Day 117: Backgammon

remedying the tire situation

     So, I'm pretty tired. A little too tired for my liking. I've been running around all day doing this and that. From attending class, to being stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire, to going to work during 31 cent scoop night (that really sucked), I've been pretty busy today. The 31 cent scoop night was what really took a toll on me. The concept is pretty self-explanatory, but I reiterate anyways. Basically, instead of us charging the predetermined price of $2.17 for a 2.5oz. scoop of ice cream, we knock the price down to a mere $.31 (ya know, cause we're Baskin Robbins 31 and all). The whole shenanigan is put together to help raise money for an association for fallen firefighters, which I'm all for. They actually had two firefighters come in and help us out. They scooped and took orders from people, it was cool cause they come in a lot so I know them .We have jars designated for tipping the firefighters, and we have jars that usually get a considerably smaller amount of donations that go to us employees. I'm not complaining or anything, cause I think firefighters are totally badass, I'm just saying. I was told that the people from corporate even kick out something like $10,000 for the cause each year. So anyways, its a chaotic shit-show of an evening. The line of costumers stretches out the door for the entire 5 hours that the promotion is going on. The amount of noise from a room that has exceeded its maximum occupancy 5 fold is unbearable at times. All I'm trying to say is I'm really glad that it only comes around once a year, and even after my third time working it, it never gets any easier.

     So yeah, had a busy day today and I needed my challenge to be something that involved basically no physical activity. Backgammon, probably the least physically demanding game I could think of (well, maybe a staring contest). I decided I was going to learn how to play backgammon, the only problem was, it turns out that theres a lot to this game. I've spent the last 25 minutes looking up instruction videos and I'm getting the feeling that I'm only getting more lost. . These people are talking about things like; stones, hits, prime, blitz, blocking numbers, midpoint, home boards, inner boards, outer boards, blot. All these videos end up being the same thing, some guy with an unfortunate hair-do mumbling about "stones" and "home boards".Needless to say, its not getting through to me. Thats a shame cause I'm really super tired and I have to work in the morning so I'm gonna go to bed now. All is not lost though, I mean, I did learn the basic concept of the game, I learned how the checkers move and what the dice do and what the point of the object is. I learned how to play, but I am still clueless as to play with any sort of strategy. I also learned that I am probably not gonna be dusting off the ol backgammon board anytime soon. I feel like my history of jazz teacher is the kind of guy that would enjoy a round on the backgammon board. Moral of the day: Firefighters are totally rad, and backgammon is the complete opposite.

If you want to test your backgammon know-how, check out this glossary: http://www.bkgm.com/glossary.html