Zugzwang

Today Yoga was Fantastic. with a capital F. Shoik. I am starting a 6 week intermediate course now, but I still have problems doing the bloody handstand on my own. Maybe I should try not to cheat when I do the Chaturanga Dandasana. More arm muscles needed! But to cut the long story short, yoga was great! I feel so happy tonight! :) And I'm not sleepy at all. yikes.
 
*****
Note to self: Do not look at pictures in cookbooks when one is hungry.
 
*****
Hmm, that guy seems to do so many things. Reading his wordy but well-described account on his life in chess, especially the part on friends, makes me think of my own team I had. Also he has definitely described the fear part very well. It was everything I had felt and more. My fingers were definitely frozen cold and my hands were trembling very obviously when I hold the pieces. And I couldn't sleep at night after that. With the bloody mind whirling non-stop through all the moves made. It's definitely not a good thing to have freezing fingers and trembling hands, especially when one is trying to play an exam piece on the piano in front of the examiner. Or shaking knees too. And clattering teeth. One can't very well press the pedal when one's knees are knocking each other, and clattering teeth do make strange noises.
 
Nah ... fear, let's not think too much about that. Now my team instead ... my memorable team who has been there for me then and even now. I smile as I'm writing this and thinking of them. :)
 
On the first board there's S. She was obviously a veteran. Solid, unassuming, nerves of steel, cold hard eyes, a somewhat floppy grin if she does grin, unbudging, unforgiving. Actually I'm a bit wary of her. Okie .. I'm a bit afraid of her. There .. it's out. She swears never to play anymore after our second year. I still see her around sometimes at Kino. If I'm feeling fey, I'd say hi to her, else most of the time I'll try to avoid her and her stare. heh. But she's a nice person, just a bit different from us.

The second board is my captain. She's the most fantastic person I've ever met. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have played chess at all. She plays brillantly and crazily and is absolutely an airhead. I miss her, I miss her scolding, the crazy nonsense she'll sprout, her bimboticness and her cheerfulness ... and she does take care of us very well, even though she's rather psychotic at times. Oh dear, I hope she doesn't read what I wrote here. heh heh. I miss the parties she'd throw, the mahjong cum chess parties where she'll dress up *laughs* strangely, and feed us with spaghetti and drives all of us up the wall playing mahjong slowly and making mistakes. And now she's changed - became more .. assertive and more ... serious. Or was it I who had changed? I miss the old her.
 
On the third board is one of my best friend, who will be reading this ... so I shan't say too much. heh heh. Just enough to say that she had been there for me when I was in uncharted territory even though she may not know what I mean. And she wouldn't have known how I've always been so frightened of life, until ... not too recent.
 
Okie, so I am on the fourth board. As a 'brand' new player that time ... they felt that being on the fourth board was a safe choice ... and damn, I had to meet the captain of our nemesis team in the first round, and being totally unprepared, terrified and untrained ... obviously I lost and was completely a nervous wreak. I had not had the tournament nerves yet. And I remember our captain trying all kind of stuffs to cheer us up then.

On the fifth board, PM is an enigma and will always remain unreachable. But she will always be one of my treasured friends. She has a brillant mind and sometimes she's totally off this world. *laughs* Oh dear, I shouldn't be speaking of my seniors like that huh. I miss her too, I haven't seen her for a long time. There was once we walked down orchard road during the christmas season and admired the lights and the christmas trees and she always had a fondness for the big one at Mariott. Shopping with her was an eye-opener. Eating dim sum with her was an even bigger eye-opener, or rather stomach filler. Man, she can really eat. Cooking with her had been really fun. But she doesn't cook as well as me. heh heh. Though she knows how to make pepper crabs but I don't. :P Fine. She is another strange one. One year we walked down Orchard Road. Another year we went blading at East Coast. Yet another year, we went ice-skating. All once only. Asked me, 'Shall we blade/ice-skate again?' Said she, 'That is enough exercise for the year, maybe next year.' *rolls eyes* ... I shall have to get her soon. Persistance is the word. She is the only one I know who doesn't have a handphone and carries a pager which changes every six months.

And then there is Lin. who has been a loyal and good friend all these times. and who is persuing her dream right now. I will visit her one day ... which I've said a long time ago when she was in London. Erm, but I don't think I want to go to Kaz yet.

My team, my closest friends ... strange how chess brought us all together. Now each has gone their own way, and playing only for leisure. Perhaps because I started late ... that was why I was keen for much longer. But like all of you, there is no more fun in playing competitively.

Strange I can only remember this first team. I cannot remember the junior team. Min, can you? heh. And I had other teams, but none as close or memorable as this one. :)

*****
One final note: I almost blew a fuse today at work. *laughs*