Today marked the regional grade-school level chess tournament, held at Robert Gray Middle School at 9:00 this morning. Grout Elementary’s team included both of the Kerezman rugrats.

After six rounds of competition, Alex and Erica each had 4.5 points (though one of Erica’s full points was a “buy”), helping Grout to place second in the team standings. We’d been third overall after the fifth round, which would have meant not being able to send a team to the state finals. Almost every team member turned in a win or draw in the last round, however, so it looks as though the Grout team will see one more tournament this season.

And there’s a chance both of my “young-uns” will be there.

Some tidbits from the day:

• While Alex has certainly gotten the hang of losing gracefully, he’s now needs to learn to keep a poker face when he’s ahead of the game. Clapping your hands together in glee as your opponent is ground under your heel is generally considered bad form.
  
• As we learned last time out, Erica performs best when her blood sugar levels are appropriately raised. We packed snack food and still ended up running to Safeway for some meatier fare. It worked, though, didn’t it?
  
• Wendi took pictures with the Yashica. If they ever make it into digitized form, they’ll end up in the Gallery. In three weeks I get my camera, so the next event will appear in said Gallery nigh-immediately after it happens.
  
• Robert Gray Middle School is located close enough to the Stonehenge (KGON) tower that I could easily pick out small antennas on even the uppermost platform. Call me strange, but I actually spent a portion of my day doing just that. I’ve always felt an emotional attachment to that big ugly tripod.
  
• Wendi and I went for a “real food” run to Safeway during the fourth match. Here’s a note to grocery store managers: Do not, please, staff the one and only “express” lane with an eighty year old woman who has failing eyesight, no clue how to fill a paper bag and a propensity towards banging objects against the scanner. (We asked for paper. After stuffing the object in her hands into the oh-so-convenient plastic anyway she then put the plastic into a paper bag… and then set the paper bag aside. That’s right, one object per bag. Incredible. Wendi spent thirty seconds before we left putting everything into one paper bag.) I also offer a special “thank you” to the feeb who brought a big stack of coupons through the “express” lane. Yeah.

So what did you do with your Saturday, huh?

So, how did Sunday afternoon go? Splendid. Smashing. Wonderful. Awesome. And, now I’m out of good adjectives.

The recap is here if you’re interested. I defer to Mari’s version of events… more or less. (The phobia isn’t “straight lines,” Mari. It’s “remembering the correct cross streets.” Or something like that.)

I’d like to state for the record that, while I did almost get everybody lost, I managed to keep my spirits high during and afterward. If you knew “the old Me” this might shock and amaze you. I feel good about the fact that I was (and still am) able to laugh about the whole thing. Let’s hear it for “the new Me.”

Wendi and I spent what remained of the evening playing Diablo II. There are worse ways to kill the couple of hours before bedtime. I have this vastly-overpowered former Burizon who now packs a Silence runeworded crossbow, and I’m using her to help Wendi’s awesome cold-based Sorceress through the last part of Act I Hell. Yes, this is what we do for fun “as a couple.” Well, one of the things. *smirk*

Work has been moderately hellish, but I’m not really in a whining mood, so I’ll just leave off here. And pray my headache goes away before I’m dragged to dinner with a houseful of Mormons.

I woke up to a phone call from The Imperial Princess of Cute. (I was sleeping in, okay?) We may get together for lunch or something this afternoon. Yay! My assigned task is to phone up Lilith to see if she’s available to join us. Double yay!

Suddenly appearing on the Top 30 list of search queries, it seems that a dozen people have found this site by searching on the phrase “we hate ryo ohki.” I hasten to point out that nobody affiliated with greyduck.net hates Ryo-ohki. Who could possibly have a black enough heart not to love such a cute, fuzzy, adorable battleship?

The Lupin III series has its moments, but I don’t think I’m going to make a point of recording them anymore. Wow. 70’s-style anime. *shudder*

On the flip side, I’m afraid that Wendi and I are now devoted InuYasha fans. (Great, Mari and I can have InuYasha v. Ranma 1/2 arguments. At least they’re both Rumiko Takahashi stories.) “Yes, big sit.” Mwahahaha! It’s sort of amusing to hear how many voices from the Gundam Wing dub are involved in the InuYasha dub, I might add.

There’s a big square hole in the ceiling of the kids’ room. We have no idea when the repair will be done. Neat, huh? Turns out the roof has a big crack in it, so not only does the ceiling need to be repaired but the roof over it also. At times like this I’m glad we rent instead of own this house.

Hmm. I guess that’s about it. See you tomorrow, folks!

We left a bit after 8:00 in the morning. We got home at a bit before 8:00 at night, counting the stop at Wal*Mart to get Wendi’s precious TSO game. (Yes, she’s no longer just a beta tester. Her addiction has reached apotheosis, or something.)

Anyway. It rained. It poured. The kids were absolutely angelic the entire time, especially given the long drive and the overall conditions.

The visit with Mom and her hubby and various other good-ol’-boys went as well as could be expected. They have dogs, so by the end of the two hours I could barely breathe. Erica was thrilled, of course, being the animal lover that she is. Alex amused himself with the Sega Genesis. We made small talk for a couple of hours, including some rants about my ever-so-dear sister. (I don’t have to worry about her reading this. She couldn’t remember the email address I gave her, I doubt she’s a regular visitor to this page.) Eventually there were hugs and goodbyes and promises to write and send pictures.

The drive back was invigorating, given the torrential downpour the Willamette Valley was blessed with yesterday. Fun moment: The radio antenna snapped clean away somewhere just south of the Vineyard.

I’ll rant about my family and related what-not later. Now I’m just going to try to get through the day without cracking like an eggshell.

I won’t be in the office today. My small family is going to the previously unvisited town of Riddle, Oregon for the purpose of seeing my mother before she moves back to Alaska.

Too bad I had to give Gary’s camera back. This trip would almost certainly be Gallery-worthy. Le sigh, le double sigh.

I’ll post something rambling and descriptive when we get back. Either that or I’ll post something terse and bitter. Or some combination thereof. You never know how it’s going to go when Mom’s involved.