Yes – It’s just another manic Monday.
I was a little frustrated today when I went to get my nails done – I was told the wait would be an hour! I stewed about how much studying time I was missing, but since I was in the mall I decided to look around at dresses. I got to thinking that in my zeal to study I may have overlooked an important part of the audition! Not long ago, I was bugging about what to wear to the unofficial Jeopardy! reunion in Washington. I should be worrying more – MUCH more – about what I wear to this. This is what it’s all about, after all.
Today, I was at the same store where I bought a cute dress for Washington when my mom happened to call. I told her what I was doing, and she suggested I buy the same dress I returned after finding out I had to wear a red polo to the reunion. Remember how I said I dreaded telling her I’d returned it? Turns out, to my surprise, she’d read the blog, and already knew about it. Anyway I think I do want to buy that dress again. They didn’t have my size at this one, so I may go to Grand Island in the near future to see if they have my size. I’m bound to find something there – They had cute dresses galore the day I was shopping for the reunion.
I feel bad that I didn’t blog about Friday’s episode. I had planned to blog, but I also thought I’d be visiting my friend in Grand Island, the one recovering from hip surgery, earlier in the day. In fact I thought I might even be watching the episode with her, which would’ve been a scream. Instead we didn’t get together til dinner time, but it’s okay because I stayed at her place until 2:00 a.m. answering Jeopardy! clues she read me from a book. We finished the book, and she said she didn’t think I’d have another book she liked as much as that one. (I brought a bagful of trivia books.) I might see her tomorrow, so we’ll see if she finds something else she likes.
Something else I wanted to throw out there about my Jeop prep (if I can coin a phrase): There is a discussion going on at the Jeopardy! message boards right about why Ken Jennings was so successful. I’m eating it all up. The boardies brought something up I’d never thought of before – stamina. Those who’ve been there saying competing on the show is an exhausting experience. I asked how someone could prepare for that. Someone suggested watching five episodes in a row, standing up like you would on the show. It’s an intriguing idea that I might try with the weekend episodes I’m taping at my mom and dad’s. What do you guys think made Ken the phenomenon he is?
At any rate, Friday’s champion Monica Iyer returned today. She kicked butt on Friday’s episode and today Mr. Trebek even referred to her as a barracuda.
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| Monica Iyer |
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| Matt Larson |
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| Roberta Candalino |
Unfortunately, when you live in the Midwest you sometimes have to deal with those emergency weather alerts interrupting your show. Today it happened not once but twice. I didn’t miss anything except commercials the second time, but the first time I missed Monica’s interview through the last three whole categories of the round, including the Daily Double. 🙁 I did manage to sweep Fill in the Song Title before the first break. At that time, Monica had 1800, Roberta had 400, and Matt had 4400. At the beginning of Double Jeopardy, Monica had 4200, Roberta had 2900, and Matt had 6800.
I got two triple-stumpers today in Double Jeopardy. The first was in Pass the Veggies: “For carb cutters, ‘Joy of Cooking’ has a recipe for this vegetable, mashed as a substitute for potatoes.” Roberta guessed parsnip and Monica guessed sweet potato.
The second triple-stumper I got was in Best Supporting Actress Oscar Winners: “No driving over a cliff for her in ‘The Accidental Tourist.'” Monica said Susan Sarandon and Roberta said, “Katherine…” (Notice Matt wisely allowed those two to dig a hole while he stayed right where he was, which actually created a gain for him.)
The next clue was a Daily Double, found by Roberta in Linguistics. She lamely wagered 500 of her 1700. (Monica had 4200 and Matt had 9600.) This was the clue: “It’s not just a Louisiana French dialect, but any language that evolves from pidgin speech.” One of two words came to my mind. I picked the right one and Roberta picked the wrong one.
Monica found the next Daily Double, in On Such a Winter’s Day. She had 6200, Roberta had 8400, and Matt had 14800. Monica wagered 3000 on this clue: “On January 14, 2011, president Ben Ali fled this African country as his people protested his 23-year rule.” Monica looked like she knew the answer right away and was just waiting for Mr. Trebek to finish reading the clue. At the end of the round, she had 10800, Roberta somehow had 13200, and Matt had 16000. The Final Jeopardy category was Science Terms (which coincidentally, seemed to cue the second the weather alert). This was the clue I was glad not to have missed: “This term for the lowest level of the ocean that the sun’s rays can reach shares its name with a classic 1960s TV show.” I have to admit I didn’t even try, since my scorekeeping was messed up anyway by the interruptions. I just wanted to write the clue in the 30 seconds, which I did accomplish. Monica did not write a response, and she lost 5202. Did it annoy anyone else that Mr. Trebek noted she was not alive in the 60s, and that was part of the problem? I say, it does not matter. Roberta wrote “Sunset,” and lost 13000. Matt wrote, “Deep Sea,” and lost 10401. You could hear a man in the audience howl when it became clear: Matt beat Monica by one dollar. He wagered enough to beat Roberta if she had doubled. Had Monica wagered 5200 instead of 5202, she‘d have won by a dollar. Must have been a mistake. So we’ll see Matt tomorrow.
I don’t have a complete Coryat score today because I missed those three categories. My Coryat score Friday was 23000. Monica‘s was 19400, Chloe Horning‘s was 10200, and Renee Huff’s was 7800.
Happy Memorial Day to all.
