After interviewing would-be counselors for the day, Patricia then makes a request to his boss regarding vacations:

"So I would like to take November twelve through eighteen off for the ChGK Worlds in Ukraine. Kansas won the national championship back in March, I am the captain of the national team at ChGK Worlds..."

"You never specified what you did during vacations, nor what ChGK even is" the head of addiction services asks her. "And it's only now that you told anyone at work about ChGK? Also, what the hell is ChGK?"

"ChGK is a team riddle game. I never talked about that game because you would probably not have understood anything about it. Here's a sample question: there's only one way to play music in the Red Army without having to undergo basic military training. In what unit would you then serve?"

ChGK is a bit obscure here, but only Ainslee and Catria are aware of the game's existence among people I dealt with at work, Patricia muses as to who could have known about ChGK.

"The Red Army? Isn't that some Soviet kind of thing? Did Russia reuse that name in any capacity?" her confused boss asks her.

"Are you giving up? There is no shame in doing so here" Patricia asks her boss.

"I give up, I know nothing of the post-Putin Russian military"

"The Red Army Choir. The Choir is technically not a military unit, before people can audition for it, they screen for one's education and experience as a musician. However, the Choir is simply a ceremonial unit with no frontline expectations"

"But I guess I can aways give it to you since no one ever asked for vacations in that timeframe"

The main periods to ask for vacations are spring break for the staff with families, holidays and summer. Never in my life as an admin of a psychiatric hospital did anyone ask for a week off in mid-November! the head of addiction services reflects on what he saw as a bizarre time for her to be taking vacations.

--------------------------

Now that vacation is approved for that timeframe, the time has come for the team to come together for one more meeting at Bohdan's home regarding the logistics of attending Worlds in Bakhmut.

"The reason why I asked my boss for the vacation to be taken from Wednesday is because we catch the first flight to New York on Tuesday late afternoon, then late at night we catch our flight to Kyiv, and finally on to Donetsk. We collect our rental van at night. It's low touristic season in Ukraine during Worlds so we shouldn't be worried about hotel prices. But beyond that, do you have special requests for hotel rooms?" Patricia asks her teammates.

"Yes. I've been in contact with Mariupol State so we can have a symposium held. You bet the locals are very interested in a guest lecture on how Mariupol refugees contributed to their new communities, as well as American sacrifices during the Ukraine war. But the Mariupol State of today bears no resemblance to the Mariupol State I attended" Vira explains to the group as she prepares her presentation on the topic of American sacrifices during the war. "And we may as well visit the War Memorial, where Azovstal once stood, while we are in Mariupol"

"This means we collect our rental car, we drive straight to Mariupol and sleep one night in there, then two more nights in Bakhmut" Yakiv then adds this consideration.

After the war, infrastructure was rebuilt, including airports in cities like Donetsk, civil infrastructure such as universities, hospitals and housing. Including Mariupol State's campus. Which was destroyed in the Siege of Mariupol back in 2022.

"Are we going to stay in Bakhmut after Worlds end on Saturday? We must be back in Donetsk by Monday night, but what will we do in Donbass on Sunday and Monday?" Bohdan asks.

"I confess we draw a blank on what we could be visiting in Donetsk on Sunday and Monday" Sergei asks them. "But Crimea is too far away"

"Bakhmut rooms are less expensive than in Donetsk, so I say, we stay Saturday night in Bakhmut and on Sunday morning, we go straight to Donetsk after breakfast"

Patricia then needs to book rooms in 3 different hotels. The first night is in Mariupol, and she remains mindful to being close to Mariupol State's campus. Then 3 nights in Hotel Bakhmut, and finally one night in Donetsk.

"So the most expensive part is the plane tickets. Because we plan on staying in Ukraine for only one week, we don't need a visa to attend Worlds" Yakiv checks against the list of the visa requirements by country of origin. "It wouldn't make much sense to go out and exchange for hryvnias right now..."

"Hryvnias?" the sixth player asks, not knowing what that is.

"Ukrainian money"

"The remaining expenses are going to be food and souvenirs; it is the trip of a lifetime, yes, but these things aren't free" Patricia retorts to them, not knowing how much to budget for food while in Ukraine. "I don't want us to rely on our credit cards until we absolutely need to since exchange rates on credit cards are typically worse than if we buy hryvnias at the bank, either here or in Donetsk. I'd say wait until we arrive at Donetsk before we buy hryvnias"

Is the Worlds fund going to be enough? Of course, we're not going to live the high life in travel the way some of the wealthier teams could have, Patricia's fund worries start to get the better of her, knowing that the new hires won't begin accruing billable hours until a few weeks from now.

Even then, 1/17 of the hourly gross profit is not much, and she needs to ensure she and her teammates have enough money to pay for the hotels, the rental van and the plane tickets. She already charged the plane tickets to her credit card, nearly maxing it out, then pays said card back so that she can pay for the hotels one by one, as well as the rental van.

"You're the most miserly ChGK player I've ever come across!" the sixth player comments on Patricia's budgeting process for the trip to ChGK Worlds.

"I'm not that miserly. Sure, I bought a home on the cheap, but living beyond one's means is a recipe for disaster" Patricia warns her teammates, and tells each of them how much they owe her for the travel arrangements. "One more thing, remember what the Quantum Computers said in New York, about how the Words are a test of endurance?"

"How do you think we should build up our stamina then?" a visibly annoyed Yakiv asks his captain.

"Oh yes, I have an idea: last Saturday in August, we organize a charity marathon tournament, midnight to midnight Kansas City time, twenty-four games, maximum nine players, of which no more than six can play at any given time... Lanisha, do you feel comfortable playing ChGK at a charity tournament?" Patricia asks Bohdan's wife.

"Why?" Lanisha asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

"It's obvious none of us can play all twenty-four games. Not even me, so we need someone to cover for us when some of the core players can't play" Patricia explains to her about this ChGK tournament. "But it's a bit early to talk about who will play when"

She rereads the invite she posted months ago on LiveJournal for the Achievement Junkie Invitational, and she can identify what to tweak: tournament name, number of questions and time. But, by and large, the tournament regulations would remain the same. And request Worlds qualifier status if there are enough top-100 teams and enough nationalities in the field since, as with the AJI, it's going to be a synchronous tournament, Patricia muses while the main details are sorted out.

--------------------------

The following day at work, she meets up with Ainslee about her role in organizing the ChGK charity tournament.

"Hey, Ainslee, I have an opportunity for you to take on a leadership role in a ChGK marathon fundraising tournament for the Partnership to End Addiction" Patricia explains to her.

"How do you propose we split the organization of this charity ChGK tournament?" Ainslee asks.

"I take care of the gameplay aspect; you take care of the food and venue"

"Why food?"

"It's a twenty-four-hour event, starting on August twenty-ninth at midnight, and ending on August thirtieth at midnight. Even if players relayed between each other to get sleep and other stuff done, whoever is still here is going to need to eat"

I can always advertise this marathon as a "last chance" kind of tournament for ChGK Worlds. There will definitely be a couple of those more manic teams who will be willing to endure 24 games in 24 hours for both charity and a shot to qualify for the ChGK Worlds, Patricia muses while she is about to order questions from KA.

"One more thing: do you want to read the questions during the tournament? The base rules that apply to you are that you must give sixty seconds and then give the answer, or, if it's a blitz, twenty seconds"

"Let me guess, it's going to be online?"

"Yes. I'll try to find someone else to read the questions for later in the tournament; I don't think I can read the full thing"

"I just need your email address to deliver the questions from our supplier, your personal one"

"Yes, I'll just need to book the psychiatric hospital's gym for that block"

As far as Patricia understood the gameplay portion, it meant liaising with the emissaries away from Kansas City, supplying questions as well as the appeals committee.

--------------------------

When the next AAA meeting takes place Wednesday night, however, Stephanie seems to be discussing... diagnostic test scores.

"Since we last met, I took a diagnostic GRE so that I know where I stand" Stephanie then tells her fellow achievement addicts, hoping at least one would be interested.

"What did you get?" the ex-lawyer addict asks Stephanie.

"Also, are you normally the kind of student who does worse on the real test vs a diagnostic?" Patricia asks Stephanie.

Stephanie then shows the score report from the diagnostic GRE test to the ex-lawyer, and then to Patricia. Verbal: 162, Quantitative: 167, Analytical Writing: 5.5.

"Assuming you perform more or less the same on the real test, it's not going to be a question of numbers, for B-school or for MPH applications" Patricia then tells Stephanie.

"Even for, like, Harvard, Brown or Columbia?" Stephanie asks. These are my top three choices, since they offer the option of pursuing the degree online and part-time.

"Yes. Their medians are about fifteen percentiles lower than that, and their median GPA is about three point six or so. In the world of public health, first, you can consider Tulane an Ivy equivalent, and second, prestige matters most in policy and epidemiology, but in healthcare management, not as much. I might be biased because I..." Patricia explains to her, before being cut off.

"You attended Tulane, I know" Stephanie then points out to the other addicts.

Tulane was approximately tenth or so nationwide in public health when I graduated. I was given job offers from across the country, I simply picked my current job because it felt like the best financial deal at the time since other jobs were in higher cost-of-living regions. I was the MHA valedictorian that year. But the valedictorian out of a class of how many? 20? Patricia has flashbacks from her last days at Tulane, triggered by Stephanie.

"I'm lucky my family had no alcohol at home to begin with, and, for the summer, I am working for the city's public works" Catria then tells her plans for the summer.

"I know it's a little early to ask this of you, but Steph, do you have the contact information of the other people on the appeals committee for State this year? Other than Lanisha of course" Patricia asks while still fixated on Steph.

"Why?" Stephanie asks, suspecting it has to do with ChGK.

"Once again, since it's for a marathon charity ChGK tournament, the Last Chance Marathon, I would like to first ask whether they can serve on the appeals committee on the last Saturday of August... also we need a total of nine players and, right now, we only have seven"

"Why nine players?" Catria asks.

"Kate, no one can play ChGK for twenty-four hours straight so players will need to take turns playing and not playing. No more than six players can play at any given time"

"Please, let me serve on the appeals committee!" the two male addicts plead with Patricia.

"We just need someone else with some experience of ChGK appeals committee and that person will chair the appeals committee" Patricia then turns to Steph. "How do you feel about playing ChGK, rather than to be on the appeals committee or to run a tournament?"

"I never had the opportunity to play that game, only that I was dragged into staffing a ChGK tournament because of my involvement in staffing scholars bowl tournaments. I guess, we shall put aside our differences for the cause" Stephanie answers her fellow volunteer.

Patricia then checks on the preliminary list of participants to the Last Chance Marathon. Two top-100 teams are confirmed on top of the Kansas State Team: the Quantum Computers and Azovstal, an Ukrainian team from Mariupol. Hopefully teams from 7 more nationalities will compete in this charity tournament and two more top-100 teams. Then I will apply for Worlds qualifier status. It seems like people are more willing to enter tournaments for charity, Patricia then muses, realizing that the Kansas State Team has cracked the top-100 for the first time on the MAK rating leaderboard. And, of all teams, the Chinese national team follows suit. Vira told me on multiple occasions about how the Chinese are one of the big teams to defeat at Worlds.

And the cash keeps trickling in as teams register for the tournament. Some wealthy dilettantes enter the tournament, with no real hope to qualify for Worlds. She then proceeds to text those members on the appeals committee at State asking whenever they are available on August 30th to serve as the chair of the appeals committee at this new charity tournament.

"At the Achievement Junkie Invitational, you might have had a chance to explore what difficulty level of questions to expect out of international ChGK play, but at the Last Chance Marathon, you will have a much better idea of what is truly expected at Worlds" Patricia then turns to Stephanie. "I trust you understand how playing ChGK differs from organizing a ChGK tournament, or even moderating a ChGK game"

"Yes. I understand also that the Last Chance Marathon is not going to be like other tournaments. Whereas normal tournaments are the length of State, or maybe an extra game, this is twenty-four games"

"I know you can play well. Same with Catria here"

"Oh and are you sure there is not going to be alcohol?" Catria asks.

"She's a recovering alcoholic, and tentatively it's going to take place at the psychiatric hospital's gym. And alcohol, as well as drugs, aren't allowed in there" Patricia then turns to Catria.

"Speaking of alcohol recovery, what do you do when faced with alcohol cravings?" the second male recovering addict asks Catria.

"I don't get them as often as I used to, so I try to watch some online videos of the material if class is in session, psychology and drug addiction lately"

"Good"

Catria proved to be a pretty effective brainpower player at the Achievement Junkie Invitational, while it's obvious that Stephanie is a mastermind. Lanisha was a soul and a controller. It's kind of like how quiz bowl players tend to do well in trivia game shows, such as Jeopardy or Svoya Igra. Yes, svoya igra is also a TV show, much like ChGK, Patricia reflects on how to fit in the two girls into the 9-player rotation at the Last Chance Marathon. I might have my misgivings about the Red Army, but the Achievement Junkie Invitational, run based on the Green Wave's old submissions for ACF tournaments, had complaints about excessive erudition requirements, and excessive focus on academic subjects, so I may as well just use the marathon discount to buy 24 games' worth of questions from Krasnaya Armiya. Stephanie, however, seems comfortable playing on Red Army questions, but Catria might not, so I hope Ainslee doesn't mention the Red Army as a question source.

"Are you more of day people or night people?" Patricia asks the two girls.

"Day for me" Stephanie adds.

"I'm indifferent, really" Catria continues.

"I'm just trying to determine what's best for you and for the team"

Patricia then texts her teammates so she would know when do each player need to come to the psychiatric hospital. What becomes clear is that Sergei, Vira and Yakiv don't want to be separated in gameplay, which then forces Bohdan and Lanisha to play when Yakiv et al aren't. The question remains: how to apportion the remaining 4 players. The biggest constraint is that Patricia shouldn't be playing when Steph is playing, but either one can play with either of Catria or the sixth player.