T)ITTERED' but I played well to keep up to him. Then, I made my mistake. I bingoed with 'SOL(T)ICES', which he thought for a while, and then challenged it off. But he left the T-spot open, so I bingoed again with 'SOLS(T)ICE', the correct spelling. THis time, he did not challenge. At this point, at the 10th move, we were tied at 296-296. At the 11th move, we both scored 22 and tied again at 318-318. Then, he bingoed with '(BE)S/ STINGED'. STINGED sounds good right? That's because it is a British-only word!!! I thought about it and let it go, coz I have played it before. Turns out, it was not good in TWL2 and I let it stay. Sigh.... There goes the game. It ended in 13 plays, and I lost 352-402, a -50 point difference, coming exactly from the bingo bonus!!! Sigh.....

Dropped like a stone to 22nd position. Not in Top 10, not even in the top 20. And I have a cumulative spread of +1060! If I had won 1 more game, I'd be 15th, and if I had won 2 more games, I would have been 7th! And I really could have done it. My mistakes costed me. So, for today, I have 2 wins - 5 losses, ending the tournament with 16W-12L. Quite bad. Quite pissed, and quite disappointed. Sad. Sad. Sad. Maybe I should just retire from Scrabble.

Hey guys, from Singapore and Malaysia. I know some of you were rooting for me to be in Top 10, and I did actually thought I could do it too. But I screwed up. Sorry to disappoint you guys.

For the round by round standings, please see here.

Day 3 of the US Open

Day 3 of the US Open. Surprisingly, I slept pretty well last night, and was quite refreshed. Guess it must be my workout at the gym plus a good soak in the hot tub.

I met GI Joel in elevator going down, and saw his funny T-shirt. The back of the T-shirt reads 'I HAVE BEATEN NIGEL RICHARDS BEFORE'. I guess Nigel's fame spread far and wide.

Game 1 - Opponent: Cheryl Francis, rated 909, seeded 27th

Met this interesting lady, who turns out to be of a native american origin. Tough fight too, on the Scrabble board, that is. I bingoed early with 'FIShIER' and later screwed up playing a A hook to NULLED, thinking ANNULLED was spelt with a single 'N'. Of course, she challenged it off. Later I lost another turn because I challenged 'OYES', which turned out to be good while 'OYE' is not! Man, TWL2 ticks me off. It was neck-to-neck till the end, and on my last move, it was me 328, she leading with 339. I had IRON? on my rack, but could not go out. Spent a couple of minutes looking around, and saw an opening! Using ?N, I hooked to the front of 'ZIP' to play 'uN(ZIP)' and ? hook to 'N' for 'Nu' for a 31 points to lead 359-339. She ended the game with another 6 points, take my 'IRO' for 6 points. I won a very close game, 359-351. +8 point spread! Whew.....


Game 16 - Opponent: Chris Nelson, rated 810, seeded 63th

This was a heartbreaking game. I was leading for a long time, through half the game and playing a very closed board that my oppponent cannot play (due to lack of vowels), but made the mistake of opening up the board later. I was leading 223-160, so I opened up the board because I fished out one of the blank tile. But he caught up almost soon and bingoed with a simple 'SEALING' with the S hook. And instead of playing 'Jo(I)N' from the I in SEALING to hit the triple-word from H12 on the board, worth 54 points, I just played J(I)N for 30 points. And he hooked ODD to 'D(JIN)' for more points too!!! Lost badly, 310-405 for a -95 spread. Stupid mistakes!

Game 17 - Opponent: Edmond Wilson, rated 888, seeded 38th

Another sad game. I bingoed on my second turn with 'DILATeD'. He responded later with 'DOmAINS'. We were neck-to-neck, at one point late in the game, 301-308. Then, I made one mistake, playing WORE, hooking my E to THE for 'E(THE)'#, another British-only word!! Lost 323-351, probably due to my stupid ETHE. Stupid TWL2!!!!

Game 18 - Opponent: Khim Clarke, rated 684, seeded 92nd

Found out the Khim is Malaysian, from KL too! She has married locally, I am guessing, having adopted Clarke as her last name. She has settled in the US for about 13 years now, and have just started playing Scrabble in local clubs. We played a ladder-step board, ending up with a very closed-up board. At one point, we were playing 1 tile at a time. I bingoed early with 'SUNDIAL' and later on with 'SEATErS'. Won 412-323.

Game 19 - Opponent: Carol Jones, rated 955, seeded 7th

I ran away with this one. I had most of the power tiles, including the 2 blanks. Playing QI for 44 points, bingoed with 'AnIMATE' for 90 points, MAXES for 42 points, another bingo of 'ENLARgE, ZOO for 41 on the triple word at A1, and finished off with my end-rack bingo, 'REPOSED' for 74. She did get a bingo of '(S)TARTING' but did not hit 300 points. I won 520-295, with a +241 spread.

Game 20 - Opponent: Joyce Stock, rated 782, seeded 69th

Joyce won our earlier game in round 6, day 1. This game, the luck remained with me. Plus, she was really tired too. Played QAT for 42 points. I tried a bingo of 'LeNDORS', which she challenged off. (Yes, I do not know RONDELS works!!) # moves later, I bingoed with 'UNRUST(E)d', which I was pretty proud off, bingoing with 2 'U's. Later on, I played 'Z'AI(R)e' at J14 down, which she challenged unsuccessfully. Phew, I thought I played another British-only word! She, on the other hand, must really have bad racks. I won 387-219 for a +168 spread.

Game 21 - Opponent: Neva Slater, rated 857, seeded 51st.

This old lady had a neck brace on. But Joyce, who played her earlier, said she is a sneaky one! She tends to overdraw, and just drops off the extra tile back into the back. She also draw tiles with the bag below the table. I had to spend time watching her while she draws. Once, I caught her with overdrawing too. Man, old lady!!

Anyhow, it was a tough game. She is a pretty good player. She bingoed with 'RUNTIEr', leading me 146-183. I closed the gap, playing another very closed-up board. Later, I played 'ZAIRe' again for 42 points at O-8. In the end game, I vaulted in front slightly, winning 348-326. Hard fought.

Surprisingly, after today's games, I feel pretty good. Went to the gym again, had a session in the hot-tub and lazed in the pool for a while.... this is the life, playing Scrabble in a top-rate hotel.... (well, I DO have to pay for it....so might as well enjoy the facilities).

Found out after dinner that I am ranked 7th after 21 games!!! In top 10 again! Tomorrow, I am slated to play in tables 3 and 4 in the first 4 games, so it's gonna be a tough fight. I am meeting Robert Collins and Ben Lam again, whom I had lost to both by -11 points earlier. I have a shot in this!! Hope I don't screw it up....

OM SATINE OM RETINA OM SATIRE OM blank OM blank OM
OM SATINE OM RETINA OM SATIRE OM blank OM blank OM
OM SATINE OM RETINA OM SATIRE OM blank OM blank OM
OM SATINE OM RETINA OM SATIRE OM blank OM blank OM
OM SATINE OM RETINA OM SATIRE OM blank OM blank OM

p/s: See the my standing here

Ding Ding, Day 2 of US Open 2006

Day 2 started with me in a daze.... sleepy.... yawn......

Just found out today that I am rated 13th in Division 6.

Round 8 - Opponent: Susan Bertoni, rated 954, seeded 8th

Was sleepy, but managed to phoney with a believable 'DANcABLE', which should be 'DANCEABLE' to be good. Won 332-305.

Round 9 - Opponent: Ben Lam, rated 971, seeded 4th

Man, this was a tough one. He had both blanks, 3x 'S', the Q,X,Z. I challenged off his phoney 'OuTWINE(S)' and closed up the board, leaving him bingoless, and of course, me too. Made a bad mistake, playing VOL#, a British only word, and lost by a mere 11 points, 296-307. If I played right, could have won by 2 points by playing out first!!! Man, I am so cheesed with myself.

Round 10 - Opponent: Susan Watrous, rated 698, seeded 94th

Change of luck from previous game. This time, I got the good tiles. She bingoed with 'REmO(V)ING' early, and I replied immediately with 'LORRIES' and later on, with 'GRADINES'. Played the 'X' and 'Z' well. Won 445-328, with a +117 spread.

Round 11 - Opponent: Robert Collins, rated 919, seeded 25th

Man, luck changes like the tide, and Robert got the lion share of it. He bingoed with 'STaRERS', and later phoneyed me with 'OUTG(L)IDE', which I did not challenge after thinking over a minute. I put in all I could to catch up, playing well overall but lost 331-342, another loss by -11 spread, like Round 9!! By the way, Robert ended the day on top of Division 6, with a 12-2 record.

Round 12 - Opponent: Ronald Millard, rated 844, seeded 54th

After lunch, I developed this splitting headache, probably from overuse playing Ben Lam and Robert Collins earlier. Tried to sleep it off during lunch break, and took a 'Extra Strength Panadol' but didn't work. Anyhow, still have to play. Bingoed with 'MUSTIER' and led most of the way. He bingoed with 'REPUgNE(D)', which I challenged but lost. At this point, I was still leading. Won the game 395-311.

Round 13 - Opponent: Jack Allard, rated 906, seeded 31st

Still with a splitting headache, and the noise in the room doesn't help. Learnt a new 'Z' word, 'FURZE', which my opponent played. I bingoed with 'MONStER' and later, 'TOWNIES', leading through to win 395-296, a +99 spread.

Round 14 - Opponent: Angela Dancho, rated 687, seeded 96th

Now, the headache is quite unbearable, but the game goes on. No luck this time. My opponent bingoed 2 times consecutively with 'STUNNER' and 'MaLIGNS'. I played 'ZA' for 55, and tried bingo with 'REF(I)LERS' which got challenged off. Lost 339-406.

Ended the day with a 9 win - 5 loss record, and at 17th position. Since I am ranked 13th, my rating will actually drop. Leading the pack is 4 leaders with 12 wins-2 losses, 1 with 11W-3L, and 11 people with 10W-4L. I am the first of the 9W-5L, with my spread of +785, is way ahead of the next person at only +177. Actually, I am ahead in spread compared to most of the people 10W-4L. So, I still have a chance to jump ahead of the pack if I do well tomorrow.

Time to bed, prepare for tomorrow!!

Day 1 of US Open

Day 1 of the US Open!! Something interesting happened in the morning. I was getting my coffee, and saw G.I. Joel in front of me. While getting sugar and cream for the coffee, he turned to me and actually called me by my name!! I was stunned. How did he know me? I am in Division 6! (Later, he told me he checks out all tournament results. He actually recognizes my face!)

I am player #121, due to my last name. And incidently, we have 114 players in Division 6, as some got bumped up into Division 5 and some no-shows.

Game 1 - Opponent: Edna Perry, rated 470.

Edna is a sweet old lady, who just recently started in the tournament scene. Brave soul, to take part in the US Open. I won 466-123, a whopping +343 spread! This puts me in #1 position after round 1! I feel sorry for her though. I started off with a bingo 'WAGERED'. Turn 6, I bingoed with 'sUI(C)IDES'. I challenged off her bingo, 'EnVIOUS' because she hooked off the U to a B, making BU. So sorry....

Game 2 - Opponent: Dan Doerrfeld, rated 500.

Dan is a young teenage kid, playing in the tournament because his grand-dad is playing too and had wanted him to take part. Again, a real rookie in tournaments, this being his second ever tournament. I bingoed 'LAzIEST' early, and scored another 75 points playing QAId at L1 down, hooking I to VIED at N2. I won 396-319, with a spread of +77. With a cumulative spread of +420, I still stand at #1. Pole position!

Game 3 - Opponent: Paul Rickhoff, rated 644.

Man, my luck turned for the worse. I started, and drew this lousy rack, BDHIUUV. I traded BDOUUV, and got back ADGUW!!! Damn it, got a third U, and the D!!! Throughout the game, I kept getting the I's. Loss 316-411. Lose my pole position.... ah well.

Game 4 - Opponent: Cecille Betts, rated 665.

Tough game! Cecille is legally blind, and was entitled to an additional 5 minutes. And she is a tough one too! Was pretty close through the game. She bingoed with double blanks, REsIGNs. However, I was able to pull through at the end game, and won 326-295, without any bingoes to reply. Phew....

After game 4, I dropped to 17th position.

Game 5 - Opponent: Ruth Brower, rated 771.

No bingoes again, but I won 388-295. Ruth managed to bingo with '(C)ENSURES'.

Game 6 - Opponent: Joyce Stock, rated 795.

Sigh... my second loss here. 306-367. She managed to block 3 of my bingoes by playing exactly where I needed. She blocked 'W(I)TCHIER', UNWRITE#(OSW only), and OUtRI(D)ER. My last rack was 'BEARING', with no place to go... Sigh... She even bingoed on her first move, 'DECLiN(E)D'.

Game 7 - Opponent: Don Ball, rated 868.

Don hails from Toronto, Canada. I played well on this one. Don was fishing for a bingo early on, so I tried to score as much as possible. He tried '(R)AIdABLE', which I challenged off, and he tried again with '(R)AIsABLE' which I challenged but it was good. I lost a turn and he led for the first time 227-229. However, I caught up and bingoed later with 'HALTERS' to pull ahead and win 476-317.

I ended the first day with a 5 wins - 2 losses, and a healthy 547 spread, the highest amongst the 5-2s. This placed me in the 13th spot. Tomorrow, I will be playing against opponents closer to my rating. It'll be tough, but I hope to keep to the top 15, if possible.

On to US Open 2006!!

Sorry, have not blogged for a while. I am now writing from the Arizona Biltmore, a luxury hotel in Phoenix Arizona designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. I am participating in the Scrabble US Open 2006!! It is held in this hotel.

For the past months, up till 1st July, I was trying hard to hit the 1000 mark in US ratings... unfortunately, I failed. I got real close too! I hit 999!!! Damn it! Now, I have to play in the lowest division, Division 6, for those rated below 1000.

Anyway, I am looking forward to this tournament. This will give me a taste of what level I really am. Most of the tournaments I have took part so far in the US were small ones, and with 6 games, luck played a big part.

So far, I have met Sam Kantimathi, whom I played against (and lost) in Brands Kings Cup 2005. I have met Jason Katz-Brown, whom I had played a friendly game against in Osaka Japan when we were both visiting a local Scrabble club (he forgot who I am though). I have met Carol of the Carol & Ravi fame, the creators of Lexpert. I have also come across the famous Marlon Hill, the Division 1 player who ranted and raved in movie/documentary 'Word Wars: Tiles and Tribulations in the Scrabble Circuit'. Oh, and I just watched another Scrabble documentary called Scrabylon last night, which featured our very own Malaysian, Ganesh.

Looking forward to tomorrow!! Will update as I go along.

May the blanks and 'S' flow my way....
OM RETINA OM SATIRE OM SATINE
OM RETINA OM SATIRE OM SATINE
OM RETINA OM SATIRE OM SATINE
OM RETINA OM SATIRE OM SATINE

Implicit Associations Test

In the highly 'politically-correct' world in the US, we have many trainings here for 'diversity' and 'inclusiveness' issues. My firm does this, not just for compliance with regulations, but also the management recognizes that in our evolving world, our workplace IS becoming more diverse, especially in the melting pot of California.

At the latest firm-sponsored training I attended, Dr. Tony Greenwald, the creator of the Implicit Associations Tests (IATs) spoke to us. Check out the Harvard website to do the IATs!! The results may surprise you.

=================================================================================
Quoted from website:
It is well known that people don't always 'speak their minds', and it is suspected that people don't always 'know their minds'. Understanding such divergences is important to scientific psychology.

This web site presents a method that demonstrates the conscious-unconscious divergences much more convincingly than has been possible with previous methods. This new method is called the Implicit Association Test, or IAT for short.
=================================================================================

Metrosexual experiences

Hmm, have been trying new experiences recently...

I got a haircut on Monday. Back in KL, it was always Toni & Guy for me, since I've got cousins working there. In the US, it was a challenge to find a suitable place, since I did not want to go to a quick-chop-shop like Super*Cuts or something. Too spoilt for too long.

Found this place online called American Male! Well, this is actually my 3rd visit there, and given that I have been here for about 6 months now. Generally, my hair has been too long for too long. Making up in advance for the inevitable genetically-programmed thinning pate in the future.

I had signed up for the 'Quality Grooming Experience'
From their 'menu':
Custom Hair Services
Men’s Quality Grooming Experience ........................$49
Series of 5 QGEs’ (Save $20) ..................................$225
Our hair services are performed by master hair stylist & colorists.
Included in your 45 minute custom haircut are several free grooming
treatments to ensure you leave looking and feeling GREAT!
• Energizing Shampoo • Warm Paraffin Hand Dip • Mini Face Massage
• Warm Towel Face Wrap • Mini Scalp Massage • Haircut
• Re-Shampoo • Conditioning • Splash • Styling

Eh, I know, not cheap if converted to RM, but in US$ terms, it's alright, I think. RM for US$, I pay more back in KL!

Ever tried a paraffin hand dip? Well, I tried it here! Interesting, dipping your hands 5-6 times into a warm liquid wax container and have it dry up and peeled off later. Supposed to 'smooth' the hands. Nice feelings, but not sure if it really works. The mini face massage is ok, given that they use massage oil, which adds to my already oily face. The warm towel face-wrap is great though. Hard to keep awake with that on! The haircut is quite good as they only use the electric trimmers towards the end of the session to clean up. I dislike those chop-shops that uses the trimmer for most of the cutting.

Oh, we just had a firm-sponsored training event, after which we had social activities. Real fun! All free! Had my shoes shined, got a back massage, played Daytona with colleagues, ate loads of fresh oysters and cocktail jumbo shrimps, and guess what? I made some sterling silver jewelry for Wan (to score brownie points, you know?) AND for the first time in my life, got a manicure!! How about that? Apparently, the manicurists told me that for this particular event, HALF of those in line were MEN!!!

Getting too vain here, people....

Jinxed

I've met my jinx. A real life jinx...

Ever got one of those moments? I've met mine in Scrabble. Purple hair, purple glasses, full of hand and ankle bangles, one bad attitude, rude and irritating, all packaged into a old lady who will look just right as one of Macbeth's witches brewing their potion.....

Yes, I've met my Scrabble jinx. When I am paired to play, I feel drained. Drained of enthusiasm. If you see the tiles I get, you'll know why... Just lost another game this weekend to her. My last three tiles? I, I and I....

Johari and Nohari: Self-reflection

Got this cool website from sonic. Must be brave to try....

Ya, since I just turned a year older recently, I wonder what the world thinks of me, and what I can do to be a better person.

I would appreciate if you could look into my Johari and Nohari windows: my good and bad.

It will help me accentuate my good, and work on my bad...

Prosper thyself!

Just discovered a cool new website, Prosper!

Uses the ancient Chinese way of lending and borrowing money among small groups of people. Prosper takes that ancient concept, merged it with eBay-style bidding to make it into a new business model!

I just started a borrowing group called 'New to the USA' as a way for newcomers to build credit history in the US, as well as getting access to funds for future investments.

Cool concept! Check it out.

Playing golf again....

Started to golf again. One thing good being in the US. Golf equipment are relatively cheap, and golf green frees are cheap too!

Got my golf set of eBay. Full set of Wilson Matrix golf clubs (without putter) for less than $100! Got a carry-bag from Target for $30. Got a Wilson putter for $30. And golf shoes for $80. With miscellaneous stuff (balls, tees, etc.), all in, about $250 in equipment costs.

Started playing with colleagues from work. 4 of us, Malaysian and Singaporean. Just right. Playing at the Santa Clara Municipal golf course. Open to public, fees only $26 per 9-holes.

I love playing golf here. You step out into the sun, and no sweat!! I perspire like a pig when I am playing back in Malaysia. Not even before hitting the first ball off the first tee, I am basically wet with perspiration. Here, cool and breezy. Makes a more relaxing game.

But I still suck at it.....

Last TWL1, First TWL2

My last post was about the last TWL1 tournament. Officially, it still is the last NSA listed tournament. But during then, it was announced that the Palo Alto club will hold a club tournament. Last day of TWL1 on February 28, and first day of TWL2 on March 1. Could not pass up on that!

Had a great time! I am seeded 6th in this group.

February 28, 2006

Game 1:
Opponent: Mitch Bayersdorfer, rated 1575, seeded 2nd

Wow! I am playing with a 600+ rating differential!! Not unexpected. He bingoed with NORMALs first, which I replied with ZoNE with the Z on a double letter and E on the triple word for 66 points. The board closed up then, but he hooked through my P to bingo with S(P)RINTED. TINDERS would have no place to go, if not for my P. Lost 2 turns because of S hooks that were no good, ILKAS* and PIUS*. Sigh….. Not much else to say, but got thrashed 311-453.

Game 2:
Opponent: Jeremy Hall, rated 776, seeded 7th

This was a close fight till towards the end. I bingoed with NEROLIS. He tried RETHREw*/(VAU)R* for his last rack, but I challenged them off. He might have won if that was good. Won 397-307.

Game 3:
Opponent: Richard Stein, rated 1561, seeded 4th

My first triple-triple in a tournament!!! My opponent played DANGED, and I laid down MIN(D)lESs, having 2 blanks (to make L and S). 131 points!!! Sweet…. Had another bingo NASTIER (with RETINAS, the possibilities are great!!!) for 82 points. My opponent probably had bad tiles or bad balance. But to beat a 1,500+ player!! Nice feeling. Won 413-316

March 1, 2006

Game 4:
Opponent: Felix Kwok, rated 1570, seeded 3rd

Another 1,500+ opponent…. I got to bingo late in the game with SOARINg across the right centre triple word for 80 points. My opponent probably had bad tiles too. Won this 375-314. I think my ratings may improve well this time, having won against much higher rated players.

Game 5:
Opponent: Paula Catalanese, rated 1353, seeded 5th

My luck turned. I had nice tiles, but in wrong combinations. And I played DA#!!!! Again!!! Lost that to a challenge, of course. I lost this game 273-397. Ouch. But congratulations to Paula, coz she won 5 of 6 games to win the overall tournament.

Game 6:
Opponent: Richard Stein, rated 1561, seeded 4th

Richard is out for revenge for his lost yesterday!! I had crappy tiles too. I had RAIS? and I could not draw to bingo for a few rounds!!! Drew ID, GA, FA, which I played off. Drew IT and got AIRIeST, but was not sure I could play AIT (front hook to IT), which was a good word. Passed on that. Threw an I for just 2 points to draw an S, to play SAtIRES for a meastly 61 points. Richard played well. No bingos but scored consistently while I fished…. Lost 252-416…. Sigh…..

But overall, this tournament was fun!! I played the new allowable words such as QI, OI and VID (which were good OSW words before anyway) and a new word NEG.

Looking forward to more games!

TWL2: Interesting new words

TWL2 is starting tomorrow!!!


New words:
DUH!!!!! Finally, this is in use.....
ZZZ: an unlikely word to be played, having to use 2 blanks with the Z!!!
AHI: I guess it's the Ahi Tuna fish, a favourite dish here.
ZA: the short form of pizza....what is the world coming to....

More usable 2 & 3-letter SOWPODS words now, for e.g.:
OI, QI, AHS, CIG, CRU, DAN, DEF, FAB, GOS, HOS, KYE, LES, MEG, OBA, ODA, POO, PST, QIS, RAI, SUK, UTE, VID, VUM, ZUZ

New 4-letter words that are interesting:
BLOG!! This new fangled word, what I am doing now... (BLOGGING is good, but not BLOGGED? Why? WEBLOG/WEBLOGS are good too)
MEME: Another new one!! meme me!!
CHAI: My favourite CBTL drink, Chai Latte
HAKU, JUKU, KOJI: Japanese words?
KUFI: Islamic skull-cap

More usable 4-letter SOWPODS words: QADI, ZINE, ZONA, ZOUK

New 5-letter words that are interesting:
AZUKI: Japanese red beans
BENTO: Japanese lunch box
BICEP: arm muscle... why wouldn't it be in?
BURKA/BURQA: Whole-body covers for Middle-eastern ladies
CUVEE: a wine word?
CYBER: another high-tech word
DROID: may the force be with you...
DUMBO: haha! you!!
EBOOK: another high-tech word
EMAIL: finally, those guys get it
EMMYS: an award?
FEDEX: another brand got generic
FOLIC: that's a nutrient for you
FUBAR: F-up beyond all recognition!!!
GAZOO: no idea what, but it was SOWPODS usable
GYOZA: Japanese dumpling
HAKUS: Japanese poetry
HALAL: permissable in Islam
HIJAB: Islamic veil
JELLO: they invented it, but never used it, another brand to generic use
KOMBU: Japanese seaweed, good for health
KORMA: Indian spice
LASSI: Indian yogurt drink, mango lassi is my favourite!
LOGON/LOGIN: more high-tech words
LYCRA: another brand to generic
MANGA: Japanese comics
MEMES: memememememe
MYLAR: another brand
PYREX: another brand
QADIS: usable in SOWPODS
SKANK: men don't want to be called this
SPAMS: unwanted emails, or mashed pork?
SPAZZ: spastic, I think
TANGA: sexy briefs
TECHS: ya, ya, another tech word
TELCO: short for telecommunications company, or telecom company, or telco...
UDONS: Japanese noodles
UMAMI: Japanese, the taste of MSG, not sweet, not salty, not sour, not bitter
VENUS: huh? a planet? or to describe a woman?
VOCAB: English is on the decline.... vocabulary became vocab
WANKS: you do that?
WICCA: the ancient religion of worshipping mother earth and nature, for witches
WUSHU: Chinese martial arts!!
ZINES: no idea, but good for SOWPODS
ZONAE: no idea, but good for SOWPODS

and.....
WEBSITE/WEBSITES: New to TWL2. How backward was TWL1??? WEBCAST is new. No PODCAST yet!! TWL3 perhaps.

Japanese, Islamic and IT words made a big impact to the dictionaries. Chinese words only had WUSHU, and QI, I suppose.

Hope to go through all the new words soon... tough..... according to LAMPWORDS that I use, there are:

5 x 2-letter words (3 to OSW)
44 x 3-letter words (21 to OSW)
128 x 4-letter words (66 to OSW)
303 x 5-letter words (160 to OSW)
556 x 6-letter words (384 to OSW)
920 x 7-letter words (649 to OSW)
1,349 x 8-letter words (985 to OSW)

Looks like a lot to learn. Lesser for me, if with SOWPODS, but I've still got to sort out those that cannot be used still!!! Damn TWL....

The Last TWL1 Tournament

Sunday, March 26, 2006

I am rated 8th of 8 players in division C, the third division. This is the last TWL1 tournament, and TWL2 officially goes into tournament use in March 2006.

Game 1
Opponent: Henry Yeung, rated 1249, seeded 1st

No luck, no luck!!! My 1st rack was GILORTT, and I played LOG, leaving IRTT. Guess what I drew? I+I+I!!! In a full bag? Man, the tile gods sure were against me this game. Henry bingoed twice in a row, first with ASTERIA, next with REMINdS.

I actually challenged REMINdS, because he announced the blank as an ‘M’ first. I challenged immediately and then he said, no ‘N’, then ‘D’. I called the tournament director, JC Green. Henry insisted he said ‘D’ first despite me not hearing it at all. How can a ‘D’ sounds like an ‘M’. Plus his second confirmation, he said ‘N’. John said I can withdraw my challenge, because the blank was not written down. I lost my respect for Henry immediately. He is a good player, and will climb the ranks. But he gets zero from me for honesty.

Well, lost this first game 270-442. Negative spread of 172 points. Not a good start. And lost faith in both Henry and John.

Game 2
Opponent: David Carlson, rated 1169, seeded 3rd

It was close at the beginning. I first challenged off his early non-word bingo, BEEPINGS* and built up a small lead. But he bingoed later with ROTATES.

SOWPODS undid me in this game. Later, I played QUAIRS#, an OSW word only for 48 points onto the top middle triple word space. It got challenged off. Played QUIRES next, again for 48 points, but my opponent hooked RE to make REQUIRES into the top left triple word space for 54 points. He then played BLANkEST, which I challenged and lost a turn. 2 mistakes. I bingoed RELEARNs towards the end, but lost this game 397-413. If I did not play QUAIRS# and not challenged BLANkest, I might have won.


Game 3
Opponent: Martin Mondragon, rated 1095, seeded 5th

I played Martin several times before, but never got to win him before. I had some luck to balance out my rack. Got one bingo, OUTLIE(R)S and he bingoed with GLAnCErS. Had both blanks in a rack!! Man…..and I started accumulating vowels in my rack. But that was a blessing in disguise, as in the end game, he had no vowels to play with, and I won 410-359. Finally get 1 win against him!

Game 4
Opponent: Marilyn Gage, rated 1185, seeded 2nd

Ahh…. I played a OSW word again…. Played OARIEST#, and got it challenged off. (OTARIES is not good too) Threw the O for 5 points and drew B and played BARITES next. Then, the curse of the vowels hit me again. At one point, I had 5 ‘E’ on my rack and I could not change due to the board openings. My opponent bingoed with DIASTEr. She led the end game and I lost 308-377.

Game 5
Opponent: Helen Gendler, rated 1150, seeded 4th.

Played ZINGA(R)E!! My first time too. For 54 points. I almost played ZINGA(R)ES coz I had the S. But luckily, I did not coz ZINGARES* is no good. My opponent bingoed REMOTesT. 2 blanks!! Second time today that my opponents had that. Played SINNERS in the late game and won 418-329. Funny, 2 games with opponent bingoed with 2 blanks and I won?!?

Game 6
Opponent: David Carlson, rated 1169, seeded 3rd

Playing David again. No luck again. I think the tile gods want me to quit or something. Had one rack with EEEIINR and towards the end, a rack with ANNNNOU. So annoying! Plus, David took all 4 ‘S’ and 2 blanks! I only caught up slightly playing Q, Z and X nicely. Lost 341-423.

Got 2 games. As I am seeded last in this division, I might get some increase in ratings with 2 games. Well, this is the last of TWL1 for me. TWL2 starts in March 2006. Woe to me!! First, already have 2 list to remember (second one being OSW-only words), and now I’ve got to learn new TWL2 words!!

Santa Monica

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Visited Santa Monica. This place really looks nice with all those palm trees, the beach, the boardwalk & saw an installation to commemorate US soldiers in Iraq on the beach.

FUBAR - allowed in Scrabble!!

Just found out about this word. You know what it means? Will try to use it from March 2006, when this new word is legal for Scrabble tournaments!

Wong Kar Mun at Von Karman

Hey hey, staying at a hotel along Von Karman Street!!

Very close phonetically to my name, yah?

2 notebooks = danger?

Wednesday, February 15

Had a business trip to Irvine, California. Flew from San Jose airport to Santa Ana airport. Airport security... you wonder what they are thinking...

I have 2 notebook computers. Yes, 2. One is firm-issued and one is client-issued. Notebooks have to be removed from the bag, and placed in trays for screening. So, I took them out, and put them together into one tray, one on top of another. Guess what? They had to be 'scrutinized' again because of that. The security screener told me I cannot put them together, but they should be in separate bins. But why?

Anyhow, they got swabbed and the swab was put into some scanner. Took a few more minutes, but what nonsense!

V-day

Ah, another hole in my pocket, another win for commercialism...

CNY parade in SF

Saturday, Feb 11

Went to SF to watch the CNY parade. Those who had experienced the Singapore Chingay parade was sorely disappointed. The parade was political, for one. Car after car of political figures (unknown to me) went first. Marshall this, Marshall that, Supervisor this, Supervisor that. Don't even know what they are for. Saw the SF Mayor live for the first time. He has the looks of an movie star, according to some.

Finally, the parade floats and contingents starts. And stops. And starts. And stops. The timing of the flow really sucked. I heard later that it is because all the contingents stopped at Union Square, where we saw the bright lights. The TV crew were there to film, so all the contingents actually stopped there to perform, causing the rest to back-up.

After a while, even the contingents got boring. Not many of the better sounding marching bands (of course, nothing to do with the Chinese). Lots of martial art schools parading their lions, but the lions weren't exactly dancing either. More like walking. The first golden dragon was somewhat impressive, but later on, more to come. Less and less impressive ones, that is. Then, the kids from various schools came. Had their lion heads and little dragons too. From then on, it got boring.

Ah well. We had an Indonesian dinner, at a restaurant called Borobudor. Not too bad. The rendang was good. Saving grace.

Soccer: USA vs. Japan

Friday night, Feb 10, 8pm

Watched a live soccer match. Friendly game, USA vs. Japan. As those who know me well, I was never really into soccer. Well, a partner of the firm part-sponsored the tickets, so I went for it! A group of us (not unexpectedly, mostly foreigners) went for it.

Was kinda fun, actually. We went to the SBC Park, up in San Francisco. There was a record turn-out of more than 37,000 in attendance. The USA team had not been in to SF in 26 years. I was surprised that they even had a soccer team for 26 years. And even more surprised that there are that many supporters of the game. I mostly thought it was more a women's game here in the US.

The match itself was pretty one-sided. By end of first half, the score was 2-0 in favour of USA. Most of the time, the ball was in Japan's half of the field. Very slow response of the strikers, and they could not pass well. Second half was more exciting, and the match ended 3-2 in favour of USA. At least the Japanese fought back well in the 2nd half. I suspect that the Japanese team actually fielded their second team. The Nakata fella was not there. There was a bunch of Japanese teens sitting near us, cheering "Nippon, nippon" but mostly drown out by the US supporters.

The weather was kinda weird in SF. It was unusually warm and sunny for this whole week, very uncharacteristically of the winter season. Must be the global warming... anyhow, as we drove up to SF, the fog came in and at the stadium itself, the wind of chillingly cold.... brrr....

But this was a fun outing. Hope the partner will sponsor more events like these!

Books to read

Via jadeite and sonic, here are the current top 50 books from What I Should Read Next. Bold the books you have read. Italicise the books you might read. Cross out the books you probably won’t read. Pass it on:

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (for all those book bashers, this is fiction!! Fiction!! I love conspiracy theories...)
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams (the funniest book I’ve read! the movie sucked bad though)
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter 6) - J.K. Rowling
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell (a great satirical piece on communism. did this for my ‘O’ levels, used to be able to quote whole paragraphs!! ‘All Animals Are Created Equal’ became ‘All Animals Are Created Equal, But Some Are More Equal Than Others’)

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) - J.K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Neuromancer - William Gibson

Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Ender’s Game (The Ender Saga) - Orson Scott Card
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis (after watching the movie, this piqued my interest. I read the prequel ‘Magician’s Nephew’, which explains the formation of Narnia)

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien (I grew up loving D&D stuff)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman

Atonement - Ian McEwan
The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert

Hmm, don't seem to have read a lot on this list. And I usually read whatever I get my hands on. Guess I have been reading more business books, investment books and self-improvement books lately...

CNY Scrabble

Sunday Jan 29, 2006
Chinese New Year
Scrabble!!!

Ya, I know. First day of Chinese New Year, and I do the most untraditional thing.... played Scrabble. What to do? Los Gatos tournaments happens once a month, usually last Sunday of the month. If I don't go, I'll suffer withdrawal symptoms, I think.

Wearing a red underwear outside my pants.... just kidding lah, not Superman... want a bit more luck, a little more balanced racks only.

Game 1
Opponent: David Stewart, rated 830

Nice guy, pretty good player. Bingoed on his second rack, with UnSWEPT for 74 points and I replied immediately with EX for 55 points, with the 'X' tile on the triple letter score. Then, with my fourth rack, I laid down RINGLET. He, in turn, had another bingo, with LENDING. I kept behind him closely and towards the end-game, I picked up the 'Q'! Luckily, I was holding on to a 'U' tile. This would never have upset me if it was SOWPODS, but with TWL right now, having the Q at the end usually is not good. On our last racks, I was barely leading with 346-343, but had the Q. The board was pretty closed up too. I was gonna give up and eat the Q, when I spied an open 'A' tile. My last chance to play out the Q, so I played AQUA for 15 points, exposing the 'A' on J15 on the triple word score line. I knew he may have bingo-able tiles, but hoped for the best. He played ST(A)IRS for just 21 points to bring him to lead 361-364, but I played out (G)'OING' for just 8 points, but enough to beat him by 5 points, and took his 2 points extra to boot. Turns out he was holding the 'E' as his last tiles. He could have played out with S(A)TIRES to win the game. Phew.

Game 2
Opponent: Jon Demeter, rated 778

Nice guy, Jon. Played him before. Not much to say on this game, except for lousy tiles. Lost badly with 269-404. He phoneyed me with a bingo SUPINED*.

Game 3
Opponent: Lynn Joseph, rated 855

She is a very pushy lady. Interruptive too. Not liking her personally too much, but she plays well. Started out well, and bingoed twice, with RISKIeR and REStAGE, but the 'I's clung to me at the end game. Proceeded to close up the board, but she bingoed with BANGLES, hooking the 'S' to FOND. Challenged FONDS and lost a turn. Big mistake, as she then played ZITI on the triple word for another 47 points. Lost 357-410.

Game 4
Opponent: David Carlson, rated 1131, first seed

Good player. He bingoed with s(Q)UIRTED and I replied with DelET(I)NG immediately. But lost towards the end with racks like AIIOURS. But close game. Lost 334-372.

Game 5
Opponent: Gloriosa Agdeppa, rated 904

This was a good game. I bingoed early with DRAiNER and she replied later on with sOLDIER. I then started to had bad tiles, and changed one rack for all 7 tiles. Immediately, she played SUQS for 54 points on the bottom triple word line to lead 323-265. I started to track every move, and ended with my second last play of AIDS to hook D on BATHE for 22 points to edge a lead of 377-360. I held my 'I' tile, and she had to play out 3 tiles with 15 points to draw. But she could only score 14 points! I got another 3 points for my end game and took 2 points from her to win 382-374. Great end game play for me! Learning my lessons well....


Game 6
Opponent: David Stewart, rated 830.

I faced Stewart again! I knew I had to play carefully with him, since he will be out for revenge. I drew a blank tile on first rack, and bingoed with TACTI(l)E. Later on, I bingoed with LAIRISE#, a OSW-only word. I think since I played it down so confidently, he did not challenge the word. I had HORNETs on my last rack, but unfortunately blocked by his move. I knew he had the JO on his last rack, and there was an exposed triple letter square with an 'O' beside it. Thank goodness, I track tiles in all my games! I blocked it, and won 351-323. Phew again!! My end-game moves are getting better.

So, met just 1 target. Won 3 games, that's half the games. Had a negative spread, so I failed that. And I was not in the top half. Was 5th of 8. Oh well.

Happy seeing the dentist?

Sat 01/28/06, Chinese New Year eve. Dentist appointment. Happy?

Actually, I started off a bit annoyed. I am not afraid of the dentist, just never thought it to be necessary. The last time I visited one was back in….wait, I forgot.

Anyhow, as you know, in the US, you get insurance for every little thing, including dental coverage. Since I am already paying for it, why not use it, right? Actually, Wan was the one pushing me for it, and made the appointments for both of us. She heard of the Cerulean Dental Spa which was ravely reviewed by colleagues. Hah, dental spa?!?

Anyhow, we went to this upmarket area called Rivermark, a masterplann development, where townhouses costs USD700k upwards. That’s where the dental spa is located. Before seeing the dentist, of course, there are 4 different forms to sign-off, with contact details, medical history, allergies etc, plus waiver if you die on the chair. Actually, no lah. No waiver like that.

That’s when the fun begins. Really.

First, I was brought to a nice leather reclining lounge seat and they had a 40” flat screen TV mounted in front of it, on the wall. Then, the dental assistant came by, introduced herself, and told me what she was going to do next. Took blood pressure (why does that affect my teeth?), took digital x-rays and a panaroma x-ray, both digitally. Then, they played a video that explains what will happen next, and why.

The dentist then came by, introduced himself, and explained step-by-step, what they will do, and why. Does your dentist ever tell you why they are doing stuff they do? This is a brand new experience!

Then, he did a periodontal probe, measuring the distance between my gums from my teeth. They even have a scale for it. 1, 2 or 3mm is good and 4 onwards is bad. Next, he did a cavity scan, using a laser probe! Something called a Kavoscan or something like that. Any readings higher than 15 on the scanner is not good.

Next, this is incredible…. He showed my on the TV, the x-rays of my teeth, with the associated periodontal probe readings and Kavoscan readings imposed on each individual tooth. I wish I had photos to show you, but I don’t. Then the dentist proceeed to explain what it all means, which tooth needs work, etc.etc. All that does not happen now, but is scheduled over my next 4 visits. I need some fillings done. They will remove my old silver fillings (made with mercury, dangerous stuff) and replace them with new ceramic plastic types.

Then, he introduced another dentist, who would be doing the actual cleaning.. You know what the dental assistant brought me? A menu selection of DVDs to watch while the cleaning goes on!! They had like 2 full menus of movies and TV series to watch!

I chose ‘Scrubs’, the very very funny TV sitcom. Was laughing while the dentist was cleaning and polishing my teeth!! And I had to laugh during that time. Swallowed some minty polishing agent, but that’s alright. She even flossed my teeth after the polish. Have you ever had this kind of service?

Of course, when the bill came, that’s a shocker. The first trip was fully covered by my dental insurance, but the next 4 trips will cost me slightly over $1k, coz I would have fully utilized my insurance coverage. I think I will split it into 2 years to do those work……

Man, this is one dental trip I don’t mind going again. I know more about my teeth than my last 30 years!! What technology can do……

Bad start to a morning

Sigh.... walked to my car this morning to go to work... and saw a big dent in the left side of my car. And the parking spot beside me is empty. That driver simply drove off without even writing a note! What a lousy neighbour. I wish upon him/her endless car breakdowns, tire punctures, stones against windscreen etc.....

Sigh....

World traveller

I've been to 23 countries so far, which only covers only 10% of the world. I guess I've been more widely travelled than most. Have been lucky that my parents love to travel, and I get to tag along when younger. Now that I am in the US, perhaps I can hit South America sometime. (oh yeah, I've got my travelogue photos in my website, if anyone is interested.)

I'd love to see the world, but I doubt many people actually gets to visit all countries in the world in one lifetime. And many times, one city does not represent the whole country anyway.

When you visit on a tour, you just see the pretty sites, not the real life of the local people. I found my backpack tours brings me more intimate with local life, and staying locally gets you even closer, of course.

How about you? Where do you want to go today?

p/s: thanks to jadeite for this cool website!



create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Micasa

Home sweet home....

Finally got it all set up... ahhhh.....

New Year tourney, part 2

Scrabble Daze…

This morning, I woke up very early…. just after 6am. Not sure why, but cannot go back to sleep… very well, I woke up to get ready for the 2nd day of the New Year Scrabble tournament at Los Gatos lodge. I sure hope they have power today.

Even after breakfast, still too early to go to the venue, so I played a little Civilization IV to pass time. It is a great game! Surely will get addicted to this…

Ok, time to go…

Game 7
Opponent: Martin Mondragon, rated 1053, seeded 26th of 28.

I have matched with Martin in my last tourney, and lost. I hope to exact my revenge here. And what do I do? I played DA#!! Bloody hell…. Had LANATES, LAMENTS, CANDIES, SHOEING. But all orphaned…. total frustration… Lost 299-419, my largest negative spread so far…

Game 8
Opponent: Jeannie Wilson, rated 1185, seeded 24th of 28.

This was a close fight. You first bingoed with NEATENS, and I immediately replied with BRaISED. But I made a stupid error later on. The board rapidly closed up, leaving an exposed N on the bottom triple line. I had ARISTAE with nowhere to go, and considered playing the A on top of an E (to form AE) for only 2 points, but gives me a second open line above and yet keep SATIRE on my rack. However, I chose to play off the A on top of PE in a closed-off area in the board just to get 7 points, an additional measly 5 points. Big mistake. She bingoed using the exposed N to form ROaSTI(N)G, and the board closed up. I subsequently held racks with VERITAS (which S can hook AE to play SAE), EROSION (N to hook AE to play NAE), OESTRIN and NAILERS. All orphaned for a measly 5 points…. *kick* *kick* *kick* own butt. Lost 325-358. Oh, and this game is the first time I played the F**K word in a tournament play!! So embarrassing to play it against a lady opponent, but those 4 tiles in the rack, what else can I do?

Game 9
Opponent: Thomas Conrad, rated 1126, seeded 25th of 28.

This game started well. I bingoed with ETHIONS on my 3 turn, but he replied immediately with sOLANiNS immediately (which I thought better not to challenge). It was pretty close after that. I actually layed down the word JENNY with J on the double letter and Y on the double word to give me 42 points, but chickened out because I was not sure. Played JUICY elsewhere for just 23 points. Bad mistake. Firstly, the word was good and the points were good. Secondly, not playing JENNY allowed him to bingo EGESTED, which JENNY would have blocked. *kick* *kick* *kick* own butt. Lost 367-397.

Game 10
Opponent: Emily Weissman, rated 1665, seeded 10th of 28.

I don’t know how the pairing works, but I am playing the 10th seed?!? Anyhow, I picked up a very nice first rack, with CEEST?? She started with WAXEN for 38 points. I took some time, and laid down rEC(A)STEd* across the A to hit double-double word. But chickened out and played C(A)SsEtTE instead, just in case I am wrong, which I was. (Side note: Auditors will know this word in real life as ‘recasted’ is regularly used in audit lingo, meaning to have recalculated the total of a column of numbers)

I proceeded to close up the board, and at the end of the 10th turn, I was ahead 256-186 with a pretty closed up board. Then, my mistakes began. First, I played GOS#, which is a OSW-only word, which she challenged off. I had held GGOORTT which I should have exchanged. Then, she opened up with ZEROS, with the Z just five space above the bottom center triple word space. I tried to block by playing ZOO. Major mistake! She placed TY to form ZOOTY for 54 points. I challenged, not knowing this word and lost my next turn too. I had crappy 1 to 2 point tiles while she picked up the big scoring tiles and the remaining ‘S’, and the J which she used well with JAMB. I lost 301-353.

Game 11
Opponent: Martin Mondragon, rated 1053, seeded 26th of 28.

Ok, now playing with repeats, and meeting Martin again. He bingoed LANDInG and I replied later with the phony BARNIES*, which he did not challenge off. But he had better tiles while I collected crappy unbalanced racks despite having the other blank tile. Lost 341-383, with a 0-3 record against Martin. Sigh….

Game 12
Opponent: B.A. Toole, rated 987, seeded 27th of 28.

I meet B.A. again for the final round of tournament. She has 3-8 wins and a negative 900+ spread, while I have 2-9 wins with a negative 400+ spread. So, this game was the game to determine who becomes last in the tournament!

First rack, BFHINTV…. Played BIN for a measly 10 points. Second rack, FHRRTV?. What the ?&$@#^!…. Changed 4 tiles on my 2nd turn, kept the ?RT. Happy! Bingoed with RiVETED next turn. Imagine, I threw the V and picked up the other V from a almost full bag!! And later on, I bingoed SMARTIE. Also played JO, QUIT and NAZI consecutively for high scoring words, with Q and Z on the triple letter spaces. Wrapped this game up, winning 401-353. Yay!! I am not last!!! Well, came in second last, but still good coz I am seeded last… oh well.

The tournament officially ended after the 12th game, due to the lighting problem yesterday. But there were originally 14 games scheduled, so the tournament directors allowed us to play another 2 rated games, but will not count towards the tournament results.

Game 13
Opponent: Paula Catalanese, rated 1386, seeded 18th of 28.

I was off to a good started, with second rack for a bingo TERTiAN. I kept scoring consistently good scores while she struggled a bit with her words. She picked up 3 of the 4 ‘S’s and the other blank but failed to capitalize on them. I won 345-310. Woohoo! 4-9 record!!

Game 14 (final game)
Opponent: Pat Diener

Started well, and I bingoed cR(I)TTERS on a double-double word tiles. Suffered after that with bad tiles, at one point and EQUID on my rack with no place for the Q anywhere. So, I exchanged it off..….. towards the end, I picked up EENRRTT with a closed-up board. Played off an e for a measly 3 points, and picked up…. what else? Another E. Played off the new E for another measly 3 points, and hey!! Got the blank! NETTERs!!! But no place to play. So, off goes another E for 4 points… guess what…. Q came visiting again…. desperately played QaTS later to hook AE with an S, but of course, AES is no good and was challenged off. Lost 256-412, my worst spread in this tournament. Final count: 4-10 record. Ok, not too bad, I guess.

There. That’s it. Done. Just got back the ratings…. I did ok, gaining 85 points to go to rating of 921. Sigh….. started off at 922 after the first tournament, dropped steadily ever since, and now not even back to my original rating!!! Oh well, more words to learn…

Summary of bingos played:
Game
1: CeMENtS
2: -none-
3: -none-
4: PLaSTER
5: HIsSERS, WINIESt
6: -none-
7: -none-
8: BRaISED
9: ETHIONS
10: CASsEtTE
11: -none-
12: RiVETED, SMARTIE
13: TERTIaN
14: cRITTERS

Candlelit Scrabble

Happy New Year everybody!! May 2006 be a grand new beginning for you to achieve even more success in every area of life!!

So, what does an avid Scrabbler do on New Year’s Day? Play Scrabble, of course! Los Gatos organized a 2-day tournament this weekend to take advantage of the long weekend. Held in the Los Gatos Lodge, the first day has been interesting…

I took up the Division 1 challenge and, as expected, I am seeded 28thof 28, ie. last. Actually, no shame in that, since I won’t lose too much rating points even if I had lost all my games, but will have more to gain if I win any games at all. I am rated 836 and the rest are rated from 900+ to 1900+!

So, here is a brief outline of my experience, heh heh…

Game 1
Opponent: TC Houlgate-West, rated 1366, seeded 19th of 28.

I picked up the 2 blanks together for this game, so a bingo should be easy enough. Unfortunately, the board was not that open but left a space on the left KA, to hook an ‘O’ or ‘S’ as the last tile on the bingo. I stupidly played GlaICES*, with the SKA hook, and was challenged off. I really though it was good… actually, on checking Lampwords later, I had 9 playable words (or 18, if using SOWPODS) on that combination but only CrInGES, CaGIESt and InCaGES could go down the board. And I never saw any of it. Anyhow, after 2 turns, I bingoed with CeMeNTS.

Meanwhile, my opponent played phoneys such as DORA, RIBE and DELIST, which I did not challenge. Still self-doubting, I am.

Won this game though, 365-351. Had better tiles overall. Next time I play against her, I know to challenge phoney looking words.

Game 2
Opponent: John Ortman, rated 1593, seeded 11th of 28.

I had a good start on this game. On the 5th round I was 139-58 ahead. But he recovered pretty fast, with his bingo of SONsIER and started catching up. I had an orphaned bingo VETOING on my rack on the 8th turn, and the orphaned bingo TORSION as my last rack. By then, he was way ahead and I lost 315-391. Not too bad, I guess.

Game 3
Opponent: Chris Patrick Morgan, rated 1310, seeded 22nd of 28.

Ok, the vowel gods stuck to me again…. had racks such as EEEIIMR, EEGIILR, EEIIILU, EEIOULY (where once again, EUOI# would be so good!) and EEEEIIL for my last few racks… in a row!!! And, made my first mistake with PO* too…. Lost 302-393.

Game 4
Opponent: B.A. Toole, rated 987, seeded 27th of 28.

She is the closest rated to me, and I began thinking that I have a good chance against her. Started of well, and halfway through the game, the lodge suffered a brown-out (called black-out back home) due to the rain. We continued playing with light from the windows, but being a rainy day, it was pretty dim. I put down PLASTer on the 7th turn but the game turned against me after that. Towards the end-game, all I had was 1-pointers, and she caught up. Losing 328-339. Painful lost. I could have done better, but she played well. And I stupidly played PO* for a second time in a tournament!! Major *kick* *kick* in the butt.

After this game, we broke for lunch. Finding a restaurant that opened on New Year’s Day is difficult, and finding one that does not have a long, long queue was doubly difficult.

Game 5
Opponent: Alan Whitman, rated 1529, seeded 14th of 28.

This was a tough fight! I had QUAILED in my first rack, which is a good word, but I chickened out. Played QUAIL for 48 and was satisfied. Of course, 104 points to start with would be mighty good! By the 2nd round, the board was closed up, with me leading 63-43. If no one opens, we will be done after 6 passes! Anyhow, I changed my tiles and got HISsERS with S hook on the QUAIL for a measly 76 points, but he caught up a bit playing REX immediately for 44 points on the triple-word on top of by HI. Later on, I played SENIORS, hooking S on AFF, but AFFS* was no good and was challenged off. He tried a phoney GRUNTLER which I challenged off. I was behind quite a bit still, trailing at 239-299. But a breakthrough came at the end. I got WINIESt, hooking to the right of BRIEF (which I played in my last turn on top of AFF), to form BI, RE, IS and Et concurrently. I leapt ahead to 336-332. Then, I knew it has to be a strategic end game to win. He dropped his time to give me 10 points, and I won 369-350.

Funnily enough, when I introduced myself to him before the tournament got started, I told him I was rated 836 and he said I was ‘ambitious’. He did not know I had been playing for a good 5 years or so, I guess.

Game 6
Opponent: Ellis Wyer, rated 1449, seeded 15th of 28.

It was getting dark at about 4pm, being winter and been a rainy day. The lodge’s staff put on candles and tiny lights to help light the tables. Romantic? Nah…. one thing I noticed, you don’t have many pretty girls in Scrabble (other than those Thai sisters I saw in Bangkok’s Kings Cup last year, which had most of the guys losing concentration playing with them!!!).

I had poor tiles on this game. Not much to say except she played well, with a bingo of AMmONIA. Lost 267-352. Darn, I hate playing sub-300 point games….

By now, the room was getting too dark and the tournament directors decided to cut it short today, and to have the rest of the games tomorrow. Sigh…. playing till late again… Definitely not looking forward to work on Tuesday…

Hey, someone snitched my nice tile-bag! A ‘Royal Salute’ 21-year old whiskey bag… Not easy to get, you know! Anyhow, found it later on another table. Someone has switched it with a lousy Travel Scrabble bag without asking.

For today, I guess a 2-4 record is not too bad! My ratings should go up as I win more, and should no go down anymore if I do not do too well later. Anyhow, more to report