Scrabble Tourneys, Paratroopers and Ravine Crossings.

Greetings, one and all!

Well, one and most, anyway... one of you deserves a slap rather than a greetings! Whoever was actually praying that my life would get more interesting! Of course, God answered that prayer, but in a way that I absolutely cannot (and will not) talk about. So, yeah, things are interesting right now, but ironically, I can't speak on it!

So, I'll move onto other random odds and ends...

Abbie and Rebekah are trying to talk me into participating in a local Scrabble tourney. I don't know, I'm torn. Tourney rules are different - all my crutches would be removed. You can't consult a dictionary. Your opponent can play fake words, to try and trick you. If you challenge a play and the play is legal, you lose your turn. If you challenge it and it is a fake, then your opponent loses his turn. It's a gamble some will take, since a legit-sounding bingo can yield big rewards if it's unchallenged.

Plus, the rounds are timed, with one of those alternating chess clocks. Each player is allowed 15 total minutes to make all his plays. Every minute you go over the 15 minutes, you lose 10 points off the final score.

So, you need a huge cache of words stored in your brain ahead of time, be able to decide on plays quickly, and have the stones to both play fake words and challenge your opponent. I don't know if I can handle the pressure! But then, there's the fame and glory and money and fans and the key to the city...

Actually, the most compelling reason for me to attempt it would be so I could have something fun to blog about. Who knows, maybe I'll catch someone cheating and cause an uproar again!

Abbie asked recently what ever happened in the aftermath of the "hot dog eating scandal" from last Spring. In a word: nothing. I guess when you have backers in high places, you can get away with blatantly breaking the rules. I thought perhaps rules changes would be in order, but not that I've seen. Kind of a bummer, in a way.



My favorite aspect of that video is when the paratrooper gets close enough to hear the crowd noise. Something amazes me about that video. As straightforward as it is, for some reason I find it incredibly inspiring. Perhaps it is the combination of two things that are so completely American: college football and the military. Love it.

Switching gears, fans of WW2 (such as myself) might be interested in reading a review that Adam Whitehead over on Wertzone posted of a book on the Siege of Stalingrad, by H.E. Salisbury. Sounds like a terrific (though admittedly mammoth) read. HERE is the review.

Also on the topic of WW2, I'm getting the first disc of HBO's series The Pacific from Netflix on Friday. As stunning as Band of Brothers is, I'm really looking forward to seeing The Pacific, especially since it is, in part, based upon one of my favorite books, With the Old Breed, by Eugene Sledge. Once I get through the series, I'll post a review.

Enjoying the nice weather here in sunny SoCal. Sorry, rest of the world. San Diego has its drawbacks too, but one of the benefits is terrific weather year-round.

Gonna hit up the writer's meeting again on Saturday. Squish me luck. I recently sent my Word files for my first book attempt "The Master's Program" to Paula, at her request. So I was reading through them again (after not looking at them for a while), and am sort of seeing them fresh. There's some good stuff in there! There's also things that need to be thought through more and/or re-written completely. *sigh* Wish I could hit my stride on these projects. I don't know how to retroactively apply an outline to my two novel attempts, so I can work through the problems and obstacles better. In both cases, I simple started writing, keeping it all in my head. And in both cases, I've hit obstacles, and I'm at a loss as to how to push through them. I wish I could meet another writer that would say, "Hey, here's what you do. Boom!"

I feel like I've hiked up the edge of a deep ravine, and I can look across and see the other side, where I want to be. But I can't get there. I have to backtrack and find a way down and through. And I don't want to! It was hard hiking to this point! I don't want to undo some of it, and re-write my way through it! Can't I just build a bridge or something? Sheesh!

OK, I'll end tonight with a game, of sorts. Found these two cool videos yesterday, which cycle through a bunch of famous actors and actresses, through the history of cinema. See how many you can identify as they morph by! I got about 85% of the actors, but far less (maybe 50%) of the actresses...





The older actresses I had a hard time identifying.

Anyway, I trust you're all geared up for the weekend. Play nice!

Dave