MSA National Scrabble Tournament 2008 (Open)

Saturday, 6th September 08

Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! Once again, I have to wake up early and drag myself all the way to Berjaya Times Square to play Scrabble. Okay, not literally "drag", though. Well, since now we now much better than last week, we got up slightly later (I'm always late, so don't bother). Well, we reached there "on time" today....and a lot of die-hard scrabblers were there already, helping out. Then, I felt a little lost again. Thanks to the fact that there was no one I could just super-glue myself with. If Shu Wen, Emily or Ghee Ken joined, at LEAST I wouldn't feel so lost. Then again, I could have took my camera along with me and just "snap" away at some "edible" stuff. With this "lost" feeling stuck with me, I just couldn't wait for the games to start. Then, I'd probably occupy myself with other things. Speaking of the camera, mind you that the pictures of my first 10 opponents here were not taken before or directly after the game since my camera was in a coma. =P

Game 1

I played against Aviel Lee Iuen Bing (I think that's how "Iuen Bing" is spelt....the result slip stated so). Not a very encouraging start. Firstly, our clock doesn't work, which means we were the only people who played withOUT the clock. Secondly, we dropped our tiles when putting them in the bag. One measly tile fell over the edge to the other side where customers sit and Aviel thought of abandoning it. I offered to run down and get it. I didn't bother looking at the tile thought. If it was some tile like Z or Q, I would have abandoned it. Thirdly, the second word he pulled was already a bingo!!! OK, actually, I had a bingo right at the beginning.....but failed to maintain the standard played right at the start. And the whole ladder-styled playing Ghee Ken enjoys nearly killed me. Very very stuck game [on my behalf]. I actually wanted to scream at the bag already, but I didn't want the first impression of me to be "Oh no!! I'm playing with a nut who just came out of the mental ward!! What do I do?!?!?!?!". I mean, if I were playing against people younger than me (or maybe even my age), I'd have yelled censored words at the bag (no, not THOSE censored words). The interschool competition was a slightly different story. There, I just presumed everyone was crazy and if you played against me there, you'd realise that I talk to the bag more than I talk to my opponent (I know, I know). You should just know that I lost here and that you do not need to digest the fact that I lost by so-and-so spread (it's just less than 200). My score was 362. [>> The pic was not taken after the game, but this was his expression after winning the game. Look how happy he is.....>>].

Game 2

Up against Liew Tjun Git. Right here and now, I just realised that a lot of people look like (or at least resemble) Puochuin. There's one in the choir competition in Subang, and here's another one. Scary, long, game. We used the table which I played on in the first game. Which means we didn't use a clock again. Haha. It's just a miracle that luck was on my side in this game. I just didn't know GLAZY existed...somehow, I just stood my ground and convincd myself that if GLAZE and GLAZED exist, GLAZY would exist =D Well, luckily it did. He scored a bingo 2 moves after GLAZY/GOO(over triple word here), which was ENTRAPS. By the Grace of God he didn't catch up. Merciful lad [referring to Tjun Git]. Unfortunately here, I only know that I had 446 points and that now, when I'm writing this, I can't make out his score because my writing was just too illegible. I know it's 200 something and 4. The game couldn't be finished so we had to minus the points of our remaining tiles.

Game 3

Playing against Vinnith. Damn. Seafielders. He's 14 and he just started Scrabble this year too. Well, EARLY this year, that is. Let's just say that I was lucky here. No one managed a bingo in this game. I thought I had one. But it looks like there was no such thing as UNDETER (root: DETER). There was only DETER, DETERS, DETERRED, DETERRING. I beat him by 57 points, mine being 376 against his 319. Thank my lucky stars.

Game 4

Was against Tan Kar Hee, a guy from Perak. There's no picture of him here as he refused to face the camera and said "If you want to take a picture of me, take it when I'm more muscular". Ok.........Nevermind that. My first word actually didn't exist. He didn't challenge my HOUST though. There was only SHOUT, SOUTH, HOUTS and THOUS for that anagram. My second word was a bingo (lucky!!!). However, I lost by 13 points. Yes, you heard/saw that right. 13 freaking points. Imagine the despair I faced. And it's NOT funny.

Break

Bought the Italian food from some rude lady who cheated us on 10 cents (money's still money, okay?).

Game 5

I played against Mr Krishna Iyer. Gee, he's sharp. Not only was he sharp, he was super lucky!!! Basically, all the good letters went to him except for the Q, which I could not find a good spot to place it in. He had 2 bingos, 1 on his second turn, the other on his 4th turn. And trust me, when that happens right at the beginning of the game, your brain freezes in its tracks and you enter a traumatised state. Mr Ker Ken Wa, Jen Ho's father, came over and was like, "Whoa, you're winning by so much!!!". And at that time, Mr Ker was winning every single game. -276 spread against his 505 points.Honestly, I do not wish to recall the true facts of this game played and will fantasise on how I managed to beat him flat. My brain was thrown away like trash after he trashed me. Trash it.

Game 6

Playing against Ramaraj's father, Mr K. Sundaraj. My first word was already a bingo, FOAMINGS. And theoretically, I could beat him. Practically impossible. Why? Let's just say he got the X and the Z and managed to steal a good spot to place the letters, just like Emily's missed opportunity. This got Mr K some good catching up. I lost by another freak 45 points (379 vs 334). Oh NO!! If I'm not mistaken, when I was playing this game, Aviel was against Mr Krishna behind me. I heard him ask Mr Krishna innocently, "Were you some former international Scrabble champion last time??". I mean, I would have asked that too......but my situation was a little squeezier than his. Intelligent beings. I'm not sure who won his game though.

Game 7

Against Chang Ching Yet. Wow, how does it feel like when you're up against the-guy-who-got-the-highest-scoring-word-for-interschool??? Terrible. He won't give up. You'll see. I won by a slim margin of 50 points. His was 330 and mine was 380. [You see that cap he's wearing. I don't trust it. Scott wore a cap during interschool. Ching Wei, his brother wore a cap last week and this week. Has it ever STRIKED (please note that this word is non-existent. Yea, I know...you always thought it does. I'm just doing a favour here and I'm gonna use it often so that it can enter the dictionary) you that the hat they're wearing might be bionical??? Say what you want, I just don't trust the cap.....]

Game 8

Looi Yih Feng, a fellow Seafielder. Dammit, he had a bingo right when I was leading. Luckily, I caught up with WEM. He challenged the word and I got 5 points. Yay. But then again, thanks to his stupid TAXA, he caught up and I almost lost hope. After the game, I realised I had a terrible miscalculation. I don't know how or why, but his 261 + 29 = 310. If I could time travel, I'd have slapped myself for that. Gah, who cares. Surprise, surprise!!!!! I scored a last-minute bingo!!!!!!!!! PUCKING and PREM (crossed the triple-word score). He challenged it, so I got an amazing 112 for that. Now, if only they had a high-scoring word....I got 419 against his 361. Count my spread for yourself, thanks.

Game 9

Against top-notch player Mr Ker Ken Wa. Now, this was an interesting game. I knew that I'd lose to him but I just played along. Of all games, I didn't get a bingo in this one. Saslfbafasfsaftwertw. And REALLY, after the game, I figured that SANIEST doesn't exist!!!!!!NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! If I challenged that, I wouldn't have lost by so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DAMNDAMNDMANDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDMANSDFADSMANAMADNAM. At least I challenged his PLACADES, which made use of SE, which didn't exist. Then, the whole game went mad. He was shocked to see his mistake as he thought it was ES. Just like me and my stupid WA (last week). When he was taking back his tiles, the whole board "spilled". As usual human nature takes place, people started staring to "see who died in that accident". Some tiles dropped over the edge again (like the first game) and I ran down to get them while Mr Ker rearranged the tiles. No worries for him because he had another bingo after that, ALLOCATE. I lost by 187 points. Calculate my score if his was 470.

Game 10

I played against Mr Kang Eng Lee, William Kang's father. Dammit I was winning until he got a last-minute bingo, FRIDGES. From that point onwards, which was just 2 rounds from ending the game, it was just hopeless. No pic of him because I just forgot to ask him for a pic. I lost by 50 spread. My score was 346. Count his score yourself.

[End of Scrabble Day 1]

It might sound very dumb, but I've never been to KL for sooooooooooooooooooooooooo long that I've just forgotten how it looked like at night. It was as if I just came out of some ancient place (PJ is ancient.....haha) and have not seen the marvels of KL eventhough it takes 20 minutes (without jam) to reach there from my house. We ate at Hakka Restaurant since all of us were starving already. We got free food because my father knew the 3 bosses there (golf friends). So, one of the bosses said he'll sponsor our meal. Haha. Free food at an expensive restaurant with expensive dishes. My shark's fin soup was mounted with loads of shark fin (fake la....). It was almost a 5cm-high mountain of shark's fins. And it's free.

Sunday, 7th Sep 08 (Mentally challenged day with mentally challenged scores)

I brought my camera along today. Yay. At least now, I'm occupied. Some of the adult players were staring at me and probably wondering why this crazy girl is taking pictures of things around her. I took pictures of the 6 trophies even before the winners laid their hands on them. Haha. The wonders of photography XD. The draw for the 11th game was out. I was against Bryan Lai [*exasperated not again?!?!??!?*].

Game 11

Stupid game!!!!!!!!! The most frustrating game I've played!!!!! I was against the highest-scoring gamer here. He trashed Mr K. Sundaraj 512 to 200+. And geez, you should have seen my tiles right at the beginning!!!!!! After his 24-point JIB, all I could manage was a freaking KA. The only vowel on my rack was an A. And after I used it for KA, you should see my tiles:

"Why are you taking pictures of your own tiles?". Well, if you have tiles like mine, that's what you'd do. And obviously, I wouldn't hang on to useless tiles like these except the Z. So, I changed 6 and only manage a useless DEFY worth 22 points. Now, that wasn't the only problem here!!!! I didn't challenge his [insert whatever vulgar words you know here] PIRE. Not that it'll help, it's only 13 points, but THAT COULD VERY WELL SAVE MY LIFE IT WEREN'T FOR ANOTHER SET OF NONSENSE TO SHOW UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This, could very well be my last word and a bingo. Unfortunately, this wasn't the arrangement on my rack and I didn't see it. Instead, I put AUDITS on the board and finished another round with RE. Oh sure, laugh all you want. Do you have any idea how depressing this game was?!??!?! I could have broke down during that game, especially when I figured that there were so many errors in it!!!!! If I wanted, I could have started daffy-laughing!!! (Unfortunately, if I did, I'd be thrown out of the building....)

Games 12-16

Played against Ching Yet twice. Lost once by 9 points, lost another time by 10 points. Hopeless. Played against Vinnith thrice after that. Won once by 93 points, lost 2 by 98 (this game was almost similar to the one against Bryan. Vinnith even got sick of me changing tiles and even asked me why I keep doing it. Trust me, this time it was vowel overload) and 40.

That's all.

Oh and I know the winners and positioning for this competition:

Rank Name Wins

1. Ker Ken Wa 15 (He only lost one game and that was against Aviel. Lost by 8 points. Wow.)

2. Aviel Lee Iuen Bing 11

3. Tan Kar Hee 10

4. Krishna Iyer 9

5. Kang Eng Lee 9

6. Bryan Lai Tong Yin 8.5 (Draw with Vinnith in the first round)

7. Looi Yih Feng 8

8. Vinnith Ramamurti 6.5 (Draw with Bryan in the first round)

9. Chang Ching Yet 6 (You can understand how he got here by winning me 9 and 10 points. [Borrows all the vulgar word you use here])

10. Yeow Liiyung 5

11. Liew Tjun Git 4

12. K. Sundaraj 2

"Losing is a part of life, and life is a part of time. If you lose, you'll have the time of your life!!" =D