I think it was in the Martin Scorsese movie “New York New York.” At one point, the anti-heroic protagonist, the brash jazz saxophonist Jimmy Doyle, played by Robert De Niro, makes a philosophical declaration to his sweetie, a singer named Francine Evans, played by Liza Minnelli, about how a man’s life is like a major chord. If I recall correctly, he said something like how there are three notes – his home, his love life and his music – and when all those are in harmony, life is beautiful. Well, maybe he didn’t quite say it that way, but I still like the analogy.
At any rate, my major chord hit sour notes in many ways in the month of May. My blood pressure needed extra medication, my personal arrangements hit more than one crisis point and my bridge game went to hell. Hopefully, the blood pressure and the personal stuff will work themselves into better places, but my miserable masterpoint production for the month will stand forever as a low point in my bridge-playing history.
OK, a little overdramatic, but it was truly miserable. How miserable was it? I earned a mere 5.46 points for the month – 3.66 in club play, 1.8 at the sectional tournament – my worst month since May 2006. In the past, I could blame the advent of golf season for my decline. This time, with the home front keeping me away from the tables on the weekends, on Memorial Day and on a five-day trip to New England, plus the tournament, I missed 14 of a possible 31 days of Ace of Clubs action. And then there was my big mid-month slump. There’s no question that I’m about to sink deeper down the lists in the unit and district masterpoint races when the ACBL finishes its monthly tabulations.
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