He's an NU Alum, too!

I thought since I enjoyed Scrabble so much I'd read up on the inside story, how it really goes down in the competitive Scrabble world.  What I soon realized is how much I do NOT aspire to be a Scrabble competitor. 

Here's a short excerpt from the book:
"...For now, though, I understand only that while definitions can be interesting, they're not necessary.  It's just about impossible to play high-level (or even low-level) competitive Scrabble if you're hung up on the games' use of odd words.  The two most common refrains of living room players are the incredulous 'That's a word?' and the indignant 'That can't be a word!'...To play competitive Scrabble, one has to get over the conceit of refusing to acknowledge certain words as real and accept that the game requires learning words that may not have any outside utility...No, Scrabble isn't about words.  It's about mastering the rules of the game, and the words are the rules."

The book goes on to tirelessly delineate how this guy goes and learns about and gets a hold of all these lists.  Lists of all 2 and 3 letter words, words with more than 70% vowels, eight letter words containing five vowels, words of fewer than seven letters containing J, Q, X, or Z, seven letter words arranged according to the most probable six-letter combinations plus a seventh letter, four letter words made from three-letter ones, every three-, four-, five-, six-, seven- and eight-letter word arranged alphabetically by alphagram.  Just tons of LISTS of all these words that no one ever uses, even the most erudite of all.  Just tons of lists with no definitions.  Just mere combinations of acceptable letter configurations.  They might as well be numbers or shapes or whatever else you want it to be.  The author makes the point that it really is just about learning what everyone finds acceptable according to the Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary, and using that to make the best play.  To learn the rules, and play by the rules.

I got to thinking that maybe this applies to more than just Scrabble.  Let's think big and let's say...oh, I dunno, it applies to LIFE.  Yeah, doesn't it seem like we're just learning what's acceptable and what's deemed praiseworthy and we're just all trying to see how we can "further" ourselves in this world we're living in right now?  There was a time in my recent past where I analyzed everything and thought that I really had figured it all out.  That yes, life throws you some ups and downs, but you yourself could control it in a reasonable manner if you really were aware of what was going on, of how things work in this world.  After that, it seemed so simple...yet so unattainable.  Happiness, what we all in some way seek, was not coming to me so easily.  It seemed that a lot of things really had no purpose.  I could act a certain way, do certain things, fake myself into believing certain things, but after it all it somewhat seemed purposeless.  I couldn't win even if I did win.  It's like this guy in this book, Joe Edley, who followed some weird New Age philosophy and asked himself, "What beliefs do I have?  What are my attitudes?  What kind of reality do I want to create?"  What kind of reality do I want to create?  Wow, I think in some sort of way I really believed that this is how it was, too, that you really could just create whatever kind of reality you wanted.  It didn't seem that hard.  You just had to learn the rules, play the role, play the game.  Well, this guy Joe Edley decided that the Scrabble world and winning Nationals was the reality he wanted to create.  After years of memorizing lists and playing thousands of games and barely losing tournaments, he went on to win the 1980 National Scrabble Championships.  This is what he said upon winning: "I felt I hadn't done anything.  I felt it was fated to happen for two years prior.  I was just doing whatever the universe told me to do."  What kind of satisfaction is that?  He worked for years and years trying to get to that point, and when he finally did, that's all he had to say?  Is this what's going to happen to the rest of us?  The reality I want to create is this: get my PhD, get a job, get married, buy a nice house, live a nice suburban life, raise a nice family, travel the world, help some people out, give generously, etc.  I sure hope this reality that I'm wanting to create isn't just something the "universe told me to do."  How freaking sad would it be to get to the end of it and find out that all of this was pointless.  There's no deeper meaning, there's just happiness and joy that I conjured up myself.  How utterly sad.  I sure hope that these Scrabble players find more meaning than memorizing lists and lists of words that have no utility.  (I still love the game, though, and the book is fascinating!  haha).  My conclusion: There's gotta more to life than this.

Wow this is crazy:

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2722404

WWII Propaganda cartoon by Jack King. Banned, 1943.

Salvaged from poor quality copies and digitally restored for Historical and Educational purposes by Most Offensive Video.

From the book I'm reading:

"This is my favorite anagram of all," Eric says, and he makes me write this down in my notebook
11 + 2 = 12 + 1.

Then he instructs me to spell it out: ELEVEN + TWO = TWELVE + ONE

"God put that there," Eric says.  "There is no other explanation."

...I wonder if He did...

Today I made Orange Chicken Stir Fry!  Yum!  Here it is:

It was way yummy and I even have some leftover for lunch tomorrow.  That is, if I'm still feeling okay.  I marinated the chicken in the sauce - ginger, orange peel, orange juice, ginger, sherry, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch - then cooked the chicken and added the vegetables.  Well, I then added the sauce but forgot that I had the chicken in it and now I don't know if I cooked it for long enough after.  Eek!  So I ate it all not thinking about it until now.  I got kind of worried so I looked up salmonella and saw that it wouldn't show up until about 8 hours after the food is ingested.  Oh boy.  Me being the smart one I am figure that maybe I can kill the bacteria now by drinking some alcohol.  So now I'm chillin here drinking a Newcastle by myself watching "The Colbert Report" and waiting for "Lost" to come on.  Isn't this really good logic?!?!  Jon Serv. actually suggested having a shot of Dani's very fine four-month-old plastic $5.99 bottle of Volshmidt vodka - yeah, the one that tastes like lamp fuel, according to Jon.  By the way, our prospective party was one sweet party!  Our neighbors are absolutely "hilarious" (euphemism for completely insane in the membrane).  I'm feeling okay for the time being, so my conclusion is that Newcastle is effective in fighting salmonella bacteria.

*Yes, I'm reading this book about the wonderful game of Scrabble.  I started reading it at B&N and I was instantly hooked so I bought it!

When I was at home I heard on 95.9theFISH how people spend on average some 3.5 hours on the cell phone making calls or texting.  They said this replaces actual face-to-face human interaction.  So true!  People make much more "grooming" calls as they put it.  These are calls which are not important really, and in fact, not much is said at all, except for "Hi, just checking if you're doing okay" kind of thing.  While calls and texts are a good way to keep in touch with friends you normally wouldn't keep in touch with, these should not replace real life interaction.  So instead of texting each other so much, you should actually be spending time with that person, since in person you actually get to see their emotions and feel what they're saying more.  There's more of a connection.  Too bad I can't actually see all my friends at home in person, but I guess I can spend time with my friends here.  Everyone's so busy, though.  I don't know what they heck they are doing, if they are actually doing lab work or just sitting at their computers in their offices, too, wondering what everyone else is doing and not bothering to call them to see if they're busy.  Oh, but of course you have to create an illusion of busyness since we are technically supposed to be full-time employees of the university.

...never a bride.

Ever worry about that?  Well, I say this, because I'm a bridesmaid AGAIN!  Yipeee.  Exciting!  HOWEVER, it is my 3rd? time being a bridesmaid and ALL my friends (except one) are still unmarried.  But I guess that's normal being the younger one of the family.

Kiwi cupcakes.

KINGSTON MINES - awesome BLUES in the lovely land of CHI-cAgO.

So freakin awesome!

PANCAKES

Kiwi cupcakes.

Everytime I read my Xanga subscriptions I start missing home.  I miss California and Irvine and the Edge and deep conversations with people I've actually known for more than 5 months and wearing flip flops and being tan and not having my cheeks hurt when I walk outside and playing with Mochi and seeing my brothers and parents and going to all those familiar restaurants and knowing where exactly to go to get good Chinese, Japanese, Korean, burgers, Mexican, Vietnamese, etc. food.  I miss driving!  I miss driving down Culver and the 5 and 405 singing along with my music but of course with the windows rolled up so no one can hear me.  I miss the Spectrum and seeing everyone and their moms there, literally.  I miss eating out in general.  I miss the beach and playing tennis and going to the pool at Harvard Court.  I miss calling up friends and having them show up at your door step within 10 minutes.  I miss getting tea at Cha and Lollicup.  I miss all those freaking asians at UCI.  haha.  I miss a lot more...but what I'm trying to say...is that it's hard starting over!

My brother is engaged!  So Tim told me that he told Titus he was getting married, and after that Titus went to my dad crying.  But then Tim told Titus that he could live with him and Stacie, and then it was okay.  They are 'broders' forever.  hehe.  That's so cute.  I miss Titus! 

Can't wait to go home, but I know it'll be too short.