June 2007 Archives

It's the day after the tournament and I'm running a 100 degree fever. When I fell better I will post second day analysis.

In the interim, Lila posted some pics from the tournament.

It's the end of day one. My dreams of live blogging have been thwarted by lack of any free wireless networks.

After 7 games my record is 4 wins and 3 losses. Not bad but it could have just as easily been 6 and 1. My last two games were textbook examples of self-destruction.

Game 1 versus Juanita: I found two easy bingos. ATONING and a no blanks PIGLETS. I think that's the second time I've played PIGLETS.

Game 2 versus Aline: I was steamrolled in this one. I never had a chance. She drew the bag on me. Drawing the blank on consecutive turns she bingo-bangoes with NOODLES then WRINGERS. Then she hooked ESQUIRE off my WAUK. The Q hit a double letter and the word hit a triple word, plus being a bingo it all totaled to 140. I started to say hold because I was a little unsure about WAUKS, and with the amount of points at stake, it might have been worth the challenge, even if I was pretty sure about WAUKS being good. But as I said "hold" she had already started drawing tiles. I let it go, but I could tell she was a little shaken up through the rest of the game because she wasn't sure if her bingo was legit. Luckily for her it was, and actually I was glad that the controversy was avoided.

Game 3 versus Broderick. I was holding INTAKES when he set down an open M. I threw down MISTAKEN and never looked back. I later threw down a bingo-bango with TEARING and then SHOALIER. Then the game turned into a cat and mouse game of me not wanting to open any bingo lanes up, while working on my own bingo. I threw away an o holding RETAIN three times, and drew an O each time. Come to find out, I was missing ORIENTAL the whole time.

Game 4 versus Lindsay. I was behind until I found METERING for 72, followed by POUCh for 40 and XI for 41.

game 5 versus Ruth. Ruth was pulling away with SUITERS and ZEATIN on a TWS for 61 and 48 points. I pulled out a 67 point DELUXE. Near the end of the game I drew both blanks at the same time with two bingo lanes. Ruth blocked the wrong one and I put down PAGEANT to pull ahead. She took 11 minutes to try and pull out a win, but didn't have enough.

By this point I'm 4 and 1 and feeling pretty good. But the game with Ruth had taken something out of me. Five straight hours of Scrabble had my head throbbing.

Game 6 versus James: Things are nip and tuck for a while. James draws first blood with NAILSEt. I find SHOJI for 42 to pull close. I get a mingo with REGULATE for 58. I'm up by 56 with only a few tiles left. I get the bright idea to play AVENGES for 26, hanging the A in front of the TWS. Then James violently reminds me that the Z is still out as he throws down WIZ for 78 points. I had forgotten all about ZA! I lose by 21. I tell you now, I won't forget about ZA again.

Game 7 versus Nancy: I needed to get one on Nancy because she was leading the field in my division. We dance around with some small words for a while until I finally get down TROLLER for 64. I follow that up with JOEY for 66. I had it all locked up when I decide that rather than block the last bingo lane, for minimal points, I should go for the gusto by playing RESIDE for 26. Well ROASTED came out for 67 points and I lost the game by four points. All I can say was that I was tired and was ready for the game to be done. I still had 3 minutes where I could have found the best play, but all my ambition had long been drained and I took the lazy way out.

I took my huge headache to the parking garage so I could go to the Garden District hotel to check in, but I found my car wouldn't start due to what appeared to be a battery problem that had never happened before. Since everyone was quickly leaving, I had to leave my car there and catch a ride to my hotel (thanks to Kaye and Maneck). I didn't want to jump my car only to find it needed to be done the next morning and then after the tournament.

After I checked in, I found a nearby bar that served "Vege-burgers", which, along with an Abita Turbodog, hit the spot. But I knew my nerdiness was in a full out heartbreak when I thought to myself "I can't wait to get to my room, take a hot bath, and curl up with a good dictionary".

There's more about the second day to come.

I'm temporarily reviving The Elusive QUETZAL before I play in the New Orleans tournament tomorrow. It's officially called the 6th Annual Cajun Scrabble Fest.

My plan is to bring my laptop and maybe do some live blogging, if, and only if, I have Internet access from the site. I have confirmed that the hotel has Internet access, but that might not help me at the actual site of the tournament.

I haven't been playing much Scrabble against poeple lately, but I do play against my handheld Palm (Niggle) every day. I think that will influence my playing so that I will usually try to play the highest scoring play rather than doing rack management.

I'm seeded near the bottom of my division, so that puts me in a good place to steal some points.

Then again, I see myself less as a Scrabble junkie like I did in previous years and more like a Scrabble groupie.