Last Minute Planning for Philly

I had been toying with the idea of going to Philadelphia for awhile. At first I didn't think I would have adequate vacation time after the 10 day trip to the summer nabc in New Orleans but I guess I always wanted to go for a few days. And Philly is actually one of the cities where I think I might actually want to do touristy things. So, when attempts to get someone to play the mixed pairs with me the first 3 days of the tournament, I kind of gave up until early this week I started thinking that it's kind of silly for me to not go. A bridge event this big doesn't come so close - a mere 2 hour plane ride away - very often.

So, I entertained the idea of playing in the junior individual the last 3 days of the tournament but I kind of realized that my main motivation for wanting to play in that is to prove to other American juniors, most of whom I don't even like, that I'm every bit good enough to be on one of the USA teams again. But what can I say? When they had the trials for this, I didn't even want to play. I take pride in not caring much about getting major recognition for bridge, for keeping bridge as a fun social activity rather than the meaning of my existence so I'm glad I won't be going to play in that random event. I used to think individual games were great - almost non-existent in the bridge world today but it sure forces people to know what standard bridge is, to follow the same bidding and carding system and therefore might be the best indicator of who the best pure player is, without the little nuances that you learn from having an established partnership. But now, I really don't think an individual game would be much fun, except maybe at a club Christmas party or something like that. But playing with a partner I like at the table and away from the table is fun.

Anyway, I then made some attempt to get a partner for the imp pairs the 2nd week of the tournament but those thoughts didn't last long when I realized there's no junior discount for that and any partner I played with wouldn't be a junior. Then last Thursday night, Sean decided he wanted to go and could get away from school, and we actually got a decent-looking junior team, and teams of all juniors play free in the Open Teams (Rosenblum Cup), so here I am getting set to play tomorrow with Sean, Daniel Lavee and Samantha Nystrom from Canada, and Kaura Ginnan and Max Henbest from Australia.