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Bowling Update

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Ching under Family, Games.

So I’d been trying to bowl a 500-series since the Fall league started and I kept failing miserably. Well, guess what. I actually did it twice while mom and dad were in the Philippines. I wouldn’t have believed it myself had I not been there to witness myself do it. LOL. Even an blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes.

Seriously though, I may be a better bowler than I believe myself to be. Perhaps it’s time that I stop selling myself short and start concentrating so I can live up to my potential.

I’m obviously capable of bowling a 500-series. I just need to do it consistently.

Brian says I bowled well because I was relaxed and was having a great time. Mom says I bowled well because I was bowling with friends and I was trying to impress them with my bowling skills. Either way, we had a great time bowling with Linsday and Dawn over the past three weeks. They were the best subs ever and helped us earn 11 points, almost a perfect run. I couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome.

Now, instead of being one of the bottom teams, we are one of the top teams. I hope that we can continue our streak now that mom and dad are back. We shall see how it goes tonight. Wish us luck!

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Rustier Than a Hundred-Year Old Nail

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Ching under Games, Poker.

We played poker at Nilla’s last night. Ugh. I played like such a novice. Last night made me realize how rusty I am. We need to start playing poker regularly stat.

Congratulations to our friend Becca who made the final table and chopped the prize!

April said that she saw a poster for chess tournaments, which they also have at Nilla’s. I was thinking I might actually fare better at that. Unlike poker, Brian and I have actually been playing a lot of chess lately.

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Officially a Member of the 200 Club

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Ching under Games.

I finally bowled my first 200 game on league night. Brian did it a few weeks ago when he bowled a 204. I kept telling him that I’m capable of bowling a 200 game also, but I’d never been able to prove it until last Sunday. I’ll usually start out really well but then I choke halfway through so I never quite make it to 200. I’m so glad it finally happened.

Brian said he believed that I could bowl a 200 game though he’d never seen me do it. However, I still felt like I needed to prove myself. I bowled a 208, 4 pins higher than his highest game ever. I just had to prove my bowling prowess. LOL.

I wish that I would have bowled better on my first two games because I only bowled a 499 series. I really wanted to break 500. That’s going to be my next goal.

Either way, I’m excited for league night this Sunday. I’m hoping to see my name in weekly stats sheet. Oowa! Oowa!

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My Favorite Chess Matches

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Ching under Games.

Our recent vacation to the Dominican Republic revived my love for chess. Brian’s game has really improved a lot making the game more enjoyable for both us. He used to be really easy to beat, which made the game frustrating for him and not really that enjoyable for me because it wasn’t much of a challenge. He is a much more formidable opponent these days. Either I’m really rusty or he’s tremendously gotten better. I’d like to think it’s the latter but it’s probably a little bit of both. I’m not as strategic as I used to be and tend to move pieces on whim rather than careful planning.

Though he hasn’t won a chess game since we returned from Dominican Republic, I can’t say that I’m easily dispatching him as I did before. I’ve found that I can no longer take it easy. Our chess matches (we’ve been playing regularly on our old school chess board — about three to four times a week) have required much more concentration on my end.

Anyway, all of this recent chess playing has made me wax nostalgic over the good old days on Red Hot Pawn. I used to play on RHP ten years ago as PerverseAngel. I used that screen name because Brian used to have DarkAngel as his username for several things and I thought PerverseAngel was a clever oxymoron that sort of matched his screen name. You guys know how much I like oxymorons and puns. LOL.

But I digress… I still remember my very first match on Red Hot Pawn. I posted a screen shot for you guys below because it was so awesome. I was able to get a checkmate in six moves. That doesn’t happen often.

Joeyshirt and Piper11521 used to work with Brian when Brian worked for Cox Communications. They were my favorite opponents on RHP because they played regularly. Both were very good.

Piper11521 – This one took forever but was memorable because this player was a tough opponent for me. We played several times and I had my share of losses which made the wins pretty sweet. Here’s here’s another memorable win. (UPDATE: My friend Isaac just told me that Piper11521 passed away three years ago. I deeply regret that I never had the chance to meet him in person, but I’ll always remember our chess matches. He was always a challenge to play against. May his soul rest in peace.)
Joeyshirt – Joey got me back on our next chess match. Here’s one that ended in a draw. I should have won it but couldn’t close the deal. I hate playing black.

I played regularly in 2005 and then started playing less and less. I only played a couple of times in 2006 and a handful of times in 2007. We tried to get back into RHP a couple of years ago but it didn’t have the same appeal. After Brian left Cox Communications (he worked for LSI for a few years before moving to Viega in 2008) there was no one to play with on RHP except for Brian and, if we’re just playing against each other, it’s just as easy to play on a traditional chess board. We’d play at home, at the drive-in (while waiting for the first movie to start), at Bradley fair (during the summer jazz concerts), etc. Chess is a great way to kill time, and it’s great for making wagers also.

I’ve been wanting to get back into Red Hot Pawn so that I can start playing chess with other people again. Not that I’m tired of playing with Brian but we’re starting to get used to playing each other and the games are starting to get predictable. That, and he never wants to play black so I’m usually stuck playing black, which I don’t like either.

I wish there was a Red Hot Pawn phone app. I did find a multi-player chess game app that’s available on both iPhone and Android. It’s working pretty well so far but I only know a couple of people who use it (Brian and Isaac). If anyone wants to play, you can find on Chess Time as Chingay. I’m always up for a game.