The Random Ramblings of Samm Diep

18 September 2005

"Cram" Training has the same results as "Cram" Studying

As promised, Chisolm and I went on our hot date on Friday night to BD's Mongolian BBQ. That place rocks! They have Izzy there now too which just makes it that much better. Afterwards, we went to Shake's and played a couple sets and went home.

(Bettina, me, & Chris at Shakespeare's)

64 men and 16 women showed up for their chance to go to Atlanta, GA where the US Amateur Championships are held this year. It doesn't seem very fair since the top 6 men qualify and only one woman can qualify. The men get a 1 in 9 chance and we only get a 1 in 16 chance. Not to mention, it's only a race to 5 for the women and a race to 7 for the men. I quickly picked up on these statistics last year and asked if I could just play in the men's division and was just as quickly denied.

I felt pretty prepared Saturday morning but apparently there was a wait-list to sign up for the tournament and I barely made it in. I won my first two matches and took a brief nap by the 3 coushion tables. I narrowly won my next one and was pretty exhausted but didn't have a break before the following match. That was be the one for the driver's seat. Unfortunately, I lost that one and then the next, finishing third overall. Third in this tournament gets you nothing. Bleh!

I know better than to expect to win when I haven't been training. I have been so busy with the book that I have hardly played much at all lately. Although, I did win a recent tournament last week (w/ twice as many players entered than this one). I guess I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was.

My cuemaker & sponsor, Chris, was nice enough to stop by and sweat my matches. That's not to be confused with my good friend & teammate, Chris (from the picture), whom I lost to in the semi-finals. At least she beat the first girl I lost to and won the whole thing. If I didn't do it at least Chris did.

I did meet and hang out with some very cool people last night. I met the owner of Zoosters, Lenore and her pal Kathy. I've seen Kathy around but never talked to her before. She's a riot! Marko and I hung out a bit too. In fact he was working on his article for Inside Pool last night and called me this morning for material. I was happy to oblige. I'm interested in seeing what he has to say next month.

Nonetheless, it was a long day yesterday and I too exhausted to write. Well, I'm currently waiting for my very late dad to come pick me for a wedding that we're going to. Speaking of RSVPing, I don't think he did. Good grief! I think he's just been in touch w/ the bride's dad. The bride, of whom I have not seen or talked to in about 5 years, is the daughter of my dad's friend. I wish Alvina was going.

Anyway, here's some more turtle pics:

(See what I mean about Janet being tough to photograph? She won't come out of her shell. She's a bit anti-social.)