The Dow is going down the tube. All the talking heads are, well, talking. Hey, talkers, we’ve seen the triple digit ups and downs all the time, pls don’t make big deal out of it?
Got up early, did few laps in the out door pool and biked to Port Royal Racquet for the 9-10am hitting session. Yesterday when we played, the pro who looked like a fisherman with the umbrella shaped hat came out inviting us to join his drill. I couldn’t get Pumpkin up in the morning – I tried but unsuccessful. Ended up I was the only one there. The club has 10 clay, really har-tru and 4 hard courts. They used to have a grass too. The pro, ok .. he’s kinda cute, bad teeth with a grunt I’ve never heard of on court .. kinda like a lion about to jump off or being mad to catch his prey.. 🙂 ..
I hadn’t had a lesson for over a year and it’s very hard for me to keep up with him. He only did 30 minutes since I was the only one.
When I got home, everyone’s sleeping. Lord, that’s some life.
February 2, 2009 at 10:05 am
· Filed under Sports ·Tagged swim, tennis
Driving Pumpkin to school we heard on the radio that Michael Phelps admits ‘bad judgment’ after a British newspaper published a photograph of the swimmer smoking a marijuana pipe. W-h-a-t-‘s the big deal here? Marijuana is different from opium/heroin/cocaine or any other recreational drugs that I couldn’t name. Not saying he should, but just wondering doesn’t swimming get him high? It does to me. The thrilling feeling after 40 some laps is just no competition from any other activity, not even tennis.
As to getting caught, pls give the kid a break from time to time, will you all? Don’t scrutinize him down to minute all the time. But on the other hand, he’s been spending so much of his teenage and adulthood in the water, he probably doesn’t yet know what the life is all about and finding that fit into the real world is far more challenging than the long-hour spend in the aquatic utopia daily. Find that balance, and haul another truckload of gold home in 2012, King Michael 🙂
February 1, 2009 at 6:37 pm
· Filed under Sports ·Tagged tennis
A heart-warming birthday party for Lisa who has many, many very, very interesting friends. Long time friends. Unfortunately, I had to leave early cause the tennis this morning. Ouuuu rrr .. It turned out the game started at 7am, instead 6am I thought it was. John and I played Alex and Phoebe. Oh lord, that’s a mistake. I was like a zombie and didn’t realize the danger till Alex began firing his lethal shot at me. At Me! I held my little heart by my mouth. Did Golfer send him to cash out my life insurance? 🙂 Irene/Wah/Sunny also booked at 7. But the USTA staff had them down for 7pm! Thank lord they stick around and got to play.
January 26, 2009 at 1:10 pm
· Filed under Sports ·Tagged tennis
The Year of Ox, happy 牛 Niu Year.
I played 3 sets, and lost them all. The guys, all the bad boys just won’t give me a break. Oh boy. 🙂 Great games guys .. Thanks. The 4th set we were on serve but unfortunately time ran out.
Kids had mid term (why does the school have the mid term on the Chinese New Year?) and came home early. Pumpkin said with a poker face,
“So Mom, you got up at 6 .. ” Needn’t to say more.
On the way out of the tennis center, few of us were talking about a regular game on a weekday AM at da USTA. I was too quick to say yes. My right ankle wasn’t 100% since 12/5 at the parking lot at the pool. My forehand was tender. I only served 1 set. Last Friday I served for the entire 2 hours. Alex and I against Andy and Kevin. We did just fine. .. .. IF I want to play the full summer season, I probably best to rest bit more? No? Not playing hurts even more. 烧包 .. I could always go to swim !! But somehow, it differs from tennis.
Two Fridays ago, I visited a tui na – massage – Mr. Sun whom I visited few times prior. Telling the gentleman that here and there hurt and I have game to play .. .. .. so he asked if it’s a tourney, tournament.
“No, it isn’t. It’s just a regular game.”
I don’t think a sane person could or would understand.
November 28, 2008 at 9:46 pm
· Filed under Sports ·Tagged tennis
It’s a Friday night and I need excitement .. sooo .. I took this quiz: Average woman on dating. I only got 8 right out of 15. Not bad. But the site told me that my “Average Woman skills are just average. The good news is you’re normal – when it comes to reading the female brain. But you’ve still got work to do.”Shhhheeeessshi, okkkkkay. I hope I’ll do better next time, Sista, sisters .. :).
I need to do better on court too: I lost 4 sets in four tries yesterday, 招架不住 被打得 落花流水 like fallen flowers carried away by the flowing water; utterly routed .. .. I was thrilled 🙁 ..
Let me see: first first set I played with Kai – playing with Kai !! – against Sunny and Ricky. 2nd set Ricky and I against Irene and Sunny. 3rd set same as 2nd? 4th set Kai and I against Irene and Wah zai. I was indeed the big turkey on the Thanksgiving day.
Xiaoping came back from Shanghai this past summer and told me,
“New York food is inedible.”
Shanghai is that good?
She smiled and said .. yes.
My last visit to Shanghai was 1985 and stayed at Jinjiang Fandian 锦江饭店 Hotel which was the place in town.
Last Monday Mark bought a pair of 15 years old twins to the game. They just arrived in New York on 9/13/2008 from Shanghai. They have been playing tennis for the past eight years. And they’re good at it. So during a water break, I had little conversation with one of them.
“How come you end up in New York?”
“We immigrated here.”
“Why?” Thinking the food is just so so here, and the economy .. and ..
“We all want to come.” She looked surprised.
“How long did it take you for getting a immigration visa?”
“We applied in 1996.”
“This year and this time, people still want to come to US?”
“Of course.” She must be think what a moron she’s talking to.
“What’s so good about US?”
“Air .. food .. affordability ..” Ok, air is a give. But food?
“Food is good here?” I was surprised.
“Of course, the foods are just taste better here ..” Sure not the McDonald’s?
She continued, “it’s cheap here. cheaper to rent (she used term 借房子) and to buy. We’re paying $1,500 for two bedroom in Flushing. If it were in Shanghai, it would be $2,500 ..”
Their parents are here with them. Dad hasn’t found a job and Mom works as nanny in NJ.
“My Dad was a project manager in Shanghai and Mom has not worked in years.” I would think that unlike my generation or their parents, the youngsters growing up in new China would have second thoughts for coming to the USA.
Amused and glad to read Christopher Hill* still considers US a power house. On advising how to dish advice, he said .. that
For many people in the world, they look at America, and they see an enormous country with an extraordinary amount of power. Pure power. And so they feel that asymmetry immediately as soon as they meet us. So we have to understand how people look at us sometimes. So advice coming from a country with enormous power can be taken wrongly.
Ok, hopefully I did not take his sentence out of context. Giants is leading Arizona 24:12 … Go my little Giants … Great to know that the country I chose to call home still welds power, pure power. It’s just pretty sexy.
Anyway, I asked another transplant Shanghainess for conformation. He said, (as well as Yishi) .. that food is much better in Shanghai – duh – .. but people in Shanghai are very 崇洋媚外 (fawn on or toady to foreign powers).. there isn’t a moral story or punchline, but you just have to love Beijingers better 🙂 .. there is a long rivalry between these two cities.
The twins are poised and polite, attending Cardozo High in Bayside. Miss Blue said that they are struggling with English but math, .. math is a joke. ——–
*Christopher Hill is the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. Since February 2005, he has been lead negotiator on talks with North Korea aimed at ending its nuclear program.
I just had a very eventful day. I thought of taking the highway to NJ for a meeting. But opted for the local to drop off Pumpkin’s racket for restring.
11:30am. Sunny, pleasant, a typical autumn day. I was driving on the Northern Blvd and got pulled over. Offense? Broken break light on the passenger side. The young cop, Mr. Park walked over and looked at my car, shout: “Your inspection is expired too.” Ok, that’s my fault.
$85: $25+$60 fine plus surcharge.
It took him 15 minutes to write up my two summons that were illegible: later at the Precinct, the young cop couldn’t read my license plate from the yellow summon.
After the meeting, I got the light fixed and did the inspection. Then parked at the Chase parking lot, did my thing in the bank and dropped off the racket next door. When I returned 10 minutes later, there’s white note on my windshield. I normally don’t look around, but thank god I did. A motorist damaged my right front bumper. He left me a note. Two guys were in the parking lot, and one of them asked,
“Your car?” One of them interrupted his phone conversation, pointed to my car.
“Yes.. ”
“That’s the van .. the green one, just left ..” then he went back to his phone conversation.
I chased out. Because the note he left with his cell # was missing a digit. He was waiting for the traffic light.
“Sorry, stuff happens. Call me with repair, I’ll send you a check.” He then added the missing digit, and sped away.
Life goes on.
I went to the 111st Police Precinct to get the car inspected. Because Mr. Park stipulates that if I get the brake light fixed within 24 hours, the ticket will be dismissed. The PO at the desk, first told me he has no idea as what to do.
“Mail this to the court with the repair receipt.” He told me.
Darn, Joe didn’t give me a receipt.
“I think you are going to look at my car and give me a form ..” I suggested.
He looked really unwilling. Then he asked a secretary who came over, fish out a piece paper. The PO must be really green. He read the entire thing.
When we went out to inspect the car, he said,
“I can’t sign this. It isn’t fixed.” He pointed to the driver side. Somehow, I remembered the PO who handed me the summon, mentioned passenger side.
The young PO re-read the yellow summon and chuckled.
“I guess I’ll have to sign it since the summon is for the passenger side.”
“Pls don’t issue me another ticket .. I’ll fix the driver side as soon as possible.”
He agreed.
I capped the lucky day with 3:1 sets of win on the tennis court, with William. The only loss came when I played against him. Did I mention that I got lost in and out of NJ? That’s just the icing on the cake.
While waiting for the car to be fixed, I went to eat in Flushing when I wasn’t even hungry. In this little basement mall on Main Street. I had dumplings. Why can’t New York have a decent dumpling house like the one in Toronto?? Hope it does just I don’t know about it yet. Did I lose my mind by going into this dig? Maybe. But it tastes pretty good. Freshly made. I probably would go there again. On another lucky day. Let me consult the 黄历 first .. 🙂
October 22, 2008 at 9:13 am
· Filed under Saga, Sports ·Tagged tennis
They had a winning season (8:2), concluded it on Monday with anthor win. Those little young ladies are tough cookies, and very confident. .. The opposing team had lots of snakes (mostly junk food) and didn’t pick up after themselves. I don’t understand why would coach buys junk food? Water/juice/chocolate/dried banana or apple .. are better than these chips/candy .. uhhhhrrrrrr ..
October 16, 2008 at 8:54 pm
· Filed under Sports ·Tagged tennis
One of the couples (he’s 4.5 and she is above 3.0) I play tennis with were angered by a loathsome female player who’s at about 3.5 level. One day they were playing doubles and the 3.5 woman was teaming up with another guy. During the second set, no one had held serve so after 8 games, it was obviously 4:4. But the 3.5 woman insisted that they were up, 5:3. .. then she said to the 4.5 guy that “it’s no fun to play with you” and left. Without finishing the match.
1. We all love the 4.5 guy. He’s very popular, mild mannered, really nice and fair .. just a great guy to have around on and off court.
2. Not finishing a match is rude, unless there’s emergency that you have to leave.
One of un-written etiquette is that weaker player be appreciative for the chance to play up – I certainly am – this isn’t limited to tennis, correct? Don’t you treasure the opportunity to do/play/team up with someone who’s better at it than you?
I knew the 3.5 woman for a long time. When she first came to NY, was chubby, hicky and did not play tennis. We were actually pretty friendly with her husband who came first. But when she arrived, we all distanced from him: she was that dreadful and boring.
Fast forward about nearly 20 years. We ran into one another on court. She slimmed down a lot, and became a tennis junky – which I think is the best thing for her. And still dreadful: she’s short tempered; on court she yells/blames at her partners all the time. (I often used the word yell with Sunny and Simon .. that’s totally different story .. more of bragging and joking ..) She openly scolds her hubby .. .. My impression is that she’s very frustrated at home (pun intended ..) and with her life in general hence vetting out her anger on court. So pitiful. She appears to be extremely shallow and uneducated. A tiny bit education and happy and loving family doesn’t produce such behavior.
I admire hard nosed people regardless he/she likes me or not, but looking down on the brown nosed ones. She’s the color nose. A little advice to the 3.0 girl: you have a wonderful guy at home with a great life, shouldn’t be bothered by such loser. Think about it, what else matters in the world, beside your family? Sure work does provide lots of satisfaction, but I think a terrific family or live with someone you love and trust is the ultimate key to happiness and success.
Another thing I found them to be popular is that they’re generous in opening a new can of balls. I’m not stingy in fulfilling my share, but there are few so so players that I played with for years who NEVER opens a new can of balls. Truly a free loader.
October 13, 2008 at 10:30 pm
· Filed under Saga, Sports ·Tagged tennis
Pumpkin and I won our first match today, 4:6, 6:1 and 6:3!!! Wow .. that’s something we both cherished. This is our second time playing together. She serves much better now and plays with more confidence. The will to win she displayed was pronounced, which in turn got me going. We both won points on each other serves and set ups, that pleased us equally. She doesn’t mind I’m talking [too much] and I loved that she pointed out that I stay in no man zone .. we’re a game, set and … match, :). I’m just really ecstatic, playing with my girl .. heaven !!! !!! As usual, she refused to take a pic with me. Ah well, can’t have everything.
It’s a Friday night and I need excitement .. sooo .. I took this quiz: Average woman on dating. I only got 8 right out of 15. Not bad. But the site told me that my “Average Woman skills are just average. The good news is you’re normal – when it comes to reading the female brain. But you’ve still got work to do.”Shhhheeeessshi, okkkkkay. I hope I’ll do better next time, Sista, sisters .. :).
