Round 14

John Chew was jokingly criticized as he read off this round's 
pairing for being "too slow." Apparently, everyone wanted him to 
do it without breathing. Though he does all 25 pairings in under 45 
seconds (and he only abbreviates the really big names), it just isn't 
fast enough. He promises to try to go faster next time. It is really 
amazing how well this system works. At the end he always says, 
"If you didn't hear your pairing, come ask me and I'll repeat." 
There are normally only one or two who miss it! He corrects me 
that he did it in two breaths this time.

Linda Espallardo had the highest, hardest, and longest cackle of the 
games when John announced that she was to play Joel Wapnick at 
board 1. She is in 12th place and he is our #1 player now. They are 
both smiling broadly before they begin. John writes for the benefit
of any pairing system weenies reading: Libero has a higher SOS 
than Joel, so was paired first vs Adam, otherwise Joel would have 
faced Adam this round. (John typed that, I'd never say weenies!)

Just in, Andrew Golding beat James Cherry, 414-371. I sauntered 
over and saw DISTRAIN and PIERROT played by Andrew (Jakob 
Teitelbaum has never seen that word, he says). James played 
GrAVEMEN for 102. Kibbitzers later on discover that it is not a 
good word. He was confusing with GRAVAMEN. 

In Adam Logan's game with Libero Paolella, Adam drew a 
challenge with SNICK. The play stayed and Adam ended up 
winning, 475-365. After Libero's opening play of HOE, Adam 
bingoed with RETAILS, which then gave Libero the double-double 
DELAINES. Libero later got down TOREUTIC and Adam played 
ROWINGS and OUTGIvEn. Adam is certain this last play was the 
incorrect one, but isn't sure what he should have done.  
Unfortunately, Libero got stuck with PXVVAJU, giving Adam 58 
points!

Max Garfinkle played Bernard Gotlieb this game and eked out a 7-
point win, 428-421. Max played VEXATiONS and ALIENAGE, 
which Bernard challenged and won Max the game. Bernard got 
down SENDERS, which brought him to within striking distance, 
but in the end, it wasn't to be.

At board 1, Linda Espallardo fell to Joel Wapnick, 396-368. Linda 
was again laughing heartily when she said, "It was an exciting 
game and I got two blanks." Joel responded, "you were driving me 
crazy with them." Pointing at the board, he said, " I only got down 
one pitiful bingo: AVIATION." Linda played DIRTyING and 
ROADIEs as a double-double. She was most proud of both plays. 
Joel also said, "Everytime I play Linda I know it will be a tough 
game and I have to try really hard." She was a bingo up on him 
when he played PIPET. She lost the challenge and that might have 
lost her the game. Joel sees Adam Logan on his playing horizon 
soon. When someone mentioned that it was lunchtime, Joel said, 
"Oh, I wish we didn't have to stop, I like to keep going when I'm 
winning."

Gene Rawlins has a goal. He says, "I'm aiming for a -1000 cume!" 
He is now 3-11 -800. He mentioned that he picked the wrong 
tournament to bomb at. 

Emma Sharpe, Brenda Megannety's daughter, just asked if she 
could possibly buy a set of these marvelous Maple Leaf protiles for 
her Mom. I told her that her mom stood a chance of actually 
winning a set and she said, "Yeah, I know, but if she doesn't, I 
want to buy her a set out of my earnings today." Now if that child 
doesn't have a heart of gold . . . . 

Fran Silver has just won three games in a row.  She is now 8-6 and 
has redeemed herself marvelously this morning. 

Christina O'Sullivan is stopping by after lunch. She won two games 
this morning. She played and was victorious over Lynda Wise and 
John Dafoe. She fell to Joe Peters in her last game. In that game, Joe 
bingoed early and with a hefty amount of the "good" tiles, he 
maintained the lead.

Brenda Megannety stopped by, too. She is 6-8 now and happy to be 
here.  She won one game this morning, really tight games. She says 
she happy to lose a tight game when her opponent has both the 
blanks and the Ss. Christina, overhearing, agrees with this. We 
count a small victories in the ways we can.