There came a time when Moses, an adopted son of the Pharaoh’s daughter, learned of his true biological Hebrew line, felt his connection to them, and took a leadership action to set his people free. Being one of the first known negotiators in recorded history, Moses attepmted a non-violent approach. He sought an audience with the Pharaoh and beseeched him to ‘Let My People Go’. It was as if the request fell upon deaf ears.

It has been told that Moses had a ‘god-connection’. And the all-knowing, all-seeing, omnicient god of Moses proposed to put a plague or more upon the Pharoah, in order to coax him to do ‘the right thing’.

Neither Moses, nor his god, ever believed that more than one plague would be necessary to have the Pharaoh shaking in his sandals. And so, on one typical morning, as the Jewish slaves toiled by the whim of the Pharaoh, the 1st Plague was unleashed by Moses’ god:
Water was turned to Blood
7:19 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.

This just infuriate the Pharaoh. He dug in his heels and pledged an even greater resolve to maintain the status quo.

And thus, a second plague was visited upon the Pharaoh’s domain.
2. FROGS
8:2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:
8:3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs:
8:4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.

And the Pharaoh was insensed, he thought it was all just some act of sorcery. And he continued to stand his ground. And he ordered his kitchen staff to prepare 1,000 new recipes for froglegs.

After these actions failed, a series of 7 more plagues ticked off with regularity.

3. Gnats & Lice
4. Flies
5. Mad Cow Disease
6. Boils
7. Thunder & Hail
8. Locust
9. Darkness

At this point, Moses’s god decided to take an action that would really hit home. The 10th Plague would be the death of every Egyptian 1st born son in the land. The Jews were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes to alert ‘the angel of death’, so he would ‘pass over’ the home of the Jews and only visit the plague on the Egyptians.

And afterward, the Jews were allowed to leave, only to wander for 40 years in the desert, before reeaching their promised land.

And so what does all this have to do with SCRABBLE?

There are 10 plagues in scrabble that we have to suffer in order to understand and appreciate the joys of winning (the promise land), but only after enduring our personal 40 years in the desert (the time we devote to study). The 10 scrabble plagues are:
1. 9 of the letter I in the bag.
2. Not knowing the 2-Letter-Words.
3. A Q without a U.
4. Too many vowels at the same time. (balance)
5. A BINGO without a home.
6. Brain farts.
7. Beginner’s Luck (when you are not the beginner)
8. Needing to learn all the HOOKS to words you have just learned.
9. Learning to TRACK accurately.
10. Scrabble Daddies.

Happy Holidays.

Play scrabble at CLUB #350 in Orange County, California to improve your game. CLICK HERE

The one thing that anyone who knows an autistic child will agree upon is that there are behaviors inherent in the condition that makes it difficult to impossible for those children to integrate easily into the ‘normal’ population.

Many of us have a personal connection to a child/children who lives/live with Autism. My daughter’s twin children have a mild form that has required special understanding and challenging interventions in their lives. They are both very bright children and struggle with socialization and acceptance. At 13 years of age, they are both partaking in ‘normal’ school activities: Wylie is in a public school setting and Haley is in a pretigeous private school. My nephew, Alex, has many special talents and is very bright too. At 23, Alex is now graduating from college and facing all the usual challenges for moving onward into life. (You may have listened to the song that Alex wrote and recorded about his Autism. CLICK If not, it’s a MUST.

Most times a cause like battling Autism seems so much larger than life itself. We may feel like that there isn’t much of anything we can do to make a difference. So, we commiserate and then go back to doing whatever it was that we were doing.

TODAY I am asking that you do something differently. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. And even if it is only a small difference, it may be the small difference that opens the door onto the discovery of one of the answers that the researchers are looking for.

The 1st Sunday Scrabble Tournament on MAY 6 will be raising funds to benefit AUTISM SPEAKS. This is an opportunity for YOU to be involved is a BIG WAY or a SMALL WAY. Every Way will make a difference.

• From the comfort of your home you can be a DONOR. (Simply write a check.)
• From your easy chair you can MAKE A PLEDGE. Sponsor me or another player in the tournament. (CLICK)
• Come play in the tournament. (Solicit others to sponsor you and your resulting scores.)
• Be our AMBASSADOR. (Spread the word by mouth or through emails.)

All funds should be in the form of checks, payable to AUTISM SPEAKS. Send all check c/o Gary Moss, 3367 Punta Alta #3B, Laguna Woods, CA. 92637 For info call: (949) 510-1673

Every donor and sponsor shall receive a ‘free’ PDF of the most up-to-date 2′s-to-3-Letter Word List from the OWL2 lexicon.

Somehow I thought that once in my hands I would be able to magically produce wonderful melodious sounds with little effort. WRONG!!!

The first days and weeks were devoted to just learning how to blow into the mouthpiece and obtain a smooth, steady tone. Licking the reed and positioning the mouthpiece in my mouth seemed so basic. And yet, I spend weeks learning how to assemble the reed onto the mouthpiece and working the reed in order to get a proper sound. Those first months were filled with countless shrill shrieks and hollow puffs of frustrating hot air.

Then just about the time was I was becoming semi-mediocre with the mouthpiece, I learned that reading music and fingering skills were necessary too.

I was far from being a patient student. I was always looking ahead to the next page in the book and trying things on my own. I was far from being a natural. Many times I’d invent my way of fingering, only to learn later that there was another way that was a better way. I had to unlearn my way before I could begin to learn the proper way.

For most of the year I was in he 4th Grade I spent an hour on most Saturday mornings, sitting along side Mr. Scanlon in my living room, in front of a music stand, taking lessons on the clarinet. Unfortunately, I never had a passion for the clarinet that I now have for scrabble. Maybe if they’d have allowed be to play the saxiphone I would have become another Kenny G.

The one important lesson that I learned during that experience, which I then applied to several projects later in school and throughout my life is:

There Is Always An Easier Way To Do It . . . . . ~Life Lessons

And guess what? The same is true about playing the game of scrabble well.

If you merely see the game as a simple kids game, you will always play it that way. If you see the game of scrabble as a game of knowledge and stategies you will open the possibilties to yourself to play like a mavin. But even then, you can move up in the ranks the hard way or the simple way.

(Notice that I used the word ‘simple’, not ‘easy’. There is nothing easy about becoming great at scrabble or playing the clarinet or anything else.)

If you have a passion for your subject, you have a much better chance at achieving your goal. Next, in most cases, do not try to reinvent the wheel. There are already experts who have mastered the game. Identify an expert who is also a good teacher. Poor teachers may inhibit your growth and your passion.
Learn the lesson in every exercise, every game, every word, every win, every loss. Harness the mistakes of your past and allow them to lead you to the greater achievements in your future.

If you want me to coach you, call (949) 510-1673.

It sounds to me that those folks are mainly interested in seeing if they know the words on the board in order to determine whether or not they would feel comfortable jumping into the game.

I do understand being intimidated by others who are smarter, faster, stronger, etc.

But I can’t agree with that approach. When I began I sought out the games against the top rated players. Every time I lost a game of scrabble I learned a handful of words and some good strategies. I think that I grew into the game by facing the difficult challenges of talented players.

It is always fun to win the game. But there is value in every loss, if you look for it.

I never say NO when someone requests to visit and observe. And I know that they are an unlikely candidate to become a regular club or tournament player.

Due to the attractive draw of the TV and the Lazy-Boy Lounger we have become a sedintary world of observers.

Today would be a good day to take action. Get off that chair. Turn off that TV. Don’t buy tickets to the tennis matches; buy a tennis racket. Don’t come to observe the scrabble games; come to play.

If you want a leg up before attending your first club or tournament session, my services are available as a personal scrabble coach. Call Gary: (949) 510-1673.

I look for a lesson every time I play a game of scrabble. Sometimes I am the teacher; frequently, after 30 years, I am still the student.

Last Monday is a good example.

I was playing at the Laguna Woods Village scrabble club. In one game against a fierce opponent I was doing everything in my power to keep up in the score. There weren’t many bingo lines that I could see where she’d be able to make a big score. And just as I completed that thought, down came the play ‘arabica’, with the middle ‘a hooked on top of ‘tween’. I wasn’t certain about the validity of ‘arabica’, but after 30 years of playing the game I was sure that I had never seen ‘atween’, so I challenged. I lost the challenge; both words are legal in the OWL2.

In the very next game I was playing against a seasoned opponent. The game was coming to a close and I held a small lead with a very closed board. I had 5 tiles remaining: A-I-S-W-Y. I could have played ‘sway’ or ‘ways’ or ‘yaws’. Instead I played ‘YWIS’ in a spot where the hooks earned me a few more points. My opponent’s response was much like mine had been in the earlier game. She challenged without hesitating. She did not know ‘ywis’.

I was excited about learning ‘atween’ inspite of losing that game. I know that I will rmember that word and be able to use it to stump you or some other opponent in the future.

I can hardly wait to play scrabble again where I’ll have the chance to play things from my arsenal of tricks.

Against my 91-year-old opponent Renee I played ‘quare’ ending just abaove the triple line, inviting her to hook an ‘s’ (I knew that ‘quare’ does not take an ‘s’). Then just as I expected, she played ‘sneeze’ with the ‘s’ under ‘quare’. I announced “Challenge”! Some times I do those somewhat naughty things; but it’s all part of the fun of the game.

What is that? For me, there is so much clarity under the streaming hot water. My range of visions solve personal relationship issues for today and revisit issues from way back to my growing up years; Sometimes the clarity is related to solving the morning sudoku puzzle that was stumping me (I get out of the shower, solve the puzzle, and then resume my shower); at times the vision is oh so much large, worldly.

The bottom line from all the things that I learn in my shower is that the answers to EVERYTHING are hiding IN PLAIN SIGHT.

Many times, not always, when the soapy suds rinses off my body and disappears down the drain so do the ideas and visions for the day. When I want to catch my dreamlike vision I have to make a concerted effort by repeating the message aloud (“IN PLAIN SIGHT”, “IN PLAIN SIGHT”, “IN PLAIN SIGHT”), getting out of the shower quickly, and writing down precisely what I just learned.

Funny, but when I don’t have an earnest intention, the inspiration can escape entirely or change so much that I don’t recognize it later when I sit down to expound upon it in a blog.

Today’s ‘In Plain Sight’ epiphany spoke volumes to me during my 5-minute shower.

Do you realize that everything that was necessary to create FIRE was available to early man forever before he discovered it? The same is true for cars and plane, the polio vaccine, travel to the moon, and being the first one in the family to earn a college degree.

The same is true about solving world hunger, ending war, and preventing economic disasters.

Most people do not realize that they have ‘the power’ and never test it, never even look for it. They remain comfortable under the warm water in their own shower.

The few people who benefit from the status quo actually do things to discourage the masses by creating foggy conditions to hinder seeing what is hiding in plain sight: alternate energy sources; greed in corporations; greed in union contracts; and more.

The overwhelming majority of people who play scrabble also fall victim to their lack of vision when it come to the rudiments of play a winning game. The somehow think that scrabble is simply a word game, playing and connecting the words that you use in everyday life.

WRONG.

Winning at scrabble is about MEMORY. Winning at scrabble is about STRATEGY. Winning at scrabble is about COMPETING. Winning at scrabble is about DESIRE.

Everything that is needed to become a winning scrabble player is in plain sight. And just like everything else in this world, it is for the having and taking if you simply take off your own blinders.

Let me help you take off the blinders that interfere with YOU becoming a better scrabble player. CLICK HERE.

Did you ever do an assignment or write a thesis that didn’t live up to your standard or didn’t say exactly what you wanted to say, prompting you to hit ‘delete’ or ‘tear it up’ or ‘burn it in the fireplace’? How did you explain that to your professor?

We don’t do any writing while playing scrabble but we frequently play so words that can cause embarassment. You know he words that I’m referring to; those four words and politically incorrect words. More than 150 of them live in the OWL2, why shouldn’t they? They are words.

The OSPD4, the school edition, is sanitized. The OSPD4 has removed those ‘naughty words’ with the hope that school age children will not know or unlearn verbiage like ‘skimo’ and ‘goy’ and ‘abo’. I daresay that many people have no idea why those words are shunned by the schools

I remember being at one of my very first scrabble tournaments in Gatlinberg, Tennessee in the late 1980s. I was in my late 40s and I was playing against an 80 something aged lady. The game was nearly over and I could go out and win by play ‘cunt’ on a TWS. I looked across the table at this sweet old lady who reminded me of my own grandmother. I fidgeted in my chair, rearranging the tiles, looking for some other word to play. ‘unct’, ‘tunc’, ‘cutn’, ‘untc’, just didn’t work. As all good scrabble will tell you, “Go For The Win.”

I played ‘cunt’, announced the score and said “Game Over”. I won. Grandma never said a word other than “Good Game”.

One of my sidelines goes hand-in-hand with being an enthusiastic scrabble player. That interest involves creating word lists. Some of my lists focus on the combination of certain letters; like my list of words that begin with ‘OO’ as in ooze and oogonia. Did you know that ONLY 20% of the words that end with ‘ING’ take a final ‘S’ as in ‘actings‘ and ‘askings‘.

One of the lists that raises a lot of interest is called The Poo List. This list includes those 150+ words in the OWL2 that are so offensive that they have been expunged from the OSPD4.

Purchase you Pooh List Now. CLICK

A Maldives paradise governed by 'Sharia Law'

Here in the United Stataes of America, we have long touted the notion of separation of church and state. Makes sense! Many of our founding fathers and their forefathers came to America in attempts to escape religious persecution from whenst they came.

And yet, as often as we tell our progeny to avoid the mistakes of the past . . . . here we go again, imposing our personal ‘BELIEFS’ upon others.

Believers always believe that they are right. Believers always believe that their ways are the true ways. Hense, the believers always believe that the ‘others’ are heathens, wrong-doers, misguided, and therefore wrong.

Many believers feel the need to ‘SAVE’ the nonbelievers, even if that means actively imposing their will onto the others. And that’s where it begins all over again: distrust; stereotyping; avoidance; name-calling; ostracizing; persecuting; and even WARS.

Why can’t YOU allow me to live my life according to my own standards and beliefs and simply avoid and ignore me if you don’t like my lifestyle?

The founding fathers established a government with limited powers and intervention. Over the years, BELIEVERS, who thought that they knew better, imposed all sorts of laws, rules, and practices.

Newly elected officials, instead of assuming the posture of merely protecting our freedoms, seem to feel the need to create new laws and programs, most of which are filled with new impositions upon us as individuals and businesses. And with each new edict, there goes a little more of our freedoms.

I am frightened. The Nazi’s were believers; President Assad is a believer; Rick Santorum is a believer. One common thread that runs through the aforementioned is that they all wanted/want to control and change our lives to fit into their mold.

We hear a lot about the poor state of education in America. That is good for the Santorums of the world, because their pitch is attractive to believers and those others who are use to following instead of thinking and challenging.

I am frightened. In 2012, with as much progress as the human race has made, we are still merely a bunch of animals, driven too often by fear and instincts. Red Ants vs Black Ants; Big Fish vs Little Fish; NASPA vs WGPO; Evangelicals vs The Rest of Us.

I may be frightened, but I won’t stop writing, speaking, doing and encouraging others to speak up too.

Players in Orange County California can now mosey on over to ARBYs at 23862 Bridger Road, in Lake Forest on Wednesday at 5:30PM, a half hour before the start of Club #350, where I will field questions and provide instruction. Players around the State and around the world can tap into the wisdom of my alter ego, Letter Man, on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ciALRWYUgA

Many people who have played the game of scrabble (some for many years), believe that players can move up to the highest ranks simply by playing frequently.

Sorry to burst your bubble if you are one of those thinkers. You may become incrementally better over time by merely playing the game, but unless you learn the secrets of the scrabble experts and put in your fair measure of ‘study time’, you will never be among the elite of the game.

Right about now, if you are still reading this blog, you may be asking yourself WHY anyone would want to devote the time and energy necessary to build the skills to become a top-notch scrabble mavin. Where will that get me in life, you may be thinking?

Those of you who can see the BIGGER PICTURE realize that the skills that players develop in order to play winning scrabble are the same skills that help all people develop and live a full life. MEMORY, ORGANIZATION, KNOWLEDGE, STRATEGY, CRITICAL THINKING, READING OTHERS and more.

People who see scrabble as just a game and nothing more will most likely never really see the board in any way other than an array of square and colors.

People who learn how to see all the possibilities on the scrabble board also learn how to see all the possibilities in the other parts of their lives.

In the 1960s I earned my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. I studied Education. One very memorable class in Educational Philosophy was taught by Dean Hagman. Instead of the usual textbook, Hagman used the works of William Shakespeare as our textbooks. It was one of the most impressionable and interesting classes that I ever experienced. Traditionalists thought Hagman was nuts. All the while he was a genius.

SCRABBLE LESSONS can magically open the doors to many of the disciplines in your life. There is no end to learning and no single style that is singly the best.

For a major challenge and head start CLICK HERE.

I pride myself for my ability to give accurate, easily understood, directions. That doesn’t mean that all the people I have directed have arrived at their destination easily.

An aside: Once upon a time, in another lifetime, in a far away land, I was Headmaster of a small independent private school. One of my duties at the school was to route a fleet of mini buses providing pick up and drop off services for students. On one day, a new driver had not cleaned out her ears during her morning shower. At one critical point on her route, where I had expressly told her to turn right, she turned left. Now you might think that a bright adult might pull over to the side of the road after driving 5 miles, still not arriving at their destinaton. (It was in the time before cell phones. She would have had to pull into a gas station and use a pay phone to call me.) But no, she drove almost 20 miles down Middlebelt Road, in the wrong direction, before she had the sense to turn around.

Another dear friend of mine was coming to my scrabble tournament in Orange County from L.A. She loved to listen to her radio when she drove, and she’d sing along, getting lost in the music. When she hadn’t arrived at 9 AM, the tournament start time, I was worried. I called her cell phone. She answered and asked me to wait a minute while she pulled to the side of the road. I asked her where she was. It was as if I was waking her from a dream. She seemed confused. It turned out that when she drove onto the 5 Freeway in Glendale she was singing and instinctively headed NORTH instead of SOUTH (towards her sister’s home). She was half-way to Santa Barbara, 2 hours away from the tournament venue. Ooooops!

One thing that really irks me is when a newbie who starts coming to club is sort of intimidated by the better players and therefore directs their scrabble questions to other lesser players. Oftimes I overhear them receiving poor advice or wrong bad advice. Ask an expert, or the director.

What measures do you take to improve your personal skills and word knowledge? Do you know the secrets of the EXPERTS, that lead to winning at the game of scrabble? Do you want to learn more?

I coach players and lead them to the path which will improve their game and result in winning more often. I can help you too. Give me a call: (949) 510-1673. You don’t even have to live in the same city. I coach many student online. CLICK HERE

For a quick scrabble lesson that will provide a tip or two check out my alter ego Letter Man: Click Here.