SCRABBLE: Memory
After going 0/4 at my club last Thursday, the only thing that I could remember was that I couldn’t remember that last club session when I was winless. I remember being mildly depressed on the ride home from club and feeling famished. I headed straight for my refrigerator and some comfort food.
After calming myself (cheese cake always makes me feel better), I strolled over to a book shelf and pulled out my copy of The Doctors Book of HOME REMEDIES. I searched the index and found that the answer to my problem might just be on page 360: Memory Problems (21 Ways to Forget Less).
Certain words and phrases jumped off the page at me. My eyes were drawn to others. ‘Older adults’, ‘high-blood-presser’, ‘depression’, and ‘nutritional deficiencies’ topped my list. The list continued to expand when I came to ‘new medications’.
One assessment that I could perform on myself, right here, at home alone was to give my mind a workout. I headed for the bathroom where I keep my supply of Sudoku puzzles. I frequently predict my ’success-for-today-ratio’ based on my ability to successfully complete a puzzle or two. I began with an intermediate puzzle and whipped through it in no time at all. Next I tried a more challenging puzzle and was able to find success there too.
I thought back to my diet and tried to make a mental list of all the things that I had been consuming in the last few days. I gave myself a ‘C+’ rating for diet. I remembered that my medications had been altered about two weeks ago and promised myself that I’d talk to my doctor if my memory continued to be an issue. I booted Zyzzyva and took a review test on some video flashcards; I performed just fine.
Since I am diabetic, I reviewed my blood-sugar for the past two days. BINGO. The day before last I had experienced a major sugar low which resulted in my feeling extreme fatigue. I made a note on my calendar to track my memory for the next week.
I felt a bit silly at this point for having moaned all evening about the tiles on my racks. I may well have had poor combinations of tiles to play outstanding words, but I didn’t bring my best self to the competition.
An athlete can’t give their best performance if suffering from flu symptoms. A basketball player can’t have a great shot if they have a broken finger (unless their name is Kobe). A scrabble player should do all that is necessary to stay in peak shape too.
And it never hurts to review some stems. Need some lists? CLICK HERE.