As I do every year, I trekked down to Greenville SC this past weekend for the Piedmont Area Mensa regional gathering. While the drive is typically four hours — a little longer this time, I think age is slowing me down — it’s worth it. For example I got to meet PAM’s newest member Griffin.
Griffin is an Irish wolfhound. Quite large. Mellow and friendly.
It’s the PAM gathering’s 50th “golden” anniversary which meant lots of gold everywhere —
I gave a presentation, as I usually do. To fit with the theme, I looked at the James Bond films and how they changed over time by focusing on the changes from Goldfinger to The Man With the Golden Gun to Goldeneye.
The past couple of years I spent a fair amount of time in my hotel room, enjoying the pleasure of being alone. It’s something that doesn’t happen much at home. This year I was having too much fun chatting with friends, occasional Mensan strangers, sometimes random hotel guests. I’d have thought after dealing with Plushie’s diarrhea for two weeks I’d be craving more isolation but no. I had a great time being out and about.
I also competed in Blonde Bowl, a trivia game where the end of every question is the low-point “blonde clue” giving the answer away For example (not taken from this weekend), a detailed description of a baseball player’s career that ends with “…name this iconic player immortalized on screen in The Jackie Robinson Story, Jackie Robinson — All American, and The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson.“ This year I was on the winning team though my personal performance wasn’t as good as it sometimes is.
It was a great weekend though it’s good to be back with TYG and the pets, too.
