It's the PAO

In the memory world, PAO always used to mean Person-Action-Object, a system which I half-heartedly tried once but gave up on very quickly; I can't tell the difference physically between different people, so it's very much not the right system for me. Other people have made it work very successfully, but I think it's maybe gone a little out of fashion nowadays. Anyway, I'm not talking about that kind of PAO here. Nor am I talking, loudly, about the cannons (pao) in Xiangqi; that's a different competition entirely. No, to all the cool people in the mind sports world, PAO means the Pan-American Open in Memory League!

If you remember the drill from last time (how long ago was it? It feels like absolute ages!) there are three online tournaments, each taking place in different time zones eight hours apart, so that everybody gets at least one in a halfway convenient time of day, wherever they live. Sixteen competitors in each, with the top ten in the world qualifying automatically if they choose to enter, and the other places filled with the winners of a qualifying competition...

I'm ranked 15th of the competitors who entered this one. This is an improvement on last time, when I was 16th, I think, or maybe even lower. That means I get a bye through to the last round of qualifying, where I'll probably play... Sayaka Hokazono. Who thrashed me in a match just yesterday. Great.

Although I was a long way from my best yesterday, so if I can improve before then, and she remains at the less-than-her-best level she needed to beat me, I might have a chance. And then, not being 16th seed, I avoid having to play the top seed in the first round of the tournament proper, if I qualify! Woo!

So instead of being beaten by Alex, I have the chance to play Simon! Who's also much better than me at everything and will beat me easily! But at least it'll make a nice change!

Now, let's think - WHY have I been on such poor form at Memory League just lately. I haven't completely neglected my training, but I haven't got good results whenever I've sat down to give it a go. Could it be a side-effect of the other thing I'm doing, which I was asked not to talk about all over the internet? That'll just have to remain a mystery, but I tell you - the readers of this blog have missed out on a LOT of witticisms already about the whole thing! I just hope I can remember them all when I'm finally free to discuss it!