It's Saturday, November 29, 2003, 10:40 p.m. Ask yourself: Just watched "Down with Love" again on DVD during dinner with my whole household. Was surfing and saw this on a girl's page: + Are your palms sweaty, is your heart racing and is your voice caught within your chest?? It isn't love, it's like. + You can't keep your eyes or hands off of them. It isn't love, it's lust. + Are you proud, and eager to show them off? It isn't love, it's luck. + Do you want them because you know they're there? It isn't love, it's loneliness. + Are you there because it's what everyone wants? It isn't love, it's loyalty. + Are you there because they kissed you, or held your hand? It isn't love, it's low confidence. + Do you stay for their confessions of love, because you don't want to hurt them? It isn't love, it's pity. + Do you belong to them because their sight makes your heart skip a beat? It isn't love, its infatuation. + Do you pardon their faults because you care about them? It isn't love, it's friendship. + Do you tell them every day they are the only one you think of?? It isn't love, it's a lie. + Are you willing to give all of your favorite things for their sake? It isn't love, it's charity. If that's artificial love, then what is true love? take a look at this list now, and realize the difference between the two: + Does your heart ache and break when they're sad? Then it's love. + Do you cry for their pain, even when they're strong? Then it's love. + Do their eyes see your true heart, and touch your soul so deeply it hurts? Then it's love. + Do you stay because a blinding, incomprehensible mix of pain and relation pulls you close and holds you there? Then it's love. + Do you accept their faults because they're a part of who they are? Then it's love. + Would you give them your heart, your life, your death? Then it's love

It's Saturday, November 29, 2003, 01:30 a.m. Yippee!!! Just called Jinnie to ask her what her parents like from Marks and Sparks that can't be found in Singapore. Before going for the Malam Bakti play tonight, Xinmin and I went walking around shopping for stuff to bring home. And I wanted to buy something for Jinnie's parents cos they were really nice about me staying over at Jinnie's place when I was this homeless kid in Singapore in 2001, before I found a job and flat and settled down. And I was like: Hmmm.. what shall I get. And Xinmin was like: When Jinnie was here 2 years ago (i almost thought it was just last year. - how time flies!) she had to buy loads of something from Marks and Sparks cos her parents liked it and couldn't be found in Spore. And i'm like: Umm.. she did? So I sms-ed her. And that clueless girl didn't have a clue what i was talking about: Umm... any cookies I guess? So I called her. And I literally started bopping excitedly on my end of the phone and hopped on one leg to the other. My motor mouth shoots off at super-sonic speed - i wanna go tanning, am so pasty right now. promise to spend one whole day tanning with me? where? anywhere! ya, sure weekend. and we must eat sushi... i miss sushi!! sushi?? how are the surgeons? what's happening? no holidays?? nevermind, can 'bio' the cute neurosurgeon with the tight bum walking down the corridors of SGH!! - and I wish I were back in Singapore RIGHT NOW! It seems like nothing has changed. I'm still an excitable energizer bunny, and Jinnie is still the half-reluctant, half-grumbly, ever-filled-with-new-ideas-projects-or-things-to-do, perpetually busy, yet game for random ideas girl I met and bonded with in JC!! (By the way Yoke Phun, yes I still chew my nails when reading a book or deep in thought!! That habit was only dormant during my JC years.) Come up with any wild plan, and it's an easy sell if she has the time. - Bored of work, let's shoot off to a tropical island getaway (Sibu Island). When? Oh.. next week is good! WHeeee..... (Okay... so maybe it wasn't as instantaneous as all that. But at least it happened. Make any plans with her, and you can be sure she at least won't pull out. and since i generally don't bail either, we make a good team... even though i almost fainted after our first trip together, to Penang! haha..) - But with her, I'm actually the calm, soothing one, whereas with almost everyone else, I'm the hysterical, mood-swingey, traumatised one who needs to be calmed and soothed! So I like being with her.. cos get to give back to someone else what all my other friends have very indulgently and tolerantly pampered me with. *bounces around excitedly* *hops on bed* *boing* *boing* *boing* HOORAH!!! YAY!!! *somersaults* (okay i can't actually do that..) *cartwheels* (that neither!) WHOO-HOOO!!! home home home!!!! wippeee.... duppeee.... HAHAHAHAHA!!! Urgh... but i have to spend time at random places too in Malaysia in my maternal and paternal family's homes. Which is okay and good too. - But does it *have* to be during the holidays? - I wish I could go to Taman Negara or something. Argh... Or some place in Malaysia which is not the city. *sigh* Anyway.... I just realised that I have about exactly a week left before everything must all prepared. Egad!! I'm leaving for Paris next Saturday afternoon, coming back to London on Wednesday the 10th, then flying back to Malaysia that same night!!! [LISTS] So between now and next Saturday, I need to have done: 1. 2 assignments (Contract and Development) - due Monday 2. next week's Industrial assignment 3. Technically wanted to do my Development and Corp Fin assignment for week 10 ahead of time (like that's going to happen now) 4. Go shopping 5. Watch 2 movies (and write a movie review on one of them - due Wednesday) 6. Do all my laundry 7. Pack up my room (hoping to sublet it someone over winter to help cover my rent... but doesn't look too likely now) 8. Prepare and plan for Paris 9. AND PACK UP FOR MY TRIP HOME!!!!! Seems like an impossibility!!! Stuff I want to eat in Singapore: - Tako Pachi - Ke3 Ai4 Ji1 Kuai4 Can1 - Chicken rice near Coro - Roti Prata (at 6th Avenue and also Cheese Prata near NUS) - Carrot cake near Alexandra Market - Muah Chee (preferably at Queensway) - Bubble tea!! - food at Ghim Moh (either or i-wish-but-doubt all of the following: Bah Kut Teh (white and black), Johnson duck rice, cha kuay teow!!!!, maybe the Hor Fun. and something from the desert stall) - SUSHIII!!!!! (of course! ;)) - NOT FORGETTING tang yuan (glutinous BALLS) at army market - the mixed rice at Golden Shoe is a possibility - Beef ball noodle soup somewhere - LONG JOHN SILVERS!!!!! - Oooh.. nice place to eat near Marina.. little shop dunno what it’s called - does it seem weird if I’m also thinking of maybe eating at Ponderosa/Breeks or some Western food place?? (I eat more chinese food here in UK than anything else) - How could I forget Hans?? Beef steak and their DIVINE fried rice. Stuff I want to eat in Malaysia: - Asam laksa - Cha Kuay Teow - All the nasi briyani I can get (from the Indian/Mamak stall near my house) with: Rendang (mutton, beef) - Tose and roti canai with: FISH CURRYYYY!!!!!!!!!! - Prawn mee… YUUUUMMMMM… - something from SS2 - Ooh… carrot cake too… Malaysia-style - You3 zha3 kuay4 - NASI LEMAK!!!!!!!! – hmmm.. the cheapo Alor Setar and Kelantanese kind are the best!! Or those from section 17 market is good too! - My aunt’s DELICIOUS chicken rendang + cow jang (?? Dunno spelling. But a DIVINE thai dish) - My mommy’s bittergourd! – LOADS of it!! Been so bittergourd-deprived here! – I actually asked Xinmin to ‘import’ it the last time she came back. It’s so expensive here - Kelantanese laksa Stuff I want to do in Singapore/visit: - Cineleisure - Shaw house - Far East (maybe shop for jeans there) - sundry shopping for work clothes (G2000??) - tanning (Xinmin says Sentosa is really cheap now. But I like ECP too! Or anywhere Jinnie wants) - walk around Orchard road - Revisit school!!!!! My beloved 53 Mt Sinai Road campus!!! - Pop by Chinese High while I’m there. And might as well stroll through the 6th Avenue neighbourhood on the way from RJ to Chinese High - Visit Raffles Place (and maybe the Burkes? Or Berks? Café? Quite nice too. I LOVE their mashed potatoes there. I swear they have cheese in it or something! YUUUMMM) - Of course Citylink… and walk past the red sofa place - Probably Suntec too.. a landmark and all that. - and oh ya the Esplanade (let’s be touristy) - I think I want to go to the Novena church, after intending to go since I was in secondary school! - Oh ya and I definitely want to visit the Bugis temple too - maybe the Merlion area - and some clubbing of course. Zouk is actually listed as one of the best clubs in this STA travel brochure… but not on a Saturday. No way jose! - and boat quay/clarke quay area. pretty stuff. - And probably NUS and maybe NTU campuses too! Since everyone’s going to be there. So I’ll be missing my 10,000 pounds lectures and classes to gatecrash NUS lectures instead. Brilliant. Oh well… that’s all for now. Hey… someone please do some of this stuff with me. So you guys decide what you want to do when okay?? – this is my wish list. *Bops* Yoke Phun shall we go clubbing at least one of the days? I don’t mind going with your uni friends.. Or Siew Wei? Us girls? Or anything else. We should all meet up. And Chin Kit too!!! Anyone else also.. whatever ‘kay?? Ciaos now! I oughta be productive and sleep now and wake up bright and early to do work tmr…. But I think I’ll watch *one* episode of Friends. Haha! ;p Nights darlings!!!

It's Friday, November 28, 2003, 12:28 a.m. Fate It is not fated to be. In a way it's a relief. In a way it's a bit of a letdown. Pitas often suddenly shuts down when i am halfway through writing an entry. I don't think it's the fault of Pitas.. more like the fault of my dodgy and screwy laptop. sometimes maybe it's because i click some keys by accident, and the browser just shuts down. so today i was writing this particularly rage-filled, rant-y entry. i think something snapped within me and i went berserk. *faint smile* i was almost ready to expose my psychologically-imbalanced, potentially homicidal-lunatic self to the world in all its deranged glory. it wouldn't have been nice. usually when i write one of these... letters... or in this case, entry... i tend to debate whether i should post it (in both senses). and so far, the argument has always come in favour of keeping the letter/entry to myself. i have at least one of my crazy-depressed letters still in my keeping, even as i type these words out. but this time, i was really quite crazy-mad and quite recklessly intended to post it. So perhaps kind fate intervened to prevent myself from inflicting harm on myself. I am not always thus-possessed anyway. *faint smile*

It's Thursday, November 27, 2003, 12:33 p.m. I'm Dory! Hmmm... I'm not sure I agree with this. But decided to put this up anyway, since just the other day Nishit said I was as forgetful and absent-minded as Dory. So... maybe he had a point? *grins sheepishly* What Finding Nemo Character are You? brought to you by Quizilla

It's Thursday, November 27, 2003, 01:12 a.m. A funny test I took. Real Cool. Pity I scored so low... :( I did it in 39 seconds. I deserved a C+!! Take the How Dexterous Are You? Quiz!!

It's Wednesday, November 26, 2003, 01:32 a.m. FIFTEEN I watched 'Fifteen', a film by Royston Tan, at a screening organised by Contact Singapore. Disturbing. Very disturbing. Personally, I think it's the breakdown of family that drives these kids to desperation. I think the way to make a difference, if you can't start in the home, is in primary school. And you need teachers who really really care. Smaller class sizes and so on. But even then, I rather despair of any difference being made. It all starts in the home. Isn't there some way that all this pain could be averted? The film has put Singapore on the map though. Run a Google search of "Fifteen" + "Royston Tan", and more non-English websites appear than do English ones.

It's Monday, November 24, 2003, 10:20 p.m. WHOO-HOO!!!!!! Finally solved a coding problem!! I know how to limit the window of my entries so that the page doesn't run on too long and you can just scroll down to see the entries instead. Finally. It's a CSS property called "overflow". Loads of blogs, especially those by young kids have it. And it might possibly be more convenient. I've been trying to find out how it's done by viewing source, but I kept thinking it had something to do with the whole "div" thing (which I still don't get by the way)... but finally I know. BUAH HAHAHAHAHaha... - It's pathetic really. Every thirteen-year old can code, and me, a 21 year old, is struggling with the most basic things. I was analysing the code on this guy's blog (read his entry dated Thursday, 30th November. Great stuff.), when I finally figured it out. This is the THIRD time I'm looking at his code though. His design is from maystar designs, and I downloaded a few of her template codes as well, so I can figure out how to create those drop-down boxes. One of her template design is particularly cool (it has sprinkly stars and so on), and I'll probably put that up as one of my templates some time soon. - Yes that is what I do in my spare time. Not school work, not go out, not anything cool... but try to figure out webpage designing. A very bad wannabe-geek. I've taken what... three years? To get to where I am today... I know how to code a couple of tables (but keep getting confused about 'tr'. I can only use 'td'), very basic CSS (I forget everything unless I use it. Like I forgot all about 'span' until I was reminded by Vita. And each time I want to code something I have to Google-search for the different stuff. I guess one has to use it every day/very often to be good at it. And designing a cool webpage takes a lot more time than I am willing to commit at one go. This is a great place to check out CSS stuff. I think that was where I learnt my first basic CSS (changing scrollbar properties). But the problem with all this is that things keep changing so fast. I'm still using really old HTML stuff like 'strike' which is no longer valid. And stuff don't usually work the same on different browsers (which is one reason to be thankful for the dominance of IE, although I am very much against Microsoft in principle. - My great hope in life, among others, is to learn how to use Linux, so I can take a stand against Microsoft in practice too. *sigh* I'm a long way from achieving that particular aim. I still HAVEN'T learnt Perl, despite starting that *before* I left for the UK.). Anyway, once I sort out the links I want to put up, I'll use the maystar template. And add a bunch of links that I'm currently into. Haha... today I also finally cleared up a bit of space on my hard disk. Finally I have 1.25GB free, which is enough to defrag my system. YAY!!!! And I discovered that I actually have 13 episodes of Friends Season 1 still on my laptop, squirreled away in my old Kazaa folder. No wonder my laptop has been so choked up! I really use it (and abuse it) without knowing where's where and what. I wish I was a computer genius-geek. *sigh* Maybe I should have taken up computer programming instead of Econs instead. I *was* considering that path anyway.... Ah well... Since I've made my bed, I better sleep in it: Development Econs here I come...

It's Monday, November 24, 2003, 12:13 p.m. Self indulgence Woke up at 10.20 am today! An achievement!! And it's my free day too... - I haven't been waking up before 12 the past couple of days.. unless rudely awoken by phone calls at ungodly hours of 10.30 am in the morning! *glares at someone* (just kidding.. ;)) Fully intended to read my Contract (essay due soon. ARP!) but ended up checking my email, and landed into Friendster. It seems like the whole world was in Friendster. Decided to write a couple (literally TWO) testimonials, my first two ever. And so anyway, through surfing around Friendster a bit, I saw my Hua Zhong juniors... reading through their testimonials for each other, I felt a pang of nostalgia. Yes, without a doubt, those were the best days of my life. We were all so young and energetic and silly. I remember going over the Siew Wei and Yoke Phun's room on the first day, bopping with energy. Then we invented a game. And (according to Yoke Phun, cos I can't really remember), I slept with her in her bed on that first day! Which she felt really weird about, and clearly, I didn't think it was weird, else I'd have remembered it... :p I think I was just too happy and excited and I was like: 'Okay, I like you, I'm going to be your friend. Let's not waste time.' I remember 'Skye' the first day I went to the canteen! And how we got to know Chin Kit later on, and she became my roomie for a wonderful two years, after a slightly dodgy start... *grins* I love her... Although I remember how difficult it was to go out with Chin Kit, cos both of us never knew where to go or what to do. Neither of us liked shopping, so we'd just be like: "Where do you want to go?", "I don't know. You?", "I don't know." And then plucking down beans to dissect them, then burying them to see if they would grow. Playing basketball with the seniors, then our batchlings and juniors. It was difficult to get all of us four girls out to do things at one go though (Hmmm.. the story of my life, even now. - Is there something about people that makes it impossible for even a small group to commit?). Of course all the stupid stunts we did for Orientation. - I don't think I'll EVER forget King Dick's "You are my false sunlight (which I almost thought was 'fluorescent light')!" The Signature Hunt at ECP. My juniors and our family... I was the mom of the juniors, KL the dad, I think Siew Wei and Yoke Phun were my kids as well (how bizarre), Hoe Yan the grand-dad, and Ban Siew Wei's son. I can't believe I managed to avoid this kind of strange family thing in primary school, only to be saddled with it in secondary school!! Haha. And how we missed the Signature hunt stunts so did some of our own in... I think it was Sec 3?? Siew Wei had to recite a love poem. And I did my fateful proposal! I think it was a wonderful proposal still... ("You are the left glove, and I am the right glove..") and I even managed to revise Geography or was it Bio ("I am a plant, and you are like the phosphates blah blah nutrients that I need.. we go together like a garbage can and the garbage can lid...") Going up the tiny slope to pluck the coconut, having... was it Cheng Hou or King Dick? shout across at us from B-Block: "Hey, what are you doing?" Me drinking the coconut juice from the crack and discovering a writhing, transparent worm. major YUCKS! And of course jogging around Sixth Avenue (to Dakai's house), walking along Sixth Avenue admiring the houses, bringing out our painting stuff to paint in the area (I still have one of my pieces, still unfinished.)... And there was the DIVINE roti prata stall at Sixth Avenue... YUUUMMM... And lying down and studying at the fields over-looking the Chinese High basketball courts because I thought it would be poetic (and getting crawled upon by creepy crawlies). Jogging at the Chinese High tracks, dancing at the Chinese High carpark after ASEAN night, walking through the campus at night, and dipping our feet into the water (and getting chased away by the night guard who went on and on about how we couldn't fight water, because although it looked weak, it was actually strong. I was like: What the..?!) And then there was Mr Loo. The stupid cleanliness competitions, the scrambling to stow everything away under the bed, in the closets, on the ledge on the other end of the staircases. And let's not forget the people who made it all worthwhile (okay... it's an exaggeration). Smelly Mushy Kangkung, The Nose (or was it The Eyes or The Chin? - We had two face parts I'm sure, for two separate people), and of course Skye... and once I had a very slight thing for SMK's roomie for a couple of weeks... I can't remember his name right now... that karate (or was it taekwondo?) guy who knows the Praying Mantis martial arts? Tong something... - It was his smile man! Haha... me and Siew Wei were the two gundus in this department! ;p And our rehearsal for our performance in Sec 4, oh ya... and the birthdays... And sometimes the Vienetta ice-cream... Oooh... and occasionally the all-nighter Bridge sessions. Studying in the cage-like study room, the C-Block study room and also the activity hall. Oh.. and packing up every six months... URGH!!! I remember the all-nighters me and Chin Kit would pull to pack up our room... sleeping on the pile of stuff that was on our beds. Not forgetting scavenging in 'Coro' (NTUC) for boxes then painfully lugging it all the way home. And also Ke3 AI4 Ji1 Kuai4 Chan1!!!!!!!! Man... I really must eat there when I go over in winter. (Also Han's.... the fried rice and beef steak there is KING!!!) It was a beautiful time. I don't remember being so happy in such a long long time. Although I think Yoke Phun did think I was moody than cheerful (did you?) and she knew me during that time. Siew Wei... I can't remember whether she said I was more moody than cheerful (but then she knew me during what she said was the happiest she's even seen me, but also volatile... *drolly* guess why? JC days). I was mad and always up to something or another. At school or at Hua Zhong. Although I was a bit of an under-achiever. Hmmm... Chin Kit had her badminton and Buckley house stuff, Yoke Phun her ASEAN Comm stuff, Siew Wei her council (let's not forget KL and his badminton, Ban his council stuff, and Jackie her prefectorial stuff and debates). Me? I was busy skipping classes, seeing how much class-skivving, and no-studying I could get away with. Oh dear... (Erm.. at least I had the model UN conference and a couple of debates??) I feel like I've tamed down too much in the energy level since then(I feel positively dowdy and boring), although people still say I'm too hyper. Which is not good. At this age, slow and sexy is the way. Guys never like loud and energetic girls. But I'd really much prefer loud and energetic any day, even if I have to be single for the rest of my life. So there! Okay.. enough rambling about the past. Contract!!!!!

It's Sunday, November 23, 2003, 02:43 p.m. Google search: "mathmo" + "furniture" How bizarre... But here are some other links thrown up by this search: 1) someone in the States . An amusing entry: "Sympathy for a Math Goddess [24 Mar 2003|09:20pm] Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a woman of Integers and taste I've been permutating for a long, long year Stole many a man's x-intercept and faith And I was 'round when Pythagoras, baby Had his moment of Irration and pain Made damn sure that his triangular theorem caused delirium and high school academic shame Pleased to meet you. Hope you cube my name But what's puzzling you Is the nature of my game Woooooo Ooooooo <-picture-> Yeah. That's right, my little decimals. I got 100 percent on Abela's test. Abela, the hardcore ex space wing commander. Who is very scary. And evil. Class average was 64% I actually stood up and made little squeaking noises before doing some sort of lame, yet vicious, jig of triumph. I AM MATHMO FROM MATHILAND, AND I WILL MATH YOU UPSIDE THE HEAD WITH MY WICKED, BRUTAL MATHING SKILLZ. Who can isolate a conjugate pair of irrational numbers? Please. You insult me. Who can complete the muthafuckin' square like nobody's bizniss? That's right, my little parabolas. You give me that function. I'll quadraticize yo AZZ until you run home to mommy. You gonna cry? You gonna cry?" 2) A Cambridge MethSoc story, which seems like a huge spoof of many films and stories. 3) Linked from (2) is this Cauis guy called Chris's homepage . - This guy is really quite funny. And probably slightly bored too. I particularly liked his BreadCam, for the easily amused. There is definitely something to be said for mathmos and nerds (not that mathmos are necessarily nerds of course), but having met and talked to an MIT nerd, I think he made a good case for nerds too.

It's Saturday, November 22, 2003, 11:59 p.m. A game of Risk Today was family day at our house. We played a game of Risk, the ruthless game of world domination. It was really fun, with the geopolitical map changing at an astonishing speed, alliances being formed, and strategy advice being punted agressively. I was the green troops, Jianyun the black, Leng Tuan red, and YingxiZhaotan the yellow troops. First we picked our territories. I chose my territories carefully – those that would be easily defensible, with mountains or rivers as barriers, and such that I would have a clear corridor through which my troops could be transported to any part of my territories. As each person placed his/her troops in selected the territories, the next player would react to the placement of troops, and very quickly the battle lines were clearly drawn. A few territories were abandoned as lost causes – those that involved a single land, smack in a den of another player’s territories. These had only one token battalion in them. Other territories were clearly marked out as battlegrounds, with opposing troops amassed threateningly on either side of a border. One particular region, at the Mines of Moria, looked as potentially explosive as the Middle East, with a three-way stand-off between Leng Tuan, Zhaotan and I. The Mines of Moria, occupied by Leng Tuan, was of interest to me because it had a stronghold, while my territory Eregion, which bordered Moria was of interest to Zhaotan because it was the final piece in Rohan, a region which he dominated, which would allow him to gain extra points and troops for regional control. My predatory interest in Moria, as well as the strategic importance of the passageway between Eregion and Moria (it was one of the few chinks in my thus far well-protected lands) led me to amass troops in Eregion. Faced with my apparent aggression, Leng Tuan reacted by increasing her troops in Moria. A student of International Relations, Leng Tuan asked me to stop my military build-up as she claimed I was creating a security dilemma. As tensions in the region escalated, Zhaotan too began mobilising forces in Dunland, abutting the other side of Eregion from Moria. And thus, it resulted in a explosive situation, with a high concentration of troops from three different armies. Jianyunn and Zhaotan were also destined to do battle as they shared quite a few borders and their main regions of control were adjacent to each other. Yellow and black faced-off on several borders. Jianyun, Zhaotan and I had vast interiors in which we placed only one token battalion to occupy the territory, and hence most of our forces were concentrated in a few sites. On the other hand, Leng Tuan’s territories were quite scattered and other than Moria, she spread out her forces relatively thinly. Initially, Jianyun was the major aggressor, with his black army advancing far and wide into many territories. He moved against several of Zhaotan’s territories, which Zhaotan chose to cede without battle, and withdraw into neighbouring lands instead. Having control of the entire Rhun region, located at a corner of the board, Jianyun was not only able to gain extra battalions during each turn, which increased his power, but also leave his interior unguarded as he marshalled his forces downwards, doing battle with Leng Tuan in his campaign to conquer Mirkwood. “The forces of evil are spreading! The forces of evil are spreading! Someone stop him!” yelped Leng Tuan. Since all of Jianyun’s battle plans involved Leng Tuan and Zhaotan, with Leng Tuan’s territories acting as a buffer between Jianyun’s ambitions and my lands, I had no incentive to fight him in the one land which was adjacent to mine. Although soon, as Jianyun grew in might and his black armies began encircling Leng Tuan, I too was on the alert that he might soon conquer Leng Tuan’s lands and invade mine. Zhaotan said that the key was to invade one of Jianyun’s Rhun lands in order to break up his control of the region and hence reduce his troop generation. Active discussions took place, with strategies and counter-strategies thrown up to contain Jianyun and break up his strength. Comparisons to Hitler, Nazis and WW2 were made, as well as accusations (Zhaotan to Leng Tuan: “How can you say you want to ally with me when your troops are here?”; Zhaotan to me: “It’s not right for the forces of good and evil to ally – you’re like Saruman!”) and then compromises (Zhaotan to me:“Okay… if you agree not to attack me here, then I will attack Jianyun”; Me to Leng Tuan: “I’d like to help you against Jianyun, but I want this particular land. If you will cede this to me, then I’ll help you.”; Leng Tuan’s counter-offer to me: “I will cede this land to you, if you let me have this port.”; My retort: “No way. This is all part of the same region Eriador that I need to get to gain the extra points and troops.”). It was all an elaborate process of courtship and negotiation to advance our own interests. Finally, Leng Tuan agreed not to fight Zhaotan on certain fronts and to withdraw her army from the key port on Zhaotan’s path to Jianyun, if he would agree to fight Jianyun. Alarmed by Jianyun’s growing menace, I too agreed not to fight Leng Tuan at Moria anytime soon so she could concentrate on defending herself from Jianyun’s onslaughts on her other lands. Meanwhile, on other battles, when players were looking for places to fight, everyone would suggest another player’s territory to invade: Zhaotan’s suggestion to Leng Tuan: “Why don’t you move your leader here? (away from Zhaotan’s border) Jianyun is sure march southwards!” Yingxi to Zhaotan: “Why don’t you conquer this land (mine), since she has only one battalion there?” Zhaotan to Yingxi: “I’m not really interested in that piece of land. It’s not important. We have to break up Jianyun’s forces.” Me to Zhaotan: “Yes yes! Why don’t you move your forces by ship and attack’s Jianyun’s port and then move in to Rhun (and divert your attention from my one-battalion-manned land and my own port)?” Me and Leng Tuan to Zhaotan (when he was thinking of whether to invade Leng Tuan’s land which was near mine, or Jianyun’s land): “Attack Jianyun over here. Look… his leader is away for the moment. We have to stop the black army!” With a temporary alliance of yellow, red and green, black was assaulted on several fronts and soon Jianyun was pushed back into a few core territories. He had a substantial force in one particular land (the only one which bordered mine), and I waited with bated breath as he made his decision on the next step. My suggestion: “I think you should march southward and aim to conquer the whole of Mirkwood (and away from my lands)” And let out a breath as he chose to attack Leng Tuan instead. Leng Tuan was soon squeezed into a few territories. Jianyun’s black troops were also beaten back to fewer lands. And soon, Zhaotan was the most potent force, with troops all over the place, and he had ambitions to invade my Eregion. Thankfully I had two event cards which protected a few of my lands from battles. However, the ring was reaching the end of its journey. The game evolved into a land grab as players placed their troops to swoop into as many poorly-defended lands as possible. Leng Tuan began attacking my lands and one of Jianyun’s and four of my lands fell to her. I was potentially the last player to have a turn (the game would only end if I threw a number greater than three). I was determined to conquer Moria. There is something about Moria which I have a bit of an emotional attachment to. So although the odds were strongly against me (Moria was a stronghold which added one defensive point, and Leng Tuan had also placed her leader there, which added another defensive point), I persisted. As each troop fell, and everyone was commenting on my incredible streak of bad luck and the impossibility of winning, I persisted. I fought to my last man against the odds, and only killed one of her five battalions, while my troops were decimated. Seven of my eight battalions were sacrificed in that ill-fated battle. Happily enough, I threw a six and the game ended, before giving anyone else a chance to have a go at me ( I had expended almost all my forces in the battle at Moria, much like in the Lord of the Rings). The result: Zhaotan was the resounding winner, followed by Leng Tuan. I placed third, and Jianyun brought up the rear. It was really amazing how Jianyun started out so brilliantly, but then the tide turned against him. And how Leng Tuan was beaten back and then clawed my lands. And I was being really ridiculous in insisting on securing my territories and concentrating on the small battles while ignoring the war. But perhaps that is the way of the Shire-folk . Ah well. It was a good game overall. I would play the game differently if I could replay it. And I really do think I’m not good at strategy games. I am big on ensuring security and defending my territories, and less willing to retreat temporarily (lose the battle but win the war). I also liked the whole pace of the game. The tension, the intrigues, the negotations… I can almost understand the fundamentals behind international politics, the protection of national interests and the danger of an arms war. I think it’s actually a very educational game. Okay… I don’t know how to end this elegantly. So I shall just end it abruptly. It’s 1.35am now. And I just want to eat and read some Contract.