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| Sunday, May 27th, 2012 |
baudekin
|
9:51a |
Bermude Cruise - Day 7
Saturday, May 12 Game 13 vs. Jeff Clark (L 329-398) Bingos: pENNIES / MILTINg Nothing particularly noteworthy here. The board was tight, and I never caught up to his early bingo.
Game 14 vs. Jeff Clark (W 468-321) Bingos: WOODIeST, REPAINT, ELaTION / GREENIE An odd game where the first E wasn't played until turn 7! Everything seemed to go my way in this game. At one point I overdrew, and Jeff was able to throw my blank back in the back. While that delayed an almost certain bingo, I still managed to redraw the blank later on. I even drew an unsuccessful challenge from Jeff on my R hook to GREENIE. The game would have been even more lopsided, but Jeff wisely played fast and kept me under time pressure at the end, forcing what were surely some suboptimal plays. I actually went over by under a minute, and absorbed the resulting penalty. And with that game, I thereby split all 7 matchups with my round robin opponents!
Game 15 vs. Kristiina Overton (L 351-450) Bingos: ITERATION / DARIOLE, TEXTILEs I was happy with my play in this game. It felt like I was scoring well, and I was kind of surprised to end up with only 351 points. That was probably because the game went quickly - it was over in 12 turns. I was proud of my find of the natural (IT)ERATION 68 to keep the game within reach, but I was immediately deflated by her comeback play of TEXT(I)LEs 96, which would have been a homeless bingo if I had missed seeing mine and played off elsewhere.
Game 16 vs. Jeff Clark (W 457-292) Bingos: PRESSION, EnOUGHS / none An old-fashioned bagging. All Jeff had was the J. In the first half of the game, I had the fun back-to-back plays of PRESSIO(N) 82 and EX(PRESSION) 38. I also enjoyed my play of AQU(A)ViT 42 in the endgame to clean up an ugly rack in the endgame.
Game 17 vs. Carolyn Easter (L 410-434) Bingos: BOOSTiNG / BLONDER, STEARIN, ENDOStEA This was my only 400-point loss of the tournament. My opening play of FROTTAL* didn't stay on the board. (Relating to FROTTAGE? No.) The game wasn't quite as close as the score would suggest, as I had to finish with a flurry to even get that close. I made Carolyn sweat at the end, because I was pretty close to a bingo. She spent a long time deliberating how to block the last realistic bingo lane, but it turned out to be unnecessary, given my final rack of EEIINST. [ed. Duh, SIENITE! And it would have played! Game losing play. :-( And actually, Carolyn's last blocking play created a spot for it... ] My favourite play was GAMELY 57 in the triple lane, hooking my L to make (ENDOSTEA)L.
Game 18 vs. Anita Rackham (W 411-364) Bingos: FORTIES, HAGRIDEs / BLINDERs, NASTIEST After 8 turns, I was down 165-277. Cue the comeback! It started with HAG(R)IDEs 67, and continued with a series of big plays (ABYSM 46, WAW 41, and (E)X 34). I was starting to think I had a good chance of pulling out a win. When Anita subsequently played off 3 tiles, emptying the back, I realized she was Q stuck, and the game was mine. I actually ended up winning by a comfortable margin,
So I ended up 9-9 +450 - an uncharacteristically strong spread, especially given my extremely mediocre record. After being in 4th place for most of the tournament, I ended up 5th of 8. Turns out that Kristiina also finished 9-9, but with a spread of +453! My rating will drop slightly, which is a little disappointing since it's already on the low side to begin with. Shelley finished 6-12 -601. She was hoping to do better, but she was up against a much tougher field than usual, especially for a long tournament. After a final dip in the thalassotherapy pool and hot tub, packing up our stuff, and our final dinner seating, it was time for one last karaoke session! First, Shelley and I sung If I Had $1,000,000 by the Barenaked Ladies. She took the first singer, and I took the second - I think that's the reverse order of when we sang it on the last cruise. We even did a little improv in the spoken-word part in the middle. Then Peter went up and sang What I Like About You. He did a good job, but he wasn't the star. Carolyn and Connie went up on the dance floor and starting dancing. Carolyn was definitely the more exuberant of the two. At one point, she wandered up onto the stage, then stumbled and wiped out, falling from the slightly raised stage to the floor. Like Chumbawamba, she got back up again (never going to keep her down). Shelley got it all on video, and it was hilarious. She's watched it numerous times, whenever she needs a pick-me-up. Then I delivered one for the ages. I had told Shelley the day before that I had a special song in mind for the final night of karaoke, but I wouldn't tell her what it was. Sitting the in lounge, she went through the entire karaoke selection book and tried to guess it. She actually did jokingly mention the right song, and I just laughed and neither confirmed nor denied that she got it right. I sang It's Oh So Quiet by Bjork. It's not one of her most well-known songs, but I remember the video quite vividly (I think it's a classic Spike Jonze one). It's quite a dynamic song, ranging from quiet clarinet-based orchestral music to an over-the-top Broadway-style number. I figured that part would go over well with the oldsters. At one point someone yelled from the audience "Thank god for alcohol!", and Shelley responded "100% sober!". It's hard to tell from the stage with the blinding lights in your eyes, but I apparently got a standing ovation from the audience, including the a cappella band. I think the video is on YouTube, but I can't seem to find it. Immediately afterwards, Shelley and Carolyn did an inspired duet of Shelley's standard Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin. Unfortunately, I didn't have the presence of mind to record it. A fitting and satisfying end to the last full day of the cruise. |
| Saturday, May 26th, 2012 |
chaithedog
|
10:07p |
Serious Mistakes
It seems like I've been off my game for awhile now, making peculiar and unacceptable mistakes with alarming regularity. I made several in the game below, the worst of which I caught immediately after hitting my clock; I nearly screamed. Quackle reveals a second mistake of comparable magnitude. See if you can find both of them. Neither is particularly involved, but you have to be observant. http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=11192#0#There are three additional plays that are decidedly inferior (6-15 points back); in retrospect, those are pretty obvious too. We're looking for the big ones though. |
kismet09
|
9:43p |
...and it's only saturday!
and monday is a day off! this weekend was sorely needed. slothed around this morning, unpacked a few boxes, then headed out to get dim sum in princeton. it was pretty tasty, though they didn't have cheong fun, which is my most favorite thing, and thus i was sad. bao and scallion pancakes and sesame balls were all good, though. still, i'll have to seek out another dim sum locale to satisfy my rice noodle pancake cravings. got a couple more things for the house: hair catcher for bathtub so i can bathe my stinky hounds, pan lid organizer, veggie seedlings to hang upside down in the backyard (don't judge - the planters came to the house. if they make anything grow, it'll have been worth hanging bags off of sticks in the yard). grilled for dinner: just picked, local asparagus, potatoes, hot dogs. i'm still a little twitchy about being here and not at one of the many scrabble events this weekend (especially since scrabble is generally climate controlled and my house is not. it's very humid here). but, it was much better for me to stay here in terms of my levels of sanity and the rustiness of the scrabble. i had a two hours nap in the middle of the afternoon - hard to do that at a tourney. |
baudekin
|
9:41a |
Bermude Cruise - Day 6
Friday, May 11 I let Shelley sleep in until about 11:30 to help compensate for her near-sleepless experience the night before. By the time she was awake and dressed, the sun had disappeared, and it was pouring rain - we would've been caught in it if we had got going any earlier. So we decided to forgo our Bermuda plans for the day, which was just to go see the remainder of the Dockyard, including the Clocktower Mall. No great loss, once we talked afterwards to people who had been there, complaining of the high prices. But then again, everything in Bermuda is expensive, since virtually everything has to be imported from at least 1,000 km away, and the cost of living is high. After lunch, we headed down to the Rendez-Vous lounge for music trivia. Again, there were lots of participants, unlike the poorly attended events on the last cruise. In this case, the bad weather probably had a lot to do with it. The girl running the contest couldn't get the computer system to work, so she ended up playing songs off of her iPod. Given that we were in a room of predominantly oldsters, we figured this would give us a great advantage - and it did! We ended up with 18/26, but we were beaten out by someone with 21. The girl did a pretty good job of getting some older songs in there - about 6 of the 15 songs were ABBA, which is close to 40 years old. Those ones were easy layups for us. Nevertheless, there were some disgruntled oldsters there. After walking around for a bit and spectating during the line dancing class (Shelley's knees weren't up to participating), Shelley went back to the hot pool/tub, and I stuck around for general trivia. I ended up with 11/15, which was pretty good for a solo team. The winners had 13. At 4:30 the ship left port, and we started the voyage home. I was in the main theatre, watching a presentation on the Bermuda Triangle. It was something different from the norm - a good way to pass an hour. We killed some time in Rendez-Vous watching the usual 2 musical groups, and headed up to Qsine for 8:30. It bills itself as "uniquely unordinary", and that's a good description. The first unusual thing is that the menu is presented electronically on an iPad. Diners can browse the cocktails, wines, and 16 different entrees. Some of them even had quirky little videos to accompany. It's an all-you-can eat format for a fixed price of $40 - quite reasonable given the dining experience. Food is ordered tapas-style in a series of small servings that are shared among the group. There were 7 of us (me, Shelley, Shauna, Dave, Carolyn, Connie & Peter), which meant we got to see a good variety of the selections available. Some of the more interesting were spring rolls (served individually on big metal springs) and disco shrimp (served in a glass container with pulsing blue lights). There was another one where various foods and condiments were served in an upright container with cubbyholes - can't recall the name. Another one featured 3 large meatballs of various types. I remember lava crab, where the crab was covered in a thatch of angel hair noodles. The dessert menu is presented as a cube that unfolds into various positions such that you can read the items available. Shauna had taken advantage of a free Captain's Club cocktail reception just before dinner, so she was in fine form. Connie remarked that she had never seen a woman speak as raunchily as Shauna did that night. We just smiled. After dinner, we went down to Rendez-Vous for another round of karaoke, which was already in progress. I sang It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine) by R.E.M. Shelley got her Friends in Low Places in. Shelley and I capped off the night with a spirited rendition of Love Shack by the B-52's. This time, they let the session run until 1:00, and we went to bed shortly thereafter due to our early start to the tournament the next morning. |
| Friday, May 25th, 2012 |
xpmorgan
|
9:52p |
this is my kind of birthday dinner
 Swine Burgers! as you know, i heart swine. i'm going to do some imaginative things with pork here this weekend, since we have a bunch of cuts in the fridge and, well, pork is awesome. Swine Burgers1 lb. ground pork 5T worcs. 3T hot sauce 4 cloves garlic ½ red onion handfuls of leaves (cilantro, basil, parsley) shake of cumin and oregano pulverize the O&G and the leaves in a food processor, mix with the swine and add liquids and the shakes of herbs. let sit in the fridge for 60 min. then form into patties. grill:  i went about 3½ minutes a side, melting some slices of cheez on top. i then place this on a tortilla atop a piece of aluminum foil. add red onions, tomatoes, horseradish and hot sauce. wrap it up tight, peel and eat. serve with a gin and tonic. happy birthday to me. Current Mood:  satisfied |
baudekin
|
7:09a |
Bermude Cruise - Day 5
Thursday, May 10 This is our only day 100% spent at Bermuda. I eventually rolled out of bed around 11:00, and Shelley was already long since up, having only managed a 4-hour napchunk. We went out into the nearby Dockyards area to explore. We started off with lunch at the Bone Fish Restaurant right off the pier. Of course, we both got different varieties of the signature bone fish sandwiches (i.e. grouper), which we shared. Very good - but pricy, as expected. After a stroll through the craft show, we went to the National Museum of Bermuda . The museum is on the site of an old military keep, built starting in 1809. It's a mixture of indoor and outdoor exhibits. As instructed by the museum map, we started with the outdoor exhibits. We saw the Dainty, an 1897 yacht relocated to the keep which has a building built around it. Shelley soon lost interest and stamina, and left me to my own devices. I made my way to the Commissioner's House, which housed most of the formal exhibits. Built in 1820, it was the world's first cast-iron building. There is a heavy emphasis on military items - not surprising, given the locale. There were 3 floors to the building, all chock full of exhibit rooms. I probably spent about an hour in there. My favourite exhibits were the banknotes of Bermuda and coins of Bermuda rooms. Yay, money! Three of the buildings were closed to renovations, so there wasn't too much else to see. I visited the High Cave magazine, an installation built into the rock by a pool of water. It featured a hallway so narrow that I almost had to turn sideways to walk down it. The boat loft was the last building I visited, featuring several dinghies, and exhibits about the history of electrical power on Bermuda. Before leaving the keep, I made a visit to Dolphin Quest, where people can pay through the nose to swim with dolphins for a few minutes. I took some pictures for Shelley, but it was hard to catch the dolphins doing anything interesting. Overall, definitely worth the $10 price of admission. Today, we were forgoing the dinner seating for a beach BBQ and party excursion. However, we got a message saying that it was cancelled due to high winds! We went back out into the Dockyard for dinner. All of the shops were closed, so we went straight to Cafe Amici, an Italian restaurant. It's apparently a sister restaurant of the one we went to lunch at. I had a sloppy Joe BBQ pizza (to make up for the cancelled BBQ) and Shelley had her standard pepperoni and mushroom. By the end of the meal, Shelley was feeling crappy due to ear blockages, and we struggled our way back to the boat, alone in gale-force BBQ-cancelling winds. We were finally able to take advantage of a karaoke session! On the last cruise, with a similar number of total passengers, there were usually between 1 and 2 dozen for each session. This time, the lounge was packed - probably at least 100 people at the peak! The session started out slowly, with the predicable oldsters singing Sinatra and other standards. Then things got good. There were a few hapless and tuneless people who didn't seem to know their songs at all (in which case, why pick them?) One lady struggled through I Will Survive, and a man butchered some Stevie Wonder song. Then there was a very creepy rendition of I Got You Babe by a young woman and old man, who didn't know each other. At the end, he told her "2182", presumably his stateroom number. From the peanut gallery, a couple of people (including Shelley) yelled "Yeah, she's 21, you're 82!" Then it was time for the annoying loud gap-toothed guy from California to "sing". He did a hilarious rendition of Mack the Knife, which was well-suited to someone who can yell loudly, but not carry a tune. Then it was my turn. Shelley and I tried something new, which we called "ambush karaoke". Shelley went up and picked a song for me, and didn't tell me what it was - the only rule is that it has to at least be a song I know. So I didn't find out until I got up to the mic that it was Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. Once I got past the "ga ga, ooh la la" part at the beginning, I totally forgot the melody (the backing track wasn't helping out much), so it was largely a Shatneresque spoken word fiasco. But apparently it was a hit - Shelley couldn't stop laughing the whole time. And we forgot to bring the camera down! Roger Cullman was up right after me, and he sung the "la la la" song by Kylie Minogue. It was equally hilarious, but I don't think the audience (aside from me and Shelley) truly appreciated it. Roger alternated between a falsetto and deep baritone-type voice, the latter of which we didn't even realize Roger was capable of! Shelley wasn't feeling well, so she deigned to sing. She had me go up and sign her up for Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks, but she changed her mind at the last minute. One thing I liked about this session is that the time allotted was open-ended. I think the sessions on our last cruise were limited to an hour, or maybe an hour and a half. The session went from 10:00 until "late". As it turned out, "late" meant about 12:30. I think it could've gone on longer, but the MC was terrible, and didn't solicit additional participation when the flow of singers started to wane. Before and after every singer, she encouraged us to give them "masseef applowse" in her broken English. She couldn't even pronounce simple names in a way that was intelligible. My favourite was how Katie became "Katty". Off to bed, at a suitably late hour, for a change. |
xpmorgan
|
12:24a |
my own personal Belgium, vol. 200
i am standing outside the Rincon Center on tuesday nite and a woman in a biz suit nearly runs me over, frantically waving her arms and yelling "TAXI!!!!" as she charges ahead. she spots a cab stopping in front of the hotel across the st., runs across the st., flings open the rear door and jumps into the backseat. and she promptly steps back out of the vehicle, apologizing profusely and repeatedly, having discovered what i already knew and could clearly see from across the st., which is that it wasnt a taxicab. it was a pizza delivery guy. Current Mood:  weird |
cesarsalad
|
12:07a |
club 44 championship
played my first live games in a month yesterday at the 8-game club championship, as i seek to be the first to win it twice in a row. unfortunately, i lost a game in a way i never had in the first game against victor, who is on fire after winning the JFTSOI 2-DAY SPECTACULAR this past weekend. basically, i had an out play that lost by 2 pts, so i decided to challenge TOLE even though i was pretty sure it was good (basically i wouldn't forgive myself if it was phony for any reason). then it turned out he had overcounted two plays by 5 pts so i would have won had i had more time to recount it, but i had like 12 seconds at the end like always. i never recount my opponent's plays in a game, and this is a bad idea. i vowed to do it from now on but forgot to in subsequent games. then i played alan stern who got me by 5 points. i think i only drew 2 Ss as far as power tiles go, but it would have been an entirely different game if i hadn't screwed up against victor cuz i would have played someone else. and i also chickened out on GOODIE somehow. :( i won the next 2 by decent margins..i'll try to win all 4 next week. i know i CAN if i play my best and get lucky enough but it sucks blowing the mini tournament on the first game on a dumb scoring error. |
| Thursday, May 24th, 2012 |
evwhore
|
8:22p |
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verbophage
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3:12p |
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baudekin
|
7:04a |
Bermuda Cruise - Day 4
Wednesday, May 9 We docked at Kings Wharf, Bermuda around 8:30 a.m. It was the first time we'd seen land since leaving New Jersey. I didn't realize that Bermuda is located in the middle of nowhere - 1,000 km from the nearest land! From our stateroom, we have a good view of the Dockyard area. It's a former military installation, turned into a tourist attraction in the 1990s. The Clocktower building has 2 towers - one to tell time, and one to mark the tides. We started off at 10:00 with a bus tour of the island - a good way to get a quick overview of what's out there to see. while waiting in line for the tour to start, there was a very loud roly-poly gap-toothed guy behind us talking to complete strangers and telling them his life story. He was in the navy 30 years ago, but suffered from sea sickness on this cruise regardless. He's from California, and has been in a long-distance relationship with a woman from New York since 1985. They only see each other 2 or 3 times/year. Quite remarkable endurance for a long-distance relationship, but also understandable if you could see what these people look like. He also had the annoying habit of calling his girlfriend "babe" continuously. Bermudans drive on the left side of the rode, like they do in the Eurpose (Bermuda is part of the UK). Bermuda is a rather small series of islands, about 30 km or so from tip to tip, connected by a few short bridges. We started out in Kings Wharf, at the northwestern tip of Bermuda. All of the roads in Bermuda are narrow and curvy - glad that we weren't driving! The island-wide speed limit is 35 (kph, I assume), but many people far exceeded that. Passing slower-moving drivers here is like a game of Frogger. The architecture in Bermuda is very distinctive. Almost all of the homes are painted in bright pastel colours - blues, greens, pinks, oranges, etc. However all of the roofs are whitewashed, apparently by law. Bermudan roofs are ridged, somewhat like an Aztec step pyramid. They are designed that way to funnel rainwater into water tanks, and reduce reliance on the expensive Bermudan water system. The first tourist attraction we came across was Somerset Bridge, billed as the world's smallest drawbridge, barely opening enough to allow the mast of a sailboat to pass through. However, our bus driver (a Bermuda native) had never actually seen it in operation. At the bridge there was a small beach. Bermuda is famous for its pink sand beaches - basically all of them are like that. I think it's from the crushed shells of little pink/red crustaceans of some sort. They didn't look particularly pink to me, but whatever... What is striking though, is the vibrant blue water colour. Our camera didn't seem to do it justice. Our first main stop were the Crystal Caves. Shelley passed on the 83-stair descent into the cave in favour of lunch and a bathroom break. Not the most spectacular caves I've seen, but still pretty cool, and worth the trouble of a 20-minute tour. Plenty of stalactites and stalagmites to be seen, including some underwater stalagmites, since the cave was not always filled with water. One particularly large formation, known as the Iceberg, is about 1,000,000 years old. The caves were discovered in 1905 by a couple of curious kids who chased a cricket ball down into a hole. They never did find it. Our next stop was the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo. Yes, 3 attractions in one! We were only allotted 30 minutes for our visit, so Shelley and I decided to abandon the tour and bravely set forth on our own. The highlight of the aquarium for me was the humourously-named fish, the slippery dick. In the natural history museum, I learned that one of plays I made in the tournament (CAHOW 21) is a sea bird endemic to Bermuda! I'll have to go back and enter it for the best Bermuda theme word. Something that is exclusively found in Bermuda has to win the prize! [edit: it did] The best part of the trifecta was the zoo. First, we watched the seals for a while. There were 4 or 5 of them in a water exhibit by the entrance, and it was feeding time! One of the seals (which we referred to as the Turvy seal) seemed as interested in others' food as his own, and repeatedly tried to join in on another seal's feeding. We got ourselves some good pics of those glumpers. Shelley and I concurred that we were certain that they would like the pat-pat-pat. Moving further into the zoo, there were a variety of other exhibits, many of which were "open concept" exhibits where we entered a little biosphere and the animals and birds moved freely among us. In one exhibit, an egret flew up and landed about a foot away from me. Then, it seemed to follow me around. One exhibit that was not open concept was the alligator exhibit. This was one lazy gator. How lazy was it? Well, lazy enough that moss and other plants were literally growing on its back! I guess that's what happens when you have an alligator in a zoo enclosure with nowhere to swim! We emerged from the aquarium/museum/zoo into tiny Flatts Village. There are only 2 villages in Bermuda (Flatts and Somerset), one town (St. George's), and one city (Hamilton, the capital). However, the whole island is quite densely populated, so I suppose people who live outside those 4 municipalities just say that they live in a particular parish. Bermuda is divided into 9 parishes, and during the tour we drove through all but one of them (St. George's). We took the public bus from Flatts into Hamilton. We didn't get seats, so we had to stand for the full 20-minute ride. We had to hang on to straps coming down from the ceiling of the bus, and gave ourselves a good upper body workout as the bus wound its way through a series of tight curves and sudden stops. In Hamilton, the first thing that strikes a visitor is the prevalence of motorcycles and mopeds. It wasn't unusual to see dozens of them lined up in their tiny parking spaces. The city is very clean and modern, with no chain restaurants to be seen. In fact, very few chain stores of any kind. The only ones I saw on today's trip was an Esso gas station, HSBC Bank (they took over Bank of Bermuda recently), and Marks & Spencer. We walked the streets a little, and made our way to the ferry terminal. Along the way, we stopped for something to eat in a cafe (I hadn't eaten anything except a banana before leaving the ship in the morning). We could have stayed for a few more hours and explored Hamilton, but Shelley was reaching the end of her endurance for the day. The ferry ride back was a speedy no-nonsense affair, and well worth the $4 price. In Bermuda, the official currency is the Bermuda dollar, but U.S. dollars appear to be used interchangeably with the local currency. Not sure if the 2 currencies are officially tied to one another? Back on the ship, we made use of the thalassotherapy pool and hot tub, and Shelley got a foot massage. We were supposed to go on a glass-bottom boat cruise, but the time got shifted from 11:00 (after the late dinner seating) to 8:00, so we cancelled it. We took advantage of the dinner seating again. Since we arrived a bit late, we got a table to ourselves, joined shortly thereafter by Shauna & Dave. We made plans to try Qsine restaurant on Friday night in lieu of the 2nd formal dinner. Qsine is an avant-garde gastronomic experience type of restaurant, where they bring out a series of wacky creative small dishes. Although this is one of the specialty restaurants that costs extra ($40/person prix fixe), we think it will be worthwhile to try. Carolyn and her sister tried it a few days ago, and they will likely want to go back. Shelley went on search and destroy mode for the hokey cruise ship embarkment/disembarkment pictures, which did not meet up to her standards. Then it was off to bed. Nice not having to worry about the alarm, as tomorrow will be unstructured until the evening. |
| Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012 |
evwhore
|
6:20p |
|
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magratheazaphod
|
11:37a |
699 + 2006*
I set my new personal best last night, one shy of 700 because KC bingoed out on me. I also missed a bingo along the way. The game is here. KC was a really good sport. I hope I would be that good of a sport if someone hangs up a 699 on me. I've been meaning to write up the Berkeley one-day - I actually had the games uploaded the same day but it took a while to post onto cross-tables. A lot of the games were pretty straightforward, but there are two plays that I would love feedback on. My one loss was against Leesa. Low on time, I didn't see a way to make a comeback, but Marlon messaged me to point out a really nice play I could've made that would threaten a 5/8 chance of winning. The position is this one.The other play where I really have no idea is at the end of the game against Lester here
the full list of games:round 2 against bruce (1st round bye w/7 player division) 1000 point game against karrisround 4 against leesaround 5 against lesterround 6 against mike frentzround 7 against peter armstrongI love playing Berkeley one-days. it's like playing a tournament in my kitchen or something. I always feel super-comfortable. The last game of the tournament was pretty big because I knew if I won I would win, qualify for BoB next year and hit the top 10 again. Unfortunately, we had a crazy rules issue in the middle of the game. it was my turn, and we realized that the O was missing from the bottom-right corner, and that an O was on my rack basically right next to it. there was no missing tile in sight. I looked around a bit but we came to the conclusion that the O had fallen off the board and that I had put it on my rack. Given that that was the case, I was allowed to draw another tile without penalty, at which point I promptly bingoed. With the O, I had an extremely tough play on my hands, since I had to decide if I wanted to sacrifice a bunch of points to block a lane or not. instead, the game was basically over. Then after he bingoed I tracked and realized a tile was missing...peter rifled through his stack of scoresheets and an O fell out from the middle. I felt terrible. I guess the moral of the story is to always look for the missing tile...but in general, if you somehow do take a tile off the board and put it on your rack, was the ruling right? |
evwhore
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8:00a |
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baudekin
|
6:15a |
Bermude Cruise - Day 3
Tuesday, May 8 After a 1-hour time change, the 9:00 a.m. start time for the tournament effectively became 8:00 a.m.!
Game 7 vs. Tony Leah (L 384-462) Bingos: SOLACED / AVERSION, ADRENALS, ARGEnTAL My one bingo was big (SOLACED 100), but not big enough to overcome 3 bingos by Tony. I had 161 after 3 turns, but then took until turn 11 to double that score. Meanwhile, Tony was cooking with a bingo bango, and I had impotent comebacks on a volatile board, allowing him to pull away. At one point, I noted that I could have extended HOBO G8 to (HOBO)GENEOUs. Although it is a phony, and it wouldn't have fit on the board, I was proud of my superfluous board vision.
Game 8 vs. Tony Leah (W 455-350)
Bingos: DACOITS, LINGEReD / SONATINE, SOOTIER Tony was forced into too many ploopy fishing plays, and I was able to win comfortably. DACOITS is the type of word I often miss, so I was happy to find it - especially because Tony said he would have had a bingo the same spot.
Game 9 vs. Shelley Ubeika (W 467-308) Bingos: TENACITY, REGINAS / FIELDED Next up was the dreaded Shelley & Jason matchup - dreaded because one of us has to lose. :-( Lately, it's been me on the losing side, to the point where I have a losing record overall against her. Shelley exchanged 4 times in this game, and I just plugged away with good tiles. I sheepishly burned a blank for CAGEs 26 to block a dangerous triple lane spot, leaving myself UU. Then I drew the other blank, and used it for the nonbingo EXTOl 57.
Game 10 vs. Shelley Ubeika (L 344-462)
Bingos: CORACLES / STEEPeNS, FINALIZe We were fairly even for the first half of the game, and I had the fun natural bingo CORACLES. However, I was forced into an exchange, and found myself looking at a deficit. For some time, there had been a scoring lane for a 5-letter word playing down into a Z (or a 6-letter word with the Z in 5th position), but the one turn I forgot to check that spot was the time I could have used it for BLIT(Z) 32 (or even GLIT(Z) 30), but instead I settled for the weak play T(E)G(G) 12. Then Shelley bingoed through the Z with FINALI(Z)e 88, which would otherwise have been homeless. That error probably cost me something approaching 100 spread points. Not sure if could have caught up, but I would have at least given myself a fighting chance.
Game 11 vs. Anita Rackham (W 396-360)
Bingos: ExPIATE, GLOaTER / DESIRES My first bingo allowed me to take a modest lead that I never relinquished, although the game remained close throughout. The closed board allowed me to keep the game under control.
Game 12 vs. Anita Rackham (L 314-369)
Bingos: none / SOZInES This game played out similarly, but oppositely. Anita's 4-power tile bingo SOZInES 76 gave her a solid lead that she was able to maintain. I ended up with just one measly power tile (a J), which was not nearly enough to mount a comeback. Anita ended up with just the blank on her final rack, failing to pluralize WOT because she wasn't sure if it took the S. Not being sure that FETTLE takes the mouse prevented SOZInES from netting her 97 points instead of 76.
Yet again, I split my 3 round robin pairings today to continue at a very mediocre 6-6 +283. My rating is down a little, but it was already deflated to begin with. I was hoping for 8-4, or at least 7-6, based on the strength of the field. Based on rating, there is a clear distinction between the top 4 seeds in our division (Tony, Kristiina, Jeff Clark and me) and the bottom 4 seeds (Carolyn, Shelley, Anita and Cheryl). I had hoped to be more definitively in the top half. Now we have a 3-day break from Scrabble as we visit Bermuda, picking up where we left off on Saturday during our last full day at sea. It takes about 64 hours to get to Bermuda, but only about 40 to get back, thanks to the Gulf Stream.
Shelley and I managed to get to dinner seating together for the first time tonight. Beforehand, we hung out a bit in the Rendez-Vous lounge. Rythmix was playing, and The standard menu looked to be basically the same as our first cruise, but of course there are the daily specials. I had chicken Wellington, and Shelley had orzo with seafood medley. The company & seating arrangements are much better than our first cruise, so we stayed for quite a while afterwards and chatted. We eventually left, Shelley blew through $100 on the slots, and we went back to our stateroom for the night. |
| Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 |
wantonhalo
|
10:05p |
Yay!
I just played a bunch of blitz games against Zamez, and got down dE(AMIN)ATING! |
tranonehalf
|
5:07p |
SF/Portland/SF
ROADTRIPPINGI find long drives extremely relaxing when I don't have to do the driving. Now I know how Betsy feels when I roadtrip her places. I was fortunate enough to have Conrad drive me from SD to SF, then Jesse drive from SF to Portland, then back to SF. Being the passenger allows me to: 1) Nap. 2) Quackle. 3) Enjoy highway scenery 4) do math problems with Noah. 6) Share Brainteasers - aka Mindtrap. 7) Control music playlists! My opinion on roadtrip music is that it should be LOUD, sometimes OBNOXIOUS, and EXTREMELY CATCHY. Some tunes on the playlist: Rebecca Black - Friday Journey - Don't Stop Believing Lady Gaga - Bad Romance Enrique Iglesias - Hero Survivor - Eye of the Tiger Kesha - Tik Tok Lonely Island - I'm on a Boat Hanson - Mmmbop Proclaimers - 500 Miles The last two songs are especially catchy: I kept repeating the Mmmbop.. do-la-de-la-bop, Doooobop.. over and over. I also had everyone in the car going Da-La-De-La-Da! from the 500 miles song. --This song would actually come up later in Portland. While driving at night Conrad sarcastically remarks that we just drove by a Chinese Karaoke bar.. at which point Jesse immediately pulls a U-Turn and we go in. Turns out it's a white-style karaoke with a centre mic, and its filled with guys in trucker hats and girls singing oldie 70s tunes. Jesse does an awesome soulful rendition of IT'S MY LIFE, while Conrad and I do a shot of tequila, and duet to 500 MILES, mostly without knowing a lot of the words. DA-LA-DE-LA-DA!! SF SF was a lot of bumming around. Went to SF/Berkeley club a bunch of times and played in Collins, in preparation of the big Malta tournament (spoiler: I don't win Malta). Played a bunch of Fry Your Brain -- at club, in parks, during Indian meals. The most interesting night was shooting pool with Kenji. In typical Kenji fashion, he assures us he isn't that good, and is out of practice. Of course, it turns out he's a MANIAC, capable of running the table and adding wicked spin to all his shots. He even shows us some jump shots and trick shots at the end of the night. What a guy. Food report: Zachary pizza outside SF is awesome - the best (deepdish) pizza I've had. Conrad and I tried to find Korean tacos, but they only exist on certain days, so instead we settled for weak SF Chinatown dim sum. Tried the beef brain at Tacoria Cancun (spoiler: it's not delicious. just brainy). Oakland Chinatown actually turns out to be really authentic, cheap, and delicious! Had dim sum there; some Chinese buns; also stopped after Portland and had a nice homy meal of seafood congee and BBQ meat on rice with Asian choy. Chinese food has that power to make me feel less homesick. We also go back to the same restaurant after a concert, and have some noodles and Hot Plate. Which reminds me: I saw DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE in Oakland! The was randomly pleasant! I was the guy shouting "CALGARY!" during the solo of 'I WILL FOLLOW YOU INTO THE DARK.' Fun fact I learnt during the concert: a long island iced tea in California has 5 shots of alcohol in it. PORTLAND Speaking of food.. Portland is a cornucopia of deliciousness mixed with innovation. Their FOOD TRUCK system just lends itself to a lot of unique food tastes. One day I had a delicious SPICY THAI POUTINE, to go with my BRISKET MEAT PIE. Other days, I had a BACON BRIE WAFFLE or a BULGOGI CHEESESTEAK. A lot of interesting fusiony flavours. For a small city, Portland has a very diverse selection of ethnic foods. Tons of Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese food. Also tried Cuban food for the first time, and went to a traditional Chinese tea house with the traditional tea pouring style. Of course, good food must be paired with good BEER. The best ones that come to mind are the espresso stout and the Barley Wine. I need to have more barley wine in the future. Scrabble: Some people played OWL, some played COLLINS; Some won, most lost. The best mini-storyline was the final game of the (main) tourney. I play Jesse; Conrad plays Nigel. Basically, winner goes to the finals; loser is eliminated. Just a great way for the tourney to end. In my game, I make an X set-up that opens a x3x3 spot -- Jesse then slaps down INHALERS for 149, to take a commanding lead. Next to me, at about the same time, Conrad has CALIBER(ED)* challenged off, and Nigel bingoes a few turns later to complete a comeback and take control. A pretty dramatic finish. Overall, Portland is just a really nice town. I was a bit unenthused of going to OTILE since I'd been once before, but I'm glad I made it out and had good company around. Dave -- You throw a hell of a tournament. The finals format is a great added dimension. I hope attendance picks up. And congrats for winning OTILE! Jesse -- Also congrats for winning OTILE! especially with only one good eye. And thanks for the great company throughout. Carl -- thanks for letting me stay with you. Will have to chat more in the future. Howaboutsay, Vancouver? Evans/Lipe -- You guys are lame. You plays Collins. And you'd rather play THINGS than go see Strippers. But thanks anyways for convincing me to come -- you're great people. Next up: London Then: Paris |
|
rafij52
|
11:43a |
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magratheazaphod
|
10:11a |
WSC stats
Played my matchplay series with Ed yesterday...thanks for tuning in, everyone who did! I hope it was a fun setup. Sorry for hiding my tiles on the edges of my rack.
Before the Berkeley, here's a trivia question - I went through and looked at the top 10 from the last six worlds (WSC 2001 to 2011), figuring that worlds tends to feature more variance than nationals, especially since it used to only be 24 rounds. But I ended up just looking at the top 5 because I figured the results were plenty interesting.
Over the past 6 WSCs, 7 people have managed to place in the top 5 more than once. One of them has placed in 4 of the last 6, and the other has placed in the last three in a row. Who am I talking about? Hint is in white just after this question if you need it: Hint: they played each other for the championship one yea
Pakorn has placed in the top 5 4 times, including his victory in 2009, while Nigel has placed in the top 5 every year since 2007.
Five more people have placed twice. Can you name them?
They are: Joel Wapnick (2001 runner-up & 4th in 2007), Jim Kramer (3rd in 2001, 5th in 2003), Andrew Fisher (5th in 2001, 2nd this past year), Ganesh Asirvatham (4th in 2005, 2nd in 2007) and Dave Wiegand (3rd in 2009, 4th in 2011).
So, if you've been following the whole series, you now know that only three people have notched up two top 5 NSC finishes AND two top 5 WSC finishes in the past decade (a few others are very close). They are...
Dave Wiegand, Nigel Richards and Jim Kramer. Although note that Nigel has achieved this feat if you start counting at 2009 alone!
If you expand the restriction to the top 10, you add 7 more people: Adam Logan, Komol, Naween Fernando, Brett Smitheram, Tim Adamson, David Boys and Craig Beevers. That's a pretty elite crew of 14 altogether.
So, here's an easy one followed by a stumper...first of all, who was the youngest person to finish in the top 5 in that timespan?
Panupol Sujjayakorn beat Pakorn in 2003 when he was only 19 years old!!
Now for the really obscure result...who was the second youngest?
The answer is Andrew Perry in 2001, who as far as I can tell was 21 years old at the time. Who?! So far as I can gather he was another in the long line of British stars who came from a background in Countdown.
What's the highest showing a woman put up since 2001, and who was it?
Helen Gipson finished in 10th at the 2009 WSC.
By the way, if you're into crazy results, check out the 2007 WSC standings, wherein the top 10 were from 9 different countries and 4 were from Africa, and the 11th and 12 place finishers were 17 and 15 years old respectively!
|
baudekin
|
7:03a |
Bermuda
Monday, May 7 Shauna and Dave managed to scare up an impressive group of 36 Scrabblers for the at-sea Scrabble tourney. I wouldn't be surprised if that's a record. Eat your heart out, Larry & Barbara! And including the 24 non-Scrabblers in our group, it's a grand total of 60 we've got here. Shelley and I are both in the 8-player Division A. Since we're playing games, we'll play each of our 7 opponents twice in a double round robin, and then pair based on results for the last 4 rounds. We're playing consecutive games against each of the opponents in the round robin. Game 1 vs. Carolyn Easter (W 409-393) Bingos: NORITES, EVULSED / PAnCAKES, RETAINED Carolyn started off the tournament with the silly phony KOOF*, which I failed to challenge. However, I had a bingo bongo combo with NORITES 76 (making KOOFS* - LOL!) and EVULSED 92, but barely held on to eke out the win. Actually, Carolyn should have been able to pull it out in the endgame, but didn't leave herself enough time to figure it out.
Game 2 vs. Carolyn Easter (L 386.-407)
Bingos: DIARIST / OATmEAL, TONSURE This game was really the reverse of our first game. Carolyn bingo bangoed with OATmEAL 67 and TONSURE 73 on her 2nd and 3rd turns, and I clawed my way back into it. Carolyn didn't have me tracked correctly at the end, and unwisely opened up a bingo lane (in the triple line, no less) starting with an A. However, I failed to recognize my bingo with the rack DEIRRT? in time (ADRoITER 77) for the comfortable win. Instead, I tried the desperation phony DIRT(WASH)* 45
Game 3 vs. Kristiina Overton (W 493-362)
Bingos: RELEASE, WILDING, DEXTRINS / BATTEREd, ASsOILS Kristiina (no typo - the Finnish/Estonian spelling of the name has the double I) is playing her first tournament since 2004. Always nice to add a new opponent to my cross-tables history. Kristiina used to live in Toronto, but now lives in the Ottawa area. She seldom played live Scrabble in the intervening years, but has remained fairly sharp via playing online. Her 1686 rating is probably fairly accurate. Despite being double blanked, I had the ammunition to win the game comfortably. I had 2 early bingos, and she had 2 early exchanges. My big bingo of DEXTRINS 101 put the game away.
Game 4 vs. Kristiina Overton (L 422-458)
Bingos: FANWORT, AErIFIED, bULLIES / ANTIGENE, SHORTIA, CAUTIONS A high scoring affair after the lunch break. Apparently FANWORT is a word, and I somehow know it. It might be a foggy recollection of Jeremy Hildebrand's illustrated -WORT words. My late game bingo bango to take the lead was nullified by Kristiina's final comeback bingo. I don't feel bad about losing this one.
Game 5 vs. Cheryl Melvin (W 479-297)
Bingos: ADJOinS, PATOOTIE / none MELVIN!! After the 4 power tile bingo ADJOinS, there was no looking back, and I cruised to victory. (Pun intentional.)
Game 6 vs. Cheryl Melvin (L 347-385)
Bingos: none / TAVeRNA We were neck and neck the whole game, and she just pulled ahead by enough in the end to win. My Glenn Dunlop Game-Losing Play (TM) was passing up playing off my ES for 26 points in the pre-endgame in favour of a rack rebalancing play. Those 26 points would have pulled me dead even with Cheryl, and prevented her from using the same spot on her next turn on a tight board with very limited scoring opportunities. That S turned out to be useless after that point, and I finished the game with it left on my rack. Sad to lose a game in which I challenge off the famous phony DONATER*.
For the 3rd series in a row, I failed to sweep a round robin matchup after having won the first game. 3-3 +234 at the end of Day 1. Solid spread, but a disappointing record given my opponents. I still have to get through Tony Leah and Jeff Clark in the round robin - both tough opponents.
Shelley sits at 2-4 against a tough field, including a win over Tony. Midway through today's games, she got herself "acupunked" for seasickness, just like she did during our last cruise. It seemed to work well, but she was a little late getting back for Game 5, and Tony had actually started her clock. and had it run a few minutes. Tonight is the first formal dinner night of the cruise. Since I didn't bring a jacket and tie, we opted for burgers at the grill. We'll see how many of the ship dinners we actually make during the cruise! Last year I actually brought 2 suits, and didn't wear either. Now I don't bring one, and I'll probably have occasion to use one twice... After eating, we aimlessly wandered around the ship for a bit, and then headed back to the room for TV and blogging. Once again, the on-ship activities are pretty lame, and definitely geared towards the oldsters. Like last time, the karaoke is practically the only activity worth doing, and it's been nowhere to be seen thus far. They're finally having it tomorrow, but it's at 3:00 p.m. during our games! As I'm writing this, I note that it's 8:30, and the thalassotherapy pool (which we planned to visit) closes at 9:00. Shelley is sound asleep. Oops, so much for that idea... After Shelley had a nap, we went for 2nd dinner at the Oceanview Cafe, and hung out in the Rendez-Vous Lounge for a couple of games of iPhone Scrabble before heading back to the room. We iz boring hoomans. |
| Monday, May 21st, 2012 |
evwhore
|
9:19p |
I know too many lawyers
(also I'm too goddamned cynical)
This is how my brain works: I can't help but wonder if this is a sneaky way of saying that this drink is made with many diverse ingredients, one of which is 100% fruit juice.
UPDATE: ok, I agree it's obvious that's what it means; I guess it's just that it's soooo brazenly sleazy that the naive part of me was hoping there was some chance it meant the non-cynical thing. 
|
baudekin
|
9:03a |
Bermuda Cruise - Day 1
Sunday, May 6 Having been up all night, Shelley was ready for breakfast well before me. She brought me up a chalky unripe banana. While I appreciated the thought, I decided to go down myself. I had some oatmeal and brown sugar in a plastic cup, because I was not observant enough to locate the bowls. We were down in the lobby well in time for the 10:00 shuttle to the dock. We got to talking with our fellow travellers. The package rates for the 1-night stay, shuttle service to the dock before the trip, and shuttle from the dock to the airport after the trip came to about US$280, which seemed like way too much. Part of the problem was the fact that the shuttle cost was built into the room rate, so it was all subject to the 20% (!) state tax applicable to NJ hotel rooms. But at least the package deal kept us out of the hood, so that's a good thing. After a delay in the arrival of the shuttle vans, we were eventually under way. We had a very authentic Jersey bus driver, who gave us a impromptu tour during the trip, pointing out such gems as the fact that when ones drives over the Verrazano bridge in the summer, it sometimes smells like farts. At the docks, we were greeted by more authentic Jersey types, chain smoking as they unloaded our luggage. I scoured the horizon for Snooki and the Situation, but they were nowhere to be seen. One would think that Shelley, with copious amounts of free time and constantly being online, would have completed all of our pre-cruise registration well in advance. But she did not. So we had to take care of it at the dock. We were shocked to discover that my name didn't appear on the printed copy of the ship's manifest that they were working from! Shelley's name was there, but I was conspicuously absent. There were a few tense moments and a frantic call to Shauna before I was given the go-ahead to proceed. In the pre-boarding area, we looked into the ship's drink packages, and Shelley got herself a $44/day drink package allowing her to get unlimited water, pop and certain alcoholic beverages. Note to future self: $44/day is a LOT of alcohol. Soon we were aboard the Celebrity Summit. The Summit has virtually the exact same layout as the Infinity that we sailed on back on the 2010 South America cruise. Even the restaurants and lounges have the same names. So little time was required to orient ourselves with our new surroundings. We had to kill time until 1:00 when the staterooms would be made available to passengers, so we sat on lounge chairs on the pool deck, and played some iPhone Scrabble. Despite knowing the seats were wet, and proactively laying down towels, our butts still became saturated. We were able to get into our stateroom, but our luggage hadn't been delivered yet, so I resorted to using a hairdryer to attempt to dry myself, to humourous effect. We went for the Concierge Class room again on this cruise, with more space than a standard stateroom, and a little balcony. Our designated lackey for this cruise is Bartolome. He is very helpful and cheerful, but we have no idea what the hell he's saying. He also has a sub-lackey, Franz. Bartolome introduced Franz as a short little guy. Now, Bartolome is maybe 5' 2", so we were wondering just how short Franz would be. Turns out that, yep - Franz is even shorter. We went to the Rendez-Vous lounge for the Scrabble group orientation and got through a few games of over-the-board Scrabble. There are 2 musical acts on the ship: Up Till 2 - an a cappella quartet, and Rythmix - a dance quartet. Up Till 2 are pretty good, and they interact well with the audience. Rythmix is pretty cheesy - they're from (I think) the Philippines, and play old American standards. Other than their ethnic background, they are the stereotypical lounge act. In an attempt to ensure she gets her money's worth out of the $44/day drink package, Shelley had started the boozing early, soon after boarding the Summit. By around 6:30, Shelley had gained full appreciation for the amount of alcohol and other sundry drinks that constituted $44. Having not eaten since breakfast nor gotten any sleep the night before probably served to exacerbate her condition. I escorted drunkles back to our stateroom for a nap, and an opportunity to start this blog. I let Shelley sleep right through our 8:30 dinner seating, knowing that the Oceanview Cafe buffets would be open later. I popped up there just before the last servings stopped at 9:30, and grabbed some pizza, chicken stirfry, and ice cream. I also was overjoyed to find that my favourite nectar of the gods -- pass-o-guava, was available! They renamed it "orange passionfruit guava beverage", but it's still the same thing. While I was out, Shelley woke up, got dressed, and went to the dinner seating, thinking I'd be there. She actually checked the Oceanview cafe first, but didn't find me. Despite arriving an hour late, she didn't miss much, and had a full prime rib dinner. She also paid a visit to the evil casino afterwards, and lost all of her cash on hand. Fortunately, I was carrying most of it... Looks like we got turndown service twice tonight - double the normal allotment of 2 chocolate squares. Score! |
| Sunday, May 20th, 2012 |
copyright1983
|
10:59p |
LJ Idol Season 8, Week 28: "Walking on Eggshells"
E Unum, Pluribus"Does he know you feel this way?" It's my lifelong friend Jason on the other end of the line. In twenty years, we've never had a conversation like this, because neither of us has ever been through anything like this. "I've asked him about it before, but no, I don't think he realizes how angry I am." I sigh into the phone. "I've been meaning to talk to him about it." "You need to," Jason says. "You let this resentment build up, it's not going to do anybody any good. Just...let it out." "There's enough hurt feelings around this place to go around," I counter. "The last thing I want to do is make things worse. But yeah, you're right. That's a lame excuse." "Yeah, it is. And so is your Dad's." "Alright, then. We'll talk. Thanks." *** "I know we've talked about this before, but I just want to be clear." Dad's sitting at the kitchen table, having just gotten home from church; Mom's out running errands. "Why isn't counseling an option?" Dad lowers his head. "Counseling requires the willing participation of both parties," he says. And Mom's not willing? I think to myself. "And I'm not going to be a willing participant." That was...unexpected. His previous excuse was more along the lines of "it's liable to do more harm than good." "Why not?" I ask him. What follows is a half-hour history that I never fully comprehended before, but as Dad prefaced it, "You're 28 now, you're an adult, we can put all the cards on the table." A long history of cheating and spiritual struggle on Dad's part, of depression, recovery, and relapse on Mom's. Several prior attempts at counseling had led them right back to the same place they were--with no affection for each other, no desire on Mom's part to engage the world, no energy left for Dad to continue to fight for the relationship. "I can see the pursed lips and crossed arms," Dad says after a while. "I know it's not easy, but it's the truth." I look across the kitchen table at my dad, the man I look to as a model of how to live life. Ever since Dad first confided in me a month ago that they were looking at dissolving the marriage, he had encouraged me to just keep living life, to not worry about walking on eggshells. The trouble is, you still know they're there. At this point, though, there were a few rotten eggs that deserved to be stepped on. "All I know is this," I finally say. "You've invested 33 years of your life in this woman." "Forty, if you count the time before we were married." "Right. If it were me, I'd be throwing absolutely everything--kitchen sink included--at saving it." Dad looks away for a few seconds, then back at me. "I already have. And I can't do it anymore." "So you're more interested in saving your friendship than saving your marriage?" I bark. Dad nods, and all I can do is shake my head. *** "It's funny," I say to Dad as we walk out to his truck. Bob, the rambunctious Norfolk terrier Mom always wanted who now splits time between the two houses, follows along. "I always said I wanted a marriage just like my parents had. I guess that's no longer true." "The hardest thing in the world is to be married to someone," Dad finally says. "Believe me, I know plenty of marriages that look great on the outside, but are falling apart from within. It's not just us." Bob scampers down the street, exploring the space underneath the neighbors' SUV. "So I'll see you tomorrow night at the bowling alley, then?" "Yeah," Dad says. "Get there around 6, so we can grab dinner before league." He opens his arms, and we embrace. "I love you," he says. "Love you too," I reply. "That doesn't mean I like you very much right now, though." He pulls away and looks at me. "You have every right not to." He climbs into his truck, and Bob jumps in just before he closes the door and drives away. Current Mood:  discontent |
kismet09
|
5:58p |
Home
We have arrived in New Jersey. Our stuff doesn't arrive until tomorrow, and our Internet doesn't get set up until Tuesday, so no long post today. Just saying we are here, and it still feels surreal. Went to Princeton, ate at Tiger Noodles, got some groceries, and now ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) mthgeek is out running. I'm sitting on a dog bed on the living room floor. It'll be better once the couch and bed are here. Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone. |
tranonehalf
|
2:48p |
Travel updates
SDO DOS Rewind Food --A lot of Mexican food. That was probably the highlight. Conrad tends to hype a lot of average foods, like burgers and garlic fries, but carne asada fries are freaking awesome. Fries, with all the most delicious burrito toppings. Also ate a good deal of fish tacos and margaritas. The most random meal was when I walked around and found an Azerbaijani restaurant in the middle of San Diego, where I had some eggplant fries and a saucer of 6 different types of sangria. Fast forward 5 days later, Jesse Day does a yelp search, finds the same Azerbaijani restaurant, and then we go there for dinner with lamb, kebabs, ribs, and more sangria. Another highlight was duckaroni - duck confit with mac and cheese. --Food lowlights include farro, kale smoothies, SPAM sushi, and girnomous amounts of Hash House Leftovers. Sights/Stuff: --Not much to report. Balboa park is huge and beautiful, as expected. If the Louvre is a museum full of art, Balboa park is a park full of museums. Never got to visit any of the beaches, nor the bordering resort casinos. Liar's dice is still fun, but may be losing it's charm. Things is still good from time to time. Fake DDRing with Cesar was hilarious. Anything involving Cesar is usually hilarious. (And he finally fixed Aerolith! --well, technically, *I* fixed Aerolith) Scrabble --Scrabble tends to get pushed down on the list of memorable things at Scrabble tournament these days. Partially because I suck. But congrats to the winners, like Rafi, Jesse, and Cesar. I need to learn more words -- challenge grids are getting worse. After a peptalk with Kenji, he suggested I play more phonies against lower-rateds, so I got away with words like ENTOZOEA. I simmed all my games with Noah on the ride back to SF, which was enjoyable. Would post a challenge grid, but I don't have the gamefiles or scoresheets. They may show up eventually. Current goals: 1) Learn more words. 2) Hit 2000. 3) Contend for a Nationals. Up Next: SF/PORTLAND. Then: LONDON! FRANCE! |
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