Friday passed fine but on Saturday it was time again. It was the finale of the Swedish version of the Eurovision song contest. I can't say that I cared much about the outcome, to be honest I didn't find any song really good, just decent, boring or sometimes bad. There was this 88 year old guy with a song called boogieman blues that was at least very funny and there was a sami guy who did joik, a traditional kind of sami singing that is very unique, at least as far as I know. They were some fresh air at least. Neither had any chance of getting far and I knew it but decided to watch the show anyway. So why is it a failure in my opinion? Well, simply due to the rules. For some reason the organizers decided that it was a good idea to give international juries the right to vote and stand for half of the result. Sadly the guy who came second in Swedish votes got first place given to him from them and the guy who won the Swedish vote came second in the result. I'm not sure why it annoys me so much but the international votes just ruin all the fun, at least in my opinion.
So lets move on to the Sunday fail. Well, in the last blog post I wrote about that an e-sportsman finally got to participate in the tv-show Mästarnas Mästare (Champion of the champions), a show where retired Swedish sportsmen/women compete against each other in different things. One has to leave each week and the first one out was sadly the e-sportsman, losing fair after not doing well in any competition really. People who don't know e-sports well did have time to get to like him tho, great that at least. He got the spot one week before they started filming as a replacement for another athlete who got injured so apparently he didn't have time to train. That and weighing over 100 kilo are fair excuses I guess, as his size - looks like your average gym guy and around 2 meter tall - wasn't optimal for the body weight stuff that was the theme of the competitions.
Now lets get positive
I have however gotten a new favorite in the show, a 69 years old ice racer called Posa. I don't really care much about his sport but he is just such a funny guy that I can't help cheering for him. And as the second week was strategy instead of physics he actually got first place. Scores will reset for next week tho, hope he keeps on going strong, I think almost every viewer likes him. His fanclub on Facebook increased from 600 to 1000 in just one day after it was mentioned on the show and it's still growing.
In Melodifestivalen at least the hosts were funny, they are usually good but these were really great.
In chess, well, the day I met this player who beat me I also met many other people. A few days later I met one of them again by accident and while talking it turned out that he was a chess player as well, quite close to my level. We went to the same chess pub where I lost before for some games and I think our score is 8.5-0.5 to me now but unlike with most opponents I can't fool around. If I didn't focus I would lose games for sure, a few were close and one he really should have won.
To be honest I don't really mind the losses against the guy I met before either. When I mentioned the current tournaments going on he knew all about them so I knew he was no amateur even before we played but I think I still underestimated him. The first game he won so easily that we decided he could use a blindfold. He won that almost as easily and I was two beer down, I did make him think 30 seconds on one move tho. Turns out this guy, Alexandr Fier, was in the top 100 in the world and had decided to grab a beer after finishing a tournament in Amsterdam. In comparison I am in the top 100 000 something. He is one of the three strongest opponents I have ever faced so to be honest it was worth it, always fun to meet really good players. Also fun to see the looks on the faces of the people I'm teaching and playing against blindfolded. I told them that I'm not thaaat good but I don't think they believed me until now.
Yeah, that's that week. Hardly been only one weekend since last time I wrote so got more stuff to write as soon as I get time. One of them being that I finally met an old friend of mine for the first time, seems like a contradiction? Well, wait til next post.