American Idol, new racquet, work.
written: 12:46 a.m. on Friday, Mar. 12, 2010

I was supposed to like this guy because the show said so, but I disliked him from day 1. Something about him is just off-putting to me. Today, though, his voice was just awful - sounded nasal and choked from the first note to the last, and his lame "reworking" of the Aguilera song was just lame and desperate and quite idiotic. When he first started I had flashes to Kris Allen doing She Works Hard for the Money, but as he went on I began to realise I was insulting Kris by comparing Genie Dude to him.

I really hope Andrew and his ugly neck tattoo get off my TV. I'm so bored of him.

I don't really like any of the guys except maybe Lee I dunno wtf his last name is, but only because his voice reminds me of Cookie's. Of course, comparing him to Cookie is an insult to the latter, but oh well, better than nothing. Everyone else is so-so. I hope Todrick goes. Hmm, the 16-year-old can leave too. And um, my mom likes Mike, but I totally didn't get his performance at all. At. All. I had no idea what happened. No idea why Kara cried. Whatever.

I prefer the girls. I LOVE Lilly Scott. Yeah she's affected as hell when she sings, but I love her vibe and her affected voice and her ironic style of singing. She's a female, indie version of David Cook. I like.

I like Didi B-whatever too. Her voice is different and compelling, and she's SO FUCKING PRETTY. She's so pretty that I can't stand it. I ALMOST WISH I LOOKED LIKE HER.

Okay anyway, I'm really tired so I'm gonna say two more things:

I'm almost fully in love with my new racquet. I think it's great. I actually love the fact that it produces different sounds when I hit the sweet spot (i.e. centre of the racquet) and when I don't. I'm used to hearing the solid sound from the old racquet that didn't distinguish between proper shots and shanked ones (when I say 'shanked' I mean that to include shots that hit all other parts of the racquet), and I like the solid sound. So it annoys me immensely when I keep hearing the stupid hollow sound from the new racquet, not so much because it pretty much means I'm not hitting the right spot, but more because I plainly do not like the sound.

Oh, I should add too that the vibration dampener gives the sound that's produced when the racquet hits the ball its fullness. Once my dampener got dislodged from my old racquet and I only noticed something was off when the sound became all hollow and weird. So I totally need a dampener.

What I don't like about the new racquet is...well, it's not the racquet's fault but my own, really. I cannot whack the backhand anymore. The hitting area is significantly smaller now, so there's so much less room for me to get away with my crappy undisciplined backhand. I seriously need to stop whacking the ball and slapping it down; I go left-to-right on good days and up-to-down on bad ones (slamming it across the net - I do this mostly when the ball is high and I'm eithe lazy to retreat and wait for it to drop somemore, or I think I can slam a winner off it but of course usually I'm wrong. There only one time that I was right and slammed a perfect winner, when I played with Wei Chuen at YCK recently) when the proper stroke, like the forehand, is DOWN TO UP. Fucking hell, I was so annoyed with my backhand tonight. I think there was maybe 1 shot that hit the right spot.

What I LOVE about this racquet that I immediately know when I hit a good shot from the sound that's produced. A couple of times tonight I heard the lovely full sound of the ball hitting the racquet's sweet spot, and I couldn't help but say in my head, "Yessssss good shot."

Have I emphasised enough how much I love tennis? I love tennis. Tennis is the only thing I'd wake up for on the precious weekends. I don't even wake up to shop anymore.

Tennis with Wei Chuen was fun. He finally adopted the eastern forehand grip. I was very sad when I saw my attempted winners being sliced back at me, especially this nice forehand I hit mid-court that landed in the right hand corner of his part of the court.

In hindsight, I do think this racquet gives me more control. The problem is I don't know how to use it. The thing about me is that I don't actively think about where to place my shots when I play. Granted, most of the time my goal is to get it over the net and within the boundaries of the singles sidelines; but when the rare occasion comes where I'm rather in control of the point and have time to think about where it goes, I don't so much as think as I do react. In fact, the times when I do actively think, "Okay this one go cross-court" I'd screw it up. When I don't think about it too much and just do, I find myself hitting a nice shot, one that could've been a winner if the guy at the other side of the net couldn't slice that well (the slice helps you get back a lot of balls, which is why I really wanna learn it properly. Also? It's a lazy way to get a ball back when it's really deep and you're fucking lazy to reach for it with the two-hander backhand. It's defensive, but for me sometimes I wish I could slice properly so that I didn't have to keep reaching and straining for balls that are a bit far away). But of course, these points are simple and obvious; only a total n00b wouldn't think of hitting them that way.

Anyway, my basic point is that I am almost in love with my new racquet. I'd totally love it once I sort out my backhand. Oh my god, I never knew how bad it was until now. Something is wrong if I heard hollow 9 out of 10 times.

Second thing:

I enjoyed work. I was really into writing (sorry ah I don't "draft" anything, thanks) the draft representation. I was gunning to finish all the points by six but um, yeah, it was a bit too ambitious. For once I felt relatively engaged and I felt like I was putting my writing skills to SOME use - had the chance to think of choice of words and what words to use to convey a meaning that's most favourable to the poor chap we're defending.

I'm quite pleased to say that so far, criminal work is rather enjoyable. It definitely beats boring commercial shit hands down, no question. I quite like it - so far. I'm not holding my breath hoping that it'd last forever and ever, and I wouldn't be surprised if I sang a different tune next week; but just for now, it's something that I can vaguely see myself doing, at least for the immediate future.

Yay!

I really need to sleep. Fuck I keep sleeping later and later. I don't know WHY I just can't sleep earlier. I'm not even doing anything, omg.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010