Day 66

Something learned:

A discussion arose out of yesterday's post, that reminded me of a lesson I learned after being declared the US Sudoku Champion. The reason people say "May the best man win" is because the best man doesn't always win.

Thomas Snyder and I were both in the finals for the 3rd year in a row. For the 3rd time, he finished before I did, and I could hear the applause through my ear protection. I continued plodding through my own solution, finishing about 4 minutes later. When I took off my earmuffs and went to shake Tom's hand, I found out that I had won because he had made an error in his final solution. For quite a while after that, I couldn't quite shake the feeling that I didn't deserve to win, since I wasn't the fastest solver. But it eventually sunk in that such is the reality of competition. It's a snapshot of a single performance in time, and besides plain skill, so many other factors come into play. There may well be some other competition that I might deserve to win, but won't. I'll take the win now.

Today I was thankful for:

1. Lunch with old teammates who are always fun to be with.
2. I'll never take hot water for granted again. I took the 3rd cold shower of my life and it was MISERABLE.
3. Getting to talk to my parents to wish them a happy new year.
4. Getting the kid to pose for a new year picture.
5. Husband went out at night to get me chocolate ice cream from the store, and I'm not even pregnant.

Looking forward to:

Chinese New Year banquet dinner with Club Singapura on Saturday!