Once again, it's been a hot minute. Ah well, contact me for a full refund. Also this has ended up being a longer post but I have Things That I'm Excited To Share!
Back in April, we took a trip to New Orleans to visit some family for a couple days, and be tourists for a few more days. 10/10. I don't know how many people think of New Orleans as a family destination, but it was fantastic. Stayed in the French Quarter, in the middle of everything, and everyone had a blast. One of the seed entries here is 100% a New Orleans inspiration. Couple of highlights from the trip:
- Finding an arepas joint right next to an ice cream shop on the streetcar ride back from the zoo. Delicious and just what we needed.
- Taking the ferry across the Mississippi to Algiers Point & exploring the neighborhood, finding a cute little cafe with probably the best breakfast scramble I've had in my life, and spending a couple of hours running up and down the walls of the levee, and skipping rocks & using driftwood to hit pebbles into the river. Super fun.
We were chilling at the hotel one night after a day of exploring/having fun/whatever we did, and I fired up lichess on my phone. I've played chess off and on my whole life, just online, but it's been a few years. Caught the chess bug again, but this time found out my brother also had been recently playing. We started playing both each other & online, talking about chess for the next few weeks...come to find out there's actually a Spokane chess club, and they meet once a week just a few blocks from my house.
Finally visited a month or two ago and I'm completely hooked to over the board play, in person, where just you and your opponent are concentrating on one game with no distractions for 2+ hours. It absolutely rules. And turns out I am maybe at least okay at chess! I went 2/4 in a quick tournament (15 minutes/side) and in my very first classical game I drew a 1945-rated player! I don't think it was a fluky draw either, it felt like a very well played game on both sides. I'm playing Sean (my brother) tomorrow and will play the many-time club champion next Thursday. Probably not going to get a point out of that one but I'm going to give it a good go.
I remember ~10 years ago getting into making crosswords and it was all I could think about in my spare time. Just kind of latched itself into my brain and the journey of building the skills to construct, iterating and improving, and getting to a point where I am really happy with my construction abilities & output was an absolute joy. I truly love learning new things. Right now, chess feels very similar to those first attempts at making a puzzle. I'm just hooked! I have a couple books I'm studying, really enjoying playing in person, play with the kids (they enjoy it but don't want to play as much as I do right now, and I'm never forcing that on them). I don't have a set chess goal or anything - just going to keep learning and improving and seeing where this goes.
Anyways, I don't think you're here for chess monologues that aren't really about chess. As a bonus for those who read all that (and I spose those who didn't), this puzzle is 16x15 so you get more bang for your $0!
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