Seasonal Afflictions

My flat-mate had something to say about the people from his blogging circle. His comment about me was quite interesting

"Dinx - Silent, moody, mournful, kind and gentle. Very sensitive to the slightest provocation. Total commitment to seasonal afflictions. Often does a surprisingly good job in what he does, given his quiet nature."

I agree with the seasonal affliction part. I've always had one strong crush that'll last for a while until I find another to fall in love with.

During the first/second years at the university it was table-tennis and English music. We had a table in one our halls and we used played day and night, usually going on until 2 a.m when the guard will come over to lock the room.

I hadn't heard a single english song before I came to Singapore. My room-mate though was quite a avid listener and I sorta picked up his taste. I started with, don't u laugh, backstreet boys and have graduated since to the REM, Scorpions, Dire Straits, Guns N Roses, Pearl Jam type of rock music.

Then somehow table-tennis lost its charm and it was chess then during the rest of the 2 years of undergrad life. Now chess, chess was different. I am far more proficient in chess than I am in table-tennis. While table-tennis was more like a passing crush, chess is more like love-of-a-lifetime. I got good enough to represent my hall at the inter-hall games; given another year, I would have made the university team :P

I had a few more guy friends equally crazed about chess and we used to follow all major tournaments live on ICC. Watching a chess game live is as slow as life can get! But that much was the addiction. And it was always a pleasure watching Vishy Anand's games. Unlike the Indian cricket team, vishy hardy ever disappoints. Back then, I could tell you until move 13 of the Sicilian Defense, Najdorf variation.

Upon graduation though there was hardly anytime for such leisurely following. I moved off-campus and into a condo that had a snooker table. Then it became, work->snooker->sleep kind of a routine. But I am still very much a novice at snooker. Am seriously on the look out for some club affiliation through which I could take some lessons and possibly play more regularly. It is definitely a beautiful sport. Very classy, very elegant.

I am talking here about snooker(the bigger table, smaller holes) not pool! I hate pool. Pool is the cheaper and impure version of snooker. It oftens pains me to watch Steve Davis take to pool and do badly at that after such a phenomenal snooker career.

Hmm, guess that's it.

I am re-thinking my taking to blogging. I guess blogging too was a sort of seasonal affliction afterall! I was reading a few blogs here n there, got very excited, registered for an url, managed a few posts but now I feel like I've hit a wall. Not sure yet though. Will see how....