The Aerie
I'm host to the Cold from Hell today. Actually all week. I was sick
even at Moldy's benefit concert on Tuesday. Of course, Murphy's Law
being what it is, I'm as sick as hell during the week when I've got a
big report due, so I have no choice but to work. Particularly
yesterday: it was my last day for any significant testing, but I was
also sicker than I've been in years. Too bad, so sad, days like this
happen.
However I have to be realistic: there's no way I'm going to LIVE until
Monday's report presentation if I don't get some rest. So today is the
day off, with tomorrow being the big
writing-the-report-now-that-I've-rested day. That's the plan at least.
Hopefully writing my journal in bed with my computer on my lap counts
as "rest". I tried sleeping, but the headache wasn't having any of
that.
One thing I'd wanted to mention last week was playing chess with my
kids. The twins at eleven are now at my favorite age for kids.
Infants, fine, very nice: todders, sweet: little kids, cool, funny,
promising. But Tweens, these not-quite-kids-not-yet-adolescents, ah,
they're the greatest. You can talk with them, experience their growing
personalities, without the distraction of the raging hormones and
sullen indignations of full adolescence.
And you can play boardgames!
Now, my boy is the chess player. He amazes me in the ways he is and is
not like his father. Two of the things he does much better than I ever
could, or ever will, is assemble things according to instructions
(Legos, model planes, etc.) and also play chess.
Anyway, we've played chess many times. Usually I win, just because I'm
older and almost recklessly aggressive, while he is cautious and
conservative. Last Sunday was no different, I just kept picking off
his pieces until he couldn't prevent my replacing my queen (which he
had taken with proper strategy).
Then my daughter (who at the time was mad at me about something)
wanted to play. Now she's not a big chess player at all. But I
encouraged her to play in order to wreak her vengeance on me.
Now, I'm a complete shlub at chess. I have no idea what I'm doing. As
far as I know, my daugher is no more of a chess player than I am.
She's played it but only on request and has never shown great interest
in it.
So imagine my surprise -- and pride -- when after about six moves, she
checkmated me using the Fool's Mate.
As far as I know, she's never studied chess. I know that all I knew of
the Fool's Mate (which term I had to look up), was that there was a
quick-win trick to the game. As far as I knew, the victim practically
had to know what moves to make in order to allow the Fool's Mate to
happen.
But she just drew out her queen and bishop, and swept in to checkmate
me. When I asked her how she did it, she just said "Well, it looked
like you were weak because you opened up that hole."
That was the coolest feeling. The fact that I'd lost the game itself
was nothing. The fact that my daughter had displayed amazing
intelligence and strategy was tremendously rewarding.
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Posted by Albatross at February 15, 2003 12:00 AM