A long day

OK, it's been a long day and I'm hitting the sauce, so this is just going to be a brief note. This afternoon I directed a 17-table game, which is not the biggest thing by any means, but it is the most awkward size for us movement-wise. At 18 tables, we split the thing into two comfortable 9-table sections and play 8 rounds at 3 boards a round, no problem. At 17 tables, you're stuck with 12 rounds at 2 boards a round, and keeping everybody moving at the right pace is like one of the labors of Hercules. In addition, all my house players got used up, and I had to play as well as direct, to avoid a half-table. Not everybody pays when they first arrive, so that means when you are dummy, you are running around collecting money, setting up the game in the computer, and trying to keep an eye on how the movement is going. And every so often there's a director call too, just for variation. Basically, after a couple of hours of this torture, I was feeling like a one-legged guy in an ass-kicking contest - really busy, not making much progress, and thoroughly kicked too.

At the end of the game, three-quarters of the tables finished more or less on time, the one I was at included (exactly on time for me). Not bad, especially since my scratch partner and me (who had never played more than a board or two together before and didn't discuss system at all) scored 66% and won East-West. Hoo-yah.

Then this evening, I was still working, this time on supervised play. But somehow Agent 99 managed to forget that I had cancelled our play-date, and showed up expecting to play with me. Instead, she got... Well, let me put it this way. Do you know those cartoons with a funny little old guy who kind of resembles a turtle, often depicted driving in such a way that his hands are higher than his head on the steering wheel, and he is peering through the wheel trying to see where he is going? OK, this guy became her partner since I wasn't available (that'll teach her, I thought). Wouldn't you know it, with one round to go they were almost a top clear East-West. Sad to say, they had a disastrous last round, and finished third. But I was still mightily impressed. I'm going to have to give her a raise.