My opponent (at club) had just kindly played YIP, which made the play possible.
109 points, baby!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
I'm convinced that our play connects us with our true selves -- both whatever passes for our souls and our animal selves, our valiant and base instincts at once, our pride and our despair.
When I was little, I played pretend, mostly with my sister. We were, in play, exotic and strong, full of power to save the universe. Wonder twin power! We did puzzles on our bellies on the floor of the church while the grownups chatted, and we ran around howling like banshees through the "woods". Two trees standing kinda close together could be woods. We played word games, spelling games, school work games, shoot-em-up games, and we were freed by our play.
The forty-year-old me plays, a lot. Word games, of course, like Scrabble and Boggle, and -- yes, pretend games! Pretend games when you are forty can be writing stories, if you are lucky enough to be a writer. They can also be role-playing games like Diablo or WoW, and I do so love those games. (Note to 14-year-old boys: that "guy" that just pwned you might be somebody's mom. Ha ha ha!)
So part of my quest to be whole includes stuff that is the very opposite of wasting time. It's digging deep into the things that thrill me and feed me, and somehow I end up doing better "work" in the time that is left over. And THAT stuff is the authentic me, all of it, playing working truly Marsh.
When I was little, I played pretend, mostly with my sister. We were, in play, exotic and strong, full of power to save the universe. Wonder twin power! We did puzzles on our bellies on the floor of the church while the grownups chatted, and we ran around howling like banshees through the "woods". Two trees standing kinda close together could be woods. We played word games, spelling games, school work games, shoot-em-up games, and we were freed by our play.
The forty-year-old me plays, a lot. Word games, of course, like Scrabble and Boggle, and -- yes, pretend games! Pretend games when you are forty can be writing stories, if you are lucky enough to be a writer. They can also be role-playing games like Diablo or WoW, and I do so love those games. (Note to 14-year-old boys: that "guy" that just pwned you might be somebody's mom. Ha ha ha!)
So part of my quest to be whole includes stuff that is the very opposite of wasting time. It's digging deep into the things that thrill me and feed me, and somehow I end up doing better "work" in the time that is left over. And THAT stuff is the authentic me, all of it, playing working truly Marsh.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Three and one at club on Sunday. This was our second club visit in several months. In other words, I'm continuing my regimen of not studying and not thinking about Scrabble and then drawing very well. I have to say that this takes less effort than some other methods, although the tile gods can be very demanding.
My time management was fairly horrible -- over time in one, plus-2 seconds in another, and the others nearly as bad. I also played with a peculiar mix of nervousness about word knowledge (mostly re: challenges) and aggression in board position and control. I think this works better than the reverse, to be honest.
Bingoes, mostly so I can brag about the first one on the list... PSOrIAS[IS], FEMINIE, ELATIVE, nAIADES, FINnIER, NOYADES, pLEATED, LION[I]ZEd, and PEA[R]LING.
Mistakes (major -- there were plenty of minor): Didn't challenge off feminies*, although I did mutter about it. Played elative instead of elatives to an S. I think I was affected by the feminies debacle. Missed farside on my rack, although there would not have been a place to play it. This is extra major, as this is the second time I have missed it recently. Disastrous time management.
My time management was fairly horrible -- over time in one, plus-2 seconds in another, and the others nearly as bad. I also played with a peculiar mix of nervousness about word knowledge (mostly re: challenges) and aggression in board position and control. I think this works better than the reverse, to be honest.
Bingoes, mostly so I can brag about the first one on the list... PSOrIAS[IS], FEMINIE, ELATIVE, nAIADES, FINnIER, NOYADES, pLEATED, LION[I]ZEd, and PEA[R]LING.
Mistakes (major -- there were plenty of minor): Didn't challenge off feminies*, although I did mutter about it. Played elative instead of elatives to an S. I think I was affected by the feminies debacle. Missed farside on my rack, although there would not have been a place to play it. This is extra major, as this is the second time I have missed it recently. Disastrous time management.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
I think it would be funny to...
Make a tee-shirt with a fake anamonic on it and wear it to a tournament.
"Push, pull, untuck, crunch: Lunch!"
"Poor boy, no book, no snow."
The lamer the better. Nonamonics.
"Push, pull, untuck, crunch: Lunch!"
"Poor boy, no book, no snow."
The lamer the better. Nonamonics.
Monday, December 4, 2006
3-2 again
First the bingos:
CLE[A]NSED
ATONIES
QUAYL[I]kE
SNORERS
VENTA[I]LS
WEENIER
READ[O]UTS
PaLFREY
RENAILS
Yeah, ATONIES again.
The first rack, the first game, my opponent plays JAWER* for 46, and I have a 94 point double double through and no sevens if I challenge it off. I moaned (really!) and thought for about half a second that perhaps it was new and then said, to myself, "the hell with it" and played the double double. I NEVER know what to do in that situation.
Statistical anomaly: I have gone first once in the last 10 games.
I like this club. Quirky, bright people, good games. There's one person I can have difficulty getting along with, but I'm learning skillz what with the basenjis and positive reinforcement, and I'm hoping to learn patience, at the very least. I do a lot of self-talk when I deal with that person. "It's not who they are; it's their disorders, whatever they may be." This is not a foolproof method.
I'm learning more about the holes in my game these days. So look out.
CLE[A]NSED
ATONIES
QUAYL[I]kE
SNORERS
VENTA[I]LS
WEENIER
READ[O]UTS
PaLFREY
RENAILS
Yeah, ATONIES again.
The first rack, the first game, my opponent plays JAWER* for 46, and I have a 94 point double double through and no sevens if I challenge it off. I moaned (really!) and thought for about half a second that perhaps it was new and then said, to myself, "the hell with it" and played the double double. I NEVER know what to do in that situation.
Statistical anomaly: I have gone first once in the last 10 games.
I like this club. Quirky, bright people, good games. There's one person I can have difficulty getting along with, but I'm learning skillz what with the basenjis and positive reinforcement, and I'm hoping to learn patience, at the very least. I do a lot of self-talk when I deal with that person. "It's not who they are; it's their disorders, whatever they may be." This is not a foolproof method.
I'm learning more about the holes in my game these days. So look out.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Full Disclosure: the bingos
It's a rather boring list, with a significantly higher percentage of sevens than usual, and no nines (18 sevens and 12 eights). I suspect that the greater number of sevens is a factor of both the boards and the immersion in the new sevens. I was slightly more wired to look for them this tournament than usual. I had three games with no bingos at all, which seems like a high percentage.
RETASTE
EARBUdS
STRIKES
LINGUAE
[R]UNAGaTE
DISTRuS[T]
OUTLAND
STOrIES
[I]NTERAGE
DENTAl[I]A
AMITIES
PER[I]NEAL
V[E]RBOTEn
ENTERIC
DARIOLE
ENDIVEs
TINWO[R]KS (dbl-dbl)
LAAGERS
THEOR[I]Es
[B]ANNERET
GoaL[L]ESS (trpl-trpl for 113 -- still seems like an almost wasteful use of those lovely tiles)
SURlIER
ALATION
LEVEEIN[G]
VOTIvES
C[O]GNATES
HEEDINg
TONGERS
LUNGYIS
PAINTED
I missed a relatively common bingo at the start of one of my games. Opening rack, and I'm certain -- CERTAIN -- that there is a solution. I'm not going to admit to the word, so don't ask. But my question is... how long do I look for it? I never found it and eventually played something else. When you know -- I don't mean that you suspect, you KNOW -- there's something there, how long do you look? My self-talk went like this: okay, look, if you miss the best play, you have to still make the second best play and do it with purpose. And so I did. And I really sincerely hope that no one saw that rack.
RETASTE
EARBUdS
STRIKES
LINGUAE
[R]UNAGaTE
DISTRuS[T]
OUTLAND
STOrIES
[I]NTERAGE
DENTAl[I]A
AMITIES
PER[I]NEAL
V[E]RBOTEn
ENTERIC
DARIOLE
ENDIVEs
TINWO[R]KS (dbl-dbl)
LAAGERS
THEOR[I]Es
[B]ANNERET
GoaL[L]ESS (trpl-trpl for 113 -- still seems like an almost wasteful use of those lovely tiles)
SURlIER
ALATION
LEVEEIN[G]
VOTIvES
C[O]GNATES
HEEDINg
TONGERS
LUNGYIS
PAINTED
I missed a relatively common bingo at the start of one of my games. Opening rack, and I'm certain -- CERTAIN -- that there is a solution. I'm not going to admit to the word, so don't ask. But my question is... how long do I look for it? I never found it and eventually played something else. When you know -- I don't mean that you suspect, you KNOW -- there's something there, how long do you look? My self-talk went like this: okay, look, if you miss the best play, you have to still make the second best play and do it with purpose. And so I did. And I really sincerely hope that no one saw that rack.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Back in the Saddle
I'm not sure what my expectations were for this tournament. I had nerves galore. People kept saying: "what are you worried about??" Things to worry about included:
1. I had to be really sure of my words. The spidey sense gets lulled when all you play are ISC games. I mischallenged RIsKERS and let TUSKIER# get by me without even a blink. Weirder, in one game I hooked an L onto OCA to make LOCA … and my opponent said a few minutes later: "Oh! I didn't notice you did that!" as though LOCA was no good, and I was rattled enough to think maybe it wasn't! But I looked at her blankly and cheerfully (yes, one can do that), and she muttered at her pen and played one of her three "out of the bag" sevens of the game. Grrr.
I digress.
2. I worried about luck. I draw well, but I know there will be stretches where it doesn't look like it, and so I worried that one of those stretches would be during this tournament. If I look at the "numbers", it looks like I was a little short on the power tiles, but I think that is misleading. In the games where I was outblanked, I drew great bingo racks and was able to stay right in them.
Luck WAS odd in this one. Four of my six losses were blowouts. It's hard to say they were unwinnable: I can point to at least one early error in each game that would have changed the game's flow considerably. So I can't blame tiles.
3. I worried about how I would feel looking over at the division 1 players, and that I would be jealous that John got to play in that division. (I was, a little.)
4. Sleep. Sleep is always an issue for me at tournaments. Ambien knocks me out, no problem, but there is a fuzz factor in the morning. It's tempting to blame my losses on this, since ALL my losses were the first games of the day. But that's not really accurate. Was it a factor? I'm going to compare general performance in the first games against general performance in the later games, but if it's a factor, I suspect it's a minor one. I did, however, take Ambien at 8:30 on Saturday night to try to get it out of my system earlier. I think that helped a little on Sunday.
5. I worried that there would be a kid health crisis. I checked my phone excessively. During the awards ceremony, I noticed that Greg had called and I was terrified for an instant that something had happened. I had to go outside and call him back to make sure things were okay. But I think this was a good way to get back in the tournament saddle. In my heart, I really did know it would be okay to play again. I just had to … do it.
So… I went 12-6 and came in sixth. I particularly enjoyed three of the games: the game with Diana Grosman, which was a quietly excellent game that I barely managed to win by 2; the game with Mike Eldeiry which was a barn-burner from start to finish and just, well, FUN; and the game with Diane Firstman, which I almost didn't get to play. The pairings were weird, and some of us went out in the hallway to "discuss" this with the directors. (For instance, the guy in second place wasn't going to be allowed to play the first place guy.) We and common sense prevailed, and we went to KOH format. Sheesh. In our game, I had an early 120-ish lead, and I kept it… but at the end, with BBIQTTX and two in the bag and a 100 point lead and an open line that I couldn't completely block and bingoey tiles unseen — I had to do some serious thinkin'. (Yeah, that looks like bad rack management, but, um, well, it's not as bad as it looks.)
Games like those make me keep playing.
And the people are the other reason. There was a church service going on in another ballroom (the preacher at one point said something like "you know how babies are really cool when they're newborn and then you don't like them so much when they get older", which baffled me no end, but maybe I missed a theological point). Someone said "we have OUR church" and talked about our dictionary bibles, and we tee-hee-ed. But there is something in that. The Scrabble community is like my tribe. I looked around several times in great (sappy) happiness. The people — my friends — were glad to see me, and I was glad to see them, and there is no substitute for that.
Edited to add: I mean no criticism of the directors re: the last round pairings! The computer was spitting out inexplicable things and they were working hard to make it right.
1. I had to be really sure of my words. The spidey sense gets lulled when all you play are ISC games. I mischallenged RIsKERS and let TUSKIER# get by me without even a blink. Weirder, in one game I hooked an L onto OCA to make LOCA … and my opponent said a few minutes later: "Oh! I didn't notice you did that!" as though LOCA was no good, and I was rattled enough to think maybe it wasn't! But I looked at her blankly and cheerfully (yes, one can do that), and she muttered at her pen and played one of her three "out of the bag" sevens of the game. Grrr.
I digress.
2. I worried about luck. I draw well, but I know there will be stretches where it doesn't look like it, and so I worried that one of those stretches would be during this tournament. If I look at the "numbers", it looks like I was a little short on the power tiles, but I think that is misleading. In the games where I was outblanked, I drew great bingo racks and was able to stay right in them.
Luck WAS odd in this one. Four of my six losses were blowouts. It's hard to say they were unwinnable: I can point to at least one early error in each game that would have changed the game's flow considerably. So I can't blame tiles.
3. I worried about how I would feel looking over at the division 1 players, and that I would be jealous that John got to play in that division. (I was, a little.)
4. Sleep. Sleep is always an issue for me at tournaments. Ambien knocks me out, no problem, but there is a fuzz factor in the morning. It's tempting to blame my losses on this, since ALL my losses were the first games of the day. But that's not really accurate. Was it a factor? I'm going to compare general performance in the first games against general performance in the later games, but if it's a factor, I suspect it's a minor one. I did, however, take Ambien at 8:30 on Saturday night to try to get it out of my system earlier. I think that helped a little on Sunday.
5. I worried that there would be a kid health crisis. I checked my phone excessively. During the awards ceremony, I noticed that Greg had called and I was terrified for an instant that something had happened. I had to go outside and call him back to make sure things were okay. But I think this was a good way to get back in the tournament saddle. In my heart, I really did know it would be okay to play again. I just had to … do it.
So… I went 12-6 and came in sixth. I particularly enjoyed three of the games: the game with Diana Grosman, which was a quietly excellent game that I barely managed to win by 2; the game with Mike Eldeiry which was a barn-burner from start to finish and just, well, FUN; and the game with Diane Firstman, which I almost didn't get to play. The pairings were weird, and some of us went out in the hallway to "discuss" this with the directors. (For instance, the guy in second place wasn't going to be allowed to play the first place guy.) We and common sense prevailed, and we went to KOH format. Sheesh. In our game, I had an early 120-ish lead, and I kept it… but at the end, with BBIQTTX and two in the bag and a 100 point lead and an open line that I couldn't completely block and bingoey tiles unseen — I had to do some serious thinkin'. (Yeah, that looks like bad rack management, but, um, well, it's not as bad as it looks.)
Games like those make me keep playing.
And the people are the other reason. There was a church service going on in another ballroom (the preacher at one point said something like "you know how babies are really cool when they're newborn and then you don't like them so much when they get older", which baffled me no end, but maybe I missed a theological point). Someone said "we have OUR church" and talked about our dictionary bibles, and we tee-hee-ed. But there is something in that. The Scrabble community is like my tribe. I looked around several times in great (sappy) happiness. The people — my friends — were glad to see me, and I was glad to see them, and there is no substitute for that.
Edited to add: I mean no criticism of the directors re: the last round pairings! The computer was spitting out inexplicable things and they were working hard to make it right.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)