Horrid Social Injustices Equipped with Feline Compensation!

     

       May it be well known that my home is being remodeled. I'll have you know, also, that this is not your ordinary remodeling. This is a heinous and tyrannical desecration of all I hold sacred. It should also be known that I am being shamelessly dramatic and the preceding sentence is the epitome of hyperbole. However, it is true that my house has turned into a studio apartment and there is one room that is now furnished for three rooms thus resulting in one, seriously cramped dining-living-cooking-room chimera that is, in a word, unpleasant. To combat this issue I decided, this evening, to go for a stroll along my neighborhood. This was painfully boring. This was painfully boring until I initiated a bit of a challenge/ game type thing to entertain myself and that was to see how many cats I could find hiding in and around the properties of their own homes. This was astoundingly successful and was the source of ample amusement for me. Throughout the remainder of my stroll I met somewhere around seven cats one of which was, I swear to god, Behemoth. He was black and he was absolutely giant and not in a fat way, just enormous like a panther and he stared at me with mischievous, unblinking eyes as I walked past. So I suppose it's not all bad; my questionable living environment has allowed for increased feline interaction. Huzzah!

~Nobilis Saeva

Speaking of Behemoth, I think it's about time for another Noble Novel. 

My Week in the "Zempire"

       The giant trade show known as Outdoor Retailer (OR for short) visited, as it does twice a year, my city of residence this week. I, due to my family's connections in this industry, was called upon as a bit of a taskmaster for a footwear company called ZEMgear or just Zem. The name is a clever and catchy acronym for Zone of Endless Motion. I, being primarily a bicyclist, had never really looked into the minimalist "barefoot" footwear industry in which Zem is a frontrunner but I'm always happy to meet new people, make new connections, and support the allies and clients of my family's business so naturally I accepted the mission. My week in the Zempire was by no means one of menial errands and indentured servitude but instead a fascinating and priceless opportunity.

Am I a Grandmaster Yet?

     
       For those who haven't noticed on the right-hand panel of this page, my Elo rating on chess.com has gone up by around 200 in the last month or so. This is all good and well except it's still only in the mid 1200's. Allow me to offer some background on this: Last year, around the end of September, I encountered a bit of a transitional phase that left me to reevaluate my life a little but which is a shameless euphemism for, "I had way too much time on my hands" so I was brainstorming with a close friend of mine and fellow blogger as to how I should fill this time. We decided the best possible option would be for me to become really good at chess. Of course my friend and I are no virgin's when it comes to setting goals so we knew we needed to be a little more specific so it became the following: Achieve and Elo Rating of at Least 1700 in One Year. 
       Why 1700? 1700 is a completely arbitrary number that we thought was the highest attainable score for anyone in a year. It is considered class B in the chess world. It's an honorable rating but it's not legendary. The problem is that I, like most people, dabbled in chess with my father as a young lad but by the time I made this goal it had been a couple years since I had played. I got a chess.com account and immediately proceeded to lose game after game after game until my rating was solidly in the 800s. Bad, bad news for someone on deadline. The good news is that I've gotten better! I can somewhat consistently beat players in the 1300's and my rating is steadily climbing. Unfortunately, the deadline that we set was October 1st, 2013 which is fast approaching so I really need to up the ante and play a whole lot more-- and, more importantly, win a whole lot more-- if I want to get there which I very much do because I really do not like losing challenges.
    In other news, I have begun rehearsing the aforementioned Sonata for Eb Saxophone and Piano by Heiden with a friend of mine who just so happens to be an exceptional pianist for a competition this fall so that will take some serious work as well. Wish me luck!

~Nobilis Saeva