Scrabbling

There's a great print ad for scrabble that we used to have pinned up on the fridge.  It's a couple at opposite ends of the couch, glaring at each other, with "D-R-A-M-A-Q-U-E-E-N" above the guy and "J-A-C-K-A-S-S" above the girl in scrabble letters. 

K and I related to it thanks to a nasty incident involving the legitimacy of the word "quin".  We haven't really played since.  And we have the schmicko scrabble board and everything (the one with the turntable and the lovely wooden pieces).  In fact, it's hard for us to play any board games together as invariably she gets bored and I get competitive and it tends to end in words that are really better off left unsaid.  Even card games we have problems with, it's crazy.  I mean, really, how can you get grumpy playing Uno?

But my family are big scrabble players, with my parents usually having at least one game in progress at any given time, and there have recently been ructions since my youngest sister scored a memorable one-point win over my mother. 

Now my mother, belying the fact that she's playing in her second language, is a monster player.  Ruthless, competitive, knowledgeable.  Completely heartless too.  She'll block triple word scores if she can't see an opportunity to play it herself.  And she gave me a right spanking when we last played, beating me by over a hundred points easily.  So the ranking has been her, dad, me and then my sister S (my other sister J doesn't really play, giving her a heretofore unrealised wisdom I now envy).  So, having beaten my father as well, S has now moved to the top of the rankings leaving me in last, lonely place.

Now I kinda pride myself on being the smart one in the family, good marks at school and uni, classical piano training, and a really annoying ability to sound like I know what I'm talking about knowing only a few facts and working the rest out as I go.  Can't tell you how many times that particular ability has saved me in last-minute work meetings.  And these recent developments now have me buying the paper most days to work on those word target/focus puzzles you get next to the comics section, and then comparing how I went by looking at the solution the next day.  This is because I am stupid.  Not to mention ever so slightly obsessive when the mood takes me.

A good friend of mine, Rebecca, who recently moved into the neighbourhood from Sydney, has of this morning agreed to play the occasional game with me.  She's aware of what's been going on so what can I say, she's either incredibly kind or she's hiding some monster scrabble skills of her own.  That last part is the poker player in me talking, trying to pick the bluff.  First game is on this Friday, will see how it goes. 

In other news, I hoping to go to the apology tomorrow with the boy, so assuming I manage to get a parking spot somewhere in time to walk up to the House I should be posting some photos tomorrow afternoon.  Should be a great time.