Philly One Day

Things that went really well:  

Food was fine.  I wasn't starved!  (Ensures, bananas, luna bars, snickers.  Hamburger for lunch, although I forgot to bring the leftover fries back with me.)

Fours and fives.  I really feel like I'm getting control over them.  I got to steal a nickel from Dave on a five, which is always satisfying.

Things that went okay:  

Sleep.  One of the dogs had us up in the night, but I didn't have any insomnia.  So I was probably slightly affected, but my brain was in there.

Bad:

The lighting was terrible for me.  I can't think with glare.  It was a beautiful space, looking out over Philly, just gorgeous.  But several of the seats were extremely glary for me.  So I need to do two things.  Solve this mental problem (maybe just fill in the board on my scoresheet and do my thinking looking there?) and come up with a nonglare board and demand everyone use it.

Challenges:  Uh, what was I thinking challenging DEODARA?  That's not even collins.  I swear, sometimes I challenge a word merely because I want it off the board.  DEODARA was in my way.  But I can't waste those points.  I am not leaving phoneys on the board now, which is real progress.  I have to calibrate better.  Five-point challenge is not free.

Ugly:  I also challenged PRIMI.

Beautiful:  It is always great to catch up with other members of my tribe.  It was also great to meet and play three collins players for the first time.  I think I had some ways to fend off Jason's win, but I need to figure them out.  It might be a good pre-endgame situation to put up, actually.

I love this game.

Nationals

How things went:

1.  I slept well.  In my earliest tournaments, this was a huge problem.  Now I'm older, wiser, and I have ambien.  I do think there's an ambien effect that lingers in the mornings, but I tried to push that back with a lot of caffeine, to random effect.

2.  My struggle to get enough calories (at tournaments) continues.  The last two events I've just gone with nutrition drinks.  THIS time I went with nutrition drinks that are for gaining weight, 350 calories a teeny bottle.  (My dietary requirements are funky and I eat very slowly; that plus nerves will starve me.)  I think the super-plus nutrition drinks helped.  Four a day gave me a 1400-calorie base to work from.

3.  Nerves!  I hardly had any.  I will have more to say about this at some point.

4.  I drew reasonably well.  I think I always do.  (I say this even in the current environment, because it's true.)  32 blanks in 30 games (two against Chris Lipe, as usual), but I also had a lot of racks "just at the right time":  FIDDLY for 66, etc.  Very few impossible racks.

5.  I need to calibrate my caution/challenges a little better, but it's improved over the last few events.  Overall I think I had one phony challenged off (WI*, which was not a real attempt at a word), two left on the board.  Obviously this means I chickened out of a few things.  I earned some +5s.  I spent some +5s, but not too many, and left four (I think) of my opponents' phonies on the board -- one of which I was astonished was bad and thought nothing of, one of which I worried about (agarized*), one of which I left on because I could lose if it were GOOD, and the fourth which I completely screwed up, thinking I was being all strategic, and then losing on recount the game I thought I had won against SamK on a play I hadn't noticed he'd underscored.  My own fault.  If I challenge his phony off, I win; if I've been paying better attention to the scoring throughout, I make a different call at the end -- and I just hadn't given myself the correct info to use to make the decision.  Plus, it was a ridiculous three. (There were several misscores in the game, including one of my own.)

6.  Class prizes:  it feels wrong to get a cash prize over someone who actually placed ahead of me.  I'll probably fold most of it back into the game somehow -- put some towards next year's prize fund if possible, etc.  Having said THAT, it felt pretty cool :)  I'm of two minds, obviously.

7.  People were awesome.  The Collins divisions that we usually get to play are small and involve multiple repeats -- and those repeats move from tournament to tournament.  This time I got to play many folks I'd never played before, which was a real treat.

8.  For thirty one-hour sessions, I blocked out the world of bad news and stupid news.  It was marvelous.

Edit to add: edited August 2013, to remove whitewashing.

Charlotte post-mortem, the big picture

You know how if you're really hungry, whatever you eat tastes extra great?  That's what it felt like to play tournament games again.  The losses, of which there were a whole lot, didn't bug me at all during the event.  It was just so enjoyable to PLAY.  I was starved for it.

But now it's the next day, and there are those losses to consider.  There are some obvious errors that I don't think I would make if I were playing tournaments more regularly, and there are some more subtle ones that I need to go over.

Changes I'm making:  

1.  No more void games for me ever.  Unfortunately, the facebook type games are all void (that I know of).  They give me bad habits, and I'm done with them.

2.  John and I have agreed to play by the 10-point challenge for our kitchen games.  I'm a cautious player and don't phony much -- but I don't challenge enough either.  I need to get more practice at making the nuanced decisions that are involved with 10-point challenge.

3.  We re-upped our mosaic account for ISC.  Anybody want to play against the two of us?

4.  More studying.  That's not really a change.  I just need to keep it up.  I wish there were a collins boggle site.  I wish my son and daughter would make me a collins boggle site for my birthday.

5.  John and I play each other a lot, but I think there's a bubble effect that is happening; we get so that we are used to each other's word knowledge and board play.  It might not be a huge effect, but it's an effect.  We are going to play more ISC games at least, so that we keep bringing in other styles to mitigate that bubble effect a little.

trainwreck

Sometimes our kitchen games are amazing and top-notch.

Not tonight: I missed my opening seven, an easy one. He played his out in two in the wrong order. In response, I played a phony to go out. He did not challenge.

In between, we played terribly.

I love the whole world

Okay, we finally have a tournament on the horizon, the tiny Bethesda Collins division.

Remote possibility we can make it to Charlotte, but probably not at this point. John's new responsibilities conflict with that.

I kind of like where I left TWL. I won the last TWL tournament I played (a club tournament). Close that chapter on a high note! I'm just done with it. (I'll continue to make friendly game exceptions, because I'm very friendly.) So, I'm one that won't go to nationals without a Collins division. I'm not making a statement or anything. I'm not "boycotting". I'm just not playing TWL anymore.

Maybe I'll go jumbletime a bit.

P.S. We have not yet set up a Collins "club" here, but we have some possibilities and very much intend to do so. Don't mind us. We're just slow.

DSL

Current DC SOWPODS League activity is still confined to the Kitchen at John&Marsh's, but it's exciting and mind-expanding. (Honestly, it's partly Simon's recuperation that has us playing more. He's not supposed to jump on furniture for 2 weeks, and the kitchen is really the only room that he can freely hang out in.)

Anyway, we're playing. We noted tonight that we are playing a game using a world dictionary on a custom board with protiles and a samtimer clock, a homemade bag, and 2 blue plastic racks that predate Hasbro. We play a (memorized) version of the tournament rules developed by world organizations, and we use our own self-designed scoresheets. And roller ball pens. We note a lot of things here at DC SOWPODS League headquarters.

We should develop a logo, and a motto! I love mottoes.

I won both games tonight with the help of the magic tile bag fairies.

Two down, 999 to go

The first two games last night. As usually happens when we start playing again after a break, we were both a little more conservative than we normally are. That fades fast. John killed in the first game and almost broke 600; I did NOT break 300. Some of this was tiles, but some of it was me not seeing GIUSTED# and so forth. It may be like riding a bike, but you also have to remember where the road is.

The second game I drew all the great tiles and barely squeaked out a 25 point win.

But look at the record. It just shows a nice clean 1 to 1.

To be fair, John did play nice words like FIREP(L)UG. For many points.

This is important.

We're about to switch over to all collins all the time (again, yes). Should we start a brand new series? Say -- best of 1000? Or should we merely add on to the lifetime championship series?

There's really only room for one record on the fridge.

Is 1000 games really enough to give a true champ?

No easy answers, I'm afraid.

Why not?

Did I mention that we finally joined NASPA? It was spurred mostly by finding out that Collins events would get a NASPA rating. One likes to encourage this kind of behavior.

So I'm back to not trying to keep the word lists separate. Let's face it, it's not like we'll be playing a lot of tourneys any time soon. So why NOT play the version I love? Why NOT try to do it the best I possibly can?

I don't put much time into studying these days, for sure. I should make it efficient.

But ... we joined NASPA!

optimism?

Our nerdy Tuesday nights of pizza and Battlestar Galactica (no, I'm not joking) have changed to Fridays for this semester. The local writing group has just changed to Thursdays.

Do you know what this means? This means we might actually have a club night! The problem, of course, is that club is that big corporation influenced dictionary instead of the all-inclusive one world order dictionary that we rebels and socialists prefer. So we'll have to decide which principles to trash, but still.

Break out the tiles, baby!

Blank designation

If and only if there is binding of verbal designation, by your opponent's designated clarification -- thereafter -- only THEN may you use the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.

Unless the director has been called over to record the blank designation, therefore.

toysRmelodrama

People don't live in tiny villages any more. This "play locally" crap really is crap. We have planes and the internet. My son married a girl he met on the internet, from Scotland*. All of my kids have friends that they interact with EVERY DAY from other countries, from other languages. They sometimes play using a mishmash of English, Brazilian, and curse words from around the world. They make up words -- sometimes just because there is a new idea and it doesn't have a word yet. I love this world. I love that the people in my life are in the same room with me and on the other side of the world. I am sorry that not everyone lives in this kind of universe -- yet. But they will.

Anyway, my real point is: the main objectors are from a certain generation of Scrabble play, with lower NSA member numbers (that might be whimsical; I have no idea if they are sequential member numbers). A lot of them are also from a certain actual generation. The new generations (Scrabble and otherwise) are not "afraid of teh pods". We just have to be patient and keep doing the work.

*And if she tries to play Scrabble with her little brother using official sites, she is actually not allowed to do so, because of the insane Hasbro/Mattel split. You objectors, you are like the rats who catch toxoplasmosis from the cats and then do the cats' bidding. Really. The masters have installed a parasite in your brain, and that parasite is OSPD.

Yes, I'm melodramatic. It's the holidays.

We had some non-Dow related fun yesterday. As predicted, I played very slowly and probably terribly in the first game and lost. I could blame tiles, but it would be incorrect. I could blame my opponent's chattering, and in fact that WAS annoying. But really, I just played badly.

Second game, against Dan, I started to get a little speed back, which correlates to brain power. I let him get away with safing# for 52. Didn't worry a second over it, either. He ended up winning by five. My bingos: BAG[U]EtTE.

Third game, against John, # all the way. I thought we both went seamlessly into British mode, particularly for the overlap plays. My bingos: the amazing PLOTTEd. I won by two.

We then all danced around the "who should sit out" game. None of us really minded; bookstores are a great place to be odd person out. I drew the sit-out straw, but then Lucas had to go, and so I took his spot against Dan again. (And then Lucas didn't have to go after all, so he enjoyed the bookstore while the rest of us played.)

Fourth, game, Dan again. This game I felt on. I also felt telepathically powerful, as whatever letters I needed for my eights just miraculously came down. An E for COLIS[E]UM. An A for JAcUL[A]TE. An N for STEAPSI[N]. Okay, a lot of letters would have worked with PATSIES, but still. I needed him to play something for me, 'cause no seven was going to play.

So I went 2-2, had fun, bought a book. I'm sure we will go back. How frequently remains to be seen, of course. But community-level scrabble is fine with me.

I feel folksy. I need to stop watching political clips.

aaeilms

I can seem to muster no enthusiasm for scrabble at the moment. My moral outrage towards Hasbro is eclipsed by my moral outrage towards political liars and criminals, at least for now. My creative energy is pouring into fiction (as apparently is the case for those political liars), and autumn is keeping me busy with winter preparations and school things.

Tuesday night club is impossible. Sunday afternoon club is nonexistent. The only tournament I have on the horizon is logistically tricky, and I need to study a LOT for it. And without enthusiasm, that is tough. CGP is full of topics like "should I be outraged if my opponent does math aloud?" and while I'm sure that's very interesting to those few that are outraged, eh, I'm not finding it compelling.

I don't know. Am I temporarily retiring?

I just can't find it in myself to CARE about the game right now.

Potomac, the headquarters of britishness

Off we trekked to play Collins with Bob and Vince. (Vince is not studying the british words, but agreed to partner with Bob, which was kind of him.) We played four team games, split the power tiles, split the games, would have split the money had we played for money.

We played a scoring variant -- 10 points extra for any non-two Collins-only. This necessitates knowing the difference. I'm embarrassed to say that Bob got away with an extra ten for PARDY. (Challenges of #-ness are allowed; they cost 10 to the loser of the challenge.) We also let them get away with the entirely dictionaryless FUNKSIA*, which is ridiculous. I am glad we are playing 5 point challenge in these matches. I need to learn when to risk those points. Certainly I should risk them more often than I'm doing. The sureness line is not entirely clear to me yet.

Overall a good session. Bob is obviously studying.

Quick, punctuate!

You don't really have to. It's not a test. The blanks are T and S.

I'm finding it useful in keeping the categories straight in my brain. For some reason, it actually even helps to remember the new additions.

So on this board, there are at least one of *phonies, #british-only, @new, @#new-british, and unpunctuated because people think it's normal to consider English American-only.

Not that I'm bitter.

No one is immune

Here in the heart of Dictionary Rebellion, USA:

"That's not a word! That's a word made up by a stupid british person."

(Referring to HUMORESK#)

Working on British 11s

Kitchen world scrabble venue

Key:

On the windowsill are the pots that various offspring made from kindergarten to second grade. Most kids made lumpy ashtray things. Mine made lumpy castles and monsters (and ashtrays). One of the pots gets knocked off every day. I don't know why it hasn't broken yet.

Bookshelves were a Christmas present from John when I was in the apartment. This is the third time he has installed them.

Sagan the cat is not allowed on the table. She pretends amazement whenever we attempt to enforce this.

The paintings are part of a series my sister did when she was in art school. I wish she would paint more, but she is currently obsessed with dressage.

Since we are not doing Nationals (or whatever it is called this year; I get my years confused easily these days) I'm officially going into full sowpods mode. I don't care if it burns me at club. I really do not care.

The only two tournaments I'm remotely interested in playing at the moment are both Texas and both #sowpodscollins#.

So club people, feel free to look askance. Catch me in a terrible error of continents.

Edited to add the very important clarification that several of the tournaments being planned, like Terry's HO tournament, sound really fun and great. I'm just in a British kind of mood, whatever that is.