Another year, another Euroquest on the books. It's the only gaming tournament I participate in, so I was there for pretty much the duration & participated in as many tournaments as I could. Skipped the wild card this time, a whopping two Can't Stop games both of which were horrid, & only a few 'Play to Win' games, I played but didn't win. Also stayed out of the side tourneys & demos. In the past 5-6 years, I made it into 5 semi-finals & 1 final. This year, I made 2 finals, qualified for 6 semis and played in 4 of them. Twice I was eligible for 2 semis that were played at the same time. Figures. Also was reduced to just 1 heat of Ticket to Ride - my strong game - by both finals being against TTR heats. My one heat of TTR (& lone heat of Castles of Burgundy, another one I'm good at) were atrociously bad. Some of the worst games I've every played of them.

After an episode with taking things to the neighborhood dumpster day (like Mom changing her mind every couple days on whether we should dump anything and one item leaking black fluid all over the back seat of my car), I spent the rest of the day at a gaming birthday party. 50+ people in a house not meant for nearly that many people, plus multiple people with social skills issues. The main one being the 10 year old boy, whom I'd never met before, who greeted me at the door by grabbing my boobs. His mother seemed uninterested. Apparently he's autistic on some level, but really, that's not something the parents should be letting the kid do. Then I got into a Ticket to Ride team game with two people who claimed they played TTR and loved it. Turns out they've never played it before, AT ALL, which is not a good thing when playing the team game. A 3 hour game later...fortunately the gaming day improved after that, I got into a few games outside on the deck with people I like to play with. And now I'm home...

...and it's time I got cracking on prepping for tomorrow's entertainment. A charity softball game. The Ravens' offense vs the Ravens' defense. The weather is predicted to be pleasant (although it'll be better if I can find the darn sunblock) and the few comments I found online about previous softball games seem to indicate they're both fun and productive in the getting autographs category. Hopefully Mom can finally meet her beloved Ray Rice and get her jersey signed. Off to find that sunblock...

Skipped the full convention this year. I was so busy in January and so tired, I wasn't sure I'd go at all. I settled for Sunday only, which turned out OK because most of the panels I was interested in were on Sunday. I had an hour to pick up autographs from Michael Hogan & Kate Vernon, and browse the dealers room. Took only half an hour as it turned out, there was no line for either actor and not much of interest in the dealers room. Picked up a few new games, including Ticket to Ride's newest version (India) and a couple goofy card games, 'Nuts' and 'Kittens in a Blender.' Yes, you read the last one right. Apparently a very popular game, I bought the last copy the guy had and evidently there were several rounds of it played prior to poker last night. Was pleasantly surprised to see jslinder and Pam, and visited en panel with the USS Chesapeake gang. We concluded that 'Chesapeake' is a Native American term meaning 'Attention Deficit Disorder.' And that was my Farpoint, however brief.

Either the Dr Who Series 5 DVDs or Ticket to Ride: Asia :)

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!!!!!!

CBS Sunday Morning did a piece on board games, including a bunch of my faves on the show (Settlers, Ticket, Carcassonne). Gaming has gone legit :)

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7361550n&tag=cbsnewsTwoColUpperPromoArea

I seem to have done reasonably well fantasy-wise, as I went 3 for 4 and I'm pretty sure no one outside Seattle picked that game right. The Ravens snapped out of their recent funk halfway through the game and turned it into a laugher. Meanwhile, Michael Vick goes home. Can't complaint about that outcome. On the other hand, the Ravens now get the Squealers - yippee - and the game will be starting while I'm at Dave's funeral. Swell.

Watched most of the football from Alphabet Soup, where I played my worst game of TTR ever (I refused to let them score me, as I was in negatives) and finally learned Alhambra (8 months after I asked to learn it) and Ra - Dice. Those games seem to have some possibilities. And with the Ravens on Saturday, I'm clear to game Sunday without distractions.

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.

The 'going to the gym' part of my break didn't go so hot - my shoulder and back were both killing me and I was miserable after just 10 minutes on the bike - but the gaming part of the program was better. I was the first person there by a substantial margin, so I helped with setting up. Which for me was feeding the guinea pigs :)  Only played a few games and lost all of them, although I lost Ticket to Ride by 1 point. There is a board game based on the Constitutional Convention now. Yes, you too can decide which delegates are Federalists and which ones are anti-Federalists and vote on Articles to the Constitution. I didn't finish last, thanks to my hero Benjamin Franklin giving me a points blitz in the last round, but still I was 4th of 5.

But mostly it was a change of scenery from home/work and a break from Mom, so a big help. Now a little football before bed.

And feeling very fortunate. One of my fellow Soupers, who had parked about 30 feet away from my car, had his car broken into during Soup. It's not a particularly new or expensive car and he had nothing in it, which really made me worry about my poor little car, but no, Baby Blue was left alone. Close call. And one of the few times I'm glad I haven't gotten around to cleaning up the back seat. Dog hair does make a car less appealing to a thief, I would think.

Indoors, I learned Puerto Rico and didn't finish last; and nearly lapped the other players at Ticket to Ride: Europe. The tickets just fell my way, as it were. Successfully made banana bread for the event and it was well-received. Now to putter about a bit before bed.