Jabberwocky

Playing Scrabble with a quartet of fourth graders is guaranteed to bring out some amusing results, for both them and me. They play in pairs, which produces a lot of opportunities to discuss and then giggle at funny racks. For example, when one boy suggested to his teammate that they play the word DATE, they laughed and tried to contain themselves… “Gross!” (two years from now the same word will give them serious hallway cred). Of course, I pointed out that they see it every day on the calendar and that it’s also a type of fruit. “No, he meant the other kind!” declared one of them. As I often do in this situation, I told them to “Grow up”, to which the kid, lacking in listening skills to the nth degree, replied “Yeah! I could throw up!”.

What I didn’t tell them is that at NASPA Club #422, we’re hardly any more mature. Certainly, when 24 of us get together there is bound to be some hijinks. The arrival of Shaun Goatcher, in anticipation of Saturday’s Cambridge tournament, made us even for the night.

Congratulations to our 3-game winners… all zero of you! That’s right. I like the fact that we can all keep each other in check. Frankly, I’d rather never record three wins in a single night if it meant I never had to see any of you succeed either. Sacrificiency*. We are the chump-peons, my fiends. So, given the tight streakonomy, rating points are hard to come by. John David was the top gainer increasing his rating by 18.

And a shoutout* to VIJAY for putting up another personal high loss this season, a 458-point rejection. That’s like missing a free throw at the end of the fourth quarter that costs your team the game (basketball reference for Goatcher’s benefit). Nugget of wisdom: RAPTORS can be anagrammed to PARROTS.

Good luck to our ‘bridge players.