acblunit212

For those of you that followed this website before its recent restructure, you might remember some of the columns written before. In those columns, I attempted
to bring some humour to the game of bridge. Now I don't fancy myself as a comedian (although my good sense of humour is a start), but I rely on anecdotes
that occur in my bridge world, .... that of the non-lifemaster. I may even take the liberty of writing a serious column once in a while, but since my bridge
expertese is limited, I will leave the serious stuff to the life-masters.

To dig up a column from the past, I am going to start by re-newing my annual bridge "New Year's Resolutions". The concept of New Year's resolutions
generally seem to be one of two things. Either you make resolutions in a serious attempt to better yourself, or you make resolutions you have no intent of
keeping but want the challenge of 'just how long can you keep it going!'. Life is a challenge in itself, so I will try to list some resolutions I intend to keep, .... here
it goes!

1 - Make a serious attempt to earn some "gold" points at this year's Regional Tournaments. Some people have questioned me why I don't make a bigger
effort to accumulate some gold points in an attempt to become a life-master. The answer is simple, ... becoming a life-master is nowhere near the number one
priority in my life. I play bridge for the enjoyment of the game. While I do attempt to better myself whenever I can, buying my way to become a life-master isn't
one of them. I appreciate all the life-masters that play with me on occasion, and I accept and understand their pride in being a life-master. Don't get me wrong,
... I will also be very proud to someday become a life-master, but I will pick-up my gold points as they come on my terms. Now if I could buy gas or groceries
with masterpoints, you would see me knocking you over to sign up for tournaments, .... ah, someday!

2 - To somehow spread myself even thinner in an attempt to contribute to our club. I don't actually spend the time I should in developing this website.
Now that I have retired, I should have more time. The thing is, many people had told me prior to retiring that I would wonder how I managed with the little time I
had prior to retiring, ... they were right! I had a big list of things I wanted to do once I retired, and I thought I would have exhausted it by now, .... what was I
thinking! I wanted to build a bridge, build a deck, clear some land, travel, ..... well, all I have done so far is the travelling part. I have volunteered to build the Unit
a new cabinet to hold all the essentials, and I intend to make this website a little more attractive and definately up-to-date. Other than that, if I had wanted to
work, I wouldn't have retired!

3 - Improve my defensive bridge game. One of my mentors continually reminds us that 50% of the time we are on defence. This is true, and most
non-lifemasters pay little attention to this. Our biggest error seems to be agreeing to some system of discards, and then abandoning the premise and make
random discards. As declarer, we watch every card that is played and consider its meaning (don't we?), so why not on defense? It's taken a few years to learn
my offensive bridge skills (offensive as in declarer play, not the other kind of offensive!), so I don't expect my defensive play to develop overnight. Maybe it's
time I borrowed a book from our extensive library and did some reading during my travelling.

4 - Play with more novice players. I no longer consider myself a "novice" player, although I am sure some would beg to differ. I think I am in that limboland of
intermediate non-lifemaster. I do think however that I could help some of the novice players improve their game. This is one of the reasons I have started the
novice lessons on Thursday nights (starting February 11th, see the homepage for details). I think I can utilize my teaching abilities with my limited knowledge
to help improve the novice player. I also want to extend this to playing as their partner. Now that my wife is approaching the 300 masterpoint plateau, I won't be
able to play with her on novice nights, so some other poor soul will have to put up with me. Any volunteers?

I think that is enough resolutions to last me this year. I think the chances of keeping them are pretty good, that's why I set them. My non-bridge resolutions on
the otherhand might not make it. The bridge, the deck, the travel, the land clearing.... well, I know the travel is going to happen. The rest will depend on just how
much free time retirement really does offer me. Until next time, ....