And here she is, bloodied but unbowed. Somewhat to my dismay, you can actually see EXACTLY how poorly I did by going to the NSA website. Ugh.
for the quick version - I was 14-16 in Division 2 (of 7 divisions) Played a lot of people I didn't know. I pulled only 6 blanks out of 22 (in 11 games) and was pretty demoralised by that, which kinda cut into my concentration factor - nonetheless had I won only 3 more games I would have probably raised my rating and 4 more games might have gotten me some cash. Sigh. On the brighter side, I may have a worthwhile photo or two, and I did witness the BIG CONTROVERSY over LEZ which gave us more coverage for this tourney than anyone could have imagined. (if you don't know what I'm talking about do follow that link Norm posted :) ) I did have Chicory coffee and a number of Beignets (the best were actually at the airport!) and lots of fabulous food, lovely walks in interesting neighborhoods, and lots of re-bonding with SCrabble friends from all over the world... I gave three of the Thai's - two of whom I had played many years ago in tourneys - Winners calendars. I was sorry I didn't play up into the first division - I don't think I would have fared any worse than I did in Division 2. ALso very sad to hear of HCB's demise from a friend - I hardly read papers or looked at TV during the tourney - and sorry not to jump in sooner to the discussion on his greatness. (I guess I'll have to respond to one of those posts - he certainly is at the very top of my list of photographers whose work I most admire - the very tippy top, actually. ) I see Shel is back, too. Will post something PESO a bit later. Watch the TOday show on Monday to see the tiles I played with in the tourney - Borrowed from former National Champ Rita Norr when I found I had left mine at home! She left New ORleans before I did so I still had the tiles with me when one of the NSA staff , who had been on the same Jet Blue flight coming home yesterday, asked if I had yellow tiles. Since yellow ones were used during the finals they wanted the same tiles for the Today show interview with Trey Wright. I was, personally, rooting for David Gibson, who I know a bit better than Trey and who I played in the first major tourney he ever won. travellin' annsan
