This week would be something like a holiday to me. I didn't go to school on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I won't even be going today! 'm pretty exhausted after the last four days of chess competition. I'm just going for the camp squad meeting later at 12.30 and coming back at 2. School starts 20 minutes later.
12/4
A van picked us up at SMK Lembah Subang at around... 3.30? A few had to take the teacher's car because the van could only fit about 9 people. I took the van though coz I thought it would be more fun than sitting in the teacher's car. I was right but unfortunately, it was really stuffy because I sat somewhere behind. These are the awesome people that followed and made the trip more fun. Shaun, Roshan, Kabir, Marcus, Ethan, Ting Jie (I think that is how it is spelled), May Kei and Jack Kling. Reached Sabak Bernam at around... 5, I think. First, we drove to the school where the competition was gonna be held before arriving at our 'hotel'. Yeah, a place called 'Homestay'. To be honest, it wasn't that bad except that it was kinda warm (even with two fans in the hall) and there was no hot water!!! Luckily, my mum came along and I stayed with her in a budget hotel. It's not as great as a 5 star hotel but at least it had hot water, air-cond and a comfy bed. Ate at a nearby cafe for dinner before going to 'Homestay' for a briefing session.
13/4
First day of the competition. There were four rounds on that day. All individual. I'm in the U-15G category. There were some really tough players in my category including Amira Syamina, Nur Nabila and Vickie Hong. I won 3.5 points that day out of 4 rounds. I think I drew in the third or fourth round... I'm lazy to blog about the rest of that day. I'm gonna skip the non-interesting parts.
14/4
Last day of the individual games. I was really, really nervous. At the end of the sixth round, I had 5 points out of six games. I just needed another 1 point or another half point to at least get into the top 6 position. Somehow, I knew that I was gonna play with the strongest player for the last round. Yup. Amira Syamina. She's so strong, she beat Nur Nabila in the sixth round. I was right. I did indeed play with her. But I was lucky, she offered me a draw because she knew eventhough she drew on the last game, she would still first place. So of course I accepted it. Who wouldn't when it's Amira Syamina giving you a draw?? I wouldn't wanna take the risk and try to win coz obviously, my plan would backfire. So altogether, I won 5.5 points. I'm lucky for not having to play with the two other strong players. The games for team playing also started on that day. Team winnings are not counted in order to win the top 6 places in individual. Like said by my friend's mum, the games for team playing is only for 'syok sendiri'. But there was still prizes too.
Later at night, I went over to the boys' room because I was bored. The rest of the Petaling Utama players shifted into the same budget hotel as me because a lot of the players complained about 'Homestay' and Encik Nik only booked 'Homestay' for two nights. Spent about two or three hours enjoying myself. Valerie tagged along too because... I actually don't know. Think she enjoys Shaun's company. Oops. Who's Valerie? One of the player's younger sister. She's actually seven but she only looks like a five year old. We told jokes, played some games of chess, pillow fighted, told ghost stories, played hand games and chatted. Unfortunately, I had to return to my room as it was really late and I needed some rest for the next day.
15/4
The last day of the competition. Had four rounds today. All team. Individual ended the previous day. Guess who I met? Amira and Nabila. I lost both and ended up getting a dissapointing 3 over 5 points for my team. My team played quite... okay. I won't say that they are weak but they are just least stronger than the rest. But it's okay. Anyway, it's just coming for experience. Like me! I came to get more experience and hopefully, I could be as strong as Amira or Nabila one day. Prize giving ceremony started at around 3 when it's supposed to start at 2.30. Petaling Utama won a few prizes. It wasn't as much as Petaling Perdana but it was definitely better than last year. I won third for U-15G and Amira won first. You obviously should already guessed who got second. Nabila did. Altogether, Petaling Utama won fourth place and Petaling Perdana won the first place. Nevermind about that, Petaling Utama is gonna do better next year!
Today
Hooray! I've been waiting for tonight. It's St. John's recruit camp!!! Finally! I've been waiting for today since last week. I'm not going to school today. Just going for the camp squad meeting later and the camp tonight like mentioned earlier. I know I'm gonna have an awesome time like I did last year. And it's also gonna be as awesome as the chess competition I just finished. Hopefully...
