Yes, I have pretty much retired this blog.
I’m back blogging only because I will be reporting on the progress of the upcoming Causeway Scrabble Challenge. The blog is at http://causewayscrabblechallenge.wordpress.com/
Go Team Singapore! Aim for second! (yes I’m neither ambitious nor confident ;p )
And the battle was lost.
I finally conceded that I would have to miss, for the first time since I was eligible to participate, the Singapore National Scrabble Championship. Quite ironically, it should happen when I actually put in the most effort studying (admittedly more due to the new dictionary).
And it was due to work, the project that had sapped substantial spirit and time from my life two months ago. That beast had perfect sense of timing. Just my luck that our team had to get Friday and Saturday for presentation slot when drawing lot with the other candidates in the bid, instead of, say, Monday and Tuesday.
More agonisingly, it is highly likely that I will only have to attend the presentation and sit pretty, since my company only plays a minor role in the whole project, and the lead company will be the one running the entire session. We supporting minions are there to be backup in case they have to redirect some questions, and to sit and present a united cohesive team supporting the whole bid, us all the linebackers. I guess I will feel better missing the Nationals making some important presentation that no one else can be delegated to handle, but no, I will sit pretty from 830am to 6pm doing nothing instead. The Boss had initially expected, and wanted to request for, allocated slots for the different partners to present and support their own expertise domain, and hence not waste all that time there. She instead came back from the briefing awed and said the lead team knew their business and knew what they’re doing. Hope dashed.
We better win the darn deal…
The Bangkok jam seems to be claiming many local victims: there have been many Thai player who had their clocks started for their first game throughout the tourney. Foreign players, mostly staying in hotels within walking distance of the venue, have mostly been punctual. But the Thai are fast players so they mostly managed to survive the time shortage (with Pakorn the possible exception, still regularly running down to negative time).
The last day saw a lot of people making a final charge. Komol P (THA), already in third place going into the final day, went 6-1 to snatch the first spot in the best-of-three finals, surpassing overnight leader Nigel and even having the luxury of being Gibsonized in the last round since he couldn’t drop to third place. Nigel, on 18.5 wins (he had a tie with Panupol earlier in the day) duked out with Jakkrit who was the sole player on 18 wins for the final spot, and prevailed (I didn’t manage to get the score).
Other people who stormed up their way were Hubert Wee (SIN) and Odette Rio (PHI), both going 6-1 and both ending up in the top 5 with 18-5 records. Hubert beat Panupol (THA) in the final game to overtake Jakkrit for the third spot. Femi Awowade (NIG) also put in a strong performance with 5-2, but coupled with his first day absence, he fell short of top 10, finishing 12th.
This year two people managed to go unbeaten in the final day: Gan Cher Siong (SIN) and Robbie Onate (PHI) went 7-0, and got the bonus prize. All players get 100 Baht for every game they win (50 Baht for days 1 and 2), and unbeaten players get their winnings multiplied by 5. So both Gan and Robbie earned 3500 Baht in day 4; more than the 9th placed finisher!
Some nice words played:
- Hubert Wee (SIN) ’s ZYGOSITy through O for 98 against Alastair Richards (AUS) in round 21.
- In day 1, Karen Richards played CLOAK(I)NG (one tile was a blank, couldn’t remember which), and Jakkrit extended it to the triple word to make BECLOAKING.
I didn’t do particularly well, but I must say this had been the most enjoyable King’s Cup I’ve been to yet – the funny dictionary (TWL2+SOWPODS – so people who have started on a bit of Collins like me were a bit wary on which words were good or not) notwithstanding. The venue, Siam Paragon complex, is impressive – the hall was more spacious than the previous venues and afforded a comfortable setting to watch the finals. The Paragon is also a fabulous shopping mall, with a great variety of food (oh the food … ice cream …) to choose from. Logistics were also much improved with: shorter distance to opening night dinner, and the fact that they slotted in one game before the princess came in for the opening ceremony, meant that there were less down time, and the games were a bit less rushed. And also the final was exciting. As Han Ei remarked, it was even more exciting than watching a sport match, with all the tension. Too bad it all has ended.
Ranking of top 20 plus some selected players below:
# Name Record Spread
1 KOMOL P. 20 – -7 1845
2 NIGEL RICHARDS (NZ) 19.5 – 7 1451
3 HUBERT WEE (SING) 18 – 9 1183
4 JAKKRIT K. 18 – 9 1057
5 ODETTE RIO (PHI) 18 – 9 837
6 THACHA K. 18 – 9 463
7 PANUPOL S. 17.5– 9 932
8 TONY SIM (SING) 17 – 10 871
9 GERRY C. 17 – 10 675
10 CHEAH SH (SING) 17 – 10 434
11 PAKORN N. 16 – 11 1163
12 FEMI AWOWADE (NIGERIA) 16 – 11 1017
13 CHARNWIT S. 16 – 11 994
14 KAREN RICHARDS (AUS) 16 – 11 822
15 CHOLLAPAT I. 16 – 11 750
16 JOCELYN LOR (MAL) 16 – 11 429
17 APIRAT C. 16 – 11 390
18 GAN CHER SIONG (SING) 16 – 11 -244
19 ATIRUTH S. 15 – 12 1234
20 NAWAPADOL S. 15 – 12 1066
23 MICHAEL TANG (SING) 15 – 12 375
27 AMNUAY P. 15 – 12 -137
29 ROONGROJ H. 14.5 – 12 294
30 RICKY PURNOMO (INDO) 14 – 13 615
31 TAN JIN CHOR (mal) 14 – 13 592
35 ALASTAIR RICHARDS (AUS) 14 – 13 -12
36 MARLON PRUDENCIO (PHI) 14 – 13 -80
40 YEO KIEN HUNG (MAL) 13.5 – 13 251
41 AZMIL AB AZIZ (MAL) 13.5 – 13 -261
43 MARTIN DEMELLO (INDIA) 13 – 14 283
46 CHEW HAN EI (SING) 13 – 14 -19
51 K. DORAI RAJA (SING) 13 – 14 -645
55 KHEN MEERDING (AUS) 12 – 15 97
(I managed to type this all before the laptop battery ran out. Just. Too bad the wi-fi credit ran out and I couldn’t get on line … sorry for late update)
The very exciting final just ended with Nigel surmounting the 109 spread handicap. With the 109 counted in for Komol as his starting score, final score was 476-429 to Nigel.
Nigel managed to get APTNESS (81) down on his fourth move to draw almost level, 160-163, and we have an exciting fight on hand. Nigel immediately followed up with DERIDER (71). Komol kept up with BIRTH (42) and WHENS (40), Nigel had FEIJOA (43) with the rubbishy vowely rack. Komol played SOILIER (73) and Nigel played VANLOAD (24) through V and N, and the game was tied at 366 all and both blanks were still out, and the Z too.
Komol had REGUIDE with no place to play, played UREIDE (26) to hunt for the last blank or Z while restricting the board, but was disappointed to see Nigel’s sETWALL (80) still go down. That sealed the game, and it didn’t help that Nigel picked the Z too.
Nigel is the champion again, while Komol earns a WSC spot for his efforts.
A very exciting game 2 ended with Nigel pipping Komol 473-468. Komol drew first blood with GOATEES 83 with Nigel immediately replying with MUsLINET 86. Nigel later got CARTELS 76 which Komol immediately replied with AVIATES 90 to retain a 20 point lead amd continued to score strongly while blocking. Nigel managed a REGAlIAN 76 to set up a tight endgame, Nigel 424 to Komol’s 384 with Nigel holding the dreadful IIYCEE and Komol DDOZEXL with many high scoring spot.
Komol scored with DZO (44) instead of ZEX (58) to avoid Nigel’s counterscore of YE (39), and setup for his own X. Nigel partially blocked a high scoring X spot with ICE (24), and inexpicably (at least to us audience) played LUX (20) instead of DEX (36). Nigel squeaked in with TYE (25) before Komol went out with ED (22) for a 5-point loss. Some of the Thai players were saying DEX would lose Komol the game, but I haven’t found out the details.
Game 3 underway, Nigel starts with 109 spread handicap.
Laptop battery running out, hopefully still enough power to post round 3 result…
with Komol facing Nigel. Komol was Gibsonized, and Nigel made it in the last round.
Komol has won the first match 459-345, on the back of bingo-bango-bongo fRONTAGE (77), BESOTTED (72), and ENLARGER, to Nigel’s none.
I may only get to post day 4 tomorrow, but will post the final result today.
(this was typed at the end of Day 3, but only now I have time to post it. Day 4 is almost over)
Day 3 ends with the familiar situation of Nigel Richards taking his customary sole occupant of top position. After 20 rounds he led the field with 15-5, one clear of a pack of 5 Thais on 14-6. Nigel was at one point 2 points clear, but in the last group of 3, he apparently lost twice (I don’t have details on whom to).
The Thais were fighting hard with extra stake at hand: the two top Thai finishers will qualify for WSC. Atiruth Sandiyakorn, current Thai no. 3, had qualified in an earlier tournament, and must be thankful he did not need to worry that he was stranded at 24th spot (albeit with a huge spread).
I neglected to mention another young Thai yesterday in the list of up-and-coming players: Noppadol D. The oversight was because he already played in the year before, but this year seemed to be his breakout year, winning 8 straight over day 2 and 3 to stake a place at no. 15. He ended the day with a win over Gerry Carter (THA) to stay within reach of top 10. On the board there was a 10-letter word, LIGHTENERS, which came from Gerry’s LIGHT(EN)ER natural, and Noppadol played VIMS to it.
Noppadol is also in the hunt for a new prize category: the handicap prize. This year the organizers grouped people by rating and past results and assign them extra handicap, which will be added to their total number of points (2 points for each win). As a benchmark, there are only 3 people with 0 handicaps: Nigel, Pakorn, and Panupol. Noppadol has 12 points handicap. The current leader though is Chaiwat W, who swept his table of 3 which included Femi Awowade and Charnwit, to vault to 11th place. Chaiwat, a Thai WYSC representative, has a handicap of 16.
Femi’s run up was halted as he remained at no. 25 with 4-3 record today. He has a shot at top 10 still, since he was only 2 wins off the top 10-ers
Top 20 players up to round 20 below:
# Name Record Spread
1 NIGEL RICHARDS (NZ) 15 – 5 1282
2 PAKORN N. 14 – 6 1430
3 KOMOL P. 14 – 6 1133
4 JAKKRIT K. 14 – 6 872
5 THACHA K. 14 – 6 721
6 GERRY C. 14 – 6 708
7 NAWAPADOL S. 13 – 7 1193
8 TONY SIM (SING) 13 – 7 738
9 PANUPOL S. 13 – 7 666
10 CHEAH SH (SING) 13 – 7 656
11 CHAIWAT W. 13 – 7 502
12 MARLON PRUDENCIO (PHI) 13 – 7 405
13 CHARNWIT S. 12 – 8 818
14 HUBERT WEE (SING) 12 – 8 679
15 NOPPADOL D. 12 – 8 581
16 ODETTE RIO (PHI) 12 – 8 482
17 MICHAEL TANG (SING) 12 – 8 387
18 ALASTAIR RICHARDS (AUS) 12 – 8 302
19 LEONORA LABOG (PHI) 12 – 8 237
20 APIRAT C. 12 – 8 218
So the medical check-up said. I have fat above the normal range. And I’m still below my desired weight. I have high LDL / bad cholesterol.
I blame it on Indian and Malay food. I have been eating equally unhealthy Chinese hawker food as when I got wonderfully- low LDL and high HDL two years ago; the main change has been more steaks (but infrequent), larger portions especially after gym, and Indian food almost everytime I work overtime (by dint of the Indian stalls are the only one open that late around office).
And now I start watching my food. I feel old. Bye mutton biryanis, I’m gonna miss you.
Colleague (as he left office): Happy Labour Day tomorrow man.
Me (as I looked at the agenda for the meeting tomorrow): Free-Labour Day you mean.
I had my first facial yesterday, at the introduction of my dearie. I don’t think I qualify for the tag SNAG or metrosexual yet, but it was quite a nice experience.
We went to her regular place, which is one tucked away in the heartland of Ang Mo Kio, not one of those famous chains with much marketing through public ads or credit card discounts. Two-women show with a four-customer capacity, with sufficiently impressive array of ointments and equipment – at least to a facial newbie like me who doesn’t have a point of reference drawn from the big players.
Most customers are treated on the beds separated by curtain partitions, but I was given the sole room, possibly because I was the only male there. I was also denied the shoulder massage that apparently everyone else gets 
sexual discrimination, I say ;-/ In any case, I just lay down on the bed as relaxed and still as possible and commended my body to the mercy of the beautician. My dearie came to my rescue since the beautician’s language of preference is Chinese, but once the initial discussion was over (my involvement came into the picture only when I recognised the un-Chinese word “eczema” :-/) and the course of treatment was determined, I just closed my eyes and tuned myself out.
I was interested in what happened throughout the treatment, so though my eyes were closed I kept from sleeping (this, however, was quite doubted by my dearie). There were application of ointments, wiping of face, application of other ointments, covering of face with clothes, squeezing and pricking with some sharp implement (I believe this was blackhead cleansing?), application of ointments, covering with clothes, application of ointments (gee, I sense a pattern here), facial massage, application of ointments (I do note that all were different ointments with different feel and aroma) … anyway, I lost track of how many ointments were applied and in what exact sequence (hence the doubt of my state of consciousness).
What’s clear though, was at the end of it, my face felt very clean and smooth. And as a bonus, I actually felt relaxed throughout and even a bit tingling – something that I didn’t expect from anything less than a full-body treatment like massage. Either there’s something to be said of facial massage, or of the very serene state of mind that I managed to put myself in – very rare since my mind usually can’t hold still. Apparently an ultrasonic device was also applied to my face (I didn’t recall this, and again, my consciousness was doubted) to push nutrient way deep under my skin. I don’t know how much that is supposed to factor, but there was result: the reddish peeling skin of the area enringing my spectacles frames was just like what a normal skin should be. And it lasted one and a half day so far. That’s already one day more than any cleansing agent + moisturiser has been able to do.
My verdict is: facial is good, I like. But not much enough for me to frequent one regularly. Especially now that I am armed with one of the ointments which is supposed to help me maintain the face to not have the reddishness anymore, with sufficient quantity to last me more than a year of dilligent nightly application. And that’s not yet factoring the fact I’m a stingy user of consumable stuff. And a forgetful one.
