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...

Smooth Jazz: Keiko Matsui "Dreamwalk"

Ooohhhh, I like this, I like this.  I can see myself dancing out on my deck in the moonlight on a summer's night to this song...  I want to learn how to play the piano like this - one of the things on my "Bucket" List.  Starting another thing on my "Bucket" List tomorrow night after work - my first lesson with a chess coach.  EEK!

Personal Stuff - You Can Skip This, Darlings...

THANK YOU, LUCILLE! 

Lucille and I are related through the Makuski line on my mom's side of the family tree.  She sent me an email yesterday that I didn't get to read until this morning.  HOLY GODDESS!  It has information that I did not have before, including the name of the parents of one Josef Jablonski, whom I had not been able to trace back beyond his stating on old census records that he came to America in 1871 from Poland.  The information includes the names of his parents, which did not previously have!  It also has contact information to a descendant of one of Josef's children, but it's from 2004.  I will try and follow-up.

So - tonight I'm going to be working on family tree stuff because Christmas is looming -- it will be here sooner than I think!  I've got to get the major family lines firmed up and printed, and then add photographs, obituaries and histories to round things out.  A major undertaking.

Tomorrow it's C-DAY!  The Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIV is upon me. EEEK EEEK EEEK!

LOL!  Seriously, darlings, I'm not ready for prime-time but I have to tell you, I had some of the most interesting chess conversations today that I've ever had in life.  What's more, on the one that took place coming home tonight from the office, half the bus listened in on it and had input!

I'm not kidding you!  Damn, this is one time I wish I had one of those fancy-pants cellphones where I could have recorded what happened, it was just so much fun.

As you know, I'm a relatively new member of the CCR (Crazy Cougars Rock).  But we don't restrict ourselves to cougars.  I'm the oldest at 60; "Thelma" (not her real name, it has to do with a long involved conversation we had about "Thelma and Louise" and - well, the less said about that, the better) is our newest member, and she can't be more than 25.  She's ridden the bus with one or more of us, off and on, for some years -- you know how you get to recognize regulars along your route, morning and night -- but it was only during the last week or so that she started sitting with JJ, A, D and others in the morning, and joining JJ, A, D and I on the evening ride home.  We're non-discriminatory.  We have male members, too, but they mostly sit and laugh riotously at whatever we say :)

Anyway, tonight we were minus two of our regulars.  I sat down next to JJ and next stop, Thelma got on.  The conversation went along, and at one point JJ asked me what I was doing tomorrow.  I said tomorrow's the tournament.  She knew what that meant, but Thelma didn't, and when JJ explained that tomorrow I was going to be playing in a CHESS TOURNAMENT (and that's just how she said it, in ALL CAPS), Thelma was not only duly impressed, it seemed most everyone else on the now crowded bus was, too!  I mean, darlings, it was just one of those priceless moments when all eyes are on YOU in a GOOD way and you feel like a GENIUS!  Me and my 579 ELO!

Oh Goddess, it was priceless! 

When I modestly (ahem) declaimed that I was a very poor player who would have her butt whipped tomorrow by 10 year olds, advice started pouring in!  The lady standing next to my seat told me about a 9 hour event she'd played in, and thought she'd die but she did okay!  And the young dude sitting in front of us (who had been laughing at our conversation earlier, well, we are pretty funny broads, if I do say so myself, although he was trying hard not to show it, his shoulders were shaking; and when I declared to the bus in general that the New Middle Age was between 60 and 80, and after 80 I intended to be an Old Bitch, he just couldn't hold it in anymore) - he had some words of advice.  Good advice, actually, hmmm...

Thelma, who has never played a game of chess - gasp! - wanted a lesson then and there.  JJ, whose significant other sounds like a very competent and competitive chessplayer, who gets into staring-at-the-board-matches-for-long-stretches-of-time with one of his brothers, explained to Thelma and everyone else who was within shouting range (she's rather LOUD, if you know what I mean) with air drawings how some of the pieces move, and I filled in here and there with timely narrative. 

I had so many "good luck" and "you beat their little 'bleeps' off tomorrow" yelled to me as people exited the bus (JJ and I don't get off until near the end of the route) that I was getting hoarse shouting back at ya'll.  THANK YOU.  I doubt any of you read this blog - but here's to you, darlings, just in case :)

Thelma wants lessons.  How we can manage that on the bus...

Speaking of which, today I gave my very first chess lesson to a fellow employee, who wants to learn how to play so that she can teach her son, who is three and absolutely precious.  We had a very productive lunch hour lesson.  I explained and showed her the basic moves of each of the pieces, I explained the "j'doube" rule, I explained what "shah mat" (checkmate in English) actually means and where the original term came from, and gave her just a little bit of the ancient tradition of The Royal Game. For our second 30 minutes I "tested" her on what the pieces were and what their moves were (she did very well!), and showed her basic situations of how a king can harried by the other pieces. 

By Goddess, I think she's got it.  But you know what, it's so easy to teach someone who is eager to learn.  So I'm still feeling like a GENIUS. 

I am hoping that some of the Chess Magic that happened in my life today will carry-over to tomorrow, and give me a draw!  That's all I want, just ONE DRAW!

A New Year Resolution - To Learn Chess

A great idea! Make A Resolution to Stick To Last Update: 5:43 pm Web produced by: Jessica Noll Whether you are vowing to take up a hobby, get fit, learn a new skill, read more, become more computer literate, volunteer your time or get your GED in the New Year, the Kenton County Public Library can help with your resolution. Always wanted to learn to play chess? Here is your chance! The Mary Ann Mongan Library in Covington will offer a two-part Chess Class Saturdays, Jan. 17 and 31, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The class for children in first grade through adults will teach the basics such as pieces, point values, rules and moves. The Covington location also offers Chess Club for children in grades K-12 every Thursday from 3-5 p.m. It’s open to all skill levels.