Amazing Race, Episodes 3 and 4

I had family dinner last night at my sisters' house. Jeremiah made a lovely meat loaf with garlicky mashed potatoes. I brought a salad (spinach, craisins, blue cheese dressing). Jeremiah also procured dessert but then left it at home. Initially Katie didn't think she could join us because of the amount of work she needed to get done, but she was able to come late. Jeremiah went to buy a cake in lieu of the other dessert while we waited for Katie. Missy, Tina, Mom, and I played a dominoes variant (quadrominoes) while we waited for Katie and Jeremiah. It was all a bit frenetic but quite fun. (Mom even won the quadrominoes game! Huntington's disease has not robbed her of mental toughness! Tina was going to take a picture of the game for blogging purposes, but she demurred in the end, so embarrassed was she to have lost.)

After we all reassembled, we rooted for the teams we had chosen in episodes 3 and 4 of The Amazing Race. Sadly, Tina's pick of Mark and Bill made a critical mental error that caused them to be eliminated. This is particularly funny as they are self-identified nerds who displayed significant hubris in their assessment of their strategic capabilities. Scarily, my team (Terence and Sarah) started out making the same mistake before correcting themselves. (My team also provided the line that my family found most amusing, when Terence stated at the start of episode 4 that he wanted some love. Then he honed his request, specifically asking to be touched. Then he suggested he would like his hair in particular to be touched. Sarah complied quite nicely.)

So we are down to seven teams left, with Mom and Tina out of the running. I like my team's chances. Katie's team seems to barely bumble across the finish line and are perpetually in the bottom half. Missy's team and Jeremiah's team are mortal enemies, providing a distraction to themselves and to the other team. Sarah seems to get along with everyone (in or out of the race), while Terence has only had one extra-partnership tiff; as a team they typically finish in the top half. Such excitement!

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