The Scrabble Saga

This is abit of a #throwback #TBT post.

Alot of people know I used to play those board games, Scrabble and Boggle to the point of addiction. I played so much since young that I've competed since varsity levels and have even gone to Malaysia to compete in the Causeway Challenge before!

I'm just trying to keep these memories together lest I forget.

So here is an old blog from 2004 written by our then Scrabble captain, Mark Kwan. Take it with alot of pinches of salt, I still don't think some accounts were entirely accurate, but I'll respect his views nonetheless. It is but the only account we have left of the days of the fabled NTU Hall 8 Scrabble/Boggle teams of the early noughties.

If my memory serves me well, we ended up with a Silver medal after losing to Hall 3.

Then we thought Hall 3 would annihilate us in Boggle and instead we bag the Gold!

See here for the closest post I had to account for this!

ACL Rehab Day #237

Another workout clocked!

This time I had a short jog but clocked ten rep of 4X 50m sprints, which was REALLY tiring.

Felt good!

Fatherhood - Reflections VII

The kids are growing up so fast.

They are starting to comprehend more and more of whatever we adults say.

They are starting to experience a wider range of emotions. From disappointment, to sadness, to surprise, to happiness, to jealousy, to envy, to love, to pride, to respect, to cynicism, to suspicion, and many more.

They learn how to manipulate and bargain and negotiate.

I feel like it is simply too fast.

Before I know it they will rather be on their own, avoiding me like the plague.

Geez, how I love my little prince and princess.

Why Am I So Tired?

A four day holiday with an extra long weekend. One would've thought this was a great chance to get a good rest and holiday over the festive period.

Alas it's not to be. 

Dunno why. Maybe visiting everyday has something to do with it? Maybe hosting gatherings at home has something to do with it? Maybe sleeping late nights and waking early has something to do with it? Maybe eatin too much CNY goodies has something to do with it?

Wonder why?

Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1

After all that cocky talk that we've only lost one in nineteen games, LVG is brought back to earth. It's not that we played terrible, but we just can't defend to save our lives.

1) Defensive Horror Show

Somehow we cannot get this right even with half the season gone. Isit our players? Isit the formation? Is it the tactics? Beats me. Our defence sucks egg. The number of free chances we gave Swansea on dead balls, they could've scored 5. Which leads me to say...

2) 65% Possession So What?

Seriously, for all the industry and the tiki-taka, we're always one breakaway away from another goal concession. Something needs to be done soon, otherwise we will not make Europe. Again.

3) Play Is Improving Though

Yup. In spite of losing the game, I have to give credit where it's due. Sucky defene aside, overall play was quite dominant, without decisive or creative outlet to score. Weird, that we can string a lot of passes but we either dot seem to take our chances, or everyone doesn't dare to shoot.

4) Big Names Disappoint

Falcao didn't even come on after being named on the bench, ADM had a terrible game, and Rooney just doesn't look like he has fire in him. Rooney is just doing his job without trying too hard. That's how meh his play is. He's still good enough but that will to win and step up is just gone. Luke Shaw is another defensive lapse waiting to happen. He obviously ball-watches more than play the ball. I hope LVG sees all this and recognize that big names don't translate to good team chemistry or results.

5) Those Who Fight Hard

Instead, he should invest in those who will fight for the cause. Fellaini, Herrera, Blind, Rojo, RVP (even if he wasn't very good), Young, DDG. These are the players pushing hard when the chips are down. It's getting more and more obvious. We need to get rid of Rooney or demote him, and bring in young talent to forge a better direction for the club. 

Even if we don't make the UCL this season, I think LVG has done fairly well. He just needs to be able to see the forest from the trees and get rid of the freeloaders. Don't sign Falcao, keep Rooney up front, sell Mata, Evans, Shaw and ADM, buy another CB, another CDM, and another striker. The rest we can promote and rebuild from the academy.

Hopefully we make Europe nonetheless.

GGMU!!!

2015 Year Of The Goat

This is my year.

And it is forecasted to be a 'not very good' year for me. 

The only way to counter this is to wear and surround myself with as much of the colour red as possible.

Hence today onwards I shall make a conscious effort to have red on me every single day. 

Huat ah!

#2015yearofchange

ACL Rehab Day #231

My first workout at the new place!

Did one full round jog which was maybe 1.5km.

Then 16 sets of back and forth 100m sprints.

These 100m sprints are fantastic man. I literally break into a fit gasping for air, they're short so I have ample rest, and I really test my knees (note that I state knees).

I really can feel them helping my breathing and stamina (I just get absolutely breathless!).

Hopefully this will improve my fitness!

Is The Haze Back?

Yesterday evening I smelt the haze once more.

At first I thought that maybe a neighbour was burning something, but as it went on through the night I realized that the haze was really bad.

This morning I looked out my window and saw the vast expanse across Siglap and beyond and by golly the haze was SOOOOOOooooo bad!

Yet this afternoon it appears that everything has cleared.

Maybe this is the hazard of living in the East Coast, where the haze gets to this part of Singapore first?

Four Wins

Wow.

We are getting good at this as a clan.

This Clash of Clans game is really bringing alot of us together.

Four wars won out of four!

Impressive!

Redtail's Wedding

So happy for my brudder that he's gotten married.

There is something about attending weddings as you grow older.

Firstly, I'm more choosy about whose wedding I want to attend. Not all invites get accepted and I only go for the ones who matter to me.

Secondly, as we grow older the more fun these weddings become. Probably due to the third reason. Hence it's something I look forward to more compared to last time.

Thirdly, weddings are slowly turning into nostalgic get-togethers now rather than  purely to celebrate the couple's union. Every wedding is a chance to meet old friends and catch up with old friends, get the latest updates and see how everyone is doing.

Fourthly, old jokes never get old. One thing that made such an impression last night was a refreshment of so many good old jokes from way back when. From the almost original renditions of 欠扁问答题 to recounting uni days experiences, to teasing each other about ex-gfs (hate that! But even the groom couldn't escape!) and then going on to be mean about everyone anyway haha. 

It's amazing how childish we all can be when around the right company.

These things don't happen often anymore so they need to be treasured. They help us house a tiny part of our lives that we can relive from time to time. Weddings are getting lesser and lesser as we grow older for such congregations. 

And that's why we always need to make more effort the older we get.

Change Is Good

I know all the forecasts seem to predict this to be a turbulent year for me, but I'm actually quite excited by it all.

For some reason, I already can foresee where the turbulence will potentially come. Hopefully it remains within these predictable turbulences.

I'm ready, I'm optimistic, and I'm looking forward!

Huat ah!

#2015yearofchange

Clash Of Clans And Investing

I'm finding out that playing COC is akin to investing your money.

You build various arsenal in your village to either defend it or to arm it to raid other people's villages. Just like investing, you need to diversify your investments in order to defend against downside risk, market shocks (village raids) or to make special one-off gains.

You build storage facilities to store elixir and gold. These are your bank accounts and knowing how much you should always leave in cold, hard cash. These could be raided during times of need or when cash intensive bills come.

You are also limited by the number of builders - opportunities to take in the investing world, due to a lack of cash perhaps? So it is important to choose the next thing you want to build wisely. Will you spend three days waiting for an archer tower to be built? Or increase your gold storage facility?

You also need to decide what you want to commit to building or upgrading over what type of time horizon, and what you expect to gain from it. Just like investing

#ilovethisgame

Manchester United 3 Leicester City 1

What a win. We need to keep our such performances. After our last meeting that imploded, this was sweet revenge.

1) Daley Blind
What an amazing display and rightfully voted the MOTM. When he plays like this, the whole aesthetic of our play goes up tremendously. He was bossing the midfield alright.

2) Everyone Plays Better In Their Natural Roles...
This is stating the obvious, but as LVG was experimenting with his 352 formation, alot of players never got to play in their best roles. ADM was previously used as a striker up top, Blind was a winger and a fullback at times, Januzaj was a wingback. Well not this game.

3) ...Almost Everyone
Two standouts had poor games by their standards. Wayne Rooney, while pinging very good passes throughout the game, had a more anonymous-than-usual game. For some reason he didn't play well as midfielder. Antonio Valencia is not a natural RB and in the 442 formation he cannot fly down the wings as often as he likes.

4) 4-4-2 Is The Way To Go
Really. Finally LVG seems to have realized it. Our flow was so much better, we had more opportunities, and all the players seemed more familiar in the position. The team itself played like a team.

5) Getting Congested In The Table
With Southampton losing to Swansea last night, the 3rd and 4th placing is getting very competitive. You could see ourselves, Southampton, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and West Ham all vying for it. Hopefully we can continue to win all our remaining games haha.

GGMU!!!