Yknow, in all honesty, no one thought we could actually do this. Not even us. Turns out pessimism doesn't always pay off.

First place. Champions.

It wasn't just the 8 hours of craziness themselves. It was the insane preperations beforehand as well; countless games with each other, endless recitals of stems (Give me satire f! -fairest) and, of course, the million times we visited Haiwei's blog (shameless advertisement here) to for his Scrabble checker.

The feeling is priceless, really. A few minutes before the game starts, you look at your opponents and wonder if they're the kind who form Keratin and Injeras with abandon or if they're the kind who play Qe and try to get away with it. Then you draw your tiles, keep STAR, clear NOW, form SATIRE, draw another O, play OTARIES, draw your next tiles, and on and on until one hour's over and you emerge from your furious trance to realise you're leading by 200 points.

I played the best game I ever did this year today, and I have to say it's an amazing feeling.

(try to spot the bingo from STDAEUU, yknow, for fun.)

But a team isn't just about one person, is it? I'm damn proud of everyone here.

We weren't confident when we invited Haiwei; he didn't even know how to play Scrabble. Suffice to say he plays it very well now. Apart from a loss in the qualifying rounds, he won the rest of his matches, especially the one which counted the most.

We weren't confident either when we invited Xuewen. Like Haiwei, he didn't know how to play Scrabble. He learns fast. Yes, you lost against Marsiling 1, but that isn't your fault. They were damn pro. We were better. With 7 ridiculously high-spread victories, one loss is nothing.

Thomas has entered every single Scrabble competition with me since Sec2. It's so appropiate that we win during our last possible try, isn't it? During our last, most important game, he was trailing his opponent by 40-50 points for most of the match. If he won; we'd get first, if he lost, we'd get third. He won by 2 points. Perfect victories through both the qualifying and finals.

Hongrui, as we all know, is a damn strong Scrabble player, and an captain. His pep talks are unstoppable:

#1: "Let's win this."
#2: "What?"
#3: "We're halfway there!"
#4: "We're at board 2. We're so close to first, get it, first? hahahaha..." -trails off
#5: "Let's own!"

It's a good thing his Scrabble is much better than his pep talks.
It's a pity he had to skip the final round, but no harm done; perfect victories (including a walkover) as usual.

First place.

We're the team to beat, aren't we?

Holidays are going to be over soon. Can't believe it? Neither can I.

So I spent all my holidays in Singapore. It doesn't matter; I'll get to go out during December (and for those who don't know, I'm a coaster freak) and if I'm lucky I'll get to go Six Flags this year. Which is epic pwnage.

New Things have happened during these holidays. Both major, and minor, but I'll list them anyway, because, hell, I can list whatever I want to list.

I guess the most major change was me switching churches. Believe me, switching from a Presbyterian church to a youth (?) church is a ridiculous culture shock. It takes more, much more, than a few weeks to acclimatize. But these things don't matter, really. The friendliness & openness of the people there that help to bridge this gap. Above all, it doesn't matter where or how you worship, as long as you praise Him, no?

It's 2.45 am, and I'm in a Sec1 classroom in RI, typing this amidst digitally fake cheers from FIFA 08 and the frantic sounds of haiwei hammering on the keys as he plays IaMP, waiting for France vs Italy to start.

Strange things happen at NP camp.

For once, just once, I'd like to have all the answers, instead of all the questions.

Actually I wanted to post part #2 of my pseudolecture on Speakers and Audiences, inspired by events that've been happening recently, but I'll save that for tomorrow.

It's quite satisfying that I've completed most of my holiday goals. Admittedly, most of them are shallow, but that really doesn't matter, does it? I have two goals left...the first is, at best, achievable. The second is impossible.

There are five different types of public speakers.

1) He is extremely passionate about what he is saying. He relates stories and anecdotes as they are, without exaggeration because he wants to bring his message across in its purest, untainted form. Few, if any, speakers are like this.

2) He is passionate about what he is saying. He relates stories and anecdotes with slight exaggeration because he fears that the stories/anecdotes alone are not powerful enough to captivate and persuade his audience. Most enthusiastic speakers are like this. I'm like this (although I'm not a public speaker but that's not the point.)

3) He believes in what he is saying. He relates stories and anecdotes with large exaggeration and sometimes invents stories of his own, or warps existing stories drastically out of proportion. Although he believes in what he is saying, he exaggerates his stories/anecdotes as a means of persuading himself, as well as his audience.

4) He has a halfhearted belief in what he is saying. His stories or anecdotes are related in a tone of skepticism and cynicism, OR he completely fabricates stories of his own. He is trying to persuade the audience to follow a cause that he himself does not believe in, and it shows. He is largely unsuccessful. For a good example, take any random RI guy attempting to give his persuasive speech on, I don't know, something like Why Teenage Offenders Should Not Be Subjected To Severe Punishment.

The fifth type may come as a surprise.

5) He completely disbelieves in what he is saying. He sees his public speaking as a means to fame and money, and has no qualms about the audience he decieves (and usually convinces to part with their money) along the way. His stories and anecdotes are well prepared, and well planned. Although they are fanciful and sometimes outrageous, they are backed up by the solid conviction of his words or the etherealism of his topic. His audience believe him wholeheartedly. For want of a better word, these are the best scammers.

Someone did remind me why. I'll keep trying.

On another note, holidays are ending and the homework grind is beginning again...that is, unless you're one of Those Types who've finished everything 2 weeks ago.

Does anyone want to go watch Get Smart? It's like Johnny English...except without Rowen Atkinson...which makes it a better movie already. Of course, there'll be better CGIs too.
(the movie, being a spoof, probably won't require any CGI effects, but the movie, being made in Hollywood, will have them.)

random snippet of MSN conversation:

hw` [ s O l i t a r y ] says:
but if i dont try anything

hw` [ s O l i t a r y ] says:
i cant fail!

kenneth says:
except in life

Happy birthday Xuewen. Are you aware of the myriad fields of opportunity and possibility that have opened in front of you, as far as the eye can s...no? What a pity.

Sunday was eye-opening, to say the least, but I mean that in a good way. And yes, I gained much more than just music, a donut and an interesting story...or stories, for that matter.

It's been damn boring at home lately. Yes, there's a mountain of homework waiting for me, but let's just ignore that for a moment...if anyone wants to meet for a game of badminton/tennis/table tennis/swimming/whatever random sport, just tell me because I really want to do these kinds of things before school starts again and we're swamped with more projects/homework.

On another note, it'd be helpful if someone could remind me why I keep on trying, and TRYING, even though it's really damn obvious that it's epic fail...of course, no one can, because no one knows what I'm talking about. I know I sound bitter at times, and this is probably why.

The most irritating people are those who are immune to logic. It's true.

Okay Gwen was right, the stupid blog really had ads. -facepalm

Which is why I'm using this really nice looking layout now; goodbye to Lemon Ice and his stupid ads. Hopefully there won't be any ads here yeah.

On another note, it really is damn funny that the only people without any leadership positions at all are the people who're attempting to keep a conversation on track...that, or everyone else just doesn't give a damn because, as leaders, they have so much more to do.

Okay I realised that sounded angry/emo but I'm not, believe me, I'm just being cynical.

Finished Traveller.

It's a decent book. It starts strongly, but the ending was disappointing. Granted, I didn't expect a brilliant climax/plot conclusion, given the way the book was written, but one thing exceptionally disappointing was Calvino's revealing that the titles of all the chapters, when strung together, forms a decent paragraph on its own. I mean, yes, it's obvious, but it's so much better when you leave it as an obvious easter egg, instead of being so blatant...

Anyway, time to find another book to read.