@jungleboy - I had not noticed that!
Always good to be consistent. Now, if I could find another player who consistently scores fewer points....
Just logged in here to post scores, and I see that Mr. Carcking has already done go. Good!
Good games. I overcommiited in both games, and ended waiting for tiles that did not appear. Then again, Mr. Carcking's skills were why I needed specific tiles. I am getting the impression that scoring points is only 1/3 of winning. You need to steal your opponent's cities, and you need to block his meeples. Those two have a huge impact on the final score.
In other words, I was outplayed. I think someone else here has made the comment that (to paraphrase) these games represent excellent educational opportunities. At this rate, I should soon achieve genius ranking....