Did the light bulb just flash in my head? Seeing Fan’s lethal handsome backhand did something for my backhand – it’s improved a lot, suddenly, 🙂 – badminton that is. We played few very exciting sets tonight. In the beginning, there were only Yong and I, for good 20 minutes, we sweat to death. He asked me if tennis is more intensive, I said, no way. Badminton is more exhaustive, 短兵相接 IMHO anyway. Then came Fan and John. Fan and I played against them, won relative large margin, 15:9. Then John and I played against Michael and Yong, it’s a tough set. We stagnated at 2 for few change overs, till 2:9 did we catch up with them, but eventually we lost 13:15. The last set was with Fan, and we lost. Throughout the night, as if Simon was still there, they all hit to me, the weakest link, :). When there is too many players, we don’t get to play as much, but when few show up, we wear out early. By 10 we all wanted to leave, except Michael, who came late. Fan was nice, agreed to stay bit long. The points were long and we all played very hard. … ok, I’m out .. good night.
Can not lah
Simon suddenly decided to skip town for 3 weeks, leaving tomorrow morning for home, Singapore.
I’m devastated, 🙂
Who’s going to take care of me on court? And can I actually play without his nagging?
This last Saturday I played with Steve and Sunday I played with Jeff, all gone well, until against Simon and company.
“I know you too well..” he just sit there and waiting for my shots, and telling everyone to “just hit to her” [and you’ll win].
Tonight he’s the first one at the badminton court, thought we’d play together. Then came the new guy, Herr Jordan Fan who’s really good, and with the sexiest back hand, super sleek and elegant. When two more guys showed up, Simon decided to drink and be the commentator. He told Sammy and Michael, “just hit to her” while answering his phone that rang non stop .. The drinking/dancing/singing/tennis buddies are bidding him good byes.
The atmosphere was very light, with Bud in hand, he made us laugh so hard that we had to stop for a second to re-group. Jordan is rather serious (or maybe he’s shy), he asked if I could play; after the first set, he asked if I could play the second set, if I need a rest. Is he kidding? I’m battling those guys day in and day out, they want to kill me as much as I do them, we try at every opportunity we get, lol …
Before he left, Simon announced that I should learn tennis from him and badminton from Fan.
Are you sure you want to leave? He assured every single caller that he’ll be back in 20 days. Can not lah leave you guys .. so much fun lah ..
A 6:4 win
Pumpkin came home all sweaty and tired. She lost her match last week but won hers today, against a 10th grade boy. I’m happy for her: the match could have gone either way. “He made a lot of mistakes.” Mental toughness’ deciding point there.
After no to take up with Barry again, she enrolled with one of her buddies at a nearby setup, 3 hours each Saturday runs till end of January 2008. Holly molly, the young coaches mean business. I think that she prefers group was because of company she’d have, just more fun. At this stage, enjoyment is more essential. Ya, my standard is high and I’m pushy, 🙂 If my kids end up to be burden to the society, it’s my fault. And I’m Chinese. King seems pretty happy with golf, ‘sure I’ll do it again’.
A shutout home opener
The home opener was a shutout event. Pumpkin won her doubles 6:2, the happy duo walked off giggling. They both played sharp and hard. They giggled at start, either their way to deal with nervousness or just doubles has more fun – your partner carries half the pressure.
One parent suggested that we need to do a fund raising for new courts. Gosh, you have to see to believe it: the courts look like 3rd world! Few years ago I took them to visit my middle/high school in Beijing, they were impressed, ‘wow, mom, this is your school?’ The rose-tinted track and field, tranquil blueish 50 meter indoor pool .. .. were really world class. Superficial? What’s going on inside the classrooms are not easy to measure.. China will beat us back to the moon, said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin two weeks ago.
Ran into few mothers, some I played with long time ago, some I knew but haven’t seen for few years. One Korean mom chatted me up – rather one sided – telling me her 12th grade son is doing very well, busy, participate in chamber music – playing violin, golf and something else; kept on saying that he has to do very well academically .. he wants to go to Brown pre med .. There wasn’t a room for my participation, :). Is Brown offering 6-year BS/MD program? She looked at me blankly. Oh well. Maybe the ivy leagues have more than enough applicants, they don’t have to come up with new gimmick to compete for the brightest. Considering the long internship many fields required, the 6-year combo is a good way to start.
Giants 16, Eagles 3
Without Tiki, Giants is doing fine, so far. Forget about the Mets. I was too tired to stay up after the half time, played 3 hours of tennis in the morning, had a busy Saturday, wasn’t going to go, but Michael needed his sweater (he left on the court ..).. Ended up, worked on my steps with Wah Zai, he keeps saying, ‘relax .. relax your shoulders ..’ Watching him play, I do see that he’s very relaxed, slow and moves well. Everyone has their opinions about my game, :). I teamed up with Cheng and he asked me where is my single hand backhand.
LT
Giants is leading 7:0 at half time. LT is there!! Wow .. he still pretty much looks the same. It’s been long time, then was all about LT .. and the Eagles had Randall Cunningham, big deal that he could run.
6:4
Pumpkin played her first doubles match against another school, lost 6:4. Very close, it could have gone either way. Tough love. She just got home, a long day, almost 12 hours.
Short hair is cool
I took them a while ago, thought to share it here .. Serena had her hair short, pretty slick. That reminds me I need a hair cut too. Pumpkin keeps telling me I look nice in long hair, the length belows the ears is long in my dictionary. I much prefer a boyish cut. But feeling the weight of the hair on my neck and shoulders are nice too. Crew cut won’t accomplish that, :). Ok, how about getting a wig or topee?
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Sammy’s arsenal
From China with love.
Babolat (Nitro), a French brand but made in China: inconspicuous stylish and exquisitely made. Sammy is a hot head in finding the thing, “You can’t find this one in Hong Kong. I had to ask a friend of friend who got it for me in China.” 700 RMB, about US$100.
A pair of fake.
‘How can you tell?’ Easy, YY doesn’t even produce this model. Oh, the Chinese just made this up and paste YY on it? Sammy gave me the look, ‘dumb question. They counterfeit everything ..’ 🙂 it’s dumb, I was just thinking out loud without going thou my brain. 🙂 Are there any counterfeit tennis racquets??
A couple of real thing.
‘Paragon sells for about $250-$350. I bought them in HK for half the price.’ His fat blue bag has tons of goodies. He likes to have us try his new toy. Jordan loves to, even uses his during the competition. He offered me the Babolat yesterday. It felt good and I loved the look. He gave me the usual dirt look: omg, she missed the point again.. 🙂 .. I haven’t been to his club in Chinatown for a long time. Now that summer is almost over, he told me that the club meets on Mondays and Fridays. I’ll go, except the parking is bit hard. One less incentive was he likes to drag us to the 港式西餐, the HK style of Western food eatery. Sammy, can we pls have dinner at the real places, like either Chinese (since we’re in Chinatown) or Italian (little Italy is just around the corner) .. he’d gave me the dirt look, :).
Moon cake
The moon, the moon .. the roundest of all. Only 3 showed up at the badminton court. Gosh. John offered me a moon cake/egg/bagel = beat me 15:0.
