2002-10-18 - 11:51 p.m.

Screwed!

As I think I've mentioned here before I am planning to join my beloved Lily in China in a couple of weeks. I guess that's bad news for you folks reading thins since I'm probably not going to able to update here for two weeks in November. Or maybe it's not bad news! The blasts of hot air from here will cease for a while.

Anyway, today we got some bad news from an unexpected quarter. I was planning on flying into Shanghai on the 10th of November and join Lily and the rest of her classmates while they toured Beijing. This was a part of the trip I was especially looking forward to because I wanted to see the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. Why go to China if you're not going to see those things?

Today Lily informed me that the dates for the trip to Beijing had been changed, and the trip there was going to be all but over by the time I got there. And why was this happening, pray tell? Because the parents of one of the other students wanted to meet with their son at some particular time and place, and they bitched to the college until they changed the itinerary. I have no influence here because I'm not a wealthy parent, in fact I'm not associated with the school in any way, other than my girlfriend is going there.

So I'm screwed.

I have a choice now. I can change my ticket and arrive earlier, or we can give up on the trip to Beijing and leave the tickets as they are. Both options suck. The first one means I'm going to have to change my ticket and pay an extra $300, as well as further contort my already cramped schedule to spend two or three more days in China. The second choice not only means that I miss out on visiting Beijing and all the site there, but Lily does too.

Right now I'm leaning toward changing my ticket, but I really do not need the extra stress and especially the extra expense now. Well, on the bright side I'll get to see Lily sooner.

The first round of the preliminaries of the Frown Town Chess Club championships happened last night. Basically what happens is the club is divided into two or three sections and the top finishers get to play in the finals. Last year we only had enough players for two sections, but this year we have enough for three. It looks like I'm in a pretty tough section this year, so I have my work cut out for me. Bobby, who I've talked about before and who seems to be a problem opponent for me now, is in my section, so I have to be very careful.

My first game was against the same fellow who beat me on time last week. He played a complicated opening, and made me sweat for a while, but eventually his attack broke down and he was left with a lost game. I managed to mop him up without too much trouble after that. Still, the toughest games are yet to come.