…with Gary Moss

Archive for September, 2011

The scrabble world welcomes all. The scrabble community itself is not Catholic or Jewish, it is not Islamic or Protestant. The scrabble clubs do celebrate all of our members and acknowledges their many cultural and religious differences.

This week we acknowledge all of our Jewish friends who are celebrating Rosh HaShanah, their solemn Jewish New Year, 5772. May they all be inscribed in the ‘Book Of Life’ for the year to come.

While some Jewish individuals may miss playing at clubs this week in order to participate at their religious activities, Scrabble clubs will continue to meet in most communities. Club #350, run by ‘little old pagan me’ will host scrabble games at ARBYs and DENNYs on the Jewish High Holy Days. The category prizes will go to high scoring words loosely connected to holiday themes.

SCRABBLE is much more than a ‘sometime thing’. In order to become good at playing the game one MUST play frequently and study a few words between sessions.

Did you know that playing scrabble is good for your memory and your general well being? It truly is. Just like an unchallenged muscle atrophies, our mental capacities run the same kinds of risks to dwindle and diminish when they are not stimulated. Scrabble can be a fun way to challenge ourselves as we learn and build the skills to challenge others across the scrabble board.

If you can’t get out to a local club, there are online locations where you can play via email and/or real time.

No excuses. I’ll excuse my Jewish friends this week if they are going to schuln. But I expect to see the rest of you at club. And next week we’ll all be back together again.

Are you excited?

I’m angry as hell!

THEY want you and I to be excited. THEY have been hyping us all summer long to be ready and waiting for the ‘New Season’. Well, it’s here. Are you impressed? Do you find anything to be so new?

THEY painted over the stripes on the ‘tigers’ and put spots on them so they look more like ‘leopards’. THEY tweaked the images on their computers so the ‘new alien images’ appear a bit differently than last year’s E.T.s.

The number of people killed on every show is about the same. The special effects explosions may be technically louder and bigger.

We can choose to just sit by and bleat, being shepherded along with the rest of the flock, or we can step out of the herd and elect or own path.

Only about 2% of the people are smart enough and bored enough to figure out for themselves that they don’t just have to sit there and accept things as they are.

Are you a two-percenter?

Some of the two-percenters turn to scrabble where every game is different from the one before to the one to come. Every ‘NEW SEASON’ is determined by the players, themselves. Players can elect to play endless, comfortable reruns, using the same words over and over again. And, at their own choosing, players can spice up the game by learning new words from the OWL2 and bring them into play. There is never a scrabble season that is limited only to boring reruns, unless elected by some unmotivated individual.

The sit-coms have the same canned laughter this year as in the past, to cue us when to laugh along. And yet the subject matter it still remains highly sexual to appeal to our animal drives. Making fun of slip-ups and awkwardnesses in others is still the order of the day too.

I don’t see anything NEW, unless it is that there are more commercials stuffed into every show on TV. Don’t you just hate those distractions? THEY make us watch almost as much about coming attractions, automobiles, and beer as THEY do of the current episode.

You and I each have a vote. We cast our vote by choosing where and when to spend our time.

If you are not a 2%er already, become one. You don’t have to put up with ‘The New Season’ anymore.

I’ve been struggling with questions about ‘LEARNING’ for most of my life. At the ripened age of 69 I have an insight from my personal experience, none of which is scientific or as the result of academic investigation. So you may choose to weigh this as simply my personal bias and nothing more.

WE ALL DO the things that we do and LEARN the things we learn for our own reasons . . . . and not for others.

Certainly others try to influence us from our very first days of life. But as soon as the umbilical cord is cut we play a major role in determining our own future. During our formative years all learning tends to be Pavlovian. We are trained to behave in certain ways by our caregivers who supply us with nourishment and shelter. And even during these early days, before we can sit or stand, we begin to assert ourselves, or not, and learn the power of crying and fussing and screaming. Some of us learned early on that our will can be greater than that of our parents and that ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease’. (Those people who learn ‘the squeaky wheel’ thing during infancy most often grow up to become salespersons, advertisement copywriters, and/or defense attorneys.)

My observations and beliefs are the same as many early farmers and cowboys who go their information straight from the horse’s mouth: You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

And yet, self-righteous kings and presidents and dictators and religious leaders have repeatedly sacrificed countless human lives over the centuries, and still today, trying foolishly to make THEM to fall in line with their own ideologies. (This is a sick insanity that too many of our human race perpetuate.)

So as I was preparing to teach my Scrabble Workshop for this weekend it hit me. All I can do is share my knowledge and opinions. The learning that will or will not occur is in the hands of the students who will or will not ‘GET IT’ and then choose to do something with ‘IT’.

Learning can be so easy when we are open to the information.

Slave owners understood that the way to maintain their power was to withhold learning and reading from their chattel. Knowledge = Freedom and Self-Determination

Scrabble + Learning = “Expert Player Status”

The truth is that YOU CAN.

If you like challenges . . . you may choose to climb mountains . . . . or you could choose to play scrabble where, when you slip and fall, you have a shorter distance to the ground and you seldom risk losing your life.

99.8% of all scrabble players play ‘casual scrabble’ These millions of players meet at family gatherings and with their children, over kitchen tables, all around the world. The newest fad in scrabble are the scrabble APPs on the IPhone and on computers. Most of these games use memory skills to recall and play common words that are used in everyday conversation. These players usually use no more than about 5% of the dictionary, equivalent to a 5th or 6th Grade vocabulary.

The other 0.2% of the players are consumed by competitive scrabble where the goal is to memorize as many words as one can in the OWL2 (155,000+ words). I aim is to win each game. Some words that are unknown to your opponent may entice a ‘challenge’; when that occurs and the your challenged word appears in the OWL2, the challenger loses a turn. That is costly to your opponent, losing potential points earned. The more you know, the luckier you become.

Anyone who chooses can prepare themselves to climb a mountain. These adventurers begin by conditioning their bodies and incrementally build their strength. Climbers scale many small mountains before considering to take on Mt. Everest.

The same is true for scrabble. For ‘word lovers’ the challenge can be equally as exciting. And just as the mountain climber prepares for the climb, scrabble players must attack the OWL2 with planned strategies in a regimen, to memorize the thousands of words rarely spoken.

So . . . . what are you waiting for ?

Send me an email and I’ll hook you up with a local club or some player in your zip code, if they exist. ( jftsoi.moss@gmail.com )

If you want to begin to learn everything that you most likely don’t about the game of scrabble and the secrets of the champions, consider enrolling into the online class ‘SCRABBLE 101′.

One picture is sometimes worth a thousand words. This picture certainly tells a story. The game is always a challenge, sometimes more difficult than others. I have learned that one should never underestimate the abilities of their opponent. With about a 30% ‘luck factor’, resulting from the luck of the draw of the tiles, nobody can be counted out until someone goes out. With that being said, it is only a very foolish player who depends solely on luck in order to win. The truth is in the quote:
.

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

Either of these seasoned player can tell you. “You might be able to find a few words on your rack and lay them down on the board, but you can’t really play scrabble until you’ve learned the scrabble jargon, learned how to bingo, and understand a few winning strategies.”

Do you have any idea what I am talking about when I talk about a ‘hook’?

A ‘hook’ is a single letter that can be added to the ‘beginning’ or the ‘end’ of a legal scrabble word, creating a new legal scrabble word.
(Examples: ‘a’ + ‘cold’ = ‘acold’; ‘c’ + ‘are’ = ‘care’; ‘tent’ + ‘h’ = ‘tenth’)

Check out the list below. All the words have a ‘c’ front hook. Learn about this and much more when take my online scrabble class: SCRABBLE 101. CLICK HERE.
CAB, CABLE, CABLED, CABLER, CABLES, CABS, CACHE, CACHED, CACHES, CACHING, CAD, CADS, CAFF, CAGE, CAGED, CAGER, CAGERS, CAGES, CAGING, CAID, CAIDS, CAIN, CAINS, CAIRN, CAIRNS, CALIF, CALIFS, CALL, CALLEE, CALLEES, CALLOW, CALLS, CALMS, CAM, CAMAS, CAMASS, CAMBER, CAMBERS, CAMP, CAMPED, CAMPING, CAMPS, CAN, CANAL, and on and on and on . . . .

Do you see the power that a scrabble player has when he/she has this kind of knowledge?

Playing scrabble well is a challenge.

After determining who plays first, every game begins with each player drawing 7 tiles from tile bag. I hold the bag up, in my left hand, above eye level, and reach my right hand into the bad and draw 7. I place the tiles alphabetically on my rack. Take a look with me and write down the words that you would play.

What would you say if I told you that there are 151 legal scrabble words, from the OWL2, that can be formed from the letters on the rack above? Those word range in length from 2 Letters Long to 7 Letters Long.

Do you want to look again to see if you can identify one of the 7 Letter Words?

If your first choice was something like ‘gear’, ‘game’, or ‘image’ you helped me make my point.

We all live with our own set of blinders that limit our vision to those things with which we are most familiar. Seeing the full picture is not as much connected to IQ as it is to one expectation and training.

Yesterday was 9/11. It had significant meaning for most Americans and millions of others around the world. And every one who holds some attachment to the images and experiences of 9/11 has a slightly different view, in accordance with their personal perceptions.

As many Americans still feel the horror and sadness and fear, some of the perpetrators still feel pride and exaltation.

It all depends where you stand. It depends on your perception.

Those of us who watched pieces of the 9/11 memorial on TV saw only the pieces that the producers of the shows placed before us. Today on public radio an unhappy airline stewardess relayed that the first set of heroines in the story were overlooked in the retelling of 9/11. The stewardesses were the first ones killed on the planes.

It all depends where you stand. It depends on your perception.

One of the major tactics that helped us ferret out Bin Ladin and other enemies was to begin by understanding their perception, understanding how they think, and work backwards to trace them to their cells and leaders.

If we choose to become successful and victorious in any arena we must find that path by utilizing perception as a strategy, even in scrabble.

Begin by seeing yourself bigger than life, capable of finding the best solution. Aim for the stars and sometimes settle for hitting the moon. (If you aim only down the block you’ll most likely not make it to the corner.)

If you are satisfied with the current state of affairs, you’ll rarely move forward and become more informed or more talented.

Here are those 151 words. How many did you find?
AE, AG, AGE, AGER, AI, AIGRET, AIM, AIMER, AIR, AIRT, AIT, AM, AMI, AMIE, AMIR, AR, ARE, ARM, ARMET, ART, AT, ATE, EAR, EAT, EM, EMIR, EMIT, ER, ERA, ERG, ET, ETA, GAE, GAIT, GAITER, GAM, GAME, GAMER, GAMIER, GAR, GAT, GATE, GATER, GEAR, GEM, GERM, GET, GETA, GIE. GIRT, GIT, GITE, GRAM, GRAT,GRATE, GREAT, GRIM, GRIME, GRIT, IMAGE, IMAGER, IMARET, IRATE, IRE, IT, ITEM, MA, MAE, MAG, MAGE, MAGI, MAIGRE, MAIR, MAR, MARE, MARGE, MART, MAT, MATE, MATER, MATIER, ME, MEAT, MEG, MEGA, MERIT, MET, META, MI, MIG, MIR, MIRAGE, MIRE, MITE, MITER, MITRE, RAG, RAGE, RAGI, RAI, RAM, RAMET, RAMI, RAMIE, RAT, RATE, RE, REAM, REG, REGMA, REI, REM, REMIT, RET, RETAG, RETIA, RIA, RIG, RIM, RIME, RITE, TA, TAE, TAG, TAM, TAME, TAMER, TAR, TARE, TARGE, TEA, TEAM, TEAR, TEG, TERAI, TERGA, TERM, TI, TIE, TIER, TIGER, TIME, TIMER, TIRE, TRAGI, TRAM, TRIAGE, TRIG, TRIM, . . . . . . . . . .MIGRATE . . . . . .RAGTIME

New Knowledge never appears when you think that you ‘Know It All’.

New Knowledge appears when you admit that ‘You Don’t Know’.

Allow me to show you the path to learning when it comes to scrabble, expanding your word power, and building competitive strategies. SCRABBLE 101

You are driving through the wooded countryside in the early evening. Just as you turn the bend in the road . . . all at once, there is a doe and her fawn standing in the road, frozen in your headlights. You break. They are gone in a instant, and it is as if they were never there at all. All that lingers is the memory.

You go out for an evening with friends to a baseball game followed by some drinks at a nearby watering hole. The music is lively. Two eyes meet yours from across the dance floor. You feel your heart twang. You are a goner.

You are playing scrabble. You’ve just used your last two turns playing off unfriendly tiles in an effort to balance you rack. You now are sitting with the ‘perfect’ combination. (You have: A-E-I-N-R-S-T). Your opponent makes their move and leaves a ‘D’ in the TWS lane on the righthand side, in the 4th space from the top. You SMILE! You recently studied the mnemonic for ‘nastier’ (horrible wicked fang stump). You remember that NASTIER+D = RANDIEST. You play your triple/triple and earn 140 points.

Aren’t surprises fun?

I don’t know how to tell you how to create more deer sitings or the how to create the magic in dreamy encounters.

I do know how to steer you, so you will experience more frequent bingos and exciting scores when you are playing scrabble.

If you live nearby my location in southern California (Laguna Woods, Orange County) you might consider coming to my next Scrabble Workshop on Saturday, September 24. CLICK

If you live far away you might consider taking my online class, SCRABBLE 101. CLICK

Surprises are fun and exciting. And so are the experiences that we create; all the things that we make happen. Grab the steering wheel of your life, and then all at once . . .

Everybody loves a party; everybody loves a celebration.

Sometimes the ‘Special Day’ is for a cause; sometimes people make up a reason and create a ‘Special Day’; sometimes, over time, the original purpose of a ‘Special Day’ is bastardized and altered for the purposes of others.

After witnessing the annual labor festival held in Toronto, Canada.Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor, organized the first festival in the US in May 1882. Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday in 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day.

Today we still call it Labor Day, but is has become a calendar marker for ‘the end of summer’; a time of year that demarcates ‘back-to-school’; a time for scrabble tournaments in Laguna Woods, CA, Burlington, MA., Alpharetta, GA, and Portland, OR.

In high society, Labor Day is the line in the calendar, after which, women do not wear ‘white’ until next Memorial Day.

Politicians take advantage of the many gatherings by butting in and giving speeches to puff themselves up, making promises that sound good but have no way of being implemented.

I will spend today playing scrabble at the scrabble club in Laguna Woods Village. Most likely, a group of us will go out for an early dinner after club and recount the amazing plays of the day. And I’ll construct a Labor Day Word List for you and me (see below).

Labor is a ‘good thing’. Without the labor of ourselves and others we’d have nothing. Our ‘labor’ bring us purpose and joy. After most people ‘retire’, after the initial excitement of all the freedom from labor, they get bored and find some other labor to fill part of their time. Their new labor may look like volunteering or simply learning the words in the OWL2, but is ‘labor’ all the same.

Enjoy a wonderful Labor Day today.

This LABOR DAY LIST contains the legal words from the OWL2 that can be made up from the letters that are in ‘Labor Day’. (How many of these words are new to you?)

I utilize a portion of my labor to create customized word lists and study list for others. Check it out. I’d love to receive an order from you.

What better way to spend a Sunday on Labor Day weekend.

The company of friends; the challenge of the game; and the world is good.

Waking up gently to your own body rhythm. No abrupt alarm clocks startling you out of a serene sleep and your deliciously warm bed. No early-bird-go-gettum-landscaper trimming the hedge outside your bedroom window. No trash man clanging metal trash bins in the street.

Waking up with a smile. No aches and pains from sleeping the wrong way on your arm. No lingering back pains from the work and stress of yesterday. No shakes or sweats from a chemical sugar low or sugar high.

Greeted by a brilliant sun and a mild breeze through your screened window. Not a cloud in sight. Hummingbirds scurrying for their turn to eat at the feeders on your balcony. The aroma of a bold French Roast luring you to the kitchen for a cup of Joe.

The first thought of the day puts a pleasant moue on your face: scrabble club at 6PM. The pleasure of your hot morning shower is only topped by the feeling of the fluffy towel drying your body and the fresh fruity smell of the fabric softener. The music from your stereo surrounds you with your favorite sounds . . . and is totally commercial free.

A stop at the computer to check emails finds only ‘good news’.

Stepping out the door, you are greeted by friendly neighbors with morning greetings.

Your car is clean. Your tank is full. Your motor purrs.

The streets and shops are bustling with passers-by. People are engaging and courteous to one another. Your favorite coffee barrister anticipates your order and hands you your favorite brew and bagel. Regulars at the bistro nod to acknowledge you and inquire, “How are you?”

A drive to the ocean, a walk in the sand and surf, reading a thrilling novel, working a sudoku puzzle, people watching, lapping a Dairy Queen, enjoying the warmth of the sun on your shoulders, all in the course of a day.

Nearing 6PM you head for your scrabble club. A light dinner. Friends congregate, sharing stories of their day. The scrabble games begin and you retreat into that quiet place in your mind filled with the words and strategies that you’ve amassed over time. Your first rack is the perfect rack.

And the world is good.