Food was fine. I wasn't starved! (Ensures, bananas, luna bars, snickers. Hamburger for lunch, although I forgot to bring the leftover fries back with me.)
Fours and fives. I really feel like I'm getting control over them. I got to steal a nickel from Dave on a five, which is always satisfying.
Things that went okay:
Sleep. One of the dogs had us up in the night, but I didn't have any insomnia. So I was probably slightly affected, but my brain was in there.
Bad:
The lighting was terrible for me. I can't think with glare. It was a beautiful space, looking out over Philly, just gorgeous. But several of the seats were extremely glary for me. So I need to do two things. Solve this mental problem (maybe just fill in the board on my scoresheet and do my thinking looking there?) and come up with a nonglare board and demand everyone use it.
Challenges: Uh, what was I thinking challenging DEODARA? That's not even collins. I swear, sometimes I challenge a word merely because I want it off the board. DEODARA was in my way. But I can't waste those points. I am not leaving phoneys on the board now, which is real progress. I have to calibrate better. Five-point challenge is not free.
Ugly: I also challenged PRIMI.
Beautiful: It is always great to catch up with other members of my tribe. It was also great to meet and play three collins players for the first time. I think I had some ways to fend off Jason's win, but I need to figure them out. It might be a good pre-endgame situation to put up, actually.
I love this game.
