…with Gary Moss

Archive for June, 2011

Debilitating. Crippling. Disabling.

What is FEAR?

fear |fi(ə)r|
noun
an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat
• archaic a mixed feeling of dread and reverence
• ( fear for) a feeling of anxiety concerning the outcome of something
• the likelihood of something unwelcome happening : drawing a rack of I, I, I, I, I, I, U

verb [ trans. ]
be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or threatening : having to play your ‘scrabble daddy’.

• [ intrans. ] ( fear for) feel anxiety or apprehension on behalf of : I fear for the scrabble diretor with so many newbies let loose in this weekend’s tournament.

• [with infinitive ] avoid or put off doing something because one is afraid : they aim to play ‘real-looking phonies’ so blatantly that even seasoned players will fear to challenge.

PHRASES
for fear of (or that) to avoid the risk of (or that) : no one dared challenge the word for fear of losing their turn.

fear as a tool used to psych out someone : we shall meet again, never fear.

BUT, isn’t a lot or all of this thing called FEAR simply an ATTITUDE, something that we think or feel, something that we embellish and feed?

WHY WORRY?
There are only two possibilities: you will win; you will lose.

If you win there is nothing to worry about. If you lose there are only two possibilities: you will learn from your mistakes; you will cry like a blathering idiot.

If you learn from your mistakes there is nothing to worry about. If you cry like a blathering idiot there are only two possibilities: you will go unnoticed by your friends and colleagues; you will become the center of attention and the brunt of embarrassing indignations.

If you go unnoticed by your friends and colleagues there is nothing to worry about. If you become the center of attention and the brunt of embarrassing indignations there are only two possibilities: you have to purchase a before appearing on THE VIEW; you will be elected to public office which will upset your dull, predictable family life.

A Little Advice For Scrabble Players

Let go of FEAR.
Have FUN
The more you know the luckier you’ll become.

We all get so busy doing our own things and that’s usually when it happens. Time becomes a blur and slips away. Good people in our lives are right there beside us contributing to our lives and we sort of take them for granted, like that’s what they are supposed to be doing.

Then we hit a rough patch or a loss. The world spins a little slower sending us off balance and we catch a glimpse of the realities in our lives. We somehow deal with our own illness, the illness of others, or the loss of someone special in our lives, and an overwhelming emptiness drains us.

Our memories reflect highlights in our pasts. All the good times and the not so good times flash before our eyes. And for me, and many of you, the missed opportunities to have expressed gratitude and love to those who earned it every day in our lives. That time is gone. For some of us, there is still time to send a note, say a word, hug those somebodies.

I become very wise about such things whenever I attend a funeral. Sometimes, the relearned lesson about expressing appreciation stays in front of me for days. But it usually drifts back somewhere into the recesses of my mind after a week or two. Soon afterward I resume the old patterns of delaying acknowledgements of others for a whole lot of reasons:
• I am busy and I’ll tell them later
• They are busy and I don’t want to interrupt them
• They know that I appreciate them
• It can be embarrassing
• I don’t have a sharp pencil

I will turn 69 years of age in August. Maybe what I am experiencing is more common in the senior set. This will be the first time that I become 69 so I’m not completely familiar with the territory. I’m beginning to lose more friends and acquaintances on a regular basis. Each time someone passes I think about how thankful I am, how lucky I have been to have them touch my life.

Scott Sellman, Emilie Pandolfi, Rita Norr, Al Demers, Cecile Betts, Bob Speaks, Gertrude Adkins, Rosetta Brooks, Florence Laatz, Cheryl Cadieux, Robert Felt, Bill MacGrane, Sherwin Wine, my cousin Stu Freedman Colby, and my dad Jay Harmon Moss.

There are many more, enough to fill several pages. How fortunate I have been. I am a wealthy man for having had these significant people touch my life.

I appreciate you, my readers, for reading my blogs and touching my life too.

Who do you have to reach out to today?

It is a well known fact that directors who produce and direct club and tournament venues are not in it to become wealthy on their profits. You can usually use simple 3rd Grade math to compute profits and losses at almost every scrabble function.

If not profit, then what is the motivation for these hard working tenders of the OWL2? For most, it is some kind of a mission to share their personal favorite game with others. For some it is creating a purpose for themselves in the community, and the recognition that comes as a byproduct. Others are simply stupid masochists.

As for me, I own all 3 of the above. The one thing that burns me the most is while I feel that I do an impeccable job, there are time when players become petty and unappreciative. These few players rarely assume leadership roles and have no idea about how I acquired my ‘brown lips’.

Today I was listening to NPR Radio while they discussed GROUPON special deals that are now being promoted to consumers online. Did you know that while GROUPON attracts some new customer to merchants, the merchants usually lose as much as 25% of their profits from their existing customers who use the discounts. Did you know that most people use the GROUPON in their local communities in order to bolster the local economy but the exact opposite occurs. While local merchants earn less, the companies like GROUPON make profits that go to their home bases in Florida, Texas, or New York. Did you know that GROUPON’s business plan pays out yesterday’s bills from today’s sales? (Can you say “pyramid scheme”?) But you and I only focus on our personal savings and thereby perpetuate the scheme.

A few years ago when I raised my club price from $4 to $5 per session I experienced the exodus of a number of players. At Laguna Woods Village, when the weekly charge rose from $1 to $2 a number of players stopped coming around.

There is nothing wrong with shopping to get a good deal. But sometimes I don’t quite understand how people decide on things. Without continued support, paying a reasonable price, our local merchants, service, and scrabble venues will vanish.

I can’t end this blog without acknowledging the many generous and gracious players who do support me and my productions. They are the greatest! Thank you.

Support the JFTSOI Tournament Scholarship Fund via your direct donation. CLICK HERE

I experienced a couple of successful sessions playing Blackjack at the Casino at Greek Town in Detroit and at The Morongo on US 10 in Cabazan, California. It had been more than a year since I set foot into a casino. I’m really not in any financial position to gamble away my hard earned money. But if you passionately love some other kind of entertainment, you understand the draw.

Years ago a high school acquaintance of mine studied black jack and did some serious damage in Vegas. After being banned from most casinos he created a seminar and taught others how to use his system. His system is not unlike many of the books on the stands that teach people how to WIN at BLACKJACK. He claimed that when played methodically, using his system, one could expect to win 52% of the time.

And yet, the casinos are huge and lavish, built on the losings of millions of gamblers. Most people who go to a casino go with the mentality that they are only going to lose $ XXX. And guess what? They fulfill their own prophecy and loss about $ XXX.

Winning at BLACKJACK or winning at SCRABBLE requires knowing and mastering ‘The Basics’

With that said, there is always the occasional player who experiences incredible luck, winning no matter how inane they play. It can be frustrating and distracting to a Master Player watching the novice walk away with the big prize. But like in the tale of ‘The Tortoise And The Hare‘, slow and steady wins the race.

The Master knows that the luck factor exists. The Master has developed a tried and true game plan that wins more than fifty percent of the time. As long as the Master sticks to the game plan, he/she can predict success over time.

The losers at the casino are those who have little knowledge of the game and no game plan. They struggle grasping the basics and usually give in to that ‘gambler’ that lives within. In spite of their winning hands, they’ll usually gamble away the winnings and dip into their pocket or purse for yet another $100.

At the SCRABBLE table, how many people do you know who have been playing for many years yet never took the time to learn the 2 Letter Words? How many of the ‘casual players’ do you know who use their ‘blank’, earning less that 50 points on those plays? Masters cringe when they observe that kind of play.

Whatever your game, LEARN THE BASICS and a little bit more.

If I’ve written it or said it once, I’ve spouted it thousands of times

The more you know, the luckier you’ll become.

Learn ‘THE BASIC’ and a whole lot more by taking the online class ‘SCRABBLE 101′. CLICK HERE

It’s all in our heads.

Oh, I already knew the answer as you probably do. But for some reason it is so simplistic that we tend to forget it or overlook it. When we do, things become more difficult in our lives.

Have you ever turned a simple task or a fun situation into a huge challenge? I have.

Before I left California, last week, for my mini trip to Michigan to visit family and attend my mother-in-law’s 90th birthday party, I imagined all kinds of challenges and obstacles that could possibly turn the time into a disaster. I worried about where I would stay; I worried about my transportation, since I didn’t have a car of my own; I worried about conflicts in scheduling visits with my family and my wife’s family and friends.

Maybe I choose to live 2,500 miles away from the clan to avoid those kind of worries on a daily basis?

Last Monday I found a few hours to visit and play at Eve Jones’ scrabble club in Southfield, MI. I brought my ‘worrying self’ to Eve’s club (hoping not to lose a single game). Seeing old friends helped me put my worries aside (I’m not implying that they are lesser players.) in trade for warm reminiscing. When it became time to play, I entered each game without the compulsion to WIN. I was content to simply have a good time. As a result, I did not sabotage myself by fretting over each move that I made. I just played my best game. The result was that I achieved 2 wins and a tie.

All my pre-trip worries were for naught too. Everything seemed to fall into place and I enjoyed the entire trip and every event.

Life is a brief and incredible journey. Last Monday I relearned the lesson about perspective and worry. WHY WORRY? Worry is just a painful illusion. Why Worry? Just CLICK HERE!

When it comes to scrabble, the more you know the luckier you become when playing the game. Prepare yourself by learning everything that you need to know to be the winner who you are. Enroll yourself into the online class SCRABBLE 101 and watch your own growth and transformation in 5 weeks.

Scrabble Club #350 enjoys welcoming players at all levels. Even the experts are excited to welcome new players to our circle. We love the fresh enthusiasm. Showing others the ropes and teaching reminds the teacher of all the pieces of the game that are sometimes taken for granted after the novice years.

We were all beginners at some point. I remember my first encounter with competitive scrabble. When I looked at the boards of the players in the room I wasn’t quite certain which language they were using. Words like ‘cwm’, ‘gjetost’, and ‘unmew’ had me scratching my head. BUT, I was captivated and intrigued by the competition that I was witnessing. I wanted to know more.

Unfortunately for the scrabble world, too many novice players are willing to settle to play with everyday words like ‘mother’, ‘chevy’, ‘apple’, and ‘pie’. They fight reading the dictionary and studying in order to grow their word knowledge.

But that can’t be said about the players featured below. They all love words and spend lots of their personal time studying and reviewing word lists.

When most novice players lose a game to one these champions you might hear them mutter something about how luck their opponents were. But all I can say about that is:

The more you know, the LUCKIER you become.

(If the print below is too small for your eyes, CLICK HERE.)
If you want a quick start to get to their level, enroll into my online class, SCRABBLE 101

Scrabble players would never have to worry about playing under a ladder or having a black cat cross next to the place where they sit.

Some players avoid ever playing in tournaments that include a Friday the 13th.

One lady who had signed up for the 1st Sunday tournament called to cancel. When asked why she was withdrawing from the event she explained that she had dropped her dishtowel and that indicated that bad luck was around the corner.

Are you superstitious? What events raise the hairs on the back of your neck?

Do you believe in beginner’s luck? Do you just hate it was a brand new player or a player with a much lower rating blows you away? Do you dismiss it to beginner’s luck?

Do you believe that eating fish makes you smart? I always enjoy a little lox on my bagel before the 1st Sunday Tournament. Even when it doesn’t help my scores I have enjoyed a delicious breakfast.

Do you believe that our fate is written in the stars? Do you check you horoscope before enrolling at tournaments?

I met one player who carried a rabbit’s foot, wore a ring with her birthstone, and every time her opponent played a bingo she would stand and turn around in place 7 times.

If you are superstitious and think of yourself as open-minded (that may be an oxymoron), I have great news for you. Most of your superstitions related to your win/loss results at the scrabble table are somewhat in your control.

The more you know, the luckier you’ll become.
~ Gary Moss

Here are some tools that you’ll find helpful:
WHIZ CARDS
The Bookmark Series
The online class ‘SCRABBLE 101′

I never imaged that the man was that tall.

Sometimes in the course of everyday living, things occur that divert people from their planned activities. A sever weather warning sends most people scurrying for shelter. The sound of a siren sends drivers veering their cars toward their right providing a clear path for emergency vehicles. The price of gasoline skyrockets and people alter their driving habits and cut back.

Yet . . . there is a breed within our species that possesses the ‘compulsion gene’ that allows them to remain focused, even in dire circumstances, and plod on.

One such incident occurred just yesterday at Scrabble Club #350 at ARBYs in Laguna Hills, California. It began just like any other Wednesday club session. Some players had come early to play an extra game or two before the club began their scheduled game at 6PM. Most players arrived just before 6PM and I paired everyone of game #1.

We were about two hours into our evening when the store manager approached me sheepishly. He apologetically told me that they were experiencing some plumbing problems and the workmen would be working just behind our tables. He said that they would be making some noise. I told all the players that they could move their games to booths at the far end of the restaurant. The players heard me, but were deeply engrossed in their play. Not one player took up my invitation to move. Instead, they focused even harder to block out the noise of jackhammers and chisels a mere 6 – 8 feet away. They adjusted by shouting their scores at one another over the clamorous racket.

I’ve been witness to scrabble players staying the course through tornados, monsoons, and power outages.

I was at one of Maddy Garner’s tournaments in Cleves, Ohio when the toilets backed up and an inch of water covered the floor of the tournament room. (Players simply lifted their feet and kept on playing.)

I ran a tournament at the Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles (with limited shelter from the elements). The day was unusually cold and windy November day. Players who lived close by went home and returned with jackets and gloves. In spite of the cold, the games went on and players warmed their hands gripping hot cups of coffee.

I ran one of the original scrabble cruises of The Carnivale Cruise Ship, out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We were schedule to play only while we were at sea. The waves were so ferocious that I took ill with seasickness and spent most of the tournament in my cabin with cold compresses on my head. But the conditions did not stop the players. The games went on.

SCRABBLE PLAYERS ARE A WHOLE DIFFERENT BREED! They keep on playing and playing and playing no matter what the challenge.