Hi folks.
I haven't felt like writing in a while. I am not sure where the Muse went, but I hope it returns, soon. In lieu of a real post, I thought that I would talk a little bit about some recent extracurricular activities that I have engaged in.
I played chess for the first time in many years, earlier in the week. At one time, chess was pretty big in my life. I used to play in tournaments, and I even ran a local chess club with my friend Joe. We formed our club in 1991, and we called it The Robert J. Fischer Memorial Chess Club. The astute among you are probably saying to yourselves, "But Bobby Fischer was alive in 1991!?" That is correct, and that is why our motto was, "Not Dead, But What Has He Done For Us Lately?" Gallows humour to be certain, but if you are familiar with his story, you know that after his 1972 World Championship victory against Boris Spassky, he went into seclusion, only occasionally popping up to denounce those whom he hated. The very ironic thing that happened in 1992, was that Fischer came out of seclusion to play Spassky once again. This was a huge event in chess circles, and Joe and I would often joke about how we were responsible for Fischer's having come out of seclusion, because obviously he had heard about our chess club name!
Bobby Fischer died in 2008, and despite his issues, we at no time meant any disrespect with the club name. It was only our attempt at dark humour. In fact we were an officially recognized club by the United States Chess Federation, while the club was active.
The reason I began to play less and less chess, was because as I played more tournaments, the game began to become stressful for me. Having to play many games in a single day, constantly being watched over by that relentless task-master known as the chess clock, started no longer to be fun. So my goal now is just to play a little chess, and see if I can enjoy it while getting my head wrapped around it again.
My car continues not to start on cold days. I was told that it would be easy to source a new ignition switch, but that does not seem to be the case. I should find a replacement switch just in time for summer.
I discovered an excellent gluten-free alternative to the Cream Of Wheat that I grew up eating on cold winter mornings. The product is called Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal, and it's delicious.
Last night I was at a friend's house trying to get his very old scanner, working with his very new computer. The device driver did not seem to be cooperating with his operating system, so I ended up going to my backup plan which was to simply photograph the pieces with my digital camera, on his art table. That ended up working very well, and we were happy with the results.
And no, I still have not seen Avatar.
Be well, and hopefully the Muse will return in some small way, soon.
I haven't felt like writing in a while. I am not sure where the Muse went, but I hope it returns, soon. In lieu of a real post, I thought that I would talk a little bit about some recent extracurricular activities that I have engaged in.
I played chess for the first time in many years, earlier in the week. At one time, chess was pretty big in my life. I used to play in tournaments, and I even ran a local chess club with my friend Joe. We formed our club in 1991, and we called it The Robert J. Fischer Memorial Chess Club. The astute among you are probably saying to yourselves, "But Bobby Fischer was alive in 1991!?" That is correct, and that is why our motto was, "Not Dead, But What Has He Done For Us Lately?" Gallows humour to be certain, but if you are familiar with his story, you know that after his 1972 World Championship victory against Boris Spassky, he went into seclusion, only occasionally popping up to denounce those whom he hated. The very ironic thing that happened in 1992, was that Fischer came out of seclusion to play Spassky once again. This was a huge event in chess circles, and Joe and I would often joke about how we were responsible for Fischer's having come out of seclusion, because obviously he had heard about our chess club name!
Bobby Fischer died in 2008, and despite his issues, we at no time meant any disrespect with the club name. It was only our attempt at dark humour. In fact we were an officially recognized club by the United States Chess Federation, while the club was active.
The reason I began to play less and less chess, was because as I played more tournaments, the game began to become stressful for me. Having to play many games in a single day, constantly being watched over by that relentless task-master known as the chess clock, started no longer to be fun. So my goal now is just to play a little chess, and see if I can enjoy it while getting my head wrapped around it again.
My car continues not to start on cold days. I was told that it would be easy to source a new ignition switch, but that does not seem to be the case. I should find a replacement switch just in time for summer.
I discovered an excellent gluten-free alternative to the Cream Of Wheat that I grew up eating on cold winter mornings. The product is called Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal, and it's delicious.
Last night I was at a friend's house trying to get his very old scanner, working with his very new computer. The device driver did not seem to be cooperating with his operating system, so I ended up going to my backup plan which was to simply photograph the pieces with my digital camera, on his art table. That ended up working very well, and we were happy with the results.
And no, I still have not seen Avatar.
Be well, and hopefully the Muse will return in some small way, soon.
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