Prepare For Another Lost Weekend

Probably not going to ge much done this weekend. For one thing, the match is looming. The latest word from the other team is...nothing. Yeah, as far as I know we haven't heard from them so it looks like we'll be assembling for the fallback time on Saturday if nothing else.

Another forfeit is going to suck - the Mothership went tits up against their opponent already, by the way - but at least we're getting some experience at round planning. Scouting out the opponent, hoping to catch them on obs mode, identifying things, figuring out what to run on which map, tweaking and adjusting the builds. That's the real fun part of this tournament, if you ask me, because, really, it's not like we've played enough matches to justify the time spent in preparing for them. But also because gaming for an opponent in this setting is a lot different than just preparing for a ladder run. And while there have been plenty of gimmicks and janky stuff (Honestly, what else are mediocre teams going to run against the better ones? If these rounds were ticking over every hour instead of every four days, it probably wouldn't happen. But you give a team that many days to prepare and realize they're outclassed and they're going to try the curveball because it has a chance to work. It has a greater chance to fall on its face but when you're going to get pounded anyway, why not take that chance?) not everyone goes to the extreme so it's an intriguing build challenge.

But I'm going on the assumption that we're going to be playing and I want to get in as much practice time as I can. Added to that, the Manatees that think up the bonus weekends must have pushed some special balls into the holes because it's Lucky Weekend. My hatred of St. Patrick's Day notwithstanding (Long story. Maybe I'll write it, maybe I won't.) it actually looks pretty decent. Not a huge event like Wintersday or the Dragon Festival or even Halloween, but there's a little something extra it seems. The draw for me would be the double glad points. I could care less about the faction because I'm already UAX and capped out. But the more title ranks I can get, the bigger that cap grows and the less time I'll have to spend unlocking stuff next time around. Plus, I figure the competition might actually be decent in the RA for a change. Unfortunately, I seem cursed to end a streak on the 8th or 9th win, so it's going to be a frustrating slog, no doubt.

Then there's the other tournament going on. My brackets are looking much better today - even though I'm still in last place in the XoO competition. The pacesetter's only missed one pick so far but it's not as bad as it sounds since I'm tied with four or five others from the small handful that signed up. It's not like the whole totality of the XoO hordes has descended upon the brackets or anything. And I'm feeling pretty good today as in most of my brackets I'd gone with the Winthrop upset (Not all of them as it's one of those games I just had a feeling about and in some scenarios I had things tumble another way. But at least one of my brackets isn't looking too shabby.) unfortunately, in the XoO bracket I also went with a major cinderella outbreak in the East and had Oral Roberts reaching the Sweet Sixteen. I've got an eye on Wisconsin-Texas CC right now and while I didn't call that one, I did think Wisconsin was weak and had them bowing out no later than the next round. Most of the picks I've whiffed on are teams I didn't expect to get too far, either, so we'll have to see.

Anyhow, I've been feeling a bit blah lately but tucked away in my Refrigimator (Soooo messy) I've hidden away a little ray of sunshine. Some pesto I made fresh from the garden over the summer and froze. I'm something of a pesto snob as, armed with a recipe from my grandmother (And, no, I'm not sharing it since pal Clamatius will no doubt show up and tell me it's an abomination of nature and a waste of good basil.), there's just no way any store bought concoction can satisfy me. It's been sitting on the counter since I got home and should be nicely thawed by now - hitting the fresh from the boil pasta will take care of any lingering frost. And I've got some nice homemade pasta and some good parmesan just calling out from the fridge. So, I think I'm going to go toss those together and sit down to a long weekend of gaming.