Try Two

I tried to update this last night, but the internet connection at the hotel was wonky at best. It's possible that blogger was having issues, but I'm inclined to blame the hotel. Supposedly there was wireless internet access in the lobbies, but the server refused to assign an IP address, and so there was no connectivity. Ah well. I borrowed the hotel's in-lobby computer for a bit, and that was when I couldn't get blogger to publish a new post.

So, camp was quite enjoyable. I think I learned more this year than in either of the previous two years. Partially I think this was because Bataan broke things down into smaller pieces, but mostly I think it was because I was more able to understand and follow the things he said/demonstrated. My knee held up very well. In the main, the taiji was good for it, with one exception. In the sword form, there are some hops. Just running through the sword form a few times was okay, but on Monday night Bataan had us working on the hops, going clear around the practice room. The practice room has a concrete floor with a very thin carpet on top of it. My knee was unhappy on Tuesday.

My mom picked me up Wednesday, and we headed to Akron for one night. We visited the "coffee girls," aka Grandma's old friends, and played a card game with them that night. The name may be "Shanghai," but they generally call it "That Damn Game." There are three decks shuffled together, jokers included. Each person gets 11 cards. In each round there is a different goal. The first goal is two "sets" (three or more cards of the same rank). When you get to that goal, you can lay your cards down. Then you want to get rid of the rest of your cards, by playing them on the sets that get laid down. On each turn, you draw a card off the deck, and discard an unwanted card into the discard pile. If someone wants a card on the discard pile out of turn, they can "buy" it, so long as the person whose turn it is doesn't want it. The catch is that you have to take an extra card when you "buy." When someone goes out, you add up the points in your hand (5 pts for 9 and under, 10 pts for 10's and face cards, 20 for aces, 50 for jokers). The winner, after all the rounds are done, is the one with the least points. I wound up 5 points away from winning. Not bad for my second time playing it, especially since the first time was probably five years ago.

Today (and last night) was Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. I found two woven rugs in Estes that I think will look good in my living room. I'll probably find out for sure tomorrow. We're in Steamboat Springs for the night. We ate at the Jade Summit, which is okay. Not spectacular, but okay. And now, I may try to catch up on a bunch of other internet-related stuff.