We are home from Baltimore. I had a great time. I wish I had won more games, to say the least, but I'm very glad we went, very glad to see friends we hadn't seen in a long time, glad to play real players in real games. I made mistakes, some excruciatingly crucial ones. I let several phony bingos stay on the board and didn't try any of my own. (In other words, I played a bit hesitantly, I think.) I have to risk more.

In the very first game against John O'Laughlin, I missed a couple of key plays, one of which would have blocked his very lovely SYNKARYA, which I had to learn the hard way (at the laptop judge) but which I will never forget! He smashed me by 300 points and went on to win the whole thing. Congrats to him, for sure. Somehow John (my John) and I BOTH missed the announcements that Saturday's start time had changed by an hour and forfeited our first games of the day. That was very horrible.

John (my John) had a very nice tournament after worrying that he didn't belong in that division. Sheesh, I say.

I got to play Kenji for the first time and didn't totally embarrass myself (although John came up after the game and pointed out the bingo I missed at the end).

I did totally embarrass myself against Sammy (in fact, I swore him to secrecy about it), but I will admit that the hideous error was basically blowing a C-stick. I could trot out the old "I was short on time and tired" blah blah blah, but I deserved to lose that one, pure and simple.

So I had a great time.

We're considering starting a DC SOWPODS League. Doesn't that sound like a superhero organization? Like tights and a cape should be required? Yes, I think so.