Causeway Scrabble Challenge 2009 ( Unofficial Prize Ceremony- Open Division)

This is an inaginary prize ceremony. Please don`t knock on my door to pick up your prizes...
The prize for the longest word goes to Thacha Koowirat who played the word MARATHON.
The prize for the most unoriginal bonuses goes to Abdul Suma for IMITATED and EPIGONE.
The "Who stole the S” prize goes to Jocelyn Lor, who used up nine S tiles in 3 bonuses: SNOWLESS, SLOWNESS and SONLESS.
The prize for the craziest find goes to Ferdy Anthonius for the word INSANEST.
The prize for the sweetest find goes to Wilfredo Padua, for CANDIES.
The "Piece of cake prize" goes to Moses Owugah and Yeap Gim Sai. Both players played the word EASIEST.
The prize for the most politically incorect bonus goes to Liz Fagerlund, who played NONEQUAL.
The “Get your mind out of the gutter” prize goes to Natasha Podesser, who played the words VIBRATOR, AROUSAL,ENTERING and PREGNANT.
The “ I wouldn`t challenge that in a thousand years” prize goes to Nupur Sood, who played the nonvalid word UNFRESH*
The prize for the strangest bonus goes to Lim Mao Fong for the word ODDITIES.
The prize for the most unchallenged phonies goes to Jerry Khoo, who got away with six!
The prize for the wisest play goes to Robert Rubina, who played PROVERBS.
The prize for the ugliest bonus goes to Kim Rubina, who played the word MONSTER.
If you can think of other silly prizes, please let me know...

Causeway 2009 (Day 5)

Day 5 was a daymare. I lost the game against Anand missing an easy bonus ( ENTRISM) as an out play, I lost the game against Henry Yeo by 8 points after bonusing* and taking the last four tiles from the bag (EEER), I lost the game against Karen Richards by 7 points after challenging two of her words ( words I was almost one hundred percent sure of!), and another game where my opponent saw the word OAKIER on the board next to us, and decided to try OAKIEST for 96 points! That gave him the win!. In my last game of the tournament, Bob Jackman from Australia played EUIO* against me. I challenged it off. Bob is my friend. A part of me wanted to let him have another go, while the other one ( the player) look at him and said: " Sorry Bob". I know that in Scrabble, these mistakes don't go unpunished... I remember how last year at the UK Scrabble Open I wanted to play the word HANGS. After I pressed the clock, I realized that I had played the nonvalid word HAGNS!!! It was challenged off by one of my good friends, Phil Robertshaw. We' re still friends. Or so he thinks...
In the same game, Bob and I realized after we finished the game, that there was still a tile in the bag. It was my mistake, since I failed to find it, thinking that there was only one tile left! We didn't know the rules. Bob had another turn, and since he couldn't go out in one, I played the tile left in the bag for 8 points.
So the Causeway Challenge 2009 has come to an end. The same players who fought in the final of the WSC (Nigel and Pakorn) finished first and second, which shows that luck is just a part of the game!
On the way to the airport, Sanjoy Gupta, a Scrabble player from India, offered me a beer. At first, I thanked him and said that I wasn't a beer person. Then, I accepted his present. It was my first beer this year. After the firt sip, I remembered why I didn't like beer. It had a bitter taste. Just like the taste of defeat...:))

Causeway 2009 (Day 4)

Michael Akonor (Ghana) Adrian Tamas (Romania)

Another good day for me. After two days of struggle, I made it back to table one. Just for one game...I didn't throw any games away today. On top of that, inspiration and luck gave me two nice wins against Michael Gongolo and Kevin McMahon, two of the strongest players in the open division. I also played a nine timer: ATRopINES for 149 points against Victor Chua, to win a very exciting game.
The last game of the day put me in a very interesting position. Michael Akonor, the leader of the Open Division, played a word that I challenged. He took it back right away saying that it wasn't good. He didn't even want to go to the computer for the adjudication. Even though I challenged the word, I was almost sure that it was ok, so I insisted that we should check it. It was valid, so Michael didn't lose his turn. He thanked me many times after the game. I said that I enjoy winning, but that I would rather lose than win games like that. Michael Akonor seems like a nice fellow. I hope he wins the tournament.

Life as a Single Wife: the End of the Road

As I told you before, being a single wife does not mean I am the only wife until further notice. It means I am a kind of semi-bachelorette until my beloved husband comes back. The happy event will take place in about 30 hours, so tonight I thought I'd take advantage of my freedom and I went out (for the first Christmas party of the season) with some friends.
Here's a photo of our dinner (I'm pretty sure sashimi is a valid Scrabble word, but you will have to ask the specialist if you want to be one hundred per cent sure).



After that, we went to my favourite bar in Japan, a small place called Michi (The Road) which has been in business since 1957. The owner is a kind and funny old man who chooses his customers and has a special price for each of them, depending on the degree of likability. Fortunately, I'm on the list of favourites. I strongly recommend it; it's right in the center of Osaka, near the Hozenji temple, and if you're lucky and the owner likes you, you can have many great drinks for a very low price.



I apologize if I haven't been very funny. After been awake for 18 hours, my inspiration has left me. But I'm sure Adrian will be here soon, with news from Causeway Challenge. As I suggested before, for the pancakes... attaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!!!

Causeway Scrabble Challenge ( Day 3)

Day 3 was good, but could have been better! I felt that two of my three lost games where winnable. The third game was " whinable". I really need to work on my stamina. At one point, I almost fell asleep on the Scrabble board. When I "almost" woke up, my opponent was already filling in the result sheet. Tomorrow is another tough day, with ten games waiting to be played. Who knows, we might even have a winner by the end of the day...

Causeway Scrabble Challenge ( Day 2)

Today was a good day. For my opponents. I played my worst Scrabble ever to lose a won game against Waseem Katri, I "managed" a six game losing streak, and not even the 6 phonies played by my opponents couldn't end it! For lunch, I had a J served by Charnrit, the World Youth Scrabble Champion. That will teach me! Starting today, I will stop counting the " goodies".
Did I have enough? No! Tomorrow I'll be back for more!

Causeway 2009 (Day 1)

As I walk into the game room, I hear Harshan Lamabadusuriya say: "This is what Scrabble deserves. This is how it should be treated". I couldn't agree more. Michael Tang has taken this game to the next level!
Today was a pretty good day for me. I finished on seven wins and two losses. I took about seventy percent of the blanks which is no bad at all... My wife said she would wait for me with pancakes ( my favourite dessert) if I win. I remembered that, when I played the bonus NOCAKES against Esther Perrins! My first game tomorrow will be against Charnrit, the World Youth Scrabble Champion . The Open Division looks pretty strong too. I see Odette Rio, Martin Harrison, Kevin MacMahon and Cheah Siu Hean, are out of the top 20 at the moment. In my opinion, any of these players could win the Open Division!