Swim @ River Kwai Resotel

River Kwai Resotel in Thailand has two pools and many spots for yoga. The free shaped greenish pool by the restaurant is good lounging and a regtangle blue at the back of the resort is large enough to do laps.

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Swim @ Bangkok

The swimming pool at Century Park hotel is decent. I get to swim there daily. The water is probably around 70s, which is my preference, very refreshing.

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Two club bidding

 

At clubhouse, my Lefthand opponent Ira opened with a pass. My partner Mark called two clubs, and said ‘you’ve to response.’ A pass followed. I answered with 3 clubs.

My hand is weak, with 8 points, with 5 low clubs cards, which was my longest suit. Since it’s informal and I’ve been asking questions on my bidding, Mark said ‘2 clubs’ meant a strong hand and not necessarily mean in club suit. 

A few notes for  Two Clubs bid and responses:

  • 22 points to open bid (doesn’t show/deny club suit)
  • 2D response bid = a bad hand, 0-6 points (doesn’t show/deny diamond suit)
  • 2 No Trump bid only needs at 20-22 hcp with a balanced hand.

 

a few hands from last night with the girls

We chitchat a little between hands. And sometimes after a rubber or twenty some hands (22 hands here), we tend to loose focus. This will be the time we make mistakes. Most often, by playing the wrong card. Such as, one intends to use ♥️ to trump but instead plays ♦️. The dummy is usually keeps a tape on things, like who goes and if it should be led by the hand on deck. All the times, such mistakes were only pointed out afterward. No one, not even the partner would say a thing. And I like it a lot: at Guandan or other kind of card games with my fellow countrymen, oh boy, do they talk and cheat!

 

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The shower door

3-5 (resumed the set at 3-4), 5-1, 4-1 (time runs out …)

Another messed up day – I went to the wrong location, again. The threesome (Bruce, Al and Greg) found another player, who is graciously bowed out when I arrived. Thanks Bob.
I promptly went to work, and heard the score wrong – thought we were up. Oh well.

While I was in the shower at clubhouse, a Chinese put her stuff on the locked door. It’s so o-d-d.

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Sharath Jois, 1971-2024

R. Sharath Jois (1971-2024) was a yogi, yoga guru, practitioner and lineage holder (paramaguru) of Ashtanga Yoga, the grandson (thro his mother) of K. Pattabhi Jois (1915-2009), who created the Ashtanga (vinyasa) yoga – flowing style.

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A dragonfly by the pool

Played really well: 🎾 5-0, 5-2, 3-5

A good victory 🎾 赢的干净利落 [偷笑]

👇 这是啥东东呀?

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Lessons w/ Cornelius

Coach Cornelius is very chatty, saying good morning to every passerby. The first time I stopped —or he stopped me for a chat after my swim —it lasted 25 minutes.

Big Bruce from VL has said repeatedly that he helped his daughter improve her game. I’ve been taking lessons from him on an ongoing basis.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t like to do video analysis, which I find very helpful.

Some tournements he ran:

… and the clinics

 

 

 

 

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A good match, a good swim

A pretty competitive match with two Gregs and Jim: 4-5, 5-2, 5-4. GJ lost all three sets.

I started the day in the dark, and served first in all 3 sets.

The first set, GJ and I lost first 6 points, won the 7th and lost the 8th. There went 0-2. GJ held his serve but we lost the 4th game. It was a pretty good come back.

This month, I swam 26,560 yards / 15.09 miles in 660 minutes, which equals to 43’73” per mile. … with two hurricanes in between: Helene and Milton.

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The best opening hand

The first hand of the night: 18 hcp. I bid 4♥️ and made the game.

Toward end of the (the 16th hands) night, I bid 3 NT and ended up winning a grand slam.

The evening went smoothly and I ultimately played the majority of the hands.

My question for the evening is, would you have to play a great hand with little thinking needed, or a even hand that requests some brain to win?

您喜欢一手好牌不要用脑筋 还是 平均牌 需要技巧?

 

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The overhead 扣杀

To improve my tennis, alongside the overhauling the serve, I also work on my overheads.

A tennis overhead is a powerful, overhead smash used to finish points against lobs, involving tracking the ball, getting sideways, bringing the racket up (like a serve), extending to hit the ball in front of you with a pronating wrist for power and spin, and following through down and across your body, focusing on keeping your head up and eyes on the ball for maximum effectiveness.

Key steps to hitting an overhead smash:

  1. Preparation & footwork:
  2. Track the ball: Use your non-hitting hand (left for righties) to point at and track the ball overhead, keeping your eye on it.
  3. Get sideways: Pivot your body so your shoulders, hips, and feet are turned sideways (like a serve) to get behind the ball.
  4. Use crossover steps: For deep lobs, use crossover steps (front foot crosses over back foot) to move back quickly and get in position.

 

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