I'm happy I chose to go to TRASHIONALS instead of setting myself up for being both at the dealing and receiving ends of the Bush administration's dangerous and confused policies. Not only would I be buffeted by the stuff coming down the bureaucratic pike, I would also have to deal with the world's (often angry) reaction to each of them on a very personal level.

Instead I had fun at a trash tournament where I actually had a shot at answering questions. Thank you whoever wrote those packets and avoided the mire of obscure '70s sitcom pilots and lists of the 1995 Sul Ross State baseball team. Though, I was disappointed with the incredible amount of questions on very minor hockey leagues. I was half expecting questions on the Newfoundland Hockey League's Carribean expansion teams. But there was enough of a normal-person to savant questions.

As I like to determine a person's temperament by blending the contents of their refrigerators, I wonder how that would work on my answers over the weekend. A jackelope, Kim Jong Il, Inuit Cinema, potato chips, and tongue forking would come out to be pretty strange but then I'm hardly normal.

Thanks to Edmund, Tricia, Drew, Tim and everyone else who let me come along for the ride. It was nice to see Allison, Josh, the assembled Dartmouth undergrad team, and other College Bowl luminaries. But even beyond that, it was great to see my good friends (and Dartmouth grads) Brian and Michael!!! It has been a long time and it was great to connect with them and see that they were doing well. Four of us oddball Dartmouth alums in one place! I guess we could have formed a team if we wanted to, but there was more than enough talent and competition out there.

The mostly GWU team "So Much for Shock and Awe" tolerated Mr. "Gin Rummy" Rumsfeld's only occasional contributions to our score. In the end, we got packets of British royalty trading cards as champions of the O'Leary bracket. I haven't opened them since I don't want to lose the papparazzi (sp?). Tricia also got a special award. Talk to her if you want to know what it was, but make sure you ask about the King of Hearts ;-)

More importantly, I want to publicly congratulate Tricia and Drew for their incredible skill and nerves of steel driving around Kafkaville (I mean greater Boston). I owe them a sizeable debt of gratitude--especially Tricia since she had to be squished in the back of our rollerskate car made worse by my occasional creaking and groaning. Not to mention the angle that I was wedged into the seat.

OK-- I'm still recovering from the weekend but I'll mention a few quick things:

Having never read the Wheel of Time series, I haven't the faintest idea what an Ajah is. But I've come out as at least three different colors all with equally accurate answers: brown (caring absent-minded professor), white (hyperlogical sarcastic vulcan) and blue (expert political manipulator). Though I wonder about the people who truthfully come out as green (passionate nymphomaniac with superhuman stamina). There are also a couple of small blind spots in how the questions come out.....Maybe some of you out there might be able to shed some light on this? Thanks to Tricia for pointing me in this direction.

What's your Ajah?
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I have also set up an appropriately messed-up country in the QB Alliance of the world of Nation States . Check outDezzar, where the forests are really deserts, the people breed faster than rabbits, and a war is raging across the Tavril Sea. Don't let our friendly exterior fool you, I'm going to shake things up pretty soon.

I've been taking part in Tim's Jukebox from Hell (shudder!!) to come up with the truly worst song put out by the often masochistic music industry. Tim's New England State test has also told me that my character is best embodied by the state of Vermont. Emphasis on education, socially liberal, and pro-agriculture. Who'd a thunk it?

It's time to head home.