My Consolation Prize

I'm about ready to go to bed. Pretty worn out from a long day of table tennis. Played a total of 9 matches today at the St. Joseph Valley Open, a large annual tournament held at my workplace, IU South Bend.

I didn't win any trophies this time, much to the dismay of Cameron, who came to see me win a trophy. He said I did terrible and as we left, he asked if I was done playing forever (doggone it, he wanted daddy to get that trophy). I told him I played well, was proud of that, you don't always get a trophy, and all that other teachable moment stuff you're supposed to instill in your kids.

I could never quite close the deal today. Three times, I lost to much higher rated players in 5 games. Had I won those, my rating would have really jumped. As it was, it might go up a tad, but not much. My most frustrating loss was to this older guy that I was convinced I would not lose to. I was still convinced I wouldn't lose even as I sat there having lost 3 games to 0. I have no idea what happened there (and a fellow member from the South Bend club, who is very good, also lost to this guy and didn't know how).

Steve had a good day, particularly against a couple of rather poor sports. His rating should jump up. I was late to my match against the old guy because I wanted to see Steve beat one of those poor sports, which he did in 5 games, helped along by a rather amazing return of a smash which the other guy still probably isn't sure how he returned.

Anna had already been thinking ahead. She went to a friend's house but told Dorene to take something to daddy in case he didn't win a trophy. It was a supersize Charms Blow Pop.

It did taste good.