The Scrabble Saga
Saturday, March 27, 2004
Intermission 2
Dear Readers,
It has been more than a fortnight since I last updated the scrabble saga, and those who know me well will understand what I've been going through and how uneasy it is for me to continue. It would be easy for me to back out of writing this completely, but I shall perservere to bring all my readers a detailed account of all the goings on of the Hall 8 Scrabble team.
For accuracy, before I start on the next installment, which covers the semi-final and final matches versus hall 2 and hall 7 repectively, I shall compile personal accounts from the players themselves, so bozo, joe, beth, thomas, seryang and weiming, I shall be looking for ya soon, or you can just come and find me.
This way there will be less complaints.
Hopefully I will have time to organize my thoughts and start working on the next episode soon.
Cheers,
Chiimera
Saturday, March 13, 2004
Inevitability (Episode 3): *Special Double Issue!*
Prelude
It appears that I have ticked a couple of people off by excluding them from the characters list. Well it isn't a complete list you know? Hmpf. Anyhow shall rectify this by including a second 'supporting' characters list at the end of this weeks episode. I shall continue with the story first; those of you who want to read about what I wrote about you (you'll all probably disagree with me though) may scroll down to part II.
Although this week's episode is pretty good.
Part I: IH Scrabble Day Three
Woke up on Saturday morning knowing that this would probably be the last day of my IH scrabble career. Nevertheless I kept my spirits up. I freshened up and trudged down to the conference room to have a couple of practice games with the team. On the way down I met Mingxi and Sengyong, who stopped me to talk about Pearly. It seems Pearly had been complaining to them about how she was left out of the team the last two nights.
Now one of the first things I asked them was whether Pearly said why she and Beth weren't getting along, cos no one really knew why and Beth was pretty concerned and a bit annoyed over it. Well, basically they said they couldn't tell either from what Pearly had said. In regards to the fact that she was annoyed at being omitted from the team, they basically told her she should have been more of a team player and should have supported us. It was good that they were talking some sense to her.
Generally they also mentioned that Pearly felt the scrabble team was ostracising her. (Hmm, that part I shall discuss in on of my prequels which will be coming soon) But basically it was her attitude which had left us somewhat dismayed. Sengyong had conveyed to her that I had said that I felt Beth and Pearly's partnership was the strongest we had before they started not speaking to each other, which is true of course.
But they both mentioned that Pearly had felt insulted that she was to play only a weaker team which we were sure to win. She basically said she wanted to face a tougher hall. I couldn't really risk such a fragile partnership against a strong hall, plus she did say she wasn't feeling well. Mingxi said it was all this childishness was just a process of growing up but I really felt that an undergrad should know better. It was getting late by then, so I trotted off to the conference room, but not before Mingxi said that maybe someone should go talk to her about it.
At the conference room, I rallied everyone by telling them that we still had to win all our remaining matches to top the group and avoid favourites hall 3. It was nice to see everyone buzzing with enthusiasm; what with Seryang and Weiming discussing how they should keep up their unbeaten run and with Beth and Thomas discussing tactics and analyzing what went wrong with their matches. The chemistry of both teams was good considering the little preparation time, especially Seryang and Weiming, who had a nice buddy-buddy thing going on. Bozo and Joe seemed tense though. Singles players are under a lot more pressure to deliver I guess.
First match was another routine 5-0 trashing with a high team spread. Next up was against hall 15, who had been rumoured to have trained hard under the stewardship of their captain and ex-hall president, Jia Ee. So I decided to get chummy with the hall 7 ppl for some pointers. Basically they said that their words were quite good but that we'd win easily. Not much help, so went with same line-up. As usual I faced the sacrificial lamb, whereas Bozo took on Jia Ee. Me and bozo won ours, but, horror of horrors, both Joe and Beth and Thomas lost theirs. At 2-2, we looked on anxiously, and only a discrete thumbs-up sign from Weiming finally calmed our nerves. Turns out they had only won their match by 2 measely points.
Lady Luck was smiling.
With another easy hall nest to conclude the group games, we were all confident of top spot, so my attention turned to the other group, where hall 2 seemed destined to finish 2nd to face us in the semis. Gandered over to Vee Ye, the Hall 3 captain for pointers, and found out that hall 3 had drawn 2.5-2.5 with hall 2 and only won on points spread. So either hall 3 wasn't that strong or I had underestimated hall 2.
Also tried to get tips from Ricky, the IH Chief Ump and Hall 2 ex-player, but his loyalty meant he revealed little.
Whatever, same line-up, I thought.
Would we beat hall 2 in the semis?
DId someone talk to Pearly eventually?
Much more to come...
To be continued....
Part II: Supporting Characters
Here's a short list of our supporters, the rest of the scrabble team who either couldn't come for the competition or left the team half-way, and our dearest lackeys too, without whom we training sessions wouldn't have been so fun. Although some of them only came during scrabblemobile suppertimes, which I think probably was a coincidence.
The Supporters:
John aka Shanji
Relationship to the team: Was the previous year's rec sec, and a good one at that.
Contributions to the team: Was also part of the darts team so popped by whenever they had trainings. Helped to fill in sometimes during our trainings when we had not enough players and proved a competant player. Also turned up punctually around 1am quite often, just before we had our routine 179 supper (yup coincidence again). Shamelessly self-confessed lackey of scrabble team. which is nice.
Guotai
Relationship to the team: Was the rec sec in 99/00, 00/01, and 01/02, and a good one at that too. Also has a gold medal as part of the 00/01 team.
Contributions to the team: Was also part of the darts tema at first but later left the team. Still came down to support the Scrabble team despite this, which was nice.
Zhihong:
Relationship to the team: Was the rec sec in 00/01 and 01/02, and, yup, also very comitted.
Contributions to the team: Already graduated, so came down only once actually. But listed here to complete the rec secs roll call.
Hongwei aka redtails:
Relationship to the team: Joe and Thomas' neighbour at blk 42. Shortest person on that level, I think. No wait, I'm pretty sure. Othello player too.
Contributions to the team: Don't let his size fool you (did I mention he's short?), a really good motivator who's pressence really picked the team up. Too bad he was only around just before we went for suppers.
Anson:
Relationship to the team: Joe and Thomas' neighbour at blk 42. Hair keeps changing colour for some reason. Must be genetic.
Contributions to the team: Effervescent character who also lifted the team's morale. (We have too many introspective ppl on our team you see). Dropped by when he was free.
Lichun:
Relationship to the team: stays right above bozo and me at blk 44, also a darts player.
Contributions to the team: Distinctive voice and laugh meant everyone was wide awake whenever she was around. Which is good cos I'm a real droner, and a bore too.
Gladys:
Relationship to the team: Neighbour of Joe and Thomas at 42. Carrom player also.
Contributions to the team: Hmm. I think she just came in for the air-con now and then. No, wait, she did stay to watch us and come down to support us after IA during the competition.
Leon aka Pooh Bear
Relationship to the team: Neighbour of Bozo and me at 42. Hall prez also.
Contributions to the team: Bought free tea for the rec teams who stayed late every night (which basically consisted of darts and scrabble). The tea was greatly appreciated.
Ok I think I have missed out on a lot of ppl, but I shall continue with the other team members next time.
I thank all our supporters (listed or unlisted) on behalf of my team for their contributions.
Really appreciated it!
Very long post, so very tired.
Stay tuned!
Friday, March 12, 2004
Inevitability (Episode 2): Characters
Another short diversion from the main story.
I've been told by some that I have left out many details pertaining to 'the Pearly Incident'. Well the truth is I have tried to be as impartial as possible and have thus kept out some of the nastier details, which may give readers a better understanding as to why the scrabble team feel so perturbed by Pearly's behavior. I shall try to include as much as possible in later episodes.
Meanwhile, I have noticed that there has been a distinct lack of character development for the supporting characters in the scrabble team, as much of the focus has been on Pearly (It is 'The Pearly Incident' after all). Here goes then:
Singles Players:
Zhiyang aka Bozo aka Cylum
History: Joined in 2000 when he was in Year One, paired with Zhiyong as doubles team in 00/01 and 01/02. In year 3 (02/03), chose to go China with family, so didn't play for hall. Have to admit we struggled without that fella. (Yes, our team was that bad that year)
This year: Probably trained harder than all past 3 years combined to grab the second singles player spot. Probably also inspired by Joe's speedy progress.
Charteristics: Jokey fella, kept the spirit of the team up at times. Can be serious at times, but unfortunately no one takes him seriously all the time. Friendly and intuitive for the most part, but unfortunately shies away from making crucial decisions and from confrontations.
Joe aka Heigui
History: Joined in 2002 when he was in Year Three (kinda late), paired with Thomas in 02/03.
This year: Improved greatly in the space of one year to take the third singles spot. Perhaps inspired by the fact that he didn't wanna lose out to bozo. If there was an award for most improved player, he'd probably get it.
Characteristics: Introspective fella who can be quiet at times. Nonetheless showed patience in guiding the juniors on the team (probably the favorite senior), which I was grateful for. Anal and sensitive at times, but his helpful nature makes up for those shortcomings.
Doubles Players:
Thomas aka amoeba aka bubble boy
History: Joined in 2001 when he was in Year Two, paired with dawn in 01/02, then Joe in 02/03.
This Year: Any improvement made was unfortunately overshadowed by Joe's, although it seems he really did put in effort (Even if he chose to skip some trainings for Diablo). Was left partnerless after Joe was promoted, but eventually ended up partnering with Beth.
Characteristics: As nicknames suggest, self-sufficient and at times self-centered introspective fella. No one really knows what he's thinking at times. Can be extremely competitive, even during training matches. Basically doesn't like to lose. Friendly chap nevertheless.
JoBeth aka Beth
History/This year: Joined this year as a freshie and partnered Thomas.
Characteristics: As committed and passionate as any player you'd imagine, she probably enjoys a good game of scrabble more than anything else. Competitive as well, but sometimes plays too fast, probably from inexperience. Cheerful, upbeat and caring person who can be too trusting at times.
Weiming
History: Joined boggle team in 01/02 and not scrabble team, thus losing out on a gold medal. Played singles in 02/03.
This Year: Partnered Seryang as all the singles places were already filled.
Characteristics: Shows a real desire to win, although gaemplay can be improved slightly. Was perhaps overworked by his role as Darts captain, along with boggle captain, so was unable to fulfil his task fully. Cordial and non-conforntational in nature, with a kind and naive heart.
Seryang
History/This year: Joined this year as a freshie and partnered Weiming.
Characteristics: Shows real desire to be the best at anything he joins and has a bloodthirsty desire to win. Another introspective fella who can be a bit sensitive to how the world treats him in general but is mostly bright and cheerful. Could do with a little more self-confidence, but displays a brave heart.
Will continue with the Scrabble Saga soon as possible...
Stay tuned!
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Inevitability (Episode 1) [continues from The Pearly Incident Episode 5]
We were fortunate that Hall 14 was another complete walkover as we tried to shake off our feelings toward what Pearly had done. We'd won 5-0, with my winning spread of 400 points probably being the best I'd ever scored. Perhaps it was partly due to the fact that I was predictably sitting on the first table for all the rounds so far and that all the other halls were feeding me their weakest players.
Even so, the first table is always the most stressful to play, as everyone has their eyes on you. This was definitely the case this year, with alumini Ricky, Elizabeth, JP, Huimin and Joanna all looking on at me at one point. They could've borthered other people, you know. Definitely other better looking people from other halls to ogle.
Well, anyway, Bozo also scored a spread of 300+ points and overall our total team spread only missed the magical 1000 point mark by a few marks. If I recall, our team had managed to reach even 1200+ when I was in year 2. Excellent effort nonetheless. After the match, which concluded the second day's proceedings, news filtered in that Pearly was packing to go home and had decided not to turn up on Saturday. Apparently when she had told me everything was ok earlier in the day, she was just giving a false impression. Whatever, I thought, her presence really didn't matter by then.
Good riddance.
Games Recap!
This is where I'll try to recap some of my games and some of the words/moves I'd played. I notice Scrabble players out there who are reading this must be wondering why I've only provided too-brief snippets of my games. Well, firstly I seldom remember my games and don't keep my IH scoresheets. (Yes, even those 3 300+ spread games) Unfortunately, I get considerably more melancholy from losing than any ecstacy I will ever have from winning , so I remember the games I lose much more vividly.
Moreover, I'm more concerned with how the rest of the team is doing cos I can normally more or less gaurantee my own board. And my memory's pretty bad. Can't even remember what words I bingoed against Sylvia.
I do however remember that I bingoed out the word 'eatable' (it's good, E is blank) against a girl player (from which hall I forget). I expected her to challenge (wasn't too sure of it then myself) as she appeared to be reaching for a challenge slip. I actually asked her if she wanted to challenge myself, but she was just thanking me for the game after all.
Perhaps that was cos 'eatable' was my 5th bingo of the game and I was already leading by 300 points.
Zzzzzz...
Anyhow, all this must be boring you by now. Back to our Hall 8 team, who were all crowing over our 998 point team spread, which was the highest so far (and it turned out, of the entire competition). The team decided to celebrate our progress so far with supper at 179 in the scrabblemobile.
Mmm 179. *sob* Scrabblemobile. Rest In Peace.
Basically told everyone to have a good night's rest that night, cos we still had 5 matches (incl. semis and final) to go the next day. At this point, I was already confident that we'd reach the final, but was kept awake through the night worrying how awful it would be if we were to bulldoze into the final, only to lose narrowly, as we had done for boggle in my year 1 and 2 IHs.
Should've just slept with happy tots.
Will my pessimistic premonition come true?
Will I bore my readers again with another 'games recap'?
Will Pearly return?
Tune in next time to find out....
To be continued....
Monday, March 08, 2004
Intermission
Dear Readers,
I am sorry I have not been able to update the Scrabble Saga lately, as I am busy with my fyp. I have been trying to accomplish in 3 days what I had 3 months to complete, with only moderate success. I will try to update this webby as soon as possible, probably by mid-week. You can check back here for updates and I will also indicate latest editions at my blogsite.
I welcome any suggestions or enquiries regarding the Scrabble Saga and will try to comply as much as I possibly can. Thank you very much.
Cheers,
Chimera.
Thursday, March 04, 2004
The Pearly Incident (Episode 5)
That night after the first day of competition was tough on the team despite the positives. We had slaughtered our main threat, Hall 7, our mix-and-match teams were doing well; with weiming and seryang having the kind of brotherly chemistry that could only be beneficial to the team, and thomas surprisingly working better with beth than he did with Joe (That's another story though).
Reflecting...
I'd always figured doubles to be extremely important; singles give the team stability, and while all 3 singles winning all the way would render the doubles meaningless, it was unlikely to happen. Even when hall 8 had it's best line-up, the 3 singles players won only 23 of 24 matches (again, another story). We still needed the doubles.
Beth spent the night wondering what happened to Pearly, as Pearly had only returned late at night. Me, I was contemplating whether to field Pearly. I was also wondering why I was doing the line-ups when I had already retired as captain last year (yes, that's right, another story), but I put those complaints aside.
Met Joe for breakfast the next day at can 9, where coincidently, Pearly was there too. I attempted to stretch out an olive branch by asking her if she was feeling better and telling her of the warm-up games we were having in the afternoon. She shrugged her illness of and said everything was ok. I'd also told her the reasons for her omission from the line-up, but she said she didn't mind it, that she understood. I told her she'd get a game today anyway.
Reflecting...
I should've known Pearly meant the opposite of what she said to me, but really I was more concerned with the team. I had already been against breaking up any of the pairings, and now that I was about to do so for an individual's sake, well it just didn't seem right. Still for her sake, I was prepared to go against my 'mantra'. Thought it would've solved everything. It didn't.
The afternoon training session went well enough, everyone was in high spirits, even Pearly, and Beth too. The first game on the 2nd day was against hall 9, which I felt was a possible banana skin. Thus when it came to submitting our line-up, I once again kept the same line-up. Pearly could play the next round against hall 14, I couldn't risk it this round.
Of course I hadn't told Pearly all of these, lest she misunderstand. Anyway, I had already promised her a game, she could be patient definitely. Thankfully, we trashed the Niners 5-0 with consumate ease, and everyone was comparing who had the highest positive spread on the way back to the conference room. Arrogant? perhaps, but we had the quality to back it up.
I knew at this point that we actually had a good chance at the gold medal.
Unfortunately, this was also the point where I started to get angry at Pearly. She'd just upped and left while we were playing! Again! Now we had only a few minutes between games to submit each round's line-ups and her not telling anyone where she'd gone was really inconsiderate, and in my opinion, the final straw.
Who the fuck did she think she was? I called her only to find out that she'd gone to JP to see the doctor (again? geez...) Why didn't she tell anyone, I asked, but she simply shrugged off the question. I really should've raised my voice at this point, but I felt disrupting the team's high morale was a bad idea. I just filled in the same line-up again and told the team not to be too confident, even if it was Hall 14.
Bozo, Joe and Val just gave me 'forget about her' looks, but at this point I really couldn't fathom what the hell Pearly was thinking. What kind of team player does this sort of thing? Bloody awful, Immensely disappointing. Shouldn't have picked her from the start, could tell then, but didn't have the luxury of choice.
Hindsight is 20/20 after all.
Was this the end of Pearly's participation?
Did Mark finally lose his temper?
Stay tuned for further updates...
To be continued...
Monday, March 01, 2004
The Pearly Incident (Episode 4)
During my match with Sylvia, all I could think of was how the rest of the team was faring. It helped, of course that my first move was a bingo. I opened up a 100-pt lead shortly after and closed the board to win comfortably by a 90+ pt spread. As I left, I saw disappointment on Thomas' and Beth's faces. I expected the worst from the others.
I hadn't noticed when Weiming and Seryang left, and so I had expected that they'd lost too (they were the underdogs, after all, I felt). However, Weiming came over to tell me that they'd won, meaning one more game was all we'd need. A thumbs up from Zhiyang meant we had the 3 boards necessary, so I immediately went up to the conference room (our 'Headquaters') to ponder on the line-up for the next round.
Sidetracking again...
I hadn't noticed this as I was more concerened about the team's performance, but pearly looked a little disheartened, probably from not being selected. However, she really looked unwell and would not have been chosen as such.
Upon hearing that Joe had lost to Gillian, I went back to the conference room and told the team that I felt we should've done better against Hall 7. This was a dampener, no doubt but I felt there was a need to ground their high spirits as there was still a long way to go. In truth, I knew beating hall 7 meant we were almost certain of topping the group.
I tend to look at a glass half-empty anyways.
We decided to keep the line-up for the next round against Hall 6, as it was Hall 8 tradition not to tweak with the doubles pairings. This tactic had proven results, mostly because it allowed the pairings to gel with competitive practice. This meant that Pearly would not play again, but I was more concerned with the team's interests.
The result against Hall 6 showed that there wasn't much threat from the other halls (other than Hall 7). We steamrolled them 5-0 with bozo and I each scoring +300pt spreads. This however showed that Hall standard had dropped in the four years since I started representing Hall 8. Nonetheless, all of us were estatic over the positive result.
That drew an end to the first day's round of matches. We realised then that Pearly had left the conference room as we were playing against Hall 6. Instead of returning to her room, she had gone to a guy's room, to pour out her sorrows regarding her non-selection. I had expected her to understand the reasons behind this. I was wrong.
That revelation had truly put a dampener on what was a good start to the competition.
What did the 2nd day have in store for us?
Could we overcome the disharmony that a certain individual had caused?
Stay tuned to find out...
To be continued...
The Pearly Incident (Episode 3)
I'll sidetrack a little now...
It had actually come to my attention that beth and pearly weren't playing well as a team the week before, and much of this, it seems, had to do with the fact that they suddenly weren't on speaking terms. How did it come to this? Roommates not speaking to each other....
Well, from my point of view, nothing had happened at all between them. Perhaps only Pearly knew, cos it was clear beth was trying her hardest to be nice to Pearly. Beth was perplexed as to why as well.
Anyway, back to the first day of competition.
At around lunchtime, I received an sms from Pearly saying how she'd rush down, after seeing the doctor, to play later. (Official start time was 7pm) I told her not to, as I had already asked weiming to take a cab back from his IA company. In fact I mentioned this to her the night before as well. She insisted on rushing back, but I couldn't promise her that she would get to play.
That evening, I received a call from Pearly saying she was already rushing down in a cab. Hmm, didn't I tell her not to rush down cos she wasn't feeling well? I told her to get a receipt to claim anyway, since she had already boarded the cab. Weiming was also on his way in the cab.
The first match, against Hall 7 was the most crucial, as Hall 7 was our toughest opponents in the group. And yet the team comprised of two untested doubles pairings, Thomas and Beth, who had only one day's playing experience, and Seryang and Weiming who also had only been playing together for a week or so.
Likewise, Zhiyang and Joe were playing singles for the first time (they'd played doubles before), so I had good reason to be worried. A loss against Hall 7 would mean a tough uphill climb to get to the semis. (Top 2 of each group progress)
We decided on a conventiuonal top-to-bottom line-up based on strengths. Predictably, Hall 7 did the opposite, playing Sylvia against me, Poh Shien against Zhiyang and Gillian (who'd famously scalped me 2 years back) against Joe. Two first timers took on Beth and Thomas, whereas the veteran doubles took on Weiming and Seryang.
I knew then that we'd have to at least win one doubles, and that Zhiyang would be the decider, as usual...
Did we beat the Favorites, Hall 7?
or were we trashed?
Tune in to find out...
To be continued...
