2.138 ACPT, model

Saturday 04/24/2021

Today was the real start of the crossword puzzle tournament. Between 8am and 1pm we — about 1,000 people who had signed up — did six crosswords, ranging from hard to very hard. The scoring is based on time and accuracy. There is a maximum time for each puzzle, between 20 and 30 minutes typically. For every minute left on the clock when you click “submit” you get points. But you lose points for every incomplete or misspelled word.

After all 6 puzzles, my total score had me firmly in 723rd place, out of 998. So, I’m a leader in the last quadrant.

Other than the tournament, I went to two meals in the new dining room. It is kind of annoying but interesting to watch the ex-sodexo people trying to learn to be real waiters. Some of them don’t seem to be catching on. Like, at supper, a lady at my table had finished her soup. She moved the bowl aside, and said to a server who was standing beside our table, “I’m finished with this.” The server smiled, looked confused, and walked away. The bowl was still there several minutes later when I excused myself and left.

I mean, this is Waiter 101 stuff. A diner says, “I’m finished,” you automatically say, “Oh, let me take that away for you” and move it.

In model news, I now have the stuff to make decals. I had a last-minute thought about the tartan pattern. My image had black with orange lines, but the decal will be going on a black plastic seat, so shouldn’t I remove the black and just print the orange lines on clear? So with some screwing around I managed that,

I printed that on the decal paper, sprayed it with sealant. After it dried I cut one out and made it wet and slid it onto the rear seat.

Well, that sucks. The orange hardly shows at all. Also, the decal is just a little bit too stiff to settle into the grooves of the seat. This is all very disappointing.