Just when I thought the last time I had "Bird Food" was just a while ago, it dawned on me that 3 years have already flown by.
Wow. How time passes!
So anyway, during my last trip back in June 2014, I decided to pack more seeds and nuts back to QQland.
This time round, my mix is:
Walnuts
Cashew Nuts
Pumpkin Seeds
Almonds
Wolfberries
I did away with black sesame seeds as they have a tendency to get stuck in between you teeth and really ugly when you smile. I added wolfberries for its health benefits and also the fact that there was a special offer.
No pine nuts nor sunflower seeds as there was no stock that day.
As usual, all of them are unsalted with the exception of the pumpkin seeds.
The wolfberries are quite nice but I made the mistake of buying too much which made the entire mix tasted off. It didn't help that they have a tendency to clump together and so you can imagine when I bit into a big chunk of it.
p.s. Yeah. It was the same tupperware, I used the last time round. Still good and tight sealed as ever.
By right, I should be featuring the match winning point above but Lisicki won that on account of Schiavone's double fault and so essentially, it wasn't a point worth my top billing. Instead, I put up Schiavone's save of the first match point.
I was in Hong Kong two weeks ago to watch the semi-final games but was too busy to update it on my blog until now.
Anyway, the other semi-final was between relatively unknown duo of Pliskova (Karolina) and Van Uytvanck.
Er.... who?
Anyway, it was a b-o-r-i-n-g match and kudos to the organisers for having the foresight to place them as the first semi-final of the day where at 3pm in the hot afternoon, the place was about 1/4 filled.
There were sparks of brilliance from time to time between these two ITF graduates but they have a long way to go as far as paying their dues is concerned before being able to be regarded as serious contenders in the big league.
The disparity in levels between Lisicki and Pliskova was evident in the final the next day as latter young padawan was schooled 7-5, 6-3.
Coming back to the semi-final between Lisicki and Schiavone, everyone was rooting for the underdog Italian as the 34 year-old put up a gutsy display against the German who is 9 years younger.
We were awed by her never-say-die attitude as she hunted down every stray ball covering every squared inch of the court.
Win or lose, as far as the point was concerned, was met with big applause from everyone. Perhaps it was everyone's way, including mine, giving her an "A" for effort.
Eventually, youthfulness triumphed as Lisicki takes the title 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
My thought next, goes to the tournament itself. The Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open 2014 is a tiny tournament where the winner goes home with just 280 ranking points. This compared to the Grand Slams (2000 points) and the WTA Premier Events e.g. the current ongoing Wuhan Open 2014 (900 points). The down side to this is that with fewer ranking points and smaller prize money, you aren't going to attract as many big names. In fact, for this particular tournament the top seed was eventual Sabine Lisicki and she was ranked back then as 28th. We won't be expecting the likes of Sharapova, Williams, Kvitova etc to grace the event.
The up side on the other hand is that smaller tournament means smaller venue, means we are up closer to the action. And yeah, cheaper ticket prices too.
p.s. My favourite day of the tournament is actually the quarter-finals where, IMHO, the ticket price gives you the best value for money. The price of the ticket grants you 4 matches to watch in a single sitting. Compare this to the more expensive semi-finals (2 matches) and most expensive ticket final (1 match). Earlier rounds can be boring as players hold back on the throttle to avoid peaking too early and so the quarter-finals is the turning point where players step up their gear in terms of play intensity as they are just a mere two steps from victory.
This is a video of Faith's drawing. It is a time-lapsed video capture and so no. She didn't draw THAT fast.
We started noticing her interest in drawing anime characters and her obsession with creating stuff on Minecraft. For those who have fallen behind in terms of technology, it's a digital low-res version of lego or nanoblocks.
Anyway, when we first saw her drawings, we were like...
... this kid's got a bit of talent. What I initially thought was just a knack coupled with hours and hours spent glued to youtube tutorials (which kinda explained her plunging grades in P5).
After watching this video, I stand corrected.
I don't recall us sending her to any art classes after school. I believed she just happened to pick things up herself.
I am impressed.
Perhaps yellow brick road is laid down for her already. Let's send her to arts school. Yes?
Who knows she may even be in the CGI FX team for Star Wars IX. Who knows?
p.s. I can see the generation gap getting wider. Gone are the days where it is just a pencil/pen and paper.
p.p.s. Perhaps I should get her to meet Grasshopper?
