Scrabble Year In Review Meme (by him)

Tourneys: 28
Games: 269
Wins: 129
Losses: 140
Win %: .480 (sorry, Jason, it's too late for me to be running the LCT vs. fully rated tournaments)
Spread: -3289 (-12.2268 per game -- looks better when expressed that way!)
.500 or better record: 12/28

Rating in: 902
Rating out: 1296 (with Albany yet to come)
Rating peak: 1296
Average Perf Rating: 1067 (raw average) 1101 (weighted by my own method -- ((perf rating times number of games in particular tournament) divided by total number of games played over the year) -- yes, I'm a nerd, but it pays more attention to how I did over a sustained period rather than that dreadful 0-4 performance at a LCT.)
Prize money: approx. $374 -- can't recall how much I won at Independence and South Lyon, and cross-tables doesn't say. And, to quote Jason, thanks Hudson (because it's totally due to the town of Hudson's idiosyncrasies (my girlfriend can spell when drunk) and not due to any director) for it not being a round number.

10 highlights (in chrono. order):
1. Hudson in January: I beat Danny Kidd with STRAWING -- a total guess which turns out to be good. Go on to take sixth place, losing to only one opponent not named Viebranz or Zeigler.
2. Game 1 of the Eastern Championships: 545-230.
3. Chicago: CROSSING ONE THOUSAND. Also, after a sound thrashing by first seed Lindsay Crotty Bahra on Day One, coming back to win against her 432-379 in the last game.
4. Pittsburgh: After losing to Tina Totten King by stupid failure to be confident in the word JACKY, coming back two rounds later to beat her 421-261. (There seems to be a revenge factor here, eh?)
5. Pre-NSC: Studying harder than I've ever studied for anything save the bar exam.
6. NSC in Dayton: Beating #8 seed Denise Mahnken in Round #1 (who I had been absolutely creamed by in Albany.) Having a bye and walking into the playing room, seeing 250 simultaneous games of Scrabble being played at once.
7. Independence, 8/29/09, a date which will live in infamy: winning first tournament. :) Also, beating persistent nemeses Walter K, Stan A, and Midge S. Also, after having a terrible time with it on Zyzzyva, playing COMIX at an opportune time.
8. Hudson (September edition): Being one of Darrin True's two losses on his way to victory.
9. Elyria (October edition): Beating, for the first time EVER, George Viebranz.
10. South Lyon: Girlfriend wanted to go. Convinced ultra-cheap boyfriend to go by agreeing to get up at 5:45 for three hour drive. Was seated sixth. Finished first, only losing to Pat Badgley.

10 lowlights (in chrono. order):

1. 2-4 at Rocky River in February.
2. Losing to Brad Mills in Pittsburgh after opening with a 106 point QUILTING and another bingo on next turn -- I hate blowing losses.
3. Losing to Tina Totten King in Pittsburgh (lesson may be that West Virginians + Pittsburgh = sad Michael) when I wimped out on playing JACKY and thus sealing the win.
4. 1-5 at Rocky River in July. (What the hell was it about the Unitarian Church this year?)
5. 1-5 the following day at PFACT, meaning I had a 2-10 weekend.
6. Hoping to have a strong Toronto to give me a morale boost going into Nationals, and instead going 5-6, including a horror-inducing 204-551 loss to Sharmaine Farini.
7. Going 4-9 in the first two days of the NSC.
8. A Farini-like thrashing at the hands of Harold Stone in the first game on the last day of NSC. (Special thanks to the anonymous player who had told me the first seed wasn't that tough.) Also, failing to block a bingo lane against Ron Barker out of sheer greed, and learning why my dad has always said greed was a terrible thing.
9. A string of losses, both in tournaments and at club, to Dan Stock -- almost none of them respectable. What does this guy eat for breakfast, anyway?
10. Following up a 4.5-2.5 Day One at the Cleveland Triple (Double) Open with a 1-5 Day Two.

Next year: In addition to other various goals I'll come up with later ... More words! More Quackle! A cereal box. If in division 3, winning same. 1500 by 12/31/2010.

Tourneys planned: Albany, Hudson, Seven Hills, maybe Phoenix, Flint, Elyria, Pittsburgh in June (and maybe February), hopefully Michigan Madness (assuming no one close to me dies or gets married on that weekend, thus far an unattainable goal.) Dallas.