Beautiful Saturday for Shopping & Condo-Warming

Or it would have been if shops didn’t close so early at Shops at Don Mills!

It was quite disappointing to see the Coach storefront sign say “open ‘til 9pm on Saturdays” when the doors are locked and while the staff paid no attention to my failed attempt at pulling open the door at 6:30pm. Little did I know after checking the Shops website that all stores are only open until 6pm on Saturdays. Boooo!

After a short visit to Fairview Mall (or its washroom and Forever 21), Jon and I made our way to Betty’s for her condo-warming party. We would have arrived fashionably late…but again, little did we know: She expected her guests to arrive even later and was out buying things for the party. We were left waiting at her apartment door. How embarrassing. (What is up with us and trouble with timing today?!)

At least when we finally got inside, we had a blast.

Pizza and wings + board games + awesome friends = perfect night

We spent hours (until 1am) playing Apples to Apples and had many “I’m-laughing-so-hard-I-can’t-breathe” moments…or at least I did, in particular when Jon assumed he won and grabbed the green cards without hesitation.

RE: Above photo—Look at all the green cards I have! (Okay, so mine were spread out while everyone else humbly stacked theirs. I was not the winner of the night. Sigh!)

One of the best answers of the night went to Alan: the green card (topic) was “busy” and his red card (answer) was “gravity.” The other choices were “machine gun” and “leeches.” I suppose gravity truly works the hardest and is the busiest!

It definitely requires efforts and wit to predict how your friends will choose the answer they like best!

RE: Above photo—Seriously? My boss, Fidel Castro and cockroaches are playful? Guess which I chose as the most appropriately “playful” thing?*

My friends are weird.

All in all, a fantastically fun night. I miss board game nights with my friends. We need more of those! Who’s up for regular (bi-weeky? monthly?) board game nights?

*I chose cockroaches…remember 小強 (from a Chinese TV show)?

I just finished today’s Toronto Star Newsday Crossword, and it reminded me of a film my boyfriend discovered and borrowed from his local library recently. The film is a 2006 documentary called Wordplay which revolves around the game of crossword puzzles, New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz, the annual Crossword competition in Stamford, and profiles several avid crossword puzzle aficionados, including Jon Stewart and Bill Clinton. As someone who is very new to crossword puzzles, I absolutely found the documentary fascinating and think it very insightful and inspirational. I aspire to complete crossword puzzles daily—in whatever newspaper I lay my hands on each day. I already have trouble finishing some—most—let alone consider completing them in pen, and to finish them within a certain time frame. I have great admiration for those who know and use the English language well, especially those who can recall and make use of the expansive list of vocabularies. I love games—i.e. television game shows—and believe that those that test our vocabulary and knowledge are worth appreciating, even if contestants just want to win the cash prize. Crossword puzzles undoubtedly require brain power. Loads of it. After watching this film, I have a new-found appreciation for those who make the puzzles and those who solve the puzzles. My boyfriend and I are determined to try the New York Times crosswords sometime soon; We’ll do a test-run with the Mondays first, of course. Some memorable parts of the film: “Dunkin’ Donuts…put the D at the end, you get Unkind Donuts.” With the words “Noah’s Ark,” “you switch the S and the H around, that’s ‘No! A shark!’” “Intercoastal” is an anagram for “Altercation.” ♫ If you don’t come across I’m gonna be down. ♫ And the absolute coolest part is when they talked about the Nov. 5, 1996 puzzle for the day before the Presidential election between Clinton and Bob Dole. I’m totally spoiling the film now. Watch and find out what happens! Man, I love word games and word play.
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I just finished today’s Toronto Star Newsday Crossword, and it reminded me of a film my boyfriend discovered and borrowed from his local library recently. The film is a 2006 documentary called Wordplay which revolves around the game of crossword puzzles, New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz, the annual Crossword competition in Stamford, and profiles several avid crossword puzzle aficionados, including Jon Stewart and Bill Clinton.

As someone who is very new to crossword puzzles, I absolutely found the documentary fascinating and think it very insightful and inspirational. I aspire to complete crossword puzzles daily—in whatever newspaper I lay my hands on each day. I already have trouble finishing some—most—let alone consider completing them in pen, and to finish them within a certain time frame. I have great admiration for those who know and use the English language well, especially those who can recall and make use of the expansive list of vocabularies.

I love games—i.e. television game shows—and believe that those that test our vocabulary and knowledge are worth appreciating, even if contestants just want to win the cash prize. Crossword puzzles undoubtedly require brain power. Loads of it. After watching this film, I have a new-found appreciation for those who make the puzzles and those who solve the puzzles. My boyfriend and I are determined to try the New York Times crosswords sometime soon; We’ll do a test-run with the Mondays first, of course.

Some memorable parts of the film:

  1. “Dunkin’ Donuts…put the D at the end, you get Unkind Donuts.”
  2. With the words “Noah’s Ark,” “you switch the S and the H around, that’s ‘No! A shark!’”
  3. “Intercoastal” is an anagram for “Altercation.”
  4. ♫ If you don’t come across I’m gonna be down. ♫
  5. And the absolute coolest part is when they talked about the Nov. 5, 1996 puzzle for the day before the Presidential election between Clinton and Bob Dole.

I’m totally spoiling the film now. Watch and find out what happens!

Man, I love word games and word play.

FACTastic no.1: Chinese Checkers

DID YOU KNOW?

Chinese checkers did not originate from China. It’s actually a board game invented in Germany in 1893. The game was called “Stern-Halma”—“Stern” meaning star, and “Halma” for the American variant on which the game is based. The name “Chinese Checkers” was just a marketing gimmick!