One week until my move! Lots of time has been wasted meandering through my 700 square feet, eyes searching for knick-knacks to pack a little tighter. Perhaps the weather will be a little more pleasant by then — yesterday we received seven inches of snow, topped with ice, and the roads are still awful. I've been also been letting the time drip past by playing lots of chess. It's a new game for me and so far my elo ranking is ~760, which is pretty bad. As it turns out, most of chess ability can be simplified into 1) memorizing opening maneuvers and 2) practicing lots of chess puzzles to learn the optimal response to many scenarios. Of course, computers will outmatch us at every turn. Meanwhile, I'm struggling to master the Catalan and the English openings. (P.S. My boyfriend and I have decided it is illegal to work on snow days during the holidays, so there's actually quite a bit of time for chess!)