2003-02-18 - 11:46 p.m.

The Extra Day

Since we were leaving a day later than we had originally planned, Frederick wanted to get an early start today. By early, I mean REAL early, as in 6 a.m. Well, someone forgot to set the alarm, so we wound up waking up at 7:30. Oopsie!

Actually, I didn't set the alarm on purpose. How terribly passive-aggressive of me.

In pretty short order we got our stuff together (again) and bundled it out to the car, again. The car was even more snowed in than it had been the day before - it looked like it was going to be a real challenge to get out. I knew the hotel had a snow shovel it lent out, so while Frederick went in to get that, I tried to dig the car out by hand. However, just a couple minutes work convinced me that was futile, like trying to empty a swimming pool with a teaspoon. Well, the car is a big ol' SUV with 4-wheel drive, can't I just muscle my way out, just like they do on all those TV commercials?

Well, there is a big difference between car commercials and real life, like the tiny subtitles say: Warning! professional stunt drivers used! I also knew that when you are stuck, four wheel drive can get you out but it can also dig you in deeper. However, as the minutes passed and Frederick did not return, I got impatient. I jumped in and fired the car up, and then with very little problem simply plowed through the snow bank. Just like that, problem solved!

I drove up to the front entrance, only to meet Frederick coming out with a wastepaper basket. Apparently there was a half-hour waiting list for the hotel's snow shovel, and it took Frederick that long to persuade the people at the front desk to let him use their wastepaper basket instead.

As it turned out the toughest thing about the trip was getting out of the hotel parking lot. We drove home without incident and the roads seemed almost completely clear. Well, that was a relief.

Since there isn't that much to talk about today, except for the fact that Lily and I were very glad to see each other, I'll talk about some problems of the previous day.

Like I said before, as in previous years I was collecting the scoresheets for the Team East, processing them and then distributing them to the various directors and journalists. When I heard that there was a record number of teams this year I was hoping that there would also be a record number of games. While there were a huge number of scoresheets turned in after the first round, the number dropped off sharply after that. In fact, this year there may only be about half or two-thirds of last year's total.

Part of the reason for that was the fact that the snow caused folks to drop out - a little over 25% of the original entrants left before the final round. However the main reason was taht the organizers ran out of scoresheets. Originally they had piles of the special scoresheets that made carbonless copies, allowing the players to keep a copy while turning the other one in. Toward the middle of the event they ran out and couldn't get more because they were snowed in. They managed to print up some more, but they were simple sheets of paper that didn't make copies. Most chess players will not part with the only copy of the game they just played. Oh well, everyone else's loss is my gain - it's less work for me!

The other thing that kept me occupied - lost items. My usual scatterbrained behavior had me spending an inordinate amount of time looking for misplaced belongings.

Does this happen to everyone? Do other people just lose things and go "oh, well?" Am I overly concerned about my belongings?

The two items I misplaces were my scarf and my scorebook. Neither one of them were a big tragedy - I have other scarves at home, and nearly all the games in my scorebook were in the databases in my computer at home. The only game that was missing was my first round game, and I managed to get another copy of it from my opponent.

Of course, right after I got the game, I got my scorebook back. I had thoughtfully written my name on it, so when someone found it they turned it into the directors' table. It took a couple of days for it to surface. I actually found my scarf on my own.

Ironically I only got to enjoy having all my possessions for about an hour. Almost as soon as I got my scorebook back, someone stole my pencil! Well, at least I have the satisfaction of knowing I didn�t lose it - one minute it was on the table, the next it was nowhere to be found. I was just a pencil, but it did mean something - the logo on the pencil was from a company that was run by a guy I knew who is now dead. Oh, well.

The rest of the day was spent playing catch-up. There was one of life's little embarrassing moments in the afternoon. I needed to go to the bank for my weekly deposit. I was looking a little bedraggled and hadn't taken a shower yet when who should I run into by an ex-girlfriend from high school. There was a table of children selling Girl Scout cookies set up in the bank and she was chaperoning them. One of her kids was one of the girls behind the table, but she was not exhibiting a lot of salesmanship - her nose was buried in a book.

Anyway, the ex-GF and I had been in touch a couple of times recently, and we'd been friendly. I considered that this was very nice of her since according to my recollection I hadn't been a very good boyfriend. That's what made me not mention that I was engaged now - I didn't want it to look like I was saying just to be mean. Wasn't that silly? After all, she's married with two kids.

You know, it just figures that I'd run into someone I knew when I looked like crap. It seems to be my destiny to be some sort of social clown. Oh well.