First Chess Lesson Completed

Oh darlings, what a day, what a day.

It started out fine, including some mild weather for this time of year in Wisconsin, happy to have it!  Things started going downhill with the noon Team Meeting.  The firm has implemented a number of changes this year, all geared toward enhancing our "brand" and embracing a "green footprint."  Unfortunately, the people who made the decisions didn't ask for an input from the staff, who actually have to implement these policies on a day to day basis.  Many issues have arisen, including the new stationery being too thick for our printers to process efficiently, the new font that the firm wants used that violates the rules of the 7th Circuit District Court (Federal), and I could go on and on.  I was not looking forward to this Team Meeting, and I was right.  I was hungry, but the food that was offered was not anything I wanted to eat.  Only the desserts looked good but I don't eat desserts generally -- too much sugar. 

And so, while the entire Team was seated around me chowing down, I sat there with a rumbling stomach.  The meeting didn't end until 2 p.m. -- I made a quick trip to Cousins but then was scarfing down the sub-sandwich in between bouts of frantic work.  Not exactly conducive to proper digestion or stress reduction.

Then, issues arose with the high speed scanner, oh, I'm not even going to go there!  I left the office about 3 minutes behind schedule and I knew, I just damn well knew, I was going to miss the bus to take me to the shopping mall where I was to meet the chess coach shortly after 6 p.m.  That bus, my regular bus, would have delivered me to the door of the mall just before 6 p.m. As it was, I had to wait for the 5:16 - that is, the bus leaves the depot at the end of the route at 5:16 and a full hour later deposited me at the mall.

What I look like after I remove my make-up.

So, there I am, no cell phone (don't ask), even if I had a cell phone no way to call the coach because I didn't have his cell phone number on me.  I didn't think I'd need it and if I did, it was in my email which I have access to at the office, of course, but not on a street corner with no cell phone that can tap into a wireless network, assuming one was available!  My head, which had already been pounding, began to throb in earnest.  I'm sure my eyelids were twitching too.  I must have looked dangerous.  Or strange.  Maybe both.  People did not stand close to me - a good thing.  I can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke and without fail, there are always three or four people who light up right next to me while waiting on the bus.  Also without fail, they always seem to somehow position themselves so that no matter where I walk to try to escape from the gagging odor of cigarettes, I can't get away from it!  Also without fail #3, they ALWAYS STAND UPWIND FROM YOU, INSTEAD OF BEING CONSIDERATE AND STANDING DOWNWIND AWAY FROM YOU. 

Now, you know, Wisconsin recently passed a concealed carry law.  All I have to do is take 4 hours worth of training and clear a criminal background check and I can carry a gun around and pop anyone I want whenever I get pissed off, just as long as I have a good enough reason to convince a jury that it was just cause to kill that person.  Or maybe now, with the current nut cases in control of my formerly sane state, I don't even have to have a good enough reason.  I'll just start killing smokers who stand too close to me and are not wise enough to stand downwind - oh the folly of not seeing that power-mad look in my eyes, bwwwwaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaa......

So, the 5:16 finally arrived at my corner and, sure enough, I've got Mr. Pokey as a driver.  He could have delivered me to the mall at least 10 minutes earlier, but that would blow up the schedule.  Isn't it uncanny how the only time bus drivers seem to adhere to "the schedule" is when you absolutely need to get somewhere in a big hurry?

Fortunately, Tom was still waiting for me in the food court when I blew in as fast as my short legs could carry me, about 6:20.  I had confirmed to him the night before that I would be there shortly after 6 p.m.

Poor man!  Not exactly an auspicious beginning.

I have some things to practice, but not tonight.  My head hurts too much.  I shouldn't even be doing this, but I've neglected the blog of late, and in the meantime the Women's World Chess Championship Match between GM Koneru Humpy and GM Hou Yifan has crept up on me.  I'm having a hard time dealing with the fact that I seem to have misplaced most of my summer.  When did that happen?  People put up CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS in the subdivision this weekend.  OY!

A few encouraging signs during the first chess lesson.  We went through my two longest games from Challenge XIV and I made some good moves.  I also really really really need to either buy one of those damn Monroi thingies to keep track of my moves or I need to - I don't know what.  I wrote several moves down wrong, like moving a queen in one game to a square where I already had a pawn parked.  Oh, my head...