I think I'm getting senile. This is the third Thursday out of four that I have forgotten to put something in my "Don't Need a Set Chess Bag". I'm sure most of you are asking yourselves "What in the hell is a Don't Need a Set Chess Bag?" True confession time! Despite the fact that I play a game where over 95% of the participants are men, I do very woman-like things such as having multitudinous purses and bags for various occasions and purposes. Any of my male readers who are married or have a female significant knows what I'm talking about. They know better then to ask "Why do you need another purse dear?" (Male readers may be redundant, since according to Chess Tyro there aren't many female chess bloggers.
I have my regular chess bag that I take to tournaments and chess clubs where there are not sets provided. This bag has my tournament set, roll up board, a chess clock, assorted writing instruments, and a pair of reading glasses in it at all times. My Don't Need a Set Bag has another clock, key card to the Marshall, another pair of reading glasses, and my subway card in it, but no chess set. This is the bag I take to the Marshall and to WCA since both these venues have sets and boards already set up. Items that go back and forth between the two bags are my Mon Roi, iPod, and a little notebook that I keep results, final times, and sometimes some train ride analysis.
This system works out pretty well for me. I don't have to drag a set and board to places where I don't need them, and I have a clock in both bags so I don't have to worry about that. I get myself in trouble when I'm recharging either my Mon Roi, or my iPod. I also get in trouble if I move the clock from my Don't Need a Set Bag for some reason. Three weeks ago I left the Mon Roi at home because I was charging it, and forgot to put it back in the bag. Everyone kept asking me "Where's your scorekeeping thingy? Did it break?" Despite using it for almost a year now, I still remember how to keep score by hand. In fact I think my hand written notation has improved. Go figure!
Last week I very carefully made sure I had put the Mon Roi in the bag, especially because I had managed to forget on it Monday night, had to notate by hand again, and had severe time management issues that were acerbated by having to write. So that Thursday I sit down for my first round game, pull out my trusty Mon Roi, reach for my clock, and it's not there! I forgot that on Tuesday I had attended a chess team season kick-off party, and brought the clock for blitz and bughouse in a different bag. Just my luck. The week I forget my digital clock is the week Steve is not there with his supply of digital clocks. My opponent didn't have a clock so we ended out using one of the club's old BHB analog clocks. Frank Brady had just donated some brand new digital clocks to the club, but neither the manager or I knew how to set them. I have enough trouble setting the Chronos for anything besides what I have stored in memory! Playing with no time delay ended out being a non-issue because I got mated on the 26th move. Ouch!
So yesterday I very carefully double checked my bag to make sure I had everything I needed. Clock: check, Mon Roi: check, Reading glasses: check, note book: check, metro card: check, card key:check, chocolate:check, sandwich:check, snacks: check, reading material for train ride: check. All systems go. Get in the car to go to my next class, and half way there I realize I forgot my iPod. No turning back. No music to drown out the noise. Hopefully John Jacob Jingle Heimerschmidt would not be the music de jour. So what else did I manage to forget besides the iPod? The stylus to the Mon Roi. No stylus? No problem! I used a pen. No, I didn't write my moves down the old fashioned way. I just used the pen as a stylus.
Next Thursday I will not forget anything! Next Thursday is Thanksgiving, so I can be thankful that I won't lose any chess games on that day.
9 comments:
In that case, might as well quit playing chess right now because i thought it would keep me from going senile in the first place.
Btw, got a new web adress (don't ask). Maybe you noticed my latest post, i don't know.
LOL,
bringing your own chess set is unheard off in the Netherlands. Why do you use a Monroi? Is it obliged? Is it handy? (unknown here too)
e: Yes I saw your new address and updated my blog list.
tempo: Chess is very different in US. Very few tournaments supply sets for the players.
The Mon Roi is very handy for keeping score. Tap on a piece then tap on the square you're moving it to. I can then copy the games to an SD card and load into Chess Base.
Smells like SPAM to me ;)
Thank's for updating the link. The reason for the lower case e is because stupid blogger won't let me use capitals.
Portugese spam on on the menu. I can't understand it.
I quess I can't delete comments. I'm too lazy to put comment moderation on, because then I have to actually have to do something with them. But then again unless I start getting 20+ comments on a post like BDK, it wouldn't be that much work.
You should be able to delete comments. And you don't necessarily have to turn comment moderation on, you should turn on that feature where commenters have to type that code before posting the comment. That should keep most of them friggin' spam bots off your back, since they can't type that code. It worked for me when i used blogger. Check out your dashboard or whatever it is called nowadays for options.
It's called word verification. I remembered.
Under every comment you can find a trashbin. Just push on it.
Mucho Gracias :-)
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