…with Gary Moss

Archive for April, 2009

 

 

 

When I first began to play competitive scrabble in earnest, a good friend and mentor advised me to love the I’s.  It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me then.  But, I truly get it now.  Most of the time it feels like there are so many more than 9 in the bag.  There is an ‘i’ conspiracy, you know.  They hang together.  They usually appear two or three at a time.  That’s why it is so important to know all those small words like ‘hili’ and ‘piki’ and ‘inia’.  Many times the difference between winning and losing comes down to how you manage your i’s. 

If you ever have the opportunity, walk behind a novice player at a club and observe their rack.  Frequently you’ll find a collection of i’s.  Especially at the end of a game there will be racks with 2 or 3 of the demons making the rack unplayable.  Part of the answer is rack balance.  I devote an entire lesson to that subject in my online class, Scrabble 101.

My contribution here, is to try to help you past the ‘i’ barrier, by turning it into a game.  I am therefore sponsoring a contest, beginning tomorrow and lasting through Mother’s Day, May 10.                                                                   I call the contest:  ’MOTHER MAY I’.     See all the details  http://web.mac.com/jftsoi/CONTEST/Mother_May_I_Contest.html

This is your opportunity to dedicate the next 10 days to the letter ‘I’ and come away with a greater sense of control and achievement.  If you appreciate the help of word lists dedicated to the letter ‘I’, you can refer to some of my lists at http://www.just4thespellofit.com and go to Word Lists.

There are some nice prizes that will be awarded to winners.  ’I’ have a feeling that you’ll enjoy this.

Everyone of us is unique and special, but it is so easy for us to lose our footing, become a little clumsy, and fall smack dab into the crowd.

It’s much easier, most times, to go along with the momentum and not have to think for ourselves.  But there can be a very big price.  You may soon find yourself right in the middle of the slaughterhouse.  

Do you use very much ink for your printer?  Have you ever stopped to realize that ‘printer ink’ is the most valuable item on earth.  More valuable than oil; more valuable than gold.  And we put up with it.  Electronics stores can give the printers away.  Because when we take them, we become enslaved to the need for their ink cartridges.  Even the generic ink, for sale on the internet, earns huge profits for its sellers.  What was really scary for me this week was that while printing some colorful fliers on my HP all-in-one printer, the printer just stopped and issued a warning message to me on my computer screen, “It has been detected that you are using an unapproved cartridge.”  And it simply refused to finish the job.

I am ready and willing to break away from the flock on this issue and other more important issues.  I have already begun to speak out and take actions.  If we don’t speak up and step up, we deserve to pay the long price.

Let today’s BLOG serve as an alarm and a wake-up call to the many occurrences in our lives that would have us blindly follow.

Baa!  Baa!  Baa!

Are you at all superstitious?

Okay, it’s not that easy.  But, stepping on a crack and playing ‘requins’ for 105 points and then following that up with ‘lightens’ for another 80 pts. will bring you from a losing position of more than 150 point to an ultimate victory.  That’s was my fate last night.

The Lesson: Never, Ever, Quit !

Scrabble is a microcosm of life itself:  Win a few, Lose a few.  Winter : Summer     Hot : Cold     Mountains : Valleys     Low : High      Symphonies : Rap  

Life is like the weather; wait a minute and it changes.  

Scrabble is like life; bingo racks one minute and a hand full of vowels the next.  To be successful at winning at scrabble you need:        1) Patience,  2) An expanding knowledge of words, and 3) a bit of luck.  

Oh yeah, step on a crack or two, now and then, while visualizing that dreaded opponent.

It was a cold, bone chilling, December 18th, in 1969 when my first born died from SIDS.  Afterwards, there were many mornings when there seemed to be no reason to get out from under the covers.  But life goes on, with us or without us. One of the best ways to overcome that kind of loss is to create something that is dedicate to the memory and honor of that individual.  I founded a school that year, with the energy from that grief, helping myself and others in the process.

 

Don’t waste another moment.  Dedicate yourself to achieving your goals. . . . . then go do it.

There are a lot of people feeling down and sad due to having lost a job, due to having lost their life savings, due to having lost their hopes and dreams.  Many of those people are sitting in life’s waiting room, waiting for someone else to lend a hand, waiting for someone else to initiate recovery.

Don’t waste another moment.  Dedicate yourself to some new and immediate goal that you can do right now, today.  Get up!  Go help someone, right now.  Get yourself out of your doldrums.  Go live your life.

Be a volunteer today.  Help a neighbor.  Wash their windows.  Collect trash along a road.  Read a story to kids at the library.   Visit a senior: play cards with them, listen to their stories.   Walk into a store and offer to help for an hour, for free.  Do something nice for yourself: listen to a symphony; read a book; take some photos.

 

 

Here is something that you just know that you want.  It is a MUST HAVE.  It’s a scrabble board area rug. That just happens to be former National Scrabble Champion and World Champion, Joel Sherman, sprawled out on this unique piece for your game room.

      Or how about this look, as a wall hanging?   Perfect in a dorm room or in the room of any word freak.

I only have a few of these beauties left.  $125 plus shipping from Orange County, California.  Purchase can be made via PayPal.  Contact me by email at:  JFTSOI@aol.com

Sorry, but there are no tiles or racks, included.

For other unique items, go to:  http://www.wordgifts.net

“SCRABBLE, WHAT A WONDERFUL GAME !”

What a wonderful game.  All on the same day.  Two young, eleven year old guys from North Carolina team up to win First Prize in the Nation School Scrabble Championships, and twelve seasoned seniors, ages 55 to 91 battle it out with words to determine the 2009 Scrabble Champion at the Senior Olympic Games at Laguna Woods Village in Laguna Hills, California.

 

 

The following has been reported: “It’s rare that younger kids get to defeat older ones in any type of competition, and tournament SCRABBLE is no different. Yet that was the scenario today at the 7th annual National School SCRABBLE Championship as 11 year-old Andy Hoang (left) and 11 year-old Erik Salgado of Cary, NC overcame a more experienced field to win the $10,000 first prize. Among the words played in the 342-301 final match were: EARNERS, QI (a Chinese life force) and GIE (to give). Team is pictured in front of the world’s largest SCRABBLE board.”

 

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090425/NY05373 )

 

Website: http://www.scrabbleassociation.com/

 

 

 

Players pictured (left to right): Gary Moss, director; Renee Peters, Beth Fleischer, LeLeng Isaacs, Mary Arine-Beer, Cindy Quinn (tournament winner), Fern Trausch (Laguna Woods Scrabble Club President), seated: Cecile Betts (our most senior, Senior at 91), Barbara Sanchez, Hank Kaneshige, Margaret Kaneshige, & Larry Isaacs.

 

 

I think I’ve got it !

I was never really comfortable at cocktail parties.  Mostly, I didn’t get it.  A bunch of people standing around, holding fragile stemware, sipping ‘tongue loosening’ booze, and talking about minutia.

If I had something to say to you, I’d want your full attention in a place with relative quiet, so you could hear me and I could hear you.

My hearing doesn’t work so well in noisy places.  When surrounded by noise, at watering holes like ‘FRIDAYS’ or ‘CHAMPS’, I may as well be by myself.  Everybody seems to be talking a once, the large screen TV is flickering, music is always blaring from oversized speakers, the harsh noise bounces back and forth off hard surfaces, and there I sit, alone in a crowd, with the deafening clamor, stifling out every semblance of intelligence.  I really don’t get it.  (It’s a glitz-bling kind of thing.)

To me it’s more like a self-centered statement: “I want to be seen with you, and glean from your celebrity, but really, I don’t give a f _ _ _  about anything you have to say.  Just give me a peck on the cheek and move along.”

I guess I’ll have to get over this negative attitude of mine if I ever plan to  ”… MAKE IT HERE …”.

I’ve always felt the same way about attending singles dance.  All that ‘empty headed’ eye candy.  Having to shine my shoes to make a good impression.  Like my shoes told my whole story.  The endless flirting that usually ended up hooking the wrong fish.  I like salmon; my hook, at the end of the night, would either be empty or I’d snag some ugly mud puppy.  Then came the awkwardness of unhooking from the creature and throwing it -or- being thrown by it. . .  back into the sea.

In 2009 all the techniques of hooking up

 have evolved into mutations, like Twitter and Facebook. 

I guess we have to meet one another somewhere.

All for the want of meeting people who can appreciate and benefit from my scrabble expertise.

All for the want of a sweet kiss and loving arms to hold me, and someone to hold in return.

Tweet.  Tweet.  Tweet.

( 1 )

Synonym, wordfreak my son John

went to bed with his thinking cap on.

One verb off, a noun right-on

Homonym, Exonym my son John.

 

Acronym, Toponym my son Paul

went to bed with his nightlight in the hall.

One book read the others in the hall

Paronym, Metonym my son Paul.

 

Retronym, Caconym my gal Jane

went to bed, creativity all a-drain

Dreamt new visions, she never could explain

Hyponym, Allonym my gal Jane

 

Cryptonym, Paronym my friend Tim

went to bed with the covers hiding him.

Swallowed by his blanket, never seen again

Autonym, Antonym my friend Tim

 

( 2 )

Lou and Lee went to the club

to kick some ass with verbiage

Lou drew all vowels, was disemboweled

requiring a footlong bandage.

 

Davy watched his rating soar

then bragged to every newbie

He hit some bumps and took his lumps

and ended up in juvie.

Linda got some brand new tiles

and set them on the table.

Her best friend Joyce stole the ‘Q’

as soon as she was able.

 

Dan studied twos till he was blue

then took a two-week rest

Lost to a newbie just last night

I guess he failed his test.

 

Lynn learn some words that seemed absurd

and plays them when she can

She kicked my butt and won the prize

For now she is ‘THE MAN’.

 

Ron has trouble with the clock

He plays as slow as a snail

No matter how good a wordsmith,

Too slow will equal fail.

 

Sue has awful penmanship

can’t read a thing she scribbles.

Sort of like, the front of her dress

where she often dribbles.

 

(Names have been changed 

  to protect the innocent.)

It happened last night while playing scrabble at Club #350 (http://www.just4thespellofit.com)

My opponent made an opening play of ‘ZA‘ on the board, for 22 points.  ’ZA‘ is one of the newest words in the OSPD 4th Edition, Official Scrabble Players’ Dictionary, added in March 2005.  (The play suggested to me that I was playing with a rookie.  Rookies try to score as many points as quickly as possible.  They usually don’t think ahead, beyond the current play, and of all the better possibilities for the use of their tiles, later during the game.)  This was a signal to me that I didn’t have to play cut-throat and that I could have a little extra fun.

My rack contained: ‘A’ ‘C’ ‘E’ ‘G’ ‘R’ ‘S’ ‘Y’.  As usual, I looked for a playable ‘bingo’.  A bingo is a play when one player uses all 7 of the tiles from their rack on a single play.  A bingo earns the player a’50′ point bonus.  My best guess was that I did not have a bingo.  (I did notice that if the ‘Y’ had been an ‘N’ I could have played ‘CARNAGES”, vertically, through the ‘A’ on the board.)  Instead, I chose to ‘hook’ my ‘G’ onto ‘ZA’ making ‘ZAG’, while coming down with ‘RAGS’.  Mine wasn’t the greatest play either.  I didn’t have to use my ‘S’.  But, earlier in the day I had been reading an article about Dolly Pardon which was entitled ‘Rags To Riches‘.  This moment and these tiles influenced me to try to play ‘RAGS’ and RICHES’ in the same game.  That wouldn’t earn me any extra points, but it sure added some spice to the game, for me.  If I had been playing against a fierce opponent I would have never been so lighthearted about this endeavor.

After playing ‘RAGS’ I was left with ‘C’ ‘E’ & ‘Y’ on my rack and needed to draw four replacement tiles from the bag.  Wouldn’t you know it.  I drew ‘H’ ‘I’ ‘R’ & ‘S’, giving me ‘RICHES+Y’.   It was if I had willed those tiles to make their way into my hand, then onto my rack.  I sat there in silence, hoping that my opponent would use the ‘Z’ again. . . . and he did.  He played ‘ZOO’ for another 13 points.  I had several ways to play ‘RICHES’.  The most obvious was to hook the ‘S’ to ‘ZOO’ to make ‘ZOOS’.  Instead, I chose to to hook the ‘C’ to the top of ‘RAGS’, making ‘CRAGS’ while playing ‘RICHES’.

With my mission accomplished and having my fun, I reverted to playing the game like a real competitor, looking for bingos and balancing my rack to achieve great scores.

And that’s the rest of the story. . . ‘how I went from rags to riches’

 

 

All atwitter, all aglow, all afacebook, learning slow

to speak the language, talk the talk

to send my message, walk the walk.

I don’t feel cool yet.

Gots two left thumbs.

To tell the truth here, I’m feeling quite dumb.

The characters ‘Roman’ the words used are ‘Webster’

the syntax seems clever, the context is out there.

 

I’m all atwitter; racing against time.

A symphony among rappers invading my mind.

With echos of ‘My Way’ dissolving to ‘Sugar’

Sinatra to Rida, what could be weirder?

A clown at a formal, aliens from space

Boyle and Streisand in the same place

Like me meeting Albert or Nelson or Ghandi

Playing some scrabble then sharing a brandy.

 

I’m all atwitter .  Still trying to break in

To get on the big screen, to bingo and win.

My clock’s running down, little time’s left to score

I wish for my legacy, my essence to endure.

Will they remember my Whiz Cards and my knack to create?

Will I be remembered for the things on my plate?

I must keep on with chatting of things new and repeats

Via Facebook and Blogs and my millions of tweets.

 

I am all atwitter.