Zimena

So, I've been travelling.

I went to Wales for five days last week. Flew to Manchester on Sunday, February 9th, and back on Thursday, February 13th. From Manchester, I took the train to Llandudno in Wales, to be at the Welsh Open for three days.

It was magical. Again. The only thing I'm sad about, is the fact that I could only stay for the beginning of the tournament. The whole trip happened so fast and so close to the start of the tournament that there were no tickets left for the later parts of it. And, considering that a certain Mark Selby ended up lifting the trophy in the end, it would have been amazing to be there to see him win a tournament.

BUT: The three days I had there were absolutely incredible! I saw two of Mark's matches. He defeated Haydon Pinhey by 4-2 in the morning match on Monday, and then had a really late and tough match vs Elliot Slessor on Wednesday. That match went on until past 1am, and there weren't many people left by the end. Apparently they gave me a mention on the BBC when I was in the background when Mark was taking a shot, and the commentator went: "Not many people left here at this late hour, but that lady in the Mark Selby t-shirt doesn't have a choice, really."

Needless to say, I was so, so relieved when he potted the match ball to win that match 4-3. I think I might even have been blinking away tears at that point.

Also, something nice: I shouted "Well done, Mark!" at him when they had finished the handshake and were packing up their cues and stuff. And he turned around and gave me a smile for that. That? It was so lovely, and it still makes me feel so happy.

It's not the only Mark moment I experienced during this trip, though.

The arena in Llandudno has a set of stairs that apparently go up to the players' lounge. So, typically, the fans would go to the bottom of the stairs and wait there to see if their favourite players would come by after matches. From what I heard from the stewards, there's a possibility for the players to exit via a back door and go directly to a car park behind the building instead, but most go down the stairs and are happy to meet the fans.

So, quite early in the day on Wednesday I went to wait by the stairs to look for John Higgins, who had just won his morning match quite clearly. Only, I didn't see him, but just a couple of other players I wasn't immediately familiar with or interested in. Until, suddenly, Mark was standing right behind he, having just come in the main doors.



So, I got a photo with him this time as well, and he said that he remembered me, and that we had met in Leicester. Also, when the other fans nearby also wanted a photo, he said that he was just going to go upstairs with his jacket, and then he'd come back. And, true to what he promised, he came back and made sure everyone who were waiting got their photos and autographs, and he was an absolute gentleman to everyone. I got to wish him good luck for the evening match, too, so that also felt good.

I mean... he said he remembered me?! My heart is still doing weird things when I think of that.

To be honest, I wasn't even looking for him at that point in the day, because I knew he wasn't playing until much later. So the fact that I got a few moments with him in person at this tournament as well was just so incredible to me.

I got a few photos with other players as well - Florian Nüßle was so lovely, and even tried to speak to me in German. Michael Holt was an absolute sweetheart, who said that he would like to win more. I told him that I would love to see him win more, too. Neil Robertson was nice to fans and happy to pose for photos even despite having just lost his match. And Dominic Dale was an absolute delight to be around, and stood around talking with us for quite a few minutes. I loved listening to him, he was so cool and funny!

Also, I got the one thing I didn't manage to get in Leicester: A photo with Rob Walker, who's the Master of Ceremonies for most of the snooker in the UK. I love him to bits, he's so cute and so crazy, and even on TV you can see how lively he is. But if you're actually there, watching him at work, he's doing a lot more than you get to see on TV. He's so active, always moving around and always doing something, so it's actually really hard to catch him for a photo because he's never in one spot for two seconds at a time.

Well, look at how sweet he is:



He even went down on one knee to be on the same height level as me. Then, afterwards, he said that "the last time I went down on one knee for a woman, I had to ask a question. Luckily she said yes." And he also commented at me that I had been in Leicester, correct? I was quite stunned that he would remember that, as I didn't even get to talk to him there. There was a moment where he was asking who had travelled the furthest to get there, and I was trying to answer that. He was giving out t-shirts with the WST logo to the fans who'd travelled the furthest. Only, the guy behind me was from California, so he obviously got the t-shirt instead of me. But really, that was the only attempt at interaction I had with him, so I was quite surprised that he'd remember me this clearly to even know exactly which event I'd been to previously.

Snooker really seems to be quite a small and tight-knit environment, though. For example, some of the stewards were the same as at the previous event, and they came over to chat, asked me how I'd been and such, making it clear that they also remembered me. At some point I was talking to one of the stewards, and explained to him that I was supposed to come to Manchester as well, but that my friend has had to cancel that trip, so I'll be going by myself again. And the steward just went: "No worries, we'll be looking after you. Because you're part of the snooker family now."

That made me so emotional.

What's more, when I posted about that episode on Twitter just after it happened, I got a lot of messages that basically said "you already were" or "of course you are" or "your inclusion was never in doubt." All of that just reinforced the emotional feelings for me.

Also: I ended up meeting one of the ladies I had talked to in Leicester, and we were even in the same hotel, so we stayed together quite a bit. While we were both aware that we were coming to the same tournament, we didn't know that we were both flying into the same airport or going on the same trains from there, OR staying in the same hotel. All of that was just coincidence, but it was so lovely.

She's Irish, by the way. And she randomly invited me to her son's wedding, in Rome in April. Much to my amazement, she also said I should bring the best friend (I had told her about him, due to the plan we had to go to a tournament together). To my utter astonishment, she just went "well, bring him and come to my son's wedding, that would be so great!" and then went on to talk about how a few more of her snooker friends would be coming as well. When I questioned how she could just invite me along with a person she has not even met, her explanation was that "you're a lovely person, so that means he must be a lovely person as well. Because you wouldn't bother to have friends who aren't lovely."

I find this logic absolutely shocking in a good way, but it was touching to see how natural it was to her.

Definitely a cultural difference between Norway and Ireland, right there. And one where I kind of wish we could be more like them, maybe.

Also, let me squee about British people and how easy they are to talk to again. I ended up talking to quite a few lovely people, even down to spending a couple of hours with some of them, sitting around talking snooker. One mother and daughter even asked me to come to the cafeteria with them when the matches ended one night, because they wanted to talk more. So I did, and we had a really good time.

Fun fact? The daughter there was the Michael Holt fan who was so lively and was shouting encouragement for him back at the shootout in Leicester, and I was pretty sure I recognised her voice, so I asked her if she had been there. When it turned out I was right, she wanted to talk more, hence the cafe invite. When I was leaving the day after, both of them came running to catch up with me, because they wanted to hug me before I left, as that was my last day there. That was so beautiful, too.

There were also a couple of other interesting people. One day we got into a conversation with some guy who was a snooker coach with some connections to some of the young Welsh players. He mentioned some names of people who were practicing at his club. Among them, he mentioned Dylan Emery. Well, that's the Dylan Emery who had just defeated Iulian Boiko in the semifinal of the Q Tour event that had been played the day before, so I kinda half-jokingly mentioned that Dylan had broken my heart a little with that. The guy just smiled and chuckled a little... only, the next day he came over to me with Dylan, and Dylan went: "Sorry for breaking your heart the other day, my apologies."

It was so, so sweet of him to do that. I think I got a bit too surprised to reply properly, but I'm definitely supporting Dylan a little from now on, too.

Finally, I have tried playing snooker for the first time. I was obviously bad at it, though. But I tried it both standing up and sitting down. Unfortunately, when I try to stand, too much energy goes into focusing on standing, which means I can't focus on technique or the balls right. So, I tried a bit more while sitting down. I struggled to get the technique right, though maybe it would have been easier in the manual wheelchair, as the power one is harder to position exactly right to be on the shot. So in the end they taught me to use the rest instead, which was maybe a little bit easier for me for now. I did manage to pot a red at an angle with the rest, as well as a few reds and colours that were sitting close to the pockets during my various other attempts. Suffice to say, I enjoyed it, and I wish I could try it more.

This was in the Fanzone, by the way. There's a practice table there, with a couple of official WST coaches who show you the technique and teach you how to play depending on your level. If you're a complete beginner like me, they show you basic techniques. But if you're already a decent player, they'll show you some tips and tricks to be better, too.

Anyway, after I had finished my first tries, another guy went on the table. He was really good, though he wasn't quite satisfied with his own performance as he also missed more than he would have liked, apparently. We got into a conversation with his friend, who mentioned that "he's even played at this tournament. Played Ali Carter here two years ago." When I asked who he was, the friend wouldn't answer that, but it was easy enough to look that up. Turns out that the guy's name was Ian Martin, and that he currently plays on the Q Tour.

Well, when he had finished his snooker on the practice table, he came over and we ended up talking for quite a while. We took a few photos together, too. And I mentioned that I try to watch the Q Tour sometimes if I can find some way to do it, so I would be keeping my eyes open for him now, too. And I mentioned that I'm also a Iulian fan. To which he replied: "Very good choice, he's a beautiful young man, inside and out." Needless to say, that also made me feel a certain warmth and joy.

We added each other on Facebook, too. And he said that he also has his own snooker club, in Bury a bit outside Manchester.

Well, fast forward to the day I was flying back. At the check-in at the airport, I arrived quite early, so there was no line behind me. Hence, the check-in lady took her time checking my passport and filling out some paperwork for my wheelchair. While she was doing that, she casually asked me what I had been doing in the UK. When I replied that I had been in Wales to watch the snooker, she went: "Oh, my cousin's a snooker player! He has his own bar and all. In Bury. His name is Ian Martin."

I mean: What?! The world is such a small place, sometimes.

It's been a very busy day. Mostly in a good way, but still busy and with little time between things. Let's see:

* I had a friend visiting in the morning. He brought breakfast and sat here for a couple of hours. We talked and had a nice time together. When he was supposed to go back home, he didn't really want to leave, so I ended up going with him back to his place. We said goodbye outside his door rather than mine, which was nice.

* While I was already out, I decided to finally go to the hairdresser. I've been saying I need a haircut for a few weeks already, but more recently I also started thinking about dyeing my hair again. Now I have black hair... and a haircut I'm not 100% sure I like, but I'll probably like it more once I've washed and styled the new hair by myself a couple of times.

* In the evening, we went to celebrate my cousin's birthday in a restaurant. The food was delicious, and getting to spend a few hours with him and his wife was good, too.

* In other news, I'm about to go on my first flight on my own. In a few days' time, I'm off to the UK for the second time this year. I'm flying to London, and then I'm going to get on a train and go to Leicester to see the snooker shoot-out. Which, if all goes well, should also mean that I'll get to see a certain Mark Selby play in person. Well, he's the most important one, but Iulian Boiko is playing as well. And Michael Holt. And Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, though he needs to win a match first, if I'm going to be able to see him - I didn't buy a ticket for the first day of the tournament, as my biggest favourites don't play until Day 2 anyway.

This weekend has been so nice!

Yesterday (Saturday), I had a friend for visit for a couple of hours. I had not seen her for a good while, so it was nice to just have her here and sit and talk for a while. In fact, we agreed that she'd come over a couple of days ago, and I wasn't sure then that I had made the right choice because I was also going somewhere in the evening. But I'm so, so glad she were here, and she's one of those people I'm grateful that I get to have in my life. She has a beautiful Border Collie dog, too, and I always love to be around animals. Well, cats and dogs, at least - not sure about every other kind of animal that I have no experience with.

Anyway, we had a lovely few hours together.

Then, in the evening I went to see my favourite Norwegian band live! They're called Hellbillies, and this link goes to a clip from their current tour, though not from the exact concert I've been to. The song here is one of their most famous ones, and it's actually a cover version, though I suspect the majority of Norwegians don't know that. We're very familiar with this song, but not really with the original (Hal Ketchum: "Past The Point Of Rescue").

Anyway, the concert was absolutely fantastic! They're amazing live, and they have so much great music! I've actually wanted to see them live for several years, but somehow it never worked out when they've played in my town before. I'm still on a sort of emotional high from having seen them, finally... and I'll be honest and admit that I also have a sort of eternal crush on the lead singer, Aslag Haugen. He's getting older now, of course, but to me he was always beautiful in a rough kind of way that I very much like.

I got shy during their signing session after the show, though, so I ended up not buying any merchandise or getting his signature. I feel a bit silly for that now, but in that moment it felt right to just not try. Maybe next time. Because there will be a next time, I'm certain of that!

Anyway, I went to the concert with my cousin and his wife, and they came home with me for a couple of hours after it, too. We had pizza and talked about the music and the show for a bit, and it was really nice. But especially after the other visit earlier in the day, too, I was well and truly peopled out when I went to bed yesterday.

Then, today has been nice, too. One friend came by just to talk, but she was tired and didn't want to come inside. We stood for a good while talking just outside, though. The fact that I suddenly have friends who come by randomly, just for a chat, will never stop feeling completely surreal to me. For most of my life, all the important people in my life have been either family, or friends living too far away for this type of "quick hellos" to be a thing we could even do. I never really had good friends in my immediate surroundings, but now I do, and it's something that makes me very, very happy.

Other than that, I've also managed to sell an old mobile phone that was in a drawer here. I cleaned it up and reset it, and put it up for sale a few days ago. The guy who eventually bought it turned out to be someone I vaguely know, too, so he was suddenly willing to pay nearly the price I had asked, instead of bargaining endlessly. That made me happy, as I had initially set the asking price a bit higher than what I had expected to get. A lot of people buying used stuff like to bargain, so... :)

Snooker also came with a very beautiful surprise this weekend: Ding Junhui won his first tournament since 2019, and I might have blinked away tears for him at the end there. He defeated Chris Wakelin 10-7 in the International Championship final, and he had his family around him for the trophy presentation. There were some very adorable moments with his daughter especially. Maybe he used to mean more to me than he does now, but I still really like him, and this was such a fantastic moment!

Finally, something a bit unexpected: I've finally started reading my tarot books. I got two different ones some time ago - one of them was a Christmas gift last year, the other one I bought for myself. Along with that, I also somehow ended up reading a bit about witchcraft (though not so much about Wicca, yet) online, and I'm finding that I want to know more. I found a whole list of resources via some subreddits, so I have a lot of stuff to read. Some part of me definitely struggles with the interest in this as I grew up Christian, and always had that as a natural foundation in life. I've never been very active with religious-related things, but still, it's always been there, always been part of how I think about things. While I don't find the interest in tarot to be directly at odds with it, the topics I'm now researching by extension might be, and that makes my interest in them challenging to some extent. For now I've decided to keep reading, though, and I'll see how it feels from there. Knowledge, in itself, isn't a bad thing, I think.

I found these high-quality photos during the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters tournament last week. Unfortunately, the tournament itself didn't go well for Mark - he lost in his first match, which obviously made me rather upset. But... I'm not going to go into a match-related ramble here. Instead, let me just show you the photos, because these are very beautiful.



I admit, I love this one especially much. He looks dark and dangerous here,
and that's one of my favourite images of him as far as inspirational thoughts go.

( Three more behind the cut )

I'm not sure if DW supports embedding videos in this way, but let me try it.
EDIT: It seems to work fine. If you're not seeing the video controls, you can right-click and choose to "Show Controls" - at least I could, in my Vivaldi browser.

This is such a cool shot. The absolute audacity of it makes me squee.
I'll be honest, though - when I watched him take aim for that shot, I was screaming "no, no, no, what are you doing?! Are you mad?!" in my mind. But of course I still squeed out loud when he potted it. It was such a crucial pot, too - he won that frame with it. Eventually, he also won the match in a deciding frame.

I'm falling in love with another snooker player.

...And you won't believe who it is.

( Prepare for a shock... )

So, after spending 10 years with him as my "player I love to hate" in this sport, down to always cheering against him under nearly any circumstances, I've managed to develop quite the obsession with him.

It's been happening gradually over the last couple of months, I think. I was actually really sad for him when he got knocked out of the World Championship. So much that I couldn't forget him for several days after that happened. There was something about the way he looked and played during that match, as well as what he said in interviews immediately afterwards, that really made me feel for him.

Then, about three weeks ago, I came across a long interview of his from the official WST Youtube channel. I remember arguing with myself on whether to click that or not, but I got curious, and so I clicked... and I sat there for 20 minutes melting to an absolute puddle of love. Even after that, I was trying to "fight off" the interest in him for a couple of weeks, but I'm admitting it now: I'm very definitely falling in love here.

... I won't allow him to tug at my loyalty to Ronnie, though. But he's very close to even that, now.

How bad it got? I've been on Redbubble to buy a "Team Jester" t-shirt. That probably explains it.

I thought of doing this meme earlier today, and I even started writing something about it. Only, I decided to be a fool and click on some link as I was working, and it opened in the same tab I was already in. When I tried to go back, my text was gone from the text box. For the umpteenth time: Never type up a long text in an online text area. You will lose your work, as I did with this. Either way, the post I was originally working on was a bit more elaborate than this, because I didn't find the meme I was thinking of doing right away. Hence, I started making my own. Then, with my text lost, I went back to looking for what I had originally wanted, and voilà, found it!

I previously did these questions for some other sports way back in 2010.

Now it's definitely time to do them for snooker:

01. The first player I fell in love with:

I'm actually unsure if Ronnie was the first, but he was certainly one of the first and forever the most intense. So, let's go with the obvious answer: Ronnie O'Sullivan.

02. The player I never expected to love as much as I do now:

Ouch, maybe Stephen Hendry, because I don't have my own memories of him. The amount of love I have for him after I got into researching him is quite unexpected.

03. The player everyone else loves that I don't:

Mark Williams. I never managed to figure out why people love him that much, because I'm just indifferent about him.

04. The player I love that everyone else hates:

Not sure there is ONE answer to this. Just that I have a general soft spot for the Chinese boys unless they play some of my bigger favourites. I suppose that's a sometimes unpopular opinion.

05. The player I used to love but don't any longer:

Mark Allen. I used to like watching him for the crazy shots and occasional banging the balls everywhere. Now that he's actually playing generally better, the entertainment value of watching him is also less than it used to be.

06. The player I would shag anytime:

Stephen Hendry as he looked when he won his first World Championship title in 1990. No time machine, you say? Pity. There are players I love, but I tend to never imagine myself with my celebrity crushes.

07. The player I think I'm most like:

Maybe Neil Robertson, for his nerdy hobbies and gaming and ability to get into other sports, too.

08. The player I'd slap:

Is this even a question? Mark Selby when he drags out time and spends 6 minutes and 13 seconds to take a shot.

09. A friendship that I love:

I love seeing Ronnie and Stephen together; the communication and understanding they have with each other now is just so beautiful. I know it wasn't always like that, though.

10. A friendship that I hate:

None, I will never hate seeing real people get along well.

11. My five favorite players:

(Restricted to those who still play seriously, because that's the only fair way to do this)

1) Ronnie O'Sullivan
2) Judd Trump
3) Neil Robertson
4) Si Jiahui
5) Ding Junhui

12. My least favorite player:

Not a "least favourite" as much as a "player I love to hate", but Mark Selby. He is simultaneously Scarily Good, and Insanely Annoying. Not a good combo, seeing as he also knows very well how to use both of those skill sets in full against the players I love most.

13. My deep, dark fandom secret:

See question above. My feelings around Mark Selby aren't as one-dimensionally negative anymore. The way he played in his first match at the Crucible this year, and the interview after he got knocked out were things that really made me think. I spent days unable to forget that stuff. I actually, honestly blinked away tears that day. Then I started looking up more info than I've ever cared to know about him, and from there on my opinions started to change. I've even watched a couple of videos/interviews/stuff - things that I'd never even consider watching in the past. Suffice to say, he's a lot more interesting than I ever gave him credit for, and I really hope he chooses to continue his career and that he gets help with his problems.

I'll never be his fan, because he's still THE player with the greatest ability to stab my snooker fan heart most painfully. And he still does it often enough that it never completely heals. But I find that I care about him differently now, and it confuses me to no end. There, I said it. That's some secret, isn't it?

..and we're back at that point again.

That point where snooker is completely taking over my life, and I spend every waking moment either watching it or thinking about it. I decided to follow the World Championships more thoroughly this year, so I even bought myself a TV sports pass for a month just for this. I've been watching and/or following at least a couple of matches each day, and I'm having so much fun.

I probably don't need to point this out, but I want Ronnie to win. He got an easy 10-1 victory vs Jackson Page in his first match, and is currently 5-3 up against Ryan Day in his second, so it's looking positive so far. But this isn't a Ronnie fanpost - I can make one of those another time - so let's move on.

When I'm watching various matches consistently, I almost inevitably end up taking some players to heart that I had no own feelings about before. In this tournament, Si Jiahui was that player for me. I started quietly rooting for him at some point in his first round match, and during the second round match vs Jak Jones, I felt a lot of tension and emotion on Jiahui's behalf. So much that I'm still sad that he lost 9-13, and I hope Judd Trump gives Jones a thrashing in the quarterfinal.

Speaking of Judd, I have exactly one friend who understands snooker. She is a massive Judd fan. Because of her, I've always felt a sort of second-hand joy when I see him do well, but I never truly considered him one of "my" players. Then the 2022 final happened, and the aftermath of that is still one of the most emotional sports aftermaths ever. Because of The Hug, of course, but not only that - also because of the interviews and how Ronnie and Judd were around each other there. Since then, I've started to develop more own feelings for Judd as well, so I definitely want him to do well. (And shhhh, if Ronnie doesn't win, then I want Judd to. It's a pity they're on the same half of the draw, though, so they'll play each other in a semifinal if both get there.)

Finally, the sad/strange part.... normally, I cackle whenever Mark Selby gets knocked out of tournaments early. He is, without doubt, my "love to hate" player in this sport. I've learned a few things during these past few days, though - most notably that "love to hate" is still a form of love, and I felt so bad for him during his first round match, and after he got knocked out. In any normal case, an early Selby exit is a reason for me to grin, but this time my heart was breaking for him. So much that I went back and looked up those articles where he talked about his mental health issues. So much that I even dreamt of him at night - ehm, what? In short, I really hope he doesn't make good on the threat to retire, because he's way too good a player for that and this sport would be a lot emptier and less emotionally tense without him in it.

There, I said it.

I don't understand the scheduling, though. Apart from the Murphy vs Maguire match that finished during the morning session, no other matches finish today. I find that a bit weird, because... shouldn't there be a "finishing" match in every session, ideally? At least while there are still enough matches going on that this should be possible?

I'm also really feeling Neil Robertson's absence from this tournament. It feels strange to watch the World Ch'ship and know that he had failed to qualify. He's one of those players that "should" be there, in my mind, and my brain refuses to understand that he isn't. I feel a similar confusion about Ding getting knocked out in the first round. It just doesn't feel right, doesn't look right.

If I'm very vocal about supporting someone in this tournament, does it mean that they will lose soon after?

Ronnie lost. Ding lost. What's next? Maybe the jinx can actually do some good, too. If I say that I support Selby in the semis, do you think that would make him lose?

No, but seriously... I've lost my main favourites, but not everything looks bleak and boring yet. John Higgins is winning as we speak, and Judd and Neil are still left as well. I like both, just not quite as much as I like some others.