Bangkok, Day 6
the third day of king's cup moved to the 5th floor of the royal paragon hall. the mall wasn't open yet; so one had to enter from the side through the garage and up the elevators. there were thousands of schoolchildren everywhere. if they could stick to the walls, that's where they would be.
our setup was on a raised stage. the tables here are more stable with lots more room. we played one game and then broke for the princess and the parade, which gave us about a 3-hour break. since they sent in a representative for the princess, i sent in kristen to represent me and the united states. i hope she enjoyed being part of the parade. it was surreal hearing my name called and having her walk for me. there was a band that played "stars and stripes forever." i found it funny that the music played during the koreans' entrance was psy's "gentleman."
the cacophony continued throughout the day. i think i heard the same songs over and over. it reminded me of the time i used to work in the movie theaters. the only cd they had was some classical music cd that had about a dozen songs, and it was on repeat all day. i still can't listen to "bolero" to this day without cringing. during my freshman year, my roommate played george michael's faith album every day. some of the songs were so catchy that you found yourself moving to the beat, making it hard to concentrate on scrabble.
besides scrabble, the schoolchildren were playing regular scrabble; junior scrabble where you play a word, take it off, and play a new word; a-math; and sudoku. it's interesting watching them string a bunch of numbers, operators, and equal signs to form equations. i really want to watch the sudoku finals. i heard that last year the puzzles were so hard that they kept extending the time, so much that the scrabble finals were over before the sudoku finals.
today's scrabble play wasn't too bad. i went 5-3, and the games i lost were closed board games and only winnable had i drawn the right tiles or at least didn't have junk while my opponents had the scoring tiles. if there were a prize for word that is most associated with thai, my play of etcetera should qualify. i keep hearing yul brynner as the king in the king and i say it in the song "it's a puzzlement": etcetera, etcetera, and so fourth. my favorite play of the day was twigloo, a makeshift shelter made from branches. i played the phony tsooras hooking an s to upo and had it challenged off. they give us a two- and three-letter word list with extensions, and i still forget to refer to it. also, there are errors on the list as well; so you can't rely on it completely.
had a small meal for breakfast at the hotel, fresh lychees for a snack, glass noodles with pork in soup for lunch, and joe and i went to nara at the centralworld mall for dinner. we shared a pomelo salad, spicy glass noodle salad with squid and shrimp, fried soft-shell crab with garlic, and kale with thai anchovies. there was some language problem when i tried to ask for a plastic fork. they took my take-out bag and then brought it back with all the to-go items individually wrapped in plastic. too food after that for ice cream. maybe tomorrow.
back to the postcards.
our setup was on a raised stage. the tables here are more stable with lots more room. we played one game and then broke for the princess and the parade, which gave us about a 3-hour break. since they sent in a representative for the princess, i sent in kristen to represent me and the united states. i hope she enjoyed being part of the parade. it was surreal hearing my name called and having her walk for me. there was a band that played "stars and stripes forever." i found it funny that the music played during the koreans' entrance was psy's "gentleman."
the cacophony continued throughout the day. i think i heard the same songs over and over. it reminded me of the time i used to work in the movie theaters. the only cd they had was some classical music cd that had about a dozen songs, and it was on repeat all day. i still can't listen to "bolero" to this day without cringing. during my freshman year, my roommate played george michael's faith album every day. some of the songs were so catchy that you found yourself moving to the beat, making it hard to concentrate on scrabble.
besides scrabble, the schoolchildren were playing regular scrabble; junior scrabble where you play a word, take it off, and play a new word; a-math; and sudoku. it's interesting watching them string a bunch of numbers, operators, and equal signs to form equations. i really want to watch the sudoku finals. i heard that last year the puzzles were so hard that they kept extending the time, so much that the scrabble finals were over before the sudoku finals.
today's scrabble play wasn't too bad. i went 5-3, and the games i lost were closed board games and only winnable had i drawn the right tiles or at least didn't have junk while my opponents had the scoring tiles. if there were a prize for word that is most associated with thai, my play of etcetera should qualify. i keep hearing yul brynner as the king in the king and i say it in the song "it's a puzzlement": etcetera, etcetera, and so fourth. my favorite play of the day was twigloo, a makeshift shelter made from branches. i played the phony tsooras hooking an s to upo and had it challenged off. they give us a two- and three-letter word list with extensions, and i still forget to refer to it. also, there are errors on the list as well; so you can't rely on it completely.
had a small meal for breakfast at the hotel, fresh lychees for a snack, glass noodles with pork in soup for lunch, and joe and i went to nara at the centralworld mall for dinner. we shared a pomelo salad, spicy glass noodle salad with squid and shrimp, fried soft-shell crab with garlic, and kale with thai anchovies. there was some language problem when i tried to ask for a plastic fork. they took my take-out bag and then brought it back with all the to-go items individually wrapped in plastic. too food after that for ice cream. maybe tomorrow.
back to the postcards.