I've only been on here seriously for a little over a year. It's the end of April, 2023.

I'm not doing friends, yet. I appreciate the requests I have received, and I feel bad turning them down. My standard answer is, "Thanks, but I like being #1 against my Buddy, who won't even play." He's the reason I got interested in the site, but he has other interests. I thought it would help us as we got older to exercise our brains. And I'd have someone I could play OTB and beat for the rest of my life and have some sort of ego boost. He's smarter than me. LOL

So, allow an old man his vanity at being #1 on one of the boards here. I feel pretty good about being listed in the 90th percentile here, although that's just against the millions of newcomers, and I know I'm only around 1000 to 1100 OTB. I'm the best of the worst and the worst of the best. I feel pretty good about that at 65 years old. The fact that I am confident in going to an OTB Tournament makes me feel good. I've never known if I could even compete. I might even get a 1200 OTB rating, which would really be cool at my age.

I'm realizing that I may not have the time, patience, brain power and concentration to gain the next 200 points. I'm having a harder and harder time drilling info into my head, and I'd just as soon tour the country or go to Costa Rica. We're just now getting our social scene back together. The great thing about Austin is there's always somewhere to go hang out with cool people and hear some music. Usually original. Throw a rock and you hit a musician here. Not so much anymore being one of the Top 10 Places to Move To in the U.S. Don't tell anyone. Doh!

We are the Live Music Capitol of the World. Keep Austin Weird is our motto. King Willie Nelson rules with an iron BBQ spatula. The hole in his guitar came from not wanting to put it down while he manned the grill.

I came here to find out what my rating might be and stayed to exercise my brain. Then I found the forums, to the chagrin of the Moderators and everyone else. Did you know they encourage us to use the forums? I'm like, are you crazy? Haven't you been reading the crazy stuff I, and other movers and shakers on here, post? What's wrong with you?

I wouldn't want to be part of any club that would have me as a member. Groucho? I forget who said that.

Peace, Love and Hope to you all. May the Chess Gods smile down upon you, and not in a derisive way.

pcwildman