Interesting Stuff

This evening, Sheri and I went to Bridge Etc. They were having a special 2 for 1 night (play tonight, and the next time you come is free), so we had the largest game I’ve seen there since they closed the old building – a 6 table Mitchell! I went into the evening expecting to take dead last, since Sheri and I haven’t really played with each other very much. We’ve played for several hours a night for 2 nights in a row, but we didn’t really go over conventions. This is partly because Sheri seems to rely much less on conventions and more on intuition and bridge sense (consequently, she has great bridge sense). So, after a frustrating number of bottoms and a surprising number of tops, we actually took 3rd of the 6 North-South pairs (1st in our division)! This gave us 0.32 Black Master Points, putting my total up to 2.59. If I can double that over the summer, I won’t technically be a novice any more, and that’s starting to look like a feasible goal!

There weren’t many hands that stood out this evening. In one of them, we were defending against 3NT. My RHO lead a spade, and I played low, holding up my king. Dummy’s ten won the trick, and I figured that RHO had the ace, and Sheri had crap in the suit. On the next spade, I played my king before it was drawn out, and Sheri… played the ace. It turns out she had a doubleton and was holding up as well. My king was safe for one more round (I had 4 spades, and I pegged the ace to be on my right, so I could have held up one more time). We had a bottom board there. Oops!

On another hand, I lied slightly in the bidding but managed to stop at 3D (with 6 1/2 HCP in my hand and about 9 on the board, mind you). Against perfect defense, I would go down at least 2, possibly 3. However, the defense got greedy, waiting to set up their hearts, and continued to sluff spades as I ran the clubs. Because of this, I actually managed to make the contract and take top board, though this was much more from defense’s mistakes than my good play.

On the whole, I’d say that Sheri’s and my play was spectacular (except for the spades in that 3NT contract), though we need to learn to communicate more in the bidding and play. We’ve decided to try to learn a new convention each week, though I’m not sure if we’ll actually do that. Let’s hope the summer only gets better from here!

Before I go home for a week, I want to point to a story Stephen told me about: the situation in Iraq is getting worse because of our continued presence. On a related note, the situation in Afghanistan is getting worse as well.

This evening, Carl and I went to the Knights of Columbus to play with Unit 551 one last time before Carl graduated. We had a 4-table howel, which was apparently quite large for the club on a Wednesday. After our fair share of bottoms and a surprising number of tops, Carl and I actually took third place in the A division (first in B and C) out of the 8 partnerships! We each got 0.48 black Master Points for this, putting my total at 2.27. This was the first time Carl had gotten any, and I think it was a great way to end the year for him.

We had some great contracts throughout the night. With 7 diamonds and 13 HCP, I managed to walk the bidding up to 5D doubled (which I had intended as a sacrifice over 4S). We made it for a top board. On the second board of the night, my LHO opened a weak 2S. Carl overcalled 3H, and LHO bid on to 3S. Carl ruminated on this, then doubled. We set them one trick (vulnerable) to take top board. Later on, I opened 3C with 10 HCP and 6 clubs headed by the ace-king. Carl hemmed and hawed for a while, then bid 3NT. We tied for top there too.

Naturally, we had our share of poor contracts as well. I opened 1D, Carl responded 2C. I then bid 2NT (showing 12-14 HCP, balanced hand), which Carl treated as a jump to 2NT (showing 18-19 HCP). He then bid 4D (intending to invite me to game in diamonds), which I misinterpreted as a cue-bid, and replied 4S. Carl got confused, and passed, leaving us in a 6-card fit.

At another table, my RHO opened 2C (showing 11-16 HCPs, 5+ clubs and a 4-card major; they were playing the California Club system), and I overcalled 3C, intending it as a Michaels cuebid. Carl, for some reason, thought it was natural, and passed. Luckily, RHO bid on, and I didn’t have to play in a 4-card fit. After the hand, however, I discovered that even the Michaels cuebid was wrong – I was showing 5-5 in both majors, when I actually had 5-5 in spades and diamonds. Oops!

It was a surprisingly tense night. One partnership, who I believe are also married, were horribly bitter and continually insulted each other. I was half inclined to remind them about the Zero Tolerance policy concerning abuse, but I still feel like a guest at U551, so I didn’t say anything. There was also a partnership visiting from northern California, who were quite nice. However, Margaret (the director) thought that $20 was missing from the cash register (which doubles as the pencil box and is in no way secure), and both blamed and confronted this pair about it. I have no idea if the money was found, nor do I know if this couple took it, but it was a pretty awkward situation for a while. On the other hand, everyone else was their usual friendly selves.

So… yeah. A 52% game and half a Master Point is nothing to sneeze at. All in all, this has been a grand evening.

Last night I saw the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Like the other reviews of the film out there, I have mixed feelings about it. There are a bunch of parts that you can tell are definitely Adam’s work, and they are pure genious. However, there are also parts that are lacklustre at best. The opening sequence is solid gold. So is the part about having ideas on Vogsphere. Sadly, Sam Rockwell (Zaphod) was the only convincing actor. Some of the costumes were great (Zaphod, Trillian, Arthur, Ford, Slartibartfast), while others looked really stupid (Vogon warriors, Marvin). The movie seems to unfortunately centre around Arthur and Trillian falling in love, which I don’t think should have happened. In the radio series, the BBC series, the books, and the computer game, Trill isn’t interested in him at all.

Presumably to cut down on the length of the film, there are a bunch of Adams’ ideas that are mentioned but glossed over, and they would be horribly confusing if you haven’t been introduced to the Hitchhiker multiverse already. For instance, it is well established that a hitchhiker’s most indispensible tool is his towel, though there are only three times that towels are used. Of these, one is to dry off after a shower and one made no sense at all.

There were also some neat inside jokes and tributes to Adams in the film. The first time we see the guide, we hear a new and improved version of the radio show’s theme song. The Marvin from the BBC series has a quick cameo. There is a part towards the end that is a tribute to Adams’ love of animals, and the last thing we see is Adams’ face fading away into the stars.

If you go to see it, stay for the credits; there’s a quick little thing partway through them.