Writing can be enjoyable, but maintaining a weekly blog can be a monumental challenge. Keeping the interest of an audience is not easy. I feel fortunate that I have been writing and improving my blog for many years now, and I still have an audience. It’s a very fulfilling feeling.
What started in an amateurish manner has blossomed over the years. Recently, I renewed my blog site and realized that it has been 12 years since I started it! Twelve years is a long time. Arriving at this milestone is an achievement, and I’m proud of myself.
A big shout-out to everyone who has been supporting my blog. Happy reading to all my, and happy anniversary milestone to me!
It has been eight months since we started playing pickleball. And I must say we enjoy it very much. It is because we can see ourselves improving with each outing every week. Unlike golf, the more I play of late, the more fatigued and frustrated I become with my golfing ability. And sometimes, unfavorable weather, too hot or wet, makes the golf outing not as enjoyable.
Now pickleball is very interesting. We have a little group where everyone started together eight months ago. And everyone has improved together, so it’s much more enjoyable because everyone’s ability is equal. During the weekly two-hour session, we rotate playing partners constantly after each round.
The best part of our weekly pickleball sessions is the place where we play. After several venues that we have tried, mostly outdoors but covered, we found a comfortable indoor air-conditioned pickleball center, and we have been going to this venue ever since. It’s the perfect venue, especially when it rains, as we are safely indoors and can continue playing without interruption.
And, after four months into the game playing with an entry-level paddle purchased online, hubby and I decided to upgrade and invest in better paddles. He chose the Australian brand Six Zero Black Diamond, while I selected the American Neonic Flare Prime [X]. His choice is more for power, and my choice is because it looked so cute on display, being 14mm! Hahahaha.
Seriously, my paddle is very lightweight, but the spin is deadly. I love my paddle, and my game has also improved by leaps and bounds. Yes, we are being serious about pickleball, hence these purchases.
Over the weekend, my golf club held the 2025 Annual Championship for the Ladies, Senior, and Super Senior categories. It was a mixed-feeling experience. The Ladies and Super Senior categories teed off in the morning on Saturday, while the Senior category had their round in the afternoon. The Men category will commence this coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
All was good but hot! I played fairly decently and did not blow up any holes – no double-digit scores for the strokeplay event. Putting was good with the Scotty for 31 putts.
The next day, the categories swapped tee-off times, and the Senior category played in the morning. The other two, in the afternoon. And boy, oh boy, was it hot!
Despite the heat, I played much better on the second day. After we completed the back nine holes and crossed over, the weather changed and was cooler. However, don’t be deceived by the drop in the temperature!
As we approached the 4th hole and were about to tee off, an unexpected sudden lightning flashed! It was too close for comfort. We headed to the halfway hut nearby to take shelter, along with other players from within the few holes. But soon, everyone returned to the clubhouse immediately for safety. The rain came down fast and furious, and the siren came on.
The golf course was pelted and looked flooded, and the strong wind blew the sponsor’s drink tent onto the green at Hole 9! I have never seen an incident like this before.
Everyone had to wait out at the clubhouse until the weather improved. However, after some time, the Tournament Director and the Committee decided to abandon the second day of the 2025 Annual Championship tournament due to the weather, and scores from Day One for the Ladies and Super Senior would stand as the final results. While some players were unhappy, I was okay with the decision. The weather got too hot for me. The Senior category was not affected by the weather.
Looking back, my score from Day One compared to my past years’ participation was an improvement. And while I could have played well on the second day, I’m happy with my overall performance. It is over now, and I look forward to taking a break from golf.
Hubby was not keen to play golf on Sunday morning after a gruesome pickleball session the day before, but he went. And I’m so glad he did because he achieved a hole-in-one!!! Wheeeeeee.
After dinosaur years at the sports, the elusive glory is finally his, along with all the bragging rights. No further words are necessary as the celebration and drinks were non-stop after that.
Have I aced a hole before? No, and I am still waiting for mine, although I can proudly say I had an eagle achievement two years ago on a Par 4. Congratulations, hubby dearest. I hope my turn to achieve this and have the same bragging rights will arrive sooner.
I completed DIY project number 33 within a week, just as I had predicted. It took only five days to finish since I played golf on one day and had a full-day meeting with a client on another. I still work, in case this fact is forgotten! Hahaha.
Anyway, project number 33 was such a breeze. Every step was a snap-on or sticker-on that took away some of the challenges. Nevertheless, it was rather enjoyable. My only problem now is my IKEA display cabinet is packed to the max with all the past projects. There is no more space for a new addition.
Leaving it on the table will subject the bookshop to collecting dust in no time if I don’t cover it up. So, I ordered some display casings to protect the completed kit from dust. They should arrive soon.
Will I start project number 34 soon? I may divert to carving instead. We shall see.
Over the weekend, I officially started working on DIY project #33. And it has been such a breeze putting things together. I don’t recall the past projects being this easy. And I have done 32 kits until now! By the way, project #32 is my first incomplete kit because I stopped for too long.
Anyway, this kit is definitely an improvement from past kits because I have yet to use glue to bind pieces to become one. Most wood pieces now have interlocking joint extrusions, a feature absent in earlier kits, especially for the walls and flooring. This new feature makes connecting the pieces effortless! But I use a hammer, though–instead of glue–to ensure the interlocking is secure.
The surfaces of the main floor and some walls are pre-printed, so no cutting of paper or gluing is needed. Paper pieces that require cutting are pre-cut with crease lines for folding! And some are as stickers instead. How convenient is that? And pieces without joint extrusions are secured with double-sided tape, provided with the kit! I’m like, what? I don’t need my glue anymore! I love it!
I chose to skip playing golf or pickleball this time and instead focused on crafting, and it turned out to be a good decision, as I made a lot of progress. I anticipate that project #33 will wrap within a short time. Awesome!
I thought I was at the tail end of my illness, but nope, it has persisted. I have been feeling so sapped, it’s very tiring, physically and mentally. There has been no will to write or do anything, hence a delayed post this week. This darn virus is so persistent!
But today–after my third visit to the doctor–there’s a breakthrough! I’m feeling slightly better, and what better way to move forward than to begin DIY project number 33! Yay.
Mother’s Day is always a family affair, celebrating the three mothers in the family on Sunday – Mom, myself, and my sister-in-law. A sumptuous lunch and fun jabber to catch up with everyone.
This year, I received a lovely gift. It’s been almost two years since I last worked on building miniatures, and this gift is the perfect one to kickstart this activity again.
Project number 32 was the last miniature I worked on from October 2023, but sadly, I never completed it. I had golf, travel, and games on the iPad Mini, keeping me busy. At this point, I’m not sure if I can complete the set because it’s too tiny.
Anyway, maybe it’s long overdue to spend time building miniatures again. And of late, my golf sucks, and I find no joy in playing, so the timing is just nice to go back to doing things that gave me so much joy.
It’s been a month since I last played golf! That’s a long layoff in my books. The trip to China took nine days; upon my return, I fell sick. And it’s taking a long time to recover from this bout of illness. It’s a potent germ from China. The plus side is that I lost some weight, which is nice because it’s so hard to shed a pound or two these days.
Exactly a month on, I played my first game today. How did I fare? There was some rustiness in swinging the clubs. The short game was horrid, but my putting was good, thanks to the ever-reliable Scotty Cameron putter.
All in all, it was a decent return. The tee-offs were respectable and even spectacular at times. But this could be the fairways being so hard, and the ball was able to roll some additional distance. The three- and five-woods were striking well, but it was the short irons that I had trouble.
Such is usually the case with a month’s layoff. All muscle memories are gone when gauging strength and distance. So I shouldn’t stress over this issue. I need to play more to get back my golf mojo, then I will be fine.
On the fifth day of our trip, we visited Wulingyuan, a different historical and scenic site of Zhangjiajie National Park. We see so many rock formations that I have lost track of what is what and where. My knowledge of this place is terrible, as I didn’t do any research before coming.
There was another queue for a cable car to the peak to see more rocks! Hahaha. Another long trek day. I was hitting all sorts of records on the Fitness app in my AppleWatch. Yay!
Wulingyuan
That evening, we decided to attend the large-scale musical, the Fox Fairy Show. The live musical performance was very entertaining and colorful. I was most impressed by the outdoor theater setup at the foot of Tianmen Mountain. Costume and character changes were instantaneous without glitches with AI technology. Very impressive!
The Fox Fairy Show
The next day, we queued again (what else is new?) for the Bailong Elevator. Although we paid for VIP tickets to cut down our time waiting in line, it was still an hour before we could go up to the top. The Avatar Mountains were the highlight of this trip, but again, for me, the crowds marred the experience of seeing the floating mountains. I think the depth of the terrain was hardly visible, with so much greenery below. It was hard for me to grasp the sheer beauty of the place.
The floating Avatar Hallelujah Mountains
At all the attractions we visited, it felt like the whole world was there to see what we wanted to see. And if I thought it was the last of the long queues at Bailong, the next day’s attraction at the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge was another one for the record!
At the Glass Bridge
We gave up the last tour to visit Orange Isle when we saw the queues again. Hahaha. After so many days of long queue experience, we could not handle another long queue to see the statue of Mao Zedong. Everyone agreed we should go shopping instead.
Mass crowds from every attraction we went to!
All in all, this trip was all about nature, crowds, and queues. I have never been so overwhelmed surrounded by people. The trip culminated in the final two days at Changsha with a colorful cityscape skyline, more people, interesting food, and shopping.
So colorful!Array of street food. Bottom right: bowl of cut chili is called a dipping sauce
Nine days were rather long, and although there were more downsides of crowds, queues, and packing the wrong clothes as far as the weather was concerned, I am taking the positives from this trip, checking off my bucket list, and cherish the time I had with the friends I grew up with.
Angieneering 
Remarks