Skip to main content
You know what happens when you don't practice for a while? You get rusty. Your fingers don't do what your brain tells them to do. Stumble, start, stumble, fumble. Your brain doesn't remember its old tricks quite as well as you'd like.

Then your rating drops about 200 points and people in the rooms with you comment about how much better you used to be. Then you get grumpy and obsessed and play for hours until you remember how to play the stupid game. Then maybe you gain back about 40 of the points.

The thing is… I really am good at this game. Boggle, that is. (I could have been talking about the clarinet, but thank god there's no rating there.) I love playing it, not only because it's fun, but because I am good at it. So I won't stay away quite so long next time. I'd hate to risk mediocrity.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Some of us could never type. We thought the game was the play, the finding of the words, the unique discoveries. Those whose only skill was typing OTTER, COTTER, ROTTER, ROTTE in .37 seconds always kind of amused us with their inflated senses of self worth. We always wondered what would happen once that was gone and those folks were forced to fend with actual brain skills. On equal footing? Your butt is mine.

-- Mr. Shlicker
6:05 PM
listeme said…
Equal footing? We find this concept amusing, ourselves.
6:16 PM
Anonymous said…
heh, sitting on my couch many hours later, I just "saw" the primal humor. Some folks are naturals, ourselves.

--Mr. Shlicker
10:50 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This has been a very long week -- perhaps 16 or 17 days, at least. I have been offered -- and accepted -- my younger sister’s finished basement for the next year and a half. This will be a major cost-saver for me and a big help for her (she has two toddlers and is expecting a baby in August.) So that was a humongous start to the week. My other sister and her teenaged son have had to make some really hard decisions. She gave me permission to quote her: “spent yesterday at the hospital with my son. about eleven hours. sitting here writing and rewriting this entry trying to find just the right words. how to explain-- he is not healthy. he is mentally ill. he is not safe at home. none of this really covers it. so here's one image from the day. we walk into the east wing at maine med escorted by security. the very nice guard LOOKS like a skinhead but actually has incredible kindness and compassion for my snarly boy. he tells us gently that he has to check ian for weapons and sharp o...
3 comments
Read more

Foggy morning

Next to my bed , I keep a pad of paper and pen (and flash cards and water and ear plugs and an alarm clock…). All the writer’s guides suggest this for writing down middle of the night inspirations. This is a fine plan. I’ve had great results. I’ve come up with solutions to difficult plot situations. Names of evil villainesses. Entire worlds. I’ve remembered doctor’s appointments. Occasionally the light of day reveals something less like a solution and more like the mystery of all mankind: “the plumber trumps! Seventeen children, be aware.” But usually the pad of paper holds something… useful. This morning’s result: One word. Mist. Is it a metaphor for my future? A laundry detergent? A new name for Sprite? A weather report? I don’t remember waking. My dreams remain stubbornly opaque. My subconscious mind obviously felt “Mist” to be of enough import to rouse me to reach for the pen. I even capitalized the word. Hmm. I wonder how many seeds of “great Ame...
Post a Comment
Read more
Eighth grade mall dilemma . Say Ashley and Nicole have been best friends since kindergarten, but now, because of a suspicious incident at last week’s dance, Ashley has decided that Nicole is out to Steal Her Boyfriend. So she doesn’t want to hang out with Nicole, of course. Nicole is furious that Ashley has accused her of such a thing. Ashley’s boyfriend isn’t even that cute! So, Nicole doesn’t want to hang out anywhere – I mean ANYWHERE – that Ashley might be. Unfortunately, the mall is still the best place to hang out, and she is not going to stop hanging out there, for god’s sake, not because of that horrible Ashley certainly. But clearly it wouldn’t hurt to try to show up there when she knows Ashley won’t be there, like during Ashley’s bassoon lesson on Thursday night or Sunday morning when Ashley’s family is at church. But there is a problem. If she only goes to the mall at those times, then Ashley will hear about it and know that Nicole is only going during times whe...
4 comments
Read more