NANOWRIMO Is Not My Only November Gamble
Anyone or any city that I'm word warring with can thank one thing for how far ahead you are going to get with my dilly-dallying tonight - basketball. Now I know it's Monday night and I know as a male in the United States between 18 and 49, I should be watching Monday Night Football (and I do have money on the Giants) but NCAA basketball is capturing my interest completely.
As I may have mentioned, I like to gamble a bit. Well, today is a big day for college basketball - the first day of Feast Week. Feast Week is a coin ESPN termed to describe the fact that there are a number of Thanksgiving week college basketball games. Since some of them start early in the morning in Hawaii, it was like a day of footcer except with college basketball so I figured I'd actually win money instead of just breaking even (I lose at football big time).
So I said I'd play until I lost. Right after lunch, Memphis played Oklahoma and I figured Memphis would win with ease - they did (+$5.45). With this win, and to spite this Purdue fan who I talk sports with all day, I took that bet into a hopeful Georgia Tech victory over Purdue - it came through (+$10.45). Duke was somehow (maybe crack in Las Vegas) favored over Air Force by only six. I figured that was silly and put $10.00 on that to win $9.09. That paid off pretty easily - though there were a few scary moments (+19.54). And then we got into the real distractions. I played a parlay where if Kentucky and Marquette both covered, I would win $15.47 (on a $5.95 bet). So I was constantly checking the score. It was only when Kentucky lost (on a last second DePaul shot in garbage time) that I wished I had been spending that time writing my NANO.
I did pull over the 30,000 mark right as Kentucky pulled into an 11 point lead I though they could keep (I needed them to win by 8) before I went to sit down in front of the T.V. full time.
Well now thankfully all of that is over and hopefully in most post blog writing session, I'll be able to actually write 1,200 words an hour or so (my average) rather than the 500 I average when I'm half attentive to the television.
---
On the previous mentioned word wars, I didn't mention what was happening in the Chicago v. Toronto one last week because it was too depressing. Well, the news isn't much better this week.
The score as of this morning was: Toronto 916,771, Chicago 753,203.
We wrote a ton this week and somehow lost ground. Not as much ground as before but still a good amount. The only good news out of it all was that all of our writers who are hovering around the 10,000 word mark are still writing. And that's the point of the word war, after all - to give those who are struggling extra incentive to succeed.
Though I do wonder if I can get a good over/under for the last 10 days of writing - the NANOWRIMO equivalent of a hockey third period on how much ground we can actually make up. Or at least place a bet on Toronto to cover. :)
Oops, mixing up my two obsessions here.
I do want to bet that I will reach 50,000 though and hopefully there are no doubters. Even though my laptop is now officially toast (to repair the monitor is somehow magically more than the computer originally cost) - though it can be hooked up to a monitor and used as a better version of my desktop.
Still I will lock myself in my room over Thanksgiving and will come out, hopefully, with at least 45,000 words. Or in a final push maybe even go over the top. I've never failed to hit 50,000 over Thanksgiving and even though this year it's earlier I hope to keep that streak alive.
Though don't bet on it.
As I may have mentioned, I like to gamble a bit. Well, today is a big day for college basketball - the first day of Feast Week. Feast Week is a coin ESPN termed to describe the fact that there are a number of Thanksgiving week college basketball games. Since some of them start early in the morning in Hawaii, it was like a day of footcer except with college basketball so I figured I'd actually win money instead of just breaking even (I lose at football big time).
So I said I'd play until I lost. Right after lunch, Memphis played Oklahoma and I figured Memphis would win with ease - they did (+$5.45). With this win, and to spite this Purdue fan who I talk sports with all day, I took that bet into a hopeful Georgia Tech victory over Purdue - it came through (+$10.45). Duke was somehow (maybe crack in Las Vegas) favored over Air Force by only six. I figured that was silly and put $10.00 on that to win $9.09. That paid off pretty easily - though there were a few scary moments (+19.54). And then we got into the real distractions. I played a parlay where if Kentucky and Marquette both covered, I would win $15.47 (on a $5.95 bet). So I was constantly checking the score. It was only when Kentucky lost (on a last second DePaul shot in garbage time) that I wished I had been spending that time writing my NANO.
I did pull over the 30,000 mark right as Kentucky pulled into an 11 point lead I though they could keep (I needed them to win by 8) before I went to sit down in front of the T.V. full time.
Well now thankfully all of that is over and hopefully in most post blog writing session, I'll be able to actually write 1,200 words an hour or so (my average) rather than the 500 I average when I'm half attentive to the television.
---
On the previous mentioned word wars, I didn't mention what was happening in the Chicago v. Toronto one last week because it was too depressing. Well, the news isn't much better this week.
The score as of this morning was: Toronto 916,771, Chicago 753,203.
We wrote a ton this week and somehow lost ground. Not as much ground as before but still a good amount. The only good news out of it all was that all of our writers who are hovering around the 10,000 word mark are still writing. And that's the point of the word war, after all - to give those who are struggling extra incentive to succeed.
Though I do wonder if I can get a good over/under for the last 10 days of writing - the NANOWRIMO equivalent of a hockey third period on how much ground we can actually make up. Or at least place a bet on Toronto to cover. :)
Oops, mixing up my two obsessions here.
I do want to bet that I will reach 50,000 though and hopefully there are no doubters. Even though my laptop is now officially toast (to repair the monitor is somehow magically more than the computer originally cost) - though it can be hooked up to a monitor and used as a better version of my desktop.
Still I will lock myself in my room over Thanksgiving and will come out, hopefully, with at least 45,000 words. Or in a final push maybe even go over the top. I've never failed to hit 50,000 over Thanksgiving and even though this year it's earlier I hope to keep that streak alive.
Though don't bet on it.
posted by incendiarymind at 8:17 PM
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