…with Gary Moss

Archive for February, 2010

IT TAKES ALL KINDS.

Every day we meet a wide range of people with a wide range of personality types. Most of them go mostly unnoticed; they are just the other characters that fill the world stage on that day. We are generally indifferent to them and their actions. Sometimes we are turned on and notice someone. It could be a pheromone, something visual, or something that we hear them say. It could be an attraction but it can simply stir an appreciation, a gratefulness, a recognition, or a testimonial.

Finally, there is the possibility of experiencing the negative side of it all. Words and actions have the power to exact a reaction from each of us. You know what I’m talking about. You’ve been victim to it time and again and have surely acted out as a result.

CLASSIC SITUATION: Your opponent across the scrabble board is not following the rules (the way that you understand them). The opponent violates the same rule time and again. Not wanting to make a scene, you hold your tongue, but stew silently. Finally, you’ve had all that you can handle. You snap. You say something abruptly and raise the tone in your voice. Your opponent becomes overwhelmed, takes a breath, and snaps back. Things get ugly.

It happens all too often in competition. The air is still and tense at times. Both opponents came to win. Both expect that the battlefield will be level. Frequently, one or both of the players does not have a full and clear understanding of the rules.

That’s why there is a DIRECTOR at clubs and tournaments. It is not necessary for players to confront each other beyond raising a hand and calling, “Director!”

However, too many strong willed persons, try to handle situations on their own. That’s when things become testy.

The results from personal confrontations are destructive to the players, clubs, tournaments and the association; futhermore they are usually embarrassing for the players.

At times players have ‘hissy-fits’ when lady luck is on vacation and one experiences rack after rack of vowels or loss after loss after loss. Players rarely remember their wins to the same degree that they remember the pain of their losses.

Have you ever witnessed a player tossing their board and tiles in disgust, during a club session?

Have you ever seen losing a game make a adult cry? It happens.

Keep Your Dignity.

Ten people see a scruffy looking, older man, in a tattered hat, standing along side a fence near an elementary school and they each see something different.

One observer thinks that he is someone’s grandfather coming to walk his grandchild home from school at the end of the day. Two assume that the man is a homeless person making his way through another empty day. Three think he is a child-molester casing the playground. Two think that he is a workman examining a hole in the fence. One thinks that he is a victim of Alsheimers and one of the walking wounded. One thinks he’s the school janitor retrieving a ball that was hit over the fence.

Ten scrabble players have the rack pictured here and it’s their turn at the board pictured here.

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Player #1 wants to balance the rack by playing off ‘oe’ on the TWS on the bottom/right: 8 pts.
Player #2 opts to play ‘droit’ on the TWS on the top/right: 20 pts.
Player #3 plays ‘red’ as a front extension to ‘grove’ on center/left: 45 pts. but is challenged off.
Player #4 plays ‘adorn’, bottom/center (with ‘A’ over ‘GO’): 19 pts.
Player #5 chooses to play ‘roadeos’, center top (to the ‘S’): 16 points.
Player #6 plays ‘repand’, top/left (through the ‘P’): 22 pts.
Player #7 like ‘errand’, top/left (through the ‘R’): 18 pts.
Player #8 finds ‘readout’, on left to the ‘UT’: 16 pts
Player #9 plays ‘dear’, on bottom/right (creating ‘aide’ and ‘kat’): 17 pts.
Player #10 was the only player who was thinking big, The bingo is ‘marooned’: 94 pts.

It all depends on what ‘IS’ is.

Think Big but allow the little things to make you happy. We scrabble players are, for the most part, like all the other competitive types. We show up at our clubs or tournaments with the expectation to play our best and win. But, as we all know too well, competitions normally have a single winner.

So what is one to do? Everyone present cannot be the winner. There usually will be only a single winner.

Those who are thin-skinned, unable to handle the ‘agony of defeat’, often stay a while then drift away and we are all the poorer for their decision. We each become a better player and more knowledgeable for the losing and the learning from our errors.

During the events when are are not the top winner there are always many little things that you can focus upon that measure your expertise in smaller ways: high plays; low-probability bingos; defensive plays; winning challenges and more.

Take full credit for all the words that you remembered, all those great plays, and all the things that you did correctly.

I play scrabble against some of the very top players in the United States. I lose a lot of those games. I usually find myself pondering whether some of their plays are legal or phoney. Those top players know so many more words than I know. Consider these plays. Which are legal? Which are phonies?
AENEOUS ___legal ___phoney
ALTHORN ___legal ___phoney
CELLOIST ___legal ___phoney
COTERIE ___legal ___phoney
FOZIEST ___legal ___phoney
LINGAMS ___legal ___phoney
OVERRANK ___legal ___phoney
TAVERNAS ___legal ___phoney
WITCHERS ___legal ___phoney

Sometimes not knowing or not being certain stirs curiosity and leads to discovery. Doubt can become a great teacher.

But you don’t have to wait for doubt to show up in order for you to decide to take action and expand your word knowledge. One exciting way to build your prowess is to enroll yourself into my online class, SCRABBLE 101.

Don’t Doubt It. Just Do It!

Have a very Happy Valentine’s Day

Today’s special offer is the ‘LOVE’. A list of 102 legal scrabble words from 4 to 15 letters long that include the word ‘love’. Click Here.

We become older before we realize it. That’s just the way that life works.

When one tries to share this with a ‘young’ person it often falls on deaf ears. The young can only see a stream of endless tomorrows in their future; no need to rush, no big hurry to plan ahead, the young feel invincible.

And then, like the warp speed of a star-ship, man stands looking in his personal rearview mirror at his own history: successes, missed opportunities, relationships, adventures, and more. Some persons mellow out and coast. Others become passionate about new ideas and projects still to achieve and conquer.

When your contemporaries being dropping around you, it is a very sobering experience. I for one have pondered the question, “How much more time is left on my dance card?” And for most of us there is no real way to tell. I see people whom I know suffering with a variety of afflictions and think to myself, “I hope I die before succumbing to that.” But who knows what I would really feel if that became my fate.

Even though I experience a few days filled with worry and doubt, I live the majority of my days as a forward thinker, finding happiness and excitement in my projects and plans. There is still so much to do.

As a scrabble player there are still so many words to learn and lists to master.

As the web master of my own web site there is still much to be published and developed.

As a human being there are still so many people to help in so many different ways.

La’ Chaim

There are no bad questions. There are better questions. The value of any question is directly proportional to the level of understanding of the asker, in regard to the problem at-hand, and the response that it draws from the respondent.

Questions are tools that pry open understanding. The perfect question results with a resounding ‘aha’.

Some of my most frustrating times in life came at times when I didn’t know the questions to ask. I plowed through those times by admitting that to my teacher, and asking what I should be asking. Once the flow of conversation begins, I have discovered that a stream of questions emerge at warp speed.

The trick then becomes to listen and hear the answers as new questions are simultaneously streaming in your brain.

There is no value in asking good questions if you are not a good listener and a critical listener.

You must always be willing to be a little embarrassed by admitting, “I didn’t get that”, and ask for a repeat – or – “could you explain that differently?”

When I was a high school student, I didn’t want to ‘look bad’ in front of my friends. I sat quietly in Advanced Algebra and didn’t ask questions. As a result, I scored poorly on the tests and nearly flunked the class. As an adult, I have discovered my mathematical prowess and regret that I allowed my pride to get in the way of my success as a teenager. Oh well.

Equally important to your ‘question’ is who you are addressing that question to. Frequently at scrabble clubs I witness newbies asking critical questions about playing the game of other players. Sometimes they get good answers. Other times they get poor answers that lead to problems later on.

If you are going to ask a question, ask an expert; ask the director.

Experts are not perfect either. I was recently in a computer store, seeking some help. I had a clear understand of my problem and needed a single bit of advice. The creative that was assigned to help me new less about my circumstance than me, but was bent on redesigning my entire project. I stood firm and asked to speak to another creative. It wasn’t until the third person arrived that I got the help I required. The first two creatives ended up thanking me, because they had learned something new from me and my question.

I will answer most if not all of your scrabble related questions in my online class, SCRABBLE 101. Check it out by CLICKING HERE.

There is a lesson and something available to be learned at every turn. ~ Gary Moss

Do you see it? Do you hear it? Do you feel it? Do you know it? Do you avoid it? Do you seek it? Are you fearful of it? Do you run from it? Are you annoyed by it? Are you superior to it? Are you oblivious to it? Have you tasted it? Have you been disappointed by it? Have YOU disappointed IT? Have you been blind to it? Have you tried it? Have you smelled it? Have you been repulsed by it?
Are you aware of it?

What have you done with it?

Have you embraced it? Have you ignored it? Have you thought about it? Have you written about it? Have you told others about it? Have you coveted it? Have you explored it? Have you employed it? Have you been empowered by it? Do you own it? Have you discarded it? Have you shelved it? Have you preached it? Have you exposed it? Have you colored it? Have you amended it? Have you illustrated it? Have you published it? Have you plagiarized it?

Get it? Got it? GOOD!

In days of old, when I went to grade school, my classmates and I were frequently required to memorize poems and later recite them in front of the entire class. I don’t think that this is as common practice these days. But I do give great credit to my teachers back then for helping me develop my memory skills that resulted from doing those kind of assignments. Here is one of the very first poems that I remember learning.
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The Swing
by Robert Louis Stevenson

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside–

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown–
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Now, why don’t you go memorize a word list. For maximum benefit for your scrabble knowledge I suggest that you choose a high probability stem.

It you want me to suggest one for you I highly recommend something available on my bookmarks. CLICK HERE to see what I’m talking about.

Some people come to club to play scrabble and expect to face a CHALLENGE. . . and they face a challenge.

Some people come to tournaments to play scrabble and expect to lose. . . and they lose.

Other people come to play scrabble at club or tournament and expect to learn and have fun and they learn and have fun.

Believe it or not, your expectations play a big part in the way you experience things.

Unless you enjoy feeling challenged or losing you may as well start off by simply coming to have fun and a good time.

Many people walk away from scrabble and other things of value in their lives because of a feeling or an impulsive attitude. When we give in to those compelling notions we often end up being the biggest losers. We are much better off when we take charge of our actions and live on purpose.

Even when something does not feel just right at a specific time, we are better off if we NEVER SAY NEVER. It is okay to put uncomfortable things off for a while, but come back to taste them again before you check them completely off your list. Some of my favorite foods taste yucky when I have a cold; other times the same foods taste yummy.

Most of us enjoy playing scrabble the most when we win our games. If you only chose to play in circles where you are the predominant winner, you will rarely become a better player. We become better for losing and learning by our mistakes. We become better when we face a good challenge and are forced to expand our word knowledge and develop strategies. And all of this can be FUN too.