Houston, we have achieved mediocrity
After a big start this morning, things pretty well tapered off.
We started a new KO event, and were leading at the half but couldn’t hold on, so we had to play loser Swiss this evening. We won two and lost two, finished just above average and couldn’t wait to get out of there.
On the way back to the house Gail called and asked if I wanted to play the next BBO tournament. Since I really like to play with her, and I don’t go to bed all that early anyway, I said yes.
BBO played better than live bridge today; we had a 55% game and won half of a masterpoint, so I have more points this week than Mike.
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Walking around town and poking into the plethora of gift and souvenir stores, one of the shopkeepers noted that I must be a bridge player. I asked if it was the old, white, pale, overweight look but she said it was because I was well-scrubbed and didn’t sound like Foghorn Leghorn. That’s Gatlinburg in a nutshell.
Lunch today with Bruce and Jack at a “grill and bar”, which is considered clever branding in these parts. Our waitress sounded just like Mrs. Foghorn Leghorn–we could understand about 30% of what she said, starting when she got to our table and said she would “just plop a squat” at an empty seat.
The French dip sandwiches were decent, not great. The iced tea was unsweetened, Jack seemed to like his burger and Mrs. leghorn insisted on bringing me some barbecue sauce for my onion rings even though I asked for ranch. Made a big deal about not charging me for the BBQ sauce I didn’t want, too. I’m lucky that way.
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Laura and Tanya, the hat girls
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Tanya Moalem used to live in the Bay Area, but she got married and moved to New York. I see her at all the tournaments, but not like this–she is playing with a woman from Maine named Laura, and Laura makes hats. So she and her partners and teammates wear those hats, and this is who was next to us after the first round this evening.
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Five guys, spending a week without wives in a far away tourist mecca. Must be pretty rowdy, right?
Diet Coke and popcorn--we're living the high life now.
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These are the guys after the game tonight–sitting on the sofa, watching basketball and getting wild and crazy on Diet Coke. Jack had already gone to bed and I was playing cards online with Gail. You can see why we need this week every year to bust loose and, well, something……………
Maybe we’re not as rowdy as we think we are. Ill just have a glass of warm milk and hit the sack. Big game in the morning
Totally Unauthorized 