October 9, 2012
Tip of the Week:
My Weekend
I'll tell you about my weekend, and then you tell me about yours. Mine was about evenly split between table tennis and my outside interest, science fiction & fantasy writing, along with some Baltimore Orioles baseball.
FRIDAY: Friday is ancient history now, and I only vaguely remember what I did after doing the blog in the morning. I was a practice partner for our junior program that night (5-7), and unfortunately set our junior program back ten years by going 5-0, with wins over a pair of 2200 players (both 3-0, though one wasn't a junior) and a 2300 player (3-1). As I told the 2300 player, "I'm going to get a swelled head." (I'm too old and stiff to compete at that level anymore!)
SATURDAY: I coached a beginning junior class from 10:30AM to Noon, coached two others players from 2-4 PM, and then went home. (I twinged my chest and shoulder near the end of this session, which is worrisome.) Normally we have a 4:30-6:30 training session, but with Coach Jack in China until the end of October (vacation) and with most of the club taken over by the local Coconut Cup tournament (a local mostly-Chinese event, over 100 players), we cancelled it. I spent the rest of the night reading "Behold the Man" by Michael Moorcock. Isn't that how normal people spend Saturday nights?
SUNDAY: I coached a junior from 10-11AM (chest and arm seemed okay), then went home and raked leaves from my lawn and had lunch. I coached two kids from 2-4:30 PM, one a beginner, the other a rapidly advancing 7-year-old girl who is now looping from both sides off backspin, and who successfully for the first time served backspin so the ball came back into the net. Then I taught a beginning junior class from 4:30-6:00. (Judah Friedlander, a standup comic and a star from the TV show "30 Rock," came in for a few hours. I've coached him a number of times.) Then I was a practice partner for the last half hour of our 4:30-6:30 training session, where I played (and won!) two matches. Then I sped home to watch the Baltimore Orioles go to 2-2 in the ninth against the New York Yankees (first game of the playoffs) before giving up five runs and losing 7-2. Along the way I managed to watch The Simpsons and Family Guy.
MONDAY: This was a busy day, mostly SF stuff. Besides a very short table tennis blog entry, I read and critiqued two short stories for a writer's group coming up that night. I wrote half of the Tip of the Week for this morning ("Training Cycles," see above). I did laundry. I did the Junior Class Accounting (takes some time!). I put together five pages of notes for the Capclave Science Fiction Convention coming up this next weekend here in Gaithersburg, Maryland. (I'm a panelist.) At 6PM I drove up to Frederick for a meeting of the Frederick Writer's Group, which meets twice a month on Mondays. I got there 90 minutes early (intentionally) and worked more on this week's Tip while munching on a Russian Reuben sandwich and hot chocolate. The meeting itself was 8-10PM, where my fantasy story ("The Nature of Swords") and two others were critiqued. Mine came off really well - I was pretty happy - and soon I'll put in some of the suggestions and start submitting it. Here's the opening paragraph:
The two floating swords parried and thrust as they battled through the corridors of the ruined castle. Dust and cobwebs swirled in the musty air as the steel on steel clashing continued up a stairway and into a large room that once had been a kitchen, with rusty pots and human bones littering the floor by a broken table covered in dust.
Then I raced home and managed to catch the last few innings as the Orioles defeated the Yankees, 3-2. Then I stayed up late putting in some of the suggestions for my story, finished the Tip of the Week (though I'd end up rewriting much of it this morning, alas), and before going to bed, did a quick rewrite of one section of my upcoming book, 'Table Tennis Tactics: A Thinker's Guide." (The writing is basically done; I'm doing the page layouts now.) Then put together a "secret" package to send to Judah Friedlander (more on this later on!). Then I read the newspaper, read the last 20 pages of "Behold the Man," and went to bed at 3AM.
Three ITTF Seminars in India
Here's an ITTF article about the three ITTF coaching seminars that USATT Coaching Chair Richard McAfee is currently running in India.
Table Tennis Down Memory Lane
Here's a trip down memory lane for table tennis players, with vintage video (6:40) from the hardbat era.
Pamela's Essay - Hitting with the President of China
Here is a college essay from Xiyao "Pamela" Song on her playing table tennis with Hu Jintao, the President of China. Pamela, a former player from the Maryland Table Tennis Center, is now a student at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Two years ago, at age 16, she was #4 in the U.S. in Under 18 girls with a rating of 2361.
"Ping."
The ball spun off the paddle and hit the table.
"Pong."
The president hit the ball back.
"Ping."
That would be the president of China, a country of 1.4 billion people.
"Pong."
The setting would be an exhibition match of the best ping pong playing.
There I was, at the age of 11, looking across the green table and staring into the brown eyes of China's top political leader, Jintao Hu, at the center of an arena surrounded by hundreds of people. I knew I wanted to be the best. I practiced for hours each day to get on this stage.
With a paddle in one hand and a small ball in the other, I posed to hit my first serve to President Hu. Thoughts raced through by mind. "Should I go easy and let him win the first point? Or, should I capture the opening point?" Diplomacy told me one way, but my competitive instincts told me another. I decided to go for the point, and hoped that Mr. Hu would understand. Mr. Hu served. I held my paddle tightly and smashed the ball with a nimble waist twist. Thunderous applause followed. Clearly, this was my moment of glory, not his. I won that point and several more. Before leaving, he called me to his side and encouraged me.
"Fly high, my little girl; and never shy away from opportunities. There is a vast blue sky opening for you." Hu said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
I took his advice. When I was 15, I flew to America.
I knew life in America would be challenging and hoped it would provide me more space to fly. The challenge to learn English seemed as heavy and bulky as the luggage that I'd brought from China. But, as I unpacked my suitcase, I began to find ways to learn English. Armed with the little insufficient basics of "Chinglish", I seized every opportunity to become fluent in English. I kept a personal diary to enhance my writing and even borrowed audio tapes; even my sister would get annoyed by hearing my iPod play "Unite 1, Lesson 1…" I can still remember vividly how excited I was when I could distinguish between "ring" and "rain," and how thrilled I was when I was able to order a cup of tea at Starbucks in English for the first time.
I feel accomplished about my achievements thus far and am now ready for my next set of challenges to study at Penn State with a goal of becoming a scientist or doctor. I hope to make a significant contribution to U-Madison by sharing my Chinese culture, personality traits and experiences, and to serve as a bridge between China and the rest of the world. Mr. Hu was right. Fly high and never shy away from opportunities. My wings have become much sturdier and more powerful as I open them up, soaring higher and farther, to embrace this vast blue sky of possibilities.
Stone-Age Table Tennis
Maybe these cement tables in the park are the secret to China's success?
Non-Table Tennis - Humorous Ghost Stories
I did a guest blog this weekend for World Weaver Press on Humorous Ghost Stories as part of their Haunted October Blog Tour. They just came out with a new anthology, "Specter Spectacular: 13 Ghostly Tales," which includes my humorous ghost story "The Haunts of Albert Einstein." (You can also buy it on Amazon.)
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