Earlier in the week, I had thought that I might get my first chance at playing bridge this weekend; a castmate of mine from “Come Blow Your Horn” and her husband had agreed to play.

But it just didn’t work out. A co-worker of mine had said a few weeks back that she might be our fourth, but this was a really busy and stressful week at the newspaper and I didn’t want to ask her to do something that I suspect she would consider more a favor to me than a treat for herself.

Plus, I was intimidated by “Bridge For Dummies.” I’m not sure how bridge players keep all of these conventions and rules of thumb straight. As you may have noted, I was in a foul mood earlier in the week and feeling kind of overwhelmed. I e-mailed my former castmate and told her Saturday night didn’t look like a good idea.

As it turns out, Saturday night wouldn’t have been a good idea, not only because of the weather but because I was exhausted.

However, I’m getting over my intimidation. Several people have assured me that it’s possible to get your feet wet without knowing all of the various conventions and rules of thumb.

I finally finished “Bridge For Dummies,” and at the end of the book, in a chapter about online resources, the author mentioned that the American Contract Bridge League has free, downloadable lesson software on its web site. I’ve downloaded that, and it’s great — a much more interactive and confidence-building experience than just reading the book. It actually complements the book nicely, making the same points but in some cases getting to them from a different direction.

So now I want to get something set up again. Next Saturday is out, because I’ll be at my parents’ house celebrating the ninth anniversary of my 39th birthday. But maybe I can set something up soon, if we can figure out a fourth.