so here is how it works. if you make an antelope play in your game, come and find me and tell me what it is. high antelope play wins a fabulous SF slakcerz antelope tilebag, which i will give to you at the awards ceremony. the word MUST be on the antelope list provided by j_is_worth8. that's pretty much it.

ties will either be decided on style points or through a blind draw or my mood or something. in other words, it's extremely subjective. oh well. play your 'lopes and justify to me why the Russian judge should give it a 9.7.

and who am i? a tall guy playing in Div 2 with a small hoop left earring and most likely wearing a lot of orange. my girlfriend K.C., aka mrsscheisskopf, will be playing in Div 3. find her if you cant find me, and she'll point you in the right direction.

employees of xpmorgan, inc., are ineligible to win.

happy tiling all. and, as usual, know your antelopes.

and Chef Jackass wholeheartedly approves of the choice of LARDOON as site for this year's event because, as you should know by now, pork fat rules. aah, bacon ... i heart swine ...

my record against the Div. 2 field is 64-77-1.

of course, that includes 2-11 against Public Nemesis #1. take that out and, well, my record is still not very good.

5-0 at club tonight. 5-0 at Oakland on Saturday. 5-0 at slakcerz last week. that's a lot of wins. since my 420:405 loss to Jerry Lerman last Tuesday – one of those that i probably would have won against anyone of a lesser calibre than Jerry – i've won 15 games in a row. 15-0 +1242, a 433 average and 31 bingos.

what the hell is going on? whatever it is, i like it.

and when it's going well, the good plays just seem like they grow on trees or something. i played my (C)OESITES bingo and drew JKQRRTZ. blech. OK, well, J(E)RK is available. Stu plays his ABATING bingo for 89 at I2, and to my leave of QRTZ i draw AEU. my first thought is that i'm disappointed QUARTZE(S) wont play, but i see that A at I2 ... hmm, QUARTZ/ZA at D1 for 113 works nicely.

xp -> luckbox

lucking forward to the Berkeley tourney on sunday just to get in some more games in preparation for Orlando. the tourney means absolutely nothing to me, but i need to keep playing. need to keep this focus as best as i can for as long as i can.

EDIT: oh yeah, j_is_worth8 has reminded me that i played DUIKERS against her in Oakland on saturday



know your antelopes

it's supposed to be like 95° here this week, which can be a problem in a city where NOTHING is air conditioned. well, what better way to combat the climbing temps than with some HOT HOT FOOD! Chef Jackass stopped into his favourite Cheap Mexican Grocer on the way home tonight. they've recently begun carrying Mexican shrimps there, which are fabulous (as those who attended shindig 2.0 can attest) and about half the price of anyplace else. yay grilled shrimps. and you gotta have some salsa with that – they also were selling a bag of habañeros for $1 ... oh yeah. my face is melting now ... deep levels of satisfaction ...

anniek alert! more fotos from recent D.C. soiree:





that makes me happy.

Kenny Chesney's playing over at Phone Company Park tonight along with Brooks & Dunn and Leann Rimes and a bunch of other country bands that i think are terrible. blech. as the crow flies, i'm not that far from the stadium, and i can hear the show from here. noise pollution. i have the door open, the twang is wafting into the house, and the cats are freaking out. they obviously have good taste in music.

there will be a more detailed tourney report later, when i can stomach writing one. Sanjose today: went in B2, finished 3-3 and in 4th place. dropped 10 rating pts. or so. 3/12 blanks, so 11 bingos was not too bad. some cool ones too for a change: AMBULANT, TRIOXIDE, PICANTE (anytime you get salsa on the board it's a good thing). but the event was soured for me at the end as i fell from 1st to 4th in my last two games. and the reason for that?

nemesis |ˈneməsis|
noun ( pl. -ses |-ˌsēz|) (usu. one's nemesis) ORIGIN late 16th cent.: Greek, literally ‘retribution,’ from nemein ‘give what is due.’
1. The inescapable or implacable agent of someone's or something's downfall: the balance beam was the team's nemesis, as two gymnasts fell from the apparatus.
2. A downfall caused by such an agent: one risks nemesis by uttering such words.
3. (often Nemesis) retributive justice: nemesis is notoriously slow.
4. John Karris

grrr-r-r-r ...

a little short on ingredients now – its the end of the week, and i always make a point of going to the OCMG on saturday mornings to restock. friday night at chez xp is Night @ The Improv.

all i can say is it was the best Jamaican jerk cheeseburger the size of my head with grilled straw mushrooms wrapped in a tortilla ever. all that's missing is a Red Stripe.

yet again, i rule.

and my lips are on fire. sweeet.

dinner time. leftover pork chop from last night. yum. i heart swine. take the black bowl out of the fridge, remove the plastic wrap. phone rings. go into main room of the house to answer it. oh hi, yes, how are you? blah blah blah ... 20 minutes pass, back to the kitchen i go.

the black bowl is EMPTY.

funny, i dont see any fuzzy black things crawling about the floor either. where could they be? under the bed perhaps?

look under the bed. there's the pork bone. and there's Q and Jazz licking their lips, satisfied with their dinner – with MY dinner. not one ounce of guilt on their faces.

OK, evil black kittens, you win this round.

oh well, guess i'm making chicken for dinner! grumble grumble grumble ...