Mine, mine, mine. Rating, rating, rating.

A cool word

Once upon a time I was 11-3. Then I lost five in a row and finished 12-8. Sound familiar?

At least I somehow managed to hold on to 4th and recoup most of my entry fee, but it's very frustrating when I'm doing so well and throw it all away at the end for the second straight tournament. Yeah I got bad luck down the stretch but I also didn't play so well either. I'm also upset because I blew my chance at breaking 1900 for the second straight time when all I needed was 2 wins out of 6.

Someone teach me to draw/play better to finish a tournament!

Also, congrats to Carl on an awesome tournament, and to Mike for finishing 3rd.

Went bowling this afternoon and got a 204 followed by a 189. Went to my friend's apartment and hung out and watched a movie. Returned home after 2 AM and opened a letter saying I got some scholarship money for college.

Sweet.

Today was a good day.

BIJOU: A bisexual Joo

What's your play?

Last night started off as another boring night at my fraternity, with our usual lack of people and stupid drinking games. As I have been doing more and more often this summer, I decided not to join the drunken fray, and was talking to my friend Monica when suddenly we heard pounding at the front door. Pretty much everyone was drunk or high except me and Monica, so everyone disappeared upstairs while we hesitantly answered the door for the two police officers.

The following is a rough recreation of the conversation between Monica and the police officers...

(To Monica) "Why were you shooting firecrackers off the porch?"

"That wasn't me, I was inside with to him." (points at me)

"Well you were out here a minute ago right?"

"Yeah, we were out here before, but we weren't shooting firecrackers."

"So you ran inside when you saw us?"

"No, we were inside for five or ten minutes before you arrived."

"I saw you shooting them off from the side of the porch. (points to the side of the couch where Monica HAD indeed been sitting before we went inside) Don't tell me you weren't the one setting them off."

This went on for a while as Monica and I desperately tried to explain that she had been inside the house moments before they knocked on the door, but they seemed convinced that Monica was the culprit, and continued making up facts in an attempt to get her to spill the "truth." All the while, Matt (another guy in the fraternity) and I were trying to figure out who DID shoot off firecrackers from the porch because it seemed like they were going to try to arrest Monica if we didn't find someone else. The police officers made it clear that they had seen a girl on the porch at the time they were shot off, and Monica and I couldn't think of any other girl who had been outside around that time, but since there weren't too many girls over we were able to figure out a likely suspect. Finally after bringing down Joe and Ashley (the actual culprits) who HAD been shooting them off, Monica was let free. After standing by while they chewed out the actual culprits, they threatened to make our house a "problem house" if they ever had to return for any reason.

As a funny side note, Monica and I had been walking around the Greek system throwing "pop-its" at drunk sorority girls earlier in the night, and had even thrown a couple from the porch several minutes before the police knocked on our door. So at first I thought that we were somehow going to be arrested for that.

This just solidified the stereotype that policemen are complete assholes. They were convinced Monica had been shooting off the firecrackers and made up a story in an effort to get her to confess, and they continued making stuff up in order to get Joe and Ashley to admit to everything they did. They also were extremely impolite and snarky, asking them stuff like, "Why didn't you shoot off more? The ones you did shoot were pretty lame..." or "Well if you ran inside you must have known it was wrong."

It the end, they were lucky to just get off with a warning, but as the only non-drunk member in the house, I almost had to be the one responsible for the repercussions issued to the house. Now I know why everyone hates policemen so much...

The alphagram for JIGABOO is almost ABIGJOO!

I don't know how I drew/played badly enough to fall from 17-5 to 19-12.

What a fucking letdown.

12-2 +700ish. Still not playing my best but somehow playing well enough to win most of my games. A couple of my misses in the annotated games were lolable and would not be missed under almost any other circumstances, but I think I played decently for the most part. 

I 
desperately
need
sleep
tonight.

12 hours of sleep the last 3 nights combined has worn me out.

Hope I can keep up the good work!

Well I'm 7-0. Lets hope the run continues tomorrow and that I get some sleep.

Please don't laugh at my annotated games...

I'm the ONLY entrant from Washington this year?

Didn't expect that...

I'm glad that attendance has reached a respectable number... 483 isn't too shabby.

I came across this situation in a recent game against Nigel... what would you do?

www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php

Yes, it's true! Thavachai is NOT the only Thivavarnvongs!

cross-tables.com/results.php

While playing Phoniez on ISC, Kenji mentioned that HOBBLEDEHOY is valid, and this is the conversation that followed:

Me: That's a sick extension
Perl: That's what she said
Kenji: Yeah, 7 to make 12

:)

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my 3rd place finish, and I believe my 13-7 record will give me a new peak rating. Considering that I skipped a day and a half of school to attend, (and I also put off starting a 5 page paper until the day before it's due) I would not have been too pleased if I had another crappy tournament. I definitely made a few bad mistakes in the first 3 or 4 games, but after that the tournament jitters subsided and I think I played some of my best tournament Scrabble ever.

Some highlights included -

Playing the only seven in BIMOUR?
Scoring my all-time tournament high of 633 in round 17 against Marty Gabriel (who took the blowout like a gentleman).
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=3858#0

Staying at my friend Dana's house from my 9 month Israel trip last year.

In addition to having the high game, I also managed to get the "ARDEN" prize for the highest scoring word with the letters ARDEN included by playing UNDERW(A)Y for 96.

Stay tuned for some game by game details... and congrats to everyone who placed in tourneys this weekend!

Having only played one major tournament since Nationals in August, I've decided that I'm going to play a ton of multi-day tourneys between now and the end of summer.

My tournament schedule is as follows:

Oregon Tile
Chicago
Hartford Open
Reno (maybe)
Dayton
Portland (Labor Day weekend)

As a side note, I got 4 consecutive bingoes for the first time at club yesterday, playing (C)LANGERS, FAuVIsT, DOW(D)YISH, and (T)RILBIES.

Two days until Oregon Tile!

Ok, I don't really know if this is a poem, a song, a rap, or a combination of the three. I wrote this poem for English class instead of writing an essay...

Here it is:

Writing for me

 

Why do college students need this type of education,

Writing narratives on literacy and other information?

It’s quite time consuming, writing essays constantly,

When my preferences are blogging, rap, and types of poetry.

Research projects, book reports, they’re just not my cup of tea,

So when I decide to write, I would rather write for me.

Motivation. I have none, when assignments are required,

Sitting in front of my laptop wishing that I was retired.

Not inspired, it takes me many hours to get started,

And the reason I complete work is because my grades are charted.

And it’s not just English, rather it’s the education system,

If I counted pointless classes it would take a year to list ‘em.

Off the top of my head, my most useless class is physics,

I’m not learning much at all ‘cause my ability’s intrinsic.

As for English, I understand the importance of writing,

But learning grammar and conventions isn’t that exciting.

And I simply do not understand why we can’t use contractions,

In my opinion it’s quite fine; it doesn’t cause distractions.

“It is unprofessional” we’re told, but I must disagree,

 So I write the way I do right now so I can write for me.

 

It’s quite time consuming, writing essays constantly,

When my preferences are blogging, rap, and types of poetry.

Research projects, book reports, they’re just not my cup of tea,

So when I decide to write, I would rather write for me.

 

What is my purpose, why am I here?

Learning useless information, driven by fear.

Our authorities and parents say that college is the key,

That you’ll never make it big if you don’t get a degree.

But what about the movie stars, and athletes,

Pop stars, supermodels, they’re not on the streets.

If they’re making that much money, they must have some knowledge,

Even though many of them didn’t go to college.

Learning how to write is like learning how to read,

If you’re forced to do it you will surely not succeed.

Though we plead, we are not heard and still we must suffer,

Doing pointless work, it will only get tougher.

College is for men and women with specific goals,

Those who know their life path without any loopholes.

But I think it’s fair to say, that the vast majority,

Are completely undecided but it’s too late to flee.

They graduate in four years with an art degree,

And they get a random job out of pure necessity.

They dream of the years when their lives were carefree,

When everything they did was treated as exemplary.

And it’s natural to try to prolong my felicity,

Which is why I wrote this rhyme; I wrote it just for me.

 

It’s quite time consuming, writing essays constantly,

When my preferences are blogging, rap, and types of poetry.

Research projects, book reports, they’re just not my cup of tea,

So when I decide to write, I would rather write for me.

 

I have proven I am literate, proven I can write,

But if I have to write a certain way I will surely fight.

It isn’t right, forcing words from my brain that aren’t mine,

Writing on specific topics is simply asinine.

And after some time you will forget what you wrote,

Because you wrote it rather quickly just to keep your grade afloat.

The joy of learning is lost in mainstream classes,

Every day is like a struggle, like wading through molasses.

Junior high leads to high school, and high school to college,

And I’ve reached my capacity for random knowledge.

I’ve figured out my dreams and my aspirations,

And taking college classes doesn’t help my expectations.

Writing shouldn’t be stressful, shouldn’t cause insanity,

So when I decide to write, I decide to write for me.