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……
Monday, January 30, 2006
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
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....
Sigh....
Thursday, January 19, 2006
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
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
Monday, January 16, 2006
Home sweet home....Wednesday, January 04, 2006
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
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
Sunday, January 01, 2006
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
