Christmas Goodies

[Emil Miller]

As we have just turned the corner into December, I was wondering what is your ideal present to wake up to on Christmas morning. Here's mine and I don't mean the piano.

http://imageshack.us/a/img716/6483/yujawang.png

[LitNetIsGreat]

Ha, ha, good old Emil.

I don't know what I would like - well I know what I would like and that's retirement, but that will not happen, instead I'm getting a chess clock! (a cheap one* that I bought myself, how sad is that?) still, I'm excited. I will be quite happy though, after I get the dinners and party out of the way, I'll have two and a half weeks to my own amusements which will be reading and chess.

* There are no decent digital chess clocks in the UK. The ones I wanted I would have had to import from the US at too much cost to justify it.

[Scheherazade]

Here's mine and I don't mean the piano.

The chair or the watch? The chair does not seem all that comfortable if you ask me and the watch is all right. Surely nothing to write home about.

A curmudgeonly voice in me says the best present would be to spend it all alone at home, wearing PJs all that long, eating food in bed and reading; however, I never give in to that voice... Nope, not me.

That failing, I don't think there is anything else I want desperately enough to put on my wish list.

[Emil Miller]

Ha, ha, good old Emil.

I don't know what I would like - well I know what I would like and that's retirement, but that will not happen, instead I'm getting a chess clock! (a cheap one* that I bought myself, how sad is that?) still, I'm excited. I will be quite happy though, after I get the dinners and party out of the way, I'll have two and a half weeks to my own amusements which will be reading and chess.

* There are no decent digital chess clocks in the UK. The ones I wanted I would have had to import from the US at too much cost to justify it.

Why do you want a chess clock unless you are going in for competition chess? I'm amazed that the Chinese haven't started to produce them as they seem to make practically everything else, but can you honestly say that you would be more excited by a chess clock than the gorgeous Ms Wang?
She's on twitter so I'm thinking of sending her a tweet suggesting that she might care to pay a visit and tickle my ivories, although she's probably never played anything except Steinway's, Bösendorfer's or Bechstein's so I don't think she would be impressed with a Yamaha.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Why do you want a chess clock unless you are going in for competition chess? I'm amazed that the Chinese haven't started to produce them as they seem to make practically everything else, but can you honestly say that you would be more excited by a chess clock than the gorgeous Ms Wang?
She's on twitter so I'm thinking of sending her a tweet suggesting that she might care to pay a visit and tickle my ivories, although she's probably never played anything except Steinway's, Bösendorfer's or Bechstein's so I don't think she would be impressed with a Yamaha.

I wouldn't kick Miss Wang out of bed but I think I have more chance of Mrs Neely getting me that chess clock. (Well I've already bought it myself). The Chinese do produce them which is what I've ended up with. I did want one of these the 2010 model:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkhGeUlNgsY

Fantastic. But this would cost me about £75 with postage from the US!

So I have ended up with one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MASTER-TOURNAMENT-DIGITAL-CHESS-SET-GAME-CLOCK-TIMER-HANDHELD-ELECTRONIC-BOARD-/290686783269?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3 D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D3876129238735700050%26pid%3 D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D290686783269% 26

Twenty quid. Chinese cheapo.

Of course the classic analogue clocks look great but they are no good for blitz and I want to play blitz and standard.

[Emil Miller]

I wouldn't kick Miss Wang out of bed but I think I have more chance of Mrs Neely getting me that chess clock. (Well I've already bought it myself). The Chinese do produce them which is what I've ended up with. I did want one of these the 2010 model:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkhGeUlNgsY

Fantastic. But this would cost me about £75 with postage from the US!

So I have ended up with one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MASTER-TOURNAMENT-DIGITAL-CHESS-SET-GAME-CLOCK-TIMER-HANDHELD-ELECTRONIC-BOARD-/290686783269?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3 D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D3876129238735700050%26pid%3 D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D290686783269% 26

Twenty quid. Chinese cheapo.

Of course the classic analogue clocks look great but they are no good for blitz and I want to play blitz and standard.

But would Miss Wang kick you out of bed?
The American clock is certainly the cat's whiskers but the one you have bought seem perfectly adequate.

[LitNetIsGreat]

But would Miss Wang kick you out of bed?
The American clock is certainly the cat's whiskers but the one you have bought seem perfectly adequate.

I don't know, good point.

Yes it will do. I only want it for blitz games with my dad and brother, I can get an analogue one, if necessary, when I eventually get to club/tournament standard. (Using a clock allows you to set different times per side, so a stronger player can play with a time handicap against a weaker player. Plus I can sit about and play with it.)

[Emil Miller]

I don't know, good point.

Yes it will do. I only want it for blitz games with my dad and brother, I can get an analogue one, if necessary, when I eventually get to club/tournament standard. (Using a clock allows you to set different times per side, so a stronger player can play with a time handicap against a weaker player. Plus I can sit about and play with it.)

I've never played against the clock but it must be a hairy moment when your time is running out and you can't work out the next move.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

...what is your ideal present to wake up to on Christmas morning. Here's mine and I don't mean the piano.

Emil's picture of silk green cocktail dress

Emil,
Do you honestly think you can squeeze into that thing? (the dress)

For me; perhaps a cornucopia filled with a variety of cheeses, kolaches, fine ale, Braunschweiger and crackers.

.

[Lokasenna]

I can't stand being given presents (it's one of my more weird quirks), so friends and family are under strict instructions not to give me anything. Though I'll admit that I rather selfishly enjoy giving presents - but only to a very few people, and they have to be meaningful.

Oh, and for the record, I'm sure Emil will look lovely in his cocktail dress...

[Emil Miller]

Emil,
Do you honestly think you can squeeze into that thing? (the dress)


.

I'd like to squeeze into that thing but why bring the dress into it?

[kiki1982]

Hmmm, a new hairstyle. That's nice :D. As long as it suits you, Emil! Who are we to judge.

No waiting till Christmas morning here! It's Christmas Eve at 12. Always has been. Santa comes on 5 December in this part of the world, m friends. Hmmm, maybe he will write a letter this year...

I hate giving presents, because I never know what to buy. This year will be agony again! Even my hubby. I have known him ten years now and I still can't figure out what to buy. Last year I bought him a little chopping/whipping mixer. That was nice. Shame it was on his Amazon account. 'Your order has now been sent'. Thank you! :lol:

He always knows what to buy me and even my parents. I say, let him do it :D. Save me the stress.

What I want? Mmmm, I don't know. Maybe a bread machine that also makes cakes and jam or new washing machine.
I know, I know, it's all very sad, but I have had so many useless Christmas presents that I now only want things I'll use.

[Delta40]

A poster design for my play with a date plastered across it for when it is showing!

[stlukesguild]

I'd like to squeeze into that thing but why bring the dress into it?

Emil... you are seriously a dirty old man.:blush2:

I'll have to think on what I want for Christmas for a while. Right now I'm still awaiting the arrival of my birthday gift... bought with 3 Barnes & Noble gift cards and a 30% off coupon on "Black Friday":

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61Ov53XQ-RL._SL500_SS500_.jpg

CD 1-2
Der fliegende Holländer

CD 3-6
Lohengrin

CD 7-10
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1975 recording, Vienna)

CD 11-14
Parsifal

Der Ring des Nibelungen
CD 15-16
Das Rheingold

CD 17-20
Die Walküre

CD 21-24
Siegfried

CD 25-28
Götterdämmerung

CD 29-31
Tannhäuser

CD 32-35
Tristan und Isolde

CD 36 - bonus CD
Tristan und Isolde Rehearsal - The Birth of an Opera
first released as a bonus LP with the original LP set of the opera

Der Ring des Nibelungen - orchestral excerpts
1982 digital recording

[Scheherazade]

I'll have to think on what I want for Christmas for a while. Right now I'm still awaiting the arrival of my birthday gift... bought with 3 Barnes & Noble gift cards and a 30% off coupon on "Black Friday""Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour." ~ Gioachino Rossini

[Emil Miller]

I'd like to squeeze into that thing but why bring the dress into it?

Emil... you are seriously a dirty old man.:blush2:




:lol: I used to be a dirty young man but one definitely improves with practice.

[Scheherazade]

Guess it is true that money can't buy everything...

[Lokasenna]

I'm envious, Luke! I've been wrangling over that boxset myself, but my student's budget won't stretch that far!

[stlukesguild]

"Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour." ~ Gioachino Rossini

That's just the incomprehension of the musical genius of the new by a lightweight entertainer of the "old school". Not to wholly dismiss Rossini. His overtures are brilliant, and Il barbiere di Siviglia, Guillaume Tell, and La Cenerentola especially are fine operas... his requiem also is "great fun"... although it comes off more like a strutting comic opera than a mass for the dead. Nevertheless, I quite enjoy musical bon-bons: Rossini, Offenbach, Johann Strauss II... but Richard Wagner is something altogether different.

I'm envious, Luke! I've been wrangling over that boxset myself, but my student's budget won't stretch that far!

After the 3 gift cards and the 30% off coupon the whole 36 discs cost around $20 US. That was impossible to pass up. Solti's Ring alone generally sells for over $100 US and his recordings of the other operas included are all top-notch. The one I am looking at now is this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41tzB6-2r9L._SS400_.jpg

$80 US for 107 discs. Of course the set is for the hard-core classical music lover as the recordings are largely "historical".

[kiki1982]

"Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour." ~ Gioachino Rossini

:lol: