Thank you Sherrie and John for a sprightly-run tournament and lots (and lots!) of little detailed touches which made a difference. Also the rest of the staff and helpers...

Lost my first 3 and my last 5 (and one other) to finish 6-9 - uninspiring but a lot of the games were really good fun with good company. Cool meeting Craig Rowland, Amit, Sary, Kit, Debbie Stegman, others from the numerous Canadian contingent.

What makes one tournament or series of games worse than another? What's that awful twist in the brain stem that cramps one's word- and board- vision? See below for several cases-in-point.

Scroll past highlights/lowlights for summary.

1: Missed EIKONEs in opening rack. Played phony TUNN*, opp kicked self all the way to a 3-point win.

2: Could not get it going. Bernard got both blanks. I challenged off BARNIeS and he came back with BRISANCE.

3: Late and tired (those are my excuses). Martin Smith was brilliant with QKXJSSS? I saw FOrMATE but wasn't sure enough to play it; got down FlOATED a turn later. Pedestrian play - sigh.

4. First win. Now we know what UMPTeEN is worth: 77.

5. EFFORTs, RECITErS, and the phony DISABLER*.

6. Opened VANED against Mark Berg (Maven agreed). He came back with REVOLTER. 4 turns later I pass AEEILQ keeping E (Maven agreed). 4 turns later I pass EEEIUG keeping E (Maven agreed). Worst error was playing GIMELS instead of GIMLET.

7. I play JOEY against Dave Mallick (teehee). Then AUDITEd, TASTINGS*, and go out with DELATOR to win 520-267. High game. Best line after XU for 50: "If you keep scoring like that, you're going to win."

8. Open QUATE against Ted Rosen, and everything goes my way. He even creates a spot just in time for my FORNIX for 66. At the end he blocks SEAWANTs or WEASANd, but WEASoN (31) is enough to hold on for the win. A turn earlier I spotted VIRIDiAN but again wasn't sure enough to play it.

9. Fantastically close game against Sal. His ZOMBI, JOY, BIZ, SARMENTS, OXIDISES (101), and my OUTwRITE, ROQUE, INvITES, SOCKO... and Sal is ahead by 26. I am holding REARGUE but it doesn't play, 2 tiles in the bag AAEEFLNNR unseen. I decide to gamble, playing GRAVURE for 24, killing one obvious scoring lane and hoping for an out in one. I draw EF [1] and now have ELF which has two spots. Sal uses most of his remaining 10 minutes to deliberate, blocks the higher-scoring ELF, but I win by 6 after DELF. Very exciting.

10. Dominic plays hard to keep up after challenging my first play of INKJET, but I gradually pull out of reach on the strength of JXZQKSSSS? Can't complain. Near the end I hook SIC onto INKJETS* which is phony but Dominic was doubting himself a bit too much challenge. On the next board, Lynn had a 9-timer sHERRIED challenged off. The blank can only be one letter [2].

11. Scott Appel, who had a great tournament, opens with YANKS and never looks back. Midway I see STRAWInG but don't risk it. After TRIG I draw the 2nd blank for AOPRW??. I see one playable 7 [3], but put down an 8 to the triple from the S [4]. We're almost tied at then end, and it's looking like a stuck Q is going to determine things - when Scott puts down TINWARES for 88. Game over (*and* I get stuck with the Q!). I think my worst error in this game was squandering the beautiful rack FOREIGN by playing F(O)REIGN keeping O. I drew AELLOU.

12. Jakob. What can I say - I second every nice thing anyone has ever said about this guy. He trounces me: ENERGIDS, AlIMONY, BRaZIER. Challenges off PLAGUIER* (when I held PLAGUER, I did not remember either of its anagrams, both of which were playable [5]. Blocks TIPPLES. He said he waited the whole game for a P to hook PALIMONY, but I got both P's and didn't see the hook. He's better than me and he won :-)

13. Richard Buck and an old-fashioned slug-fest. His FARNESOL, UNVERSED, JOIn (54); My FAQIR (51), ANNEALER, OUTSTRIP, and sOZINE (61). Richard by 28.

14. Mark Fidler IGNITES, SANItIZE (102), UNSTRAP... I only break 300 on account of his stuck Q. Mark said he was grateful to see the Q because he'd been aware of my tough game, and didn't want to see me get stuck with the Q after he'd gotten KJZXSSSS??. What a guy.

15. Repeating against Ted Rosen, he is as hot as he was cold earlier. His ROQUES, VIZOR, HEISTED; My SALIENT, JICAMA, DINNErS. He blocks OVER(B)OIL and there was no A for the more common blanagram [6].

And it's over and I run for the train.

SUMMARY:
Bingos - 18 (1.2 per game)
Blanks - 15 (50%)
Games won with both blanks - 3
Games lost both blanks to opp - 4
Games where I saw a rack with EEE - 7
Games where I saw EEE twice - 1
Games where I saw EEE thrice - 1
Typical post-bingo drek: INNNRTT, AEEEIUQ, IONNNY?
Most outrageous attempted phony: CUTWADS*
Most stupid play: MOA, making IM*
Favorite words: AUSTRAL, UMPTEEN, [4 - below], JICAMA
New rating: Approximately 1746
Favorite moments: John Chew handling an altercation with immense quietude and fortitude; watching the documentary film crew do interviews with Joey, deeeljoy and others; when Gerri Martin was relating an anecdote out in the lobby area, which was filled with loud chatter while waiting for pairings, and her anecdote apparently included shushing - when she shushed, the whole lobby fell silent. Sort of like that yelling 'Fire' thing. So with all ears turned to Gerri, she realized she had inadvertently shushed the room... and broke up into gales of laughter...

Guess ya had to be there. And wish you were.

[1] So Sal had the unplayable ANNEALER, which I got to play in a later game.
[2] wHERRIED
[3] ROPeWAy (there may be others)
[4] SoAPWORt
[5] GRAUPEL, EARPLUG
[6] OVARIOLE