Friday, February 25, 2005
Wednesday night: King Alex called a meeting of the "Knights of the Square Table". So I went down to Alex's castle for another of our regular meetings. Let me introduce some of the more prominent characters of this Alexian legend.
Sir Mingelot - The first knight of the square table and never failing in pao-ing, xiao xiang gong or da xiang gong. Mingelot was also a knight who was very willing to feed others.
Tecklin the Magician - King Alex's adviser, prophet and magician. Magical wonders performed by Tecklin include 13 wonders (self-pick) and 1 & 9 da pai. He regularly summons his powers to perform more 13 wonders, and coming narrowly close many times.
Lady Jingevere - Although looking demure and lady-like, she can deal a deadly blow when on fire. When she's on fire, no one stands in her way. She is suspected to be learning black magic from Tecklin because once she almost pulled off a "di hu" (earth game). Unfortunately, she might have been focusing her eyes on the suave and ever charismatic King Alex, thus not seeing the chance to finish us off.
Anyway, let me introduce the indomitable and impregnable fortress of King Alex which has made him so formidable and invincible on his home ground.
The insurmountable Feng Shui defence system of the fortress:
1) His fans. 1 huge ceiling fan, and 1 smaller fan. Not to mention his aircon blowing at him. These blow wind at him, that's why he always gets the Winds.... I mean, who needs 2 fans and 1 aircon in a room anyway?
Sir Mingelot - The first knight of the square table and never failing in pao-ing, xiao xiang gong or da xiang gong. Mingelot was also a knight who was very willing to feed others.
Tecklin the Magician - King Alex's adviser, prophet and magician. Magical wonders performed by Tecklin include 13 wonders (self-pick) and 1 & 9 da pai. He regularly summons his powers to perform more 13 wonders, and coming narrowly close many times.
Lady Jingevere - Although looking demure and lady-like, she can deal a deadly blow when on fire. When she's on fire, no one stands in her way. She is suspected to be learning black magic from Tecklin because once she almost pulled off a "di hu" (earth game). Unfortunately, she might have been focusing her eyes on the suave and ever charismatic King Alex, thus not seeing the chance to finish us off.
Anyway, let me introduce the indomitable and impregnable fortress of King Alex which has made him so formidable and invincible on his home ground.
The insurmountable Feng Shui defence system of the fortress:
1) His fans. 1 huge ceiling fan, and 1 smaller fan. Not to mention his aircon blowing at him. These blow wind at him, that's why he always gets the Winds.... I mean, who needs 2 fans and 1 aircon in a room anyway?
2) His flowers. 1 huge painting of flowers and a pot of fake flowers. This is probably what get him all his flowers all the time. Its especially irritating when he wins a 4/5 tai with ji hu (chicken win).
3) His library. Put his whole library of books ('shu1') in this room. No wonder we always lose to him.
4) His lucky pillow. The word on it says it all.
This is why King Alex's castle has been a place where I serve him the most. I practically pay for all this dates with his queen! Maybe in time, I will be paying for his wedding banquet too. Despite my tragic track record at his castle, I still find myself going back there all the time. Probably wanting to break my duck each time. And also partly because my little shack is too far from where most of the other knights live. It is a known fact that King Alex collects entrance fees for newcomers wanting to join the Knights of the Square Table. Ask any of the knights and you will find that its true. Knights like Sir Wilson, Sir Gary, Sir Ryan all have paid their entrance fees to King Alex. But, it seems like I am a season ticket holder unlike the rest cos I keep paying fees to him......
Since it was the last day of CNY, and it might be the end of the season for us till after exams, we decided to make things more exciting. We were contemplating whether to up the stakes from our usual 20/40 to 50/$1. But, Lady Jingevere was too afraid so we all compromised and settle for playing to a max of 6 tai.
So, the night started of again in usual fashion with King Alex showing us why he was the only one who can pull the Excalibur out of the rock. The climax of the night proved to be the most jaw-dropping, earth-shattering and eye-popping.
King Alex delivered the stunner of the night. XIAO SI XI! (SELF PICK!) i.e. "Small 4 Happiness"
I alm0st fainted. This was as shocking as the 13 wonders that Tecklin the Magician did, and the near Earth Win that Lady Jingevere almost did.
Just look at the smug look on his face when collecting his winnings. Lucky for him we upped the stakes to 6 tai. Fat win for him.
Just as I thought it was gonna be another normal night for me at the Square Table, my luck seemed to change. For once.
Notched up two 6 tais and one 5 tai later on in the game. But then, somehow King Alex still won more than me! 3 times more in fact! Its really weird because he gunned my 5 tai and one of my 6 tai.
So, finally I conquered at King Alex's castle, but then my win was marred by his even bigger win...but oh well, I did win anyway, which is good enough for me.
(Actually, I wanted Huijing to be the Lady of the Lake, but I guess not many of you will know this character in Arthurian legends. In brief, Merlin was smitten by her and taught her magic, and Merlin's downfall was caused by her. Also, I didn't want to reveal Mr Teck Ann's secret. Opps!?)
