26th Sep, 2005: RSM

I slowly and steadily improved my pingpong skill. I was able to tied with my teammate (which I think it's not good enough, at least a good start). I was also able to beat my coach with my attack. I felt differently on saturday. I had more chances to work on my weaknesses and so forth. I was surprised by how much better I did compare to any other week before because of my equipment. I finally found the setup that suits me well. I got the feeling of it, yes!!!

I'm lucky that I picked up this sport again, or I'd regret for the rest of my life! I'll do my best and see what will come up next.

Ryu Seung Min is my idol now. I really want to play like him after his misc. victories. The most impressive one was 2004 Athen Olympic. I would keep dreaming one day that I would be able to play in an international competition and see him playing somehow. His master Kim Taek Soo is my favorite player too. I learned so much from his Butterfly instructional video. The youngster Lee Jung Woo will be a great player that China has to put an eye on. He's as powerful as RSM. I'm sure he would be as good as RSM. I love watching RSM and Lee Chul Seung playing in doubles. They have their traditional style of playing. I hope Lee Chul Seung will play some more...don't quit that early. I went to see Flightplan today. It's an okay movie, but no my type. Fun to watch if you don't have kids.

22st Sep, 2005: Butterfly!!

It's here. Nice and thick for my first impression. When I strike it, it feels lighter = softer = more ball feeling. The handle is longer and thicker. What it really means is that it's for adult, unlike the other one that I had (it was for kids). I can play like an adult now. My rubber is not here yet. Not so sure why...It might be in the apartment office already. I'll check and see if it's there tomorrow. Or I'll have to practice it with my old rubber. I'm happy!

18th September, 2005: Food and more food

Lately I tried different kinds of Taiwanese cold treat. It's a little expensive but that's the only place where I can get it. I've never tried any slush in my life. The closest thing I believed was coke slush. But what about combining fruits into slush? Result is so soothing and fresh. I'd have it once in a while from now on. I bought 4 cans of tomato pasta sauce. They are all produced by the same company. 4 different ingredients mixed into each can. I can't wait to try them one by one!!!

13th Sep, 2005: Downloaded 1/2 of 金泽洙's instruction video

Playing Japanese penhold. 金泽洙 is my the best role model that I can learn from. I learned so much just by sitting in front of my computer and watch his demonstration. He demonstrated ways to improve basic techniques. What I learned was his backhand attack. I know how to practice with different drills. The right stroke leads to success! I'll downloaded the second 1/2 sometime tomorrow. Hope more surprises would be coming!

11th, Sep, 2005: Smaller and lighter and more powerful??

I was looking for a Japanese blade which is square in shape, thick, light and powerful. This Butterfly Senkoh Super-95-S would be my choice. It's designed for quick attack, drive style play. The hinoki wood that is chosen for this blade is certainly higher class that my Yasaka Neptune's. It's also a medium feeling blade. This ensures that I could have better control on the ball while looping/smashing/blocking. The fact is getting Butterfly's blade has a quality guarantee for me. I love their products. This blade features a longer handle (my Neptune is shorter for beginners) that would balance the control of the blade. It's 0.5mm thicker than Neptune. It's square in shape which provides a more agressive play and more powerful sweet spot. The blade surface size is smaller too. It would be great for in-table flipping and pushing. I ordered it in Asia. It'll take about 2 weeks to arrive here in the States. I'd be drooling for a week or two... My Yasaka Neptune is a beginner blade with hard feeling. It's great that I bought that one before I get any other expensive one-ply jap penhold blade. Now I really love jap pen.

10th Sep, 2005: A big switched so far

I've been playing penhold grip (Japanese style) for a little less than a month now. I like the powerful and lightness of it. I can swing powerfully without sacrificing any power. The truth is I can handle it fairly well up to this point. I can use my backhand as well. One thing that I'm still not too sure is my forehand. It supposed to be my killing weapon, but I keep hitting it out. I really have to work on it before the college tournament around the thanksgiving break. Actually before next month..coach would take us to Evansville again. This time I've to show them something. I have 2 different setup for my blade. I played with Butterfly Sriver EL (max) rubber for quite a while when I first started playing penhold last month. Then about 2 weeks later, I bought my Butterfly Bryce 2.1 rubber. I really didn't like it at first. It's just too fast and bouncing too long. The ball always goes out the table. So I had to forced myself to play with Sriver EL. It's true that the more I play with it, the more I like it. I stuck with it for about another week. This friday I played with Sriver EL, I just did not get any feeling out of it. It's relatively slow and just a little bit too thick for my taste. This morning I decided to take out my Bryce again. I would play with it today and see how I do. After experimenting it for few hours, I found that I shouldn't glue it too much. Or it'd be bouncing too far off the end of the table. As the glue effect diminishing throughout the hours, I got a better feeling on this Bryce. It's definitely a killing weapon if I could hit it right on the spot everytime. I can injure someone if I smash it real hard... I feel that my serves are way better than before. I learned how to use heavy spin, little spin and no spin on my serves. The next step is to increase my forehand's consistency as well as placement. I BELIEVE I could beat those guys this time in Evansville if I concentrate and not giving up on any shot.