🧵So, here's a mystery I've been wondering about: why is it that all the major retailers I shop at seem to have locked so much of their product behind display cases? Why do I have to track down a Target employee with a key just to buy deodorant? / You're probably thinking: "Well, that's no mystery, Amy, it's because shoplifting has gotten out of control!" Only the thing is... it hasn't? /

Masters Game Thoughts (5/8/2024):
-Thankfully I was not drawn into the winners' game. Which meant that a) I would avoid Victoria and James, b) I could keep whatever momentum I had without sitting out a game, and c) I could watch the other game from the real green room, off camera Obviously no matchup in this competition was ever going to be easy, but I think it was pretty clear to all of us after game 1 that the battle was mostly likely going to come down to a fight between me, Matt, and Mattea for fourth place

Masters Game Thoughts (5/1/2024):
-We'd been told the day before what our first matchups would be, and I knew that this was going to be one of my toughest. James obviously I knew about, and I'd seen how Yogesh performed in the ToC I'd been really confident the night before, but the nerves kicked in as soon as I woke up the next morning. Those of us in the first game had to sit in the "green room" and be filmed watching the first game, and adding some commentary about it at the end

Post-game thoughts (11/20):
-I'll get this out of the way first: I have no real regrets about my Final Jeopardy wager. I think it was the right move, and would make it every time in that scenario. But I'm getting ahead of myself! After the last game, my confidence was all the way back. Obviously I knew Andrew and Sam were dangerous opponents who had a chance of beating me even at my best, but I was sure they would *have* to beat me at my best

Post-game thoughts (11/17/22):
-In a way, there was something comforting about being one game away from defeat. After all, every other game I'd played except the first three final games had been win-or-go-home, and I'd gone 41-1! And as Ken said, I'd been playing fine outside of Daily Doubles, getting more correct answers than Andrew. I basically knew that, but it was nice to get statistical confirmation. And I then got the first answer for the fourth game in a row!

Post-game thoughts (11/16):
-After the last game, I got to hang out with Genevieve for the first time since I'd flown down. I hadn't wanted to the previous night, for fear of it being a distraction, but I couldn't wait any longer! Plus, we needed to celebrate my semifinal win. Reaching the finals had been my primary goal going in, and I'd now achieved it, whatever else happened. Of course, now that I was in the finals, I *really* wanted to win the whole thing!

Post-game thoughts (11/15):
-So, as I said, the pressure was on for this game. I still felt that I wasn't psychologically ready, and it was obvious that playing Sam and Andrew would require every bit of focus I could muster If I could pull off the win (or even if Sam won), I'd have the night to recover, and the next morning to get fully into game mode. But if Andrew won, and I had to spend the night knowing he was up 2-0... well, I didn't want to think about it

Pre-game thoughts (11/8):
-Well, here we all are again! Before tonight's special exhibition game (which I know for many of you may be pre-empted by election coverage), here's my memories from the leadup to the ToC! I'll be honest, I didn't prepare as much for this as I kind of meant to. When I had my first run, it was a lot easier to prepare because, well, my life was pretty boring lol. That's no longer the case!

Hi all! Before I start diving into the Jeopardy content I know you're all here for, a quick reminder about voting! The stakes are high in every election, but they're particularly high these days for trans children. And I want to be clear: trans children's lives are on the line. I understand that, for many people, it may not seem that way. Politicians say that they're enacting these measures to protect children, and I think many of them truly believe that. But they're wrong

Final(!) post-game thoughts:
- had a feeling all day that it was my last day. I can't explain it, and it wasn't really justified by my recent results, but I could just feel that something was missing. When they'd said that morning that there would be a two-week break from taping, I'd been excited, but some part of my brain was like "I won't be coming back."

-I'll post a full recap soon (tomorrow, hopefully, but as you can imagine I'll be doing a lot of interviews over the next day or two). But first, a few thoughts on this emotional day: First, congratulations to Rhone! I talked about how this was the most fun group of contestants I played with, and Rhone was a big reason for that. I had multiple fun conversations with him, both before and after our game.

Post-game thoughts (1/25/22):
-During rehearsals, each contestant does what they call a "Hometown Howdy." Basically, their local affiliate might promote their appearance, putting up a clue like "This Oakland resident and Golden State Warriors fan will be appearing on Jeopardy" Then, they record us "ringing in" and saying (e.g.) "Who is Amy Schneider? <pause> That's me!" They ask us to show some personality, and this particular group had plenty! Everyone started trying to top the previous performance, usually by acting shocked when saying "That's me!"

Post-game thoughts (1/24/22):
The day before, I'd asked someone if I'd have to come in for another early Covid test. They said they hadn't heard anything, and I was like "Then please don't ask about it!" lol. So I'd had a bit of extra sleep relative to the day before And during the morning briefing, I got even better news: after today there would be another two-week break from taping! If I got through today, I wouldn't have to come back until after Thanksgiving! Which was great, because the cumulative grind of taping had really worn me down

Post-game thoughts (1/20/22):
I've said in the past that I found Thursday's games the hardest. Well, that certainly wasn't the case today! Let's get into it: Didn't have any strong feelings about any categories, so I went with anti-synonyms as I wasn't sure what it meant, turns out it was just "synonyms of 'anti-'"

Post-game thoughts (1/19/22):
First off: exciting lunch update! This was the first time that we were actually able to go to the commissary on the Sony lot! We still had to eat in our sad parking garage, but now we could have freshly prepared food, and way more options! I saw a bunch of "fast food" type things (burgers and fries, pizza) that looked really good, but I didn't want to eat anything too heavy. I wound up getting the "chef's special", and I don't remember what it was, but I do remember it was really good.

Post-game thoughts (1/18/22):
-One thing I don't think I've mentioned: each of the podiums has a little rectangle behind it that you stand on, and those rectangles can be raised up, in order to get all the players heads as close to the same level as possible I'm 5'6", so mine was always raised at least a little bit, but when one of the contestants (like Dan) was very tall, I would be a good six inches off the ground. If you pay attention, you can see a noticeable difference in how much of my upper body is visible behind the podium

Post-game thoughts (1/17/22):
I forget if I mentioned, but one fear I had during the last two taping days was whether or not I would actually be able to see Genevieve during the downtime, given her Covid diagnosis. However, the Covid captain for Jeopardy said that wouldn't be necessary, since she was asymptomatic and I was vaccinated, which was a huge relief, I don't know if I could have handled a full week without seeing her!

Post-game thoughts (1/14/22):
One more game to claim third place all time! I started with the music category as usual, and kept going back to it until it was out of the way One of my favorite books is a biography of William the Silent, by C.V. Wedgwood. A really fascinating guy, he was one of the first in European history to really start to break down the relationship between church and state

Post-game thoughts (1/13/22):
-Entering the home stretch! Two more games and I'd get to go home to Genevieve. And if I won them both, I'd have my picture up in the Jeopardy hall of fame! So there was a lot at stake, and no time to feel tired! Before every game, Ken comes out and chats with the contestants a bit, trying to help them relax. He'd started telling a story about, near the end of his streak, contestants would arrive for taping, see he was still there, and get very disappointed and intimidated

Post-game thoughts (12/28):
First, one thing I meant to mention in the previous recap: Seychelles may not have been the correct answer yesterday, but their flag is *lit*, definitely one of my top five favorite flags 🇸🇨 As I think I've mentioned, I'd been reviewing the all-time leaders, and so I knew that Julia Collins had won 20 games, which was the longest streak for a woman (and fourth all time). I loved watching Julia, I felt like we had similar approaches, so I wanted to pay tribute to her

Post-game thoughts:
Getting out of bed was rough Tuesday morning, but I knew that at the end of the day, win or lose, I'd be flying home to Genevieve, which definitely helped me get through the day. But of course, I wanted it to be "win!" I still had $300K to go on the quest for a million, and I knew I'd have to win all five today to have a chance to achieve it the next week!