Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!?!

Remember my big defeat in Pittsburgh? For a frustrated moment after that, I thought maybe my adventures in Scrabble should be over. Then I thought, "Over?!? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!?!" And I've been studying like crazy since then. True to my mood swinging ways, right about the same time, I was struck with an idea to undertake a big series of Scrabble tournaments, dubbing it my 2008 Whirlwind Scrabble Tour.

And so the tour (with a shiny new schedule) has begun. The first official (and, so far the shortest scheduled), stop on The Tour was, in my opinion...a success!! DAH-DA-DA-DAH!!! (It was in Rocky River, Ohio, by the way.) I got what I basically wanted, which was to do better than I did in Pittsburgh. Sure...that wasn’t hard to do. If I had done worse than I had in Pittsburgh, it’s highly likely that I would have chucked this laptop out the hotel window (along with all the other contents of my room).
But what I did do was see improvement. In contrast to my previous 2/3 loss ratio (in PGH), I ended up at 4 wins and 3 losses with a positive spread of 110 points. PLUS, I had my first 500-point game (a 525 against the guy who ended up coming in second in my division), AND that landed me the prize for high win, AND I got the prize for high loss (with a 369-point game). Here's a picture of the board after the 525 game:

This weekend, someone challenged me to do 20 tournaments in one year. I said, "No way!" Now that I look at my schedule, though...counting this weekend, there's there's already like 9 on there, with eight being in 2008. Heck, I dunno. Maybe it'll happen. There are already several other tournaments I'll attend in the next twelve months that aren't even on the calendar yet.

SO...we'll see! This weekend was a good start! And a very special thanks to my club members, my Scrabble friends, and my everyday friends for their support in my Scrabble endeavors. It means the world to me. And, uhh...thanks to my husband. Although he continues to make fun of me for being a Scrabble geek, he still lets me Scrabble it up pretty much all I want.