The last piece of remnant of my lost love or last love ..
My last Prince. Either got stolen or I lost it somewhere. It was a while ago. At time, few friends had been suggesting or hinting to get a new racket to improve my game. I thought nothing of it since I was in love with the ThunderBolt, till one day I walked onto the court and opened my bag, found my little red engine was gone. When, where and how .. I didn’t know. But it was gone, for good. Disgust, disilluted, I mindlessly started using my kids, Head. And falling in love with it. See, I’m easy to deal with. And my game improved. 塞翁失马,焉知非福 End of story.
Lately, with the new serve, I double fault fewer times. Actually I didn’t double fault at all for the past few times I was out there. Happy? Yeees. How happy? hmmm … the gradation is hard to gauge.
November 8, 2007 at 3:11 pm
· Filed under Saga, Sports
Went to shopping on Tue at the mall, it’s like a zoo, mother/daughter teams were abundant. I even ran into a neighbor there with her daughter, Pumpkin’s good friend. Did Abercrombie & Fitch make the headline due to their racy ad couple of years ago? She went there because her little groupies all went there. The line to the cashier was huge. Naturally, I waited on line while she and her cronies shopped. That’s what mothers for. When I saw the little pink bag in her pile, I wondered what did she buy at Victoria’s Secret. Not at La Perla? Oh, I like their lotion, she replied. … …. My thighs (especially the left one) hurt so much from the hiking on Sunday that I was basically limping around in the mall. Wondering why no one offered me a wheel chair. But managed to play badminton that night, Fan’s last day, had to go. He’s leaving on Thur .. getting married .. be back after Chinese New Year – Feb 2008 .. pls bring back a pretty and badmintonable bride! Simon is baaaaack. He and I lost to Fan and Michael.
November 1, 2007 at 7:34 pm
· Filed under Saga, Sports ·Tagged tennis
Tennis season came to a close after an over all win today. Coach set next week for a party. Pumpkin n Co won theirs 6:2 again. The school system ranks each player at beginning of the season and form it singles and doubles teams with a ranking. During the season, the lower ranked players can challenge the higher ups. But the high and mighty don’t have to take the challenge. For example, Ace Sharon isn’t ranked #1 in singles. When she wanted to challenger her way up, the higher ranked player told her that she wasn’t available that day,
“I’ve baby sit my bro”.
The bro is a year younger and Sharon said she saw the bro on the tennis court that afternoon. So, I’m not sure the challenge mechanism is fair.
This is Pumpkin’s first season. She said she’ll do it again next year (not swimming), which is fine. Whichever she wants.
“I was perhaps bit over confident in the beginning .. .. the club is helping me a lot ..” The way she and her doubles partner consistently winning in landslide fashion, perhaps they should have been a higher ranked team than what they’re now. But it’s a learning curve. She’ll know what to expect and to do next time around. Learning the system is as important as the talent itself.
I can’t help but to think Denzel Washington’s line in the corrupt cop he portrait in the movie Training Day.
“He learned [worked] the system .. so .. he deserves to go free ..” (Something like that) when they discussed a criminal in a restaurant.
A great season and good start. WTG baby.
During the match, I cheered for someone who hit a great shot. Pumpkin reminded me, “mom, you’re not in front of the TV..” Ok, I got it. I bet if I ever get to go to the Giants, they’ll let me cheer, correct? :)) The first singles played a remarkable match, both girls were great, fair and consistent. I was impressed. .. .. K, it’s my time to go play. Last week John and I had a great win over Fan and Charlie. It’s very tough. But at the end, we prevail. Not sure my serve was good, Fan didn’t take it and called it in. Hope he didn’t let me win it. I did play well though. Fan is soon going to leave for few month, getting married back home, won’t return till after Chinese New Year. Big Steel magically show up for work for the past week!
P.S.
Happy to report that the middle shcool has finally fixed the courts. The new tennis courts are so inviting than the old rundown ones.
Someone’s just asked Woodie if he had mentors when he’s novice trader. My novice moment came when I was learning to ski. Maybe the second or third time out, to a new resort. At the base, I saw the signs for different trails: Novice, intermediate and advance or something like that. At that time I didn’t understand the word but common sense told me I should go with novice. It’s a busy time, long queues behind me. I had to make life or death decision as to ski Novice or not.
“Is this for beginners?” I pointed toward the sign.
The loader looked at my ill fitted costume, said, “oh sweetie, it’s right for you.” and one push plus shovel I was out of his hair.
Hey, so cool that I was learning English even on a ski trip, :)).
Btw, Woodie said he didn’t. The reason was simple: no one was willing to provide free advise like he does.
Budweiser – one of my favored beers – makes great commercial, consistently. I haven’t seen a bad one so far. The first autumn in the US, in a bar, I was in the mood for Federweisser – the German fresh young wine – so kind of jokingly asked if they have it. “Federweisser? No, but we have Budweiser.” Without asking what it’s, I said “OK”. Guess my English wasn’t good enough to distinguish F from B, :), so I had my first Bud. It wasn’t bad at all .. and their commercial is even better; fits in well with my sense of humor anyway. I’m not a big beer drinker, so a case of Bud can last pretty long, cause Golfer drinks those fancy brands. So Bud is for the masses, :). In Austria they have Storm – the red young maiden, the answer to Germany’s white Federweisser. I miss them all. Oh, the Apfelwine too.
I see empty seats at Wembley Stadium! Do I need my glasses? … OMG, baby face Eli just scored his first TD, wtg. …. Lousy weather, bad grass – who said the grass is greener next door? Grass is greener right here at home, :). It’s sort of annoying to see Giants in white color. Bring the blue back! What is NFL thinking by picking fall in London?!?!
Dream Theater just had their concert at Wembley, don’t know if they sold out there. They have much larger following in Europe than at home, the fans in Romania gone wild for them. Dolphins’ uniform is pretty cool – so was Dan Marino, 🙂 – so is Cowboys’, the hue, I mean. Have few neighbors over here, got to tend to them. Enjoy the game.
The NY Giants will play Dolphins in London this coming Sunday. Shishe, why did it take so long for the NFL to play on the European soil? The last time I was in Frankfurt, NFL stuff was all you see in their sporting goods stores, nothing else – blot out the sky and cover up the earth, that was 1991. LT had since retired, but there is no shortage of giant men with thick necks (as wide as their face .. I was amused), pot bellies (seemingly so unalthletic), poppy arms (as strong as my legs) .. They said there are 700,000 fans trying to buy a ticket to see the football, American style. I’m anxious to see a photo op with the Queen at high tea, 300 pounders holding her Majesties’ delicate china.
33:9 in the 4th, 49er needs Joe. They’re getting killed. My kids told me to be quiet – jk, it’s hard, but I’ll try. So I blog instead, 🙂 Sugar why Giants’ tickets are so difficult to get?? Pls let the guy do little thing on his own after a TD! Nothing goes right for the 49er’s, but the coach is pretty good looking, check him out, :).
Wie’s Parents at the Center of Controversy. Road map to ruin your kids’ career, :). Give the girl some breathing room, will they? I heard story about Michael Chang, the tennis one slam wonder who won French Open at a very tender age of 17. His mom was always around. During practice, she’d just walked onto the court and spoke to him in Chinese. One of a very respected coach was willing to coach Michael, but only on one condition: his mom to stay away. Apparently the Chang camp found that too hard to accept.
October 16, 2007 at 11:23 pm
· Filed under Saga, Sports
Another cluster of courts in better shape but no nets; Sharon in action
Pumpkin won her doubles 6:2 on home turf, against the other middle school in town. They won over all decisively. Her partner played very well too, impressed me a lot. Many shots I thought she couldn’t have gotten it. The short girl on the opposing team constantly making bad line calls. It’s hard to tell she wanted to cheat or was just too nervous; a good experience for all the girls. Toward the end, short girl’s partner told her ‘don’t ask me’, :).
Sharon lost her singles 7:5 in tie break, (one of the two matches they lost) wasn’t happy about it: she plays her opponent all the time and was never able to beat her. I told her the story about Michael Chang and Pete that during their junior years, Sampras was Chang’s victim and finally got over it on the center court here (US Open), went on to win that year’s championship. After that match, Sampras sat in his chair with a huge sly grin. Bud Collins interviewed him, asking why did it take so long to win and how did he finally manage to win. Talent doesn’t come over night. Sampras, with his usual subtle manner, said very little other than joked that he now is taller. I reckon that all is in your mind. Well, it’s easy to say than done.
The last piece of remnant of my lost love or last love ..
