Gonzai Gallery

Home now from Euroquest, four days of games and serious humbling and social graces or not, as the case sometimes was. Besides the Can't Stop and Lost Cities wins Friday, I won exactly one game - a Stone Age match Friday afternoon. That was it for me and winning. After Thursday, I couldn't win a Wild Card game for anything and after Friday I couldn't win, period. I somehow squeaked into the Stone Age semi-final (I was ranked 16th and they took 16 players) and finished 3rd in that, for a 12th place finish overall. I didn't beat 25th or so in anything else, and that finish was in Ra, which I played solely to kill time. I was absolutely destroyed in Ticket to Ride & Dominion. Good thing there were no crows around and my ego isn't invested in winning.

Meanwhile, I met up with old friends and made many new friends, including one who came to EQ from Romania. Yes, Romania. Of course, she also wiped the walls with me at every game, but we had fun. (There was also an attendee who came from Israel to play. I'm not sure but they're crazy...) Taught a few games to people, including some of the younger set, and hopefully convinced some folks to join in with the GCOM fun. Of course, had to deal with one obnoxious yo-yo all weekend including consecutive games on Friday, which left me unsuccessfully begging the GameMaster to please put this jerk at another table, I already spent two hours trying not to strangle him. Apparently there was a lot of 'please don't make me play with Jason' going around the whole room. I behaved financially, eating economically (Subway/McDs/7-11) and buying a whopping two items, a Christmas present for Jack and one item for myself. Shouldn't have done that, but darn it, I need some level of treat.

Tomorrow I get to work on the expensive requirements the class just dropped on me (background check I have to pay them for, a tetanus shot and a copy of my high school diploma) plus an MRI on the much-pained shoulder and the class itself. But tonight, yes, it is: Sunday Night Football, Ravens at Steeler. Oh yes.

LET'S GO RAVENS!!!!!!

Yesterday I lost Stone Age by 2 points. Today I lost by...1 point. And the player who beat me today is the only one to beat my friend Henry all weekend. But then, in the semi-final, I was put in a group with my friend Eugene, who is the asst GM of Stone Age and the best player I've ever seen at the game. So I was toast, and finished 3rd behind Eugene and a nitwit who apparently entered the tournament to get more quality time with his Blackberry. Sheesh. Another 2nd in Settlers and another one in TTR Europe to round out the tourney. Also got waxed in Lost Cities and scraped out a 3rd in Endeavor in the informal tourney, and concluded the day by thoroughly bolloxing an attempt at a new game, 4 Monkeys. Probably a good one for  some people, but apparently not me.

Also had adventures with Mom, whose car was dead this morning and she couldn't remember what to do about such things; fortunately she called during the only few minutes I wasn't in the signal-challenged ballroom but rather picking up lunch. I walked her through using AAA and they took care of the car, phew.

Last but not least, another second, but not mine. I watched the race. OH, so close! I do think Zenyatta is one impressive horse, although I'm not as sold on her as some - she never raced on turf and except for the Breeders Cup, never outside California or against the boys. Basically, 17 of her 20 races were against mediocre competition. So, a great horse, but not the greatest ever. Would have been something if she'd pulled it off though.

Just got home from Day 1 of Euroquest. Won an in-person Stone Age game for the first time, won plenty of other games early when they didn't count, but got creamed as the night went on so I passed on the Dominion tournament. Somehow was placed on a team with two people I barely know, but we finished the night in first place with two wins and a second. We'll see how we do as time goes on.

Oh, continued 'Ornament Quest' before going to the tourney and found the jackpot - found a store with gazillions of the ornaments in stock. Bought as many as I could get in the shopping cart. I should be good for the rest of the year. Phew.