Last weekend I set out on a new adventure -- tournament Scrabble! And, like my trips to the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournaments, it was Judy who was the instigator. Who'd ever think she'd be such a rabble-rouser! I flew out to Buffalo on Thursday and met up with Judy and Tom, in whose lovely old Victorian house we stayed. The weather couldn't have been more marvelous, that sunny spring coolness that is so refreshing. It was fun looking for Tom's house -- "It's the one with the turret." Who hasn't fantasized about having a house with a turret!
The Buffalo Hardscrabble Tournament was held in the aptly named Fountain Room of the Adam's Mark Hotel in downtown Buffalo near the waterfront. The heavy offshore breeze carried lots of mist which barely succeeded in dispersing the smoke clouds emitted by the many obsessive smoking Scrabble players. Meanwhile, inside the Fountain Room, the Scrabble games ran from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. The games are timed: each player has 25 minutes in which to complete all of her moves. One's concentration is so focused during a game that unless something exploded nearby, it would hardly matter if you were in the Fountain Room or the basement! After a warm-up tournament on Friday, we commenced the main tournament on Saturday. There were three divisions in the main tournament, and of course as a newbie I started out at the bottom of the 30 entrants in Division 3. When all 86 Scrabblers were engaged at 43 Scrabble Boards, the room hummed and hissed. The hissing noise, which sounded like air escaping a leaking tire, was the shushing noise of the Scrabblers trying to quiet the chatters. Personally, I preferred the chatting sounds!
Scrabble tournaments and rankings are very computerized. Everyone has a ranking that is computed based on how highly ranked their victims and conquerors are. These are maintained in a very current state on the
Crosstables site. The tournament nerve center was run by Tournament Director Ember and her Canadian computer guru.
Meeting people is a fun part. I played four games with Maggie, on the right in this picture. I'd met my best match, as Maggie won 2 games, I won 2 games. The most games I played with anyone else was 2. Second from the right is Olivia, another newbie who acquitted herself well, and next to her is Dianne, who cleaned my clock and won the Division. In my defense, I do have to say I beat Susan, who finished in second place.
In the end, I won 8 games and lost 6, to finish 13th of 30, which felt pretty respectable. Judy came in 5th, winning some cash. Sounds even better when you realize she barely nosed out the youngest contestant, 8-year-old Matthew! He was quite a little corker, shown here as he and Judy receive their awards.
Well, would I do it again? Should I launch yet another obsession, to join my dog, my crosswords, my Italian? Maybe... I'm planning to start out by playing some gamesat the local Scrabble Club here in La Jolla.
Sunday morning, as Daisy and I made the 50-minute drive up to Valley Center for our sheep herding lesson, I meditated a bit on why we do this. Neither of us is greatly talented at this quite specialized activity. Truth be told, I am the less talented. The sheep usually get the better of me at least once, usually a walking-backward, stepping-in-a-hole fall or a good bump from the horned head of Smiley, the most experienced of the school sheep. While it's clear Daisy and I will never win a ribbon at a sheepdog trial, we don't need that kind of success to find a lot of pleasure in getting out into the country and spending a few hours with animals and each other.
This picture was taken in the small ring, where we worked the first few times. We've since moved up to the big arena -- woo hoo! I seem to have lots of pictures, but few of me, unsurprisingly since I'm the photographer. A video of us working in the small ring induces vertigo! The challenge this week was dealing with foxtails, those awful little cheatgrass seedpods that stick to fur and work their way unidirectionally into the skin, nose, ears or eyes of a dog.
Tikkle, the young dog of our teacher Anna, survived a horrible experience that began with foxtails up her nose. These little bits of vegetation look like poison darts to us. I brushed Daisy off before heading home, but when we sat on the kitchen floor and I combed her thoroughly, another fifty came out! And I can hardly wait to get back next week.
