From the Wikipedia article on Aleister Crowley:

"But I had hardly entered the room where the masters were playing when I was seized with what may justly be described as a mystical experience. I seemed to be looking on at the tournament from outside myself. I saw the masters — one, shabby, snuffy and blear-eyed; another, in badly fitting would-be respectable shoddy; a third, a mere parody of humanity, and so on for the rest. These were the people to whose ranks I was seeking admission. "There, but for the grace of God, goes Aleister Crowley", I exclaimed to myself with disgust, and there and then I registered a vow never to play another serious game of chess. I perceived with preternatural lucidity that I had not alighted on this planet with the object of playing chess."

I felt exactly like this when I went to the after hours room in Dayton ... but I kept going. :)

I was just looking at my last ISC game on Examiner.  The opponent had this rack and missed a bingo for 140 points, and it wasn't a triple triple.

AACHOZ?

Hint: it wasn't GAZPACHO.

Okay I am being melodramitic again, but I lost my anagramming ability today - I don't know how it happened. I can see SYRINGE in my sleep when I am on, but not today! Could it be sneaking chin-up sets all day at the hotel gym? They have this workout station that has several twisted bars at top - every angle you could imagine for chin-ups. When my hands are parallel I can do more chin-ups then with a flat bar! I snuck in 4 sets between rounds, and maybe the blood is going to my muscles and not my brain or something. I also walked to the Hannaford (it is up there with Price Chopper) twice today, maybe the walking is also putting the much needed O2 blood in the wrong spot? Any how, this CT couple plays Go and they want to teach me! Maybe I need a new game? A game that doesn't require memorizing words to play? Words that come from a dictionary that nobody uses but us, and we only use it for this game?

Okay, enough, 10 games start tomorrow and it is rated as a separate tourney.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/christie.asp

Did the NBA's Doug Christie nearly choke to death when his wife refused to allow a female doctor to assist him?

Good things are happening everywhere. It's amazing how suddenly things can turn around and start building positive momentum. Happy Independence Day, everyone!

Edit: Just after I posted this Rasner worked out of a bases loaded jam in the first inning without allowing a run. Life is good.

I went 1-2, exactly how I should have performed (.08 rating point loss) because I have been playing top seeds so far. I am thrilled, because the first evening of a tourney I usually tank.

Speaking of tanks, my first game and loss was to Sherman Larry. It was close at the end, and I could have gone for a 9 point loss and tried a recount (my adding skills were feeling on and we checked the score a few times) so instead I hoped that ORIBI didn't take an S, even though I was sure it did, and it did. However, earlier in the game I missed NEOTENI(C) showing it had been too long since I reviewed that set of 8s! CEEINNOT was one that always gave me trouble.

Next up was Sam K. Second to last play of the game I missed EpIMYSI(A) - that does look familiar and if somebody played it I would not have challenged. The bag was looking ugly at the time, and his ADEIIRU would have been a losing endgame rack except there was an open N and UREDI(N)IA won it for him. I picked up the second blank, and my final rack was CCIIS?? - I looked for SCIATIC related words, but no bingos existed on that board and I lost.

Last game of the night I got my 1 needed win in vs Randy G-span. I got a 100 point lead early, but a bingo and then a monster play by him caught him up. The preendgame board became very tight, and the Q was unseen - I had I and U on my rack, and while QI and QU words were not open, there was a P where I could slip QUIP in, assuming the P stayed open - no hot spots were there and I hope it stayed open. He ended up taking a small lead, then pulling the Q. I only won by 5 with that Q stick because I went over on my clock, having to find ways to prevent his Q set-up plays because he had U and EE to also play with on his rack..

So yesterday they let us out of work early for the holiday weekend, and I had just enough time to sneak a short movie in - I really wanted to see Wall-e but it started a 1/2 hour too late - but Hancock started just in time, as in I saw it, drove to Albany, and had 15 mins to spare before the tourney started. At first it looks like Hancock was going to be a 1.5 hour long joke based upon the trailer, but then a plot change (there wasn't much of one) that pleasantly surprised me. While the movie nothing but special effects and Will being a comedian, I am glad I went.

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2008/07/04.html

dapple: a small contrasting blotch; also, to mark with spots.

wed. club:

1) vs elizabeth r., ARTSIER PATRONS ANTEVERT / GEnOISE, W 503-368
got away with TONDU* this game. i coulda sworn it was good. i was actually proud of it, because it cleaned up my rack, scored, and kept a good leave, and it's no good! it's TENDU.

2) vs judy l, uNSTATED REGRINDS / PECHANS IGNiTED, W 410-402

3) vs ira c, aNURIAS / none, W 359-355
a low scoring game. ira made a rare endgame error which cost him the game -- he only had about 30 seconds, but he said that wasn't an excuse.

4) vs maddy k, TEOSINTE UNHaIRY* BUOYAGES ANTIARS CHALKIER / NEONaTE, W 559-303
can you say lucky? after an initial exchange, 4 bingos in a row. too bad one was phony. it sounded good to both of us.


----

in other news -- join james's natls roto!

http://community.livejournal.com/orlandoroto/

 This is the last (I mean it this time) of the true antelopes that are OWL2 acceptable.  (They were new in OWL2.)

This is the CHIRU, another endangered Tibetan antelope like the GOA.



The issue with these Tibetan antelopes is their fur, which is finer and softer than cashmere, and is almost worth it's weight in gold. The only problem is that you can't shear them for their wool like goats or sheep, you have to kill them, then remove the wool from the hides. 

SOWPODS only (in white) The wool is known as SHAHTOOSH.

Brought to you by the SF Scrabble Slakcerz

 Yes, you all have a temporary reprieve. (I repeat ... temporary.) Figured I'd catch up on a few other things.



2. I did that session where I acted as a mentor to a young playwright. She's eleven years old and wrote a sweet little fairy tale. I gave her a few suggestions -- mostly things to think about -- and she responded quite well and did some rewrites. It was very rewarding and right up my alley.

3. Despite the spread at Ira's tournament, I passed the 35 pound mark in weight loss this week. I would have passed it a few weeks ago, but I did some backsliding in the interim. Not much, just a little.

4. 

Here ya go.



Earthless - Sonic Prayer

01. Flower Travellin' Man - 20:46
02. Lost In The Cloud Sun - 20:59

This is less an album of songs than a couple of longass rock-yer-balls-out freeform jam sessions. Flower Travellin' Man is nonstop high energy from the getgo... Lost In The Cloud Sun is much more textured and has more of a Zeppelin vibe.

Again, password if needed is lovebunny.
And if you can't stomach rapidshare, talk to me about it and I'll get it to you another way.

Thanks!

LIKUTA = a monetary unit of Zaire
MAKUTA = the plural of LIKUTA

No hooks for either one.

For must of us, doing our best work to help our employer prosper is an important part of our mission as a worker.

But what if you work for a tobacco company? Doing a good job means that more cancer causing products will be sold, and the evil corporation will have even more money to spend on expanding their reach.

So I think I know what my destiny is; get hired by a tobacco company, and do the worst job possible without getting fired. Productive employees do not belong at tobacco companies, they belong at companies that make the world a better place! I could displace a truly productive worker, and then cause evil tobbacco money to be wasted on by playing around on the Internet most of the day, while I find ways to create projects that will cost the company money without adding value. I could be a manager of IT there, and hire my Scrabble friends to be computer programmers (they wouldn't need to know how to program); we will always have an excuse why the IT projects will have to be cancelled (cause we are on the ISC all day.)

But there are no tobacco companies nearby, so maybe I need to work for a softdrink company. Those evil entities are spreading obesity with their corn-syrup teeth rotting products, thereby adding a negative value to society. We would be better off paying these companies not to produce soda - if soda dissappeared overnight, society would be a much better place.

However, we should not get hired to sabatoge the efforts of beer companies, because beer is food, and hops contains antioxidants. Beer is important, because if society collapsed fresh water would be hard to come by; beer is always safe because the alchohol kills the little germies. Think Dos Equis, made in Mexico!

Paths of Glory is now available on Instant Viewing.





Your welcome in advance.

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2008/07/03.html

tutelage: guardianship; protection; also, instruction.

No, not Age/Sex/Location. I was at a sports function tonight here in Kelowna, and two pals of mine (brothers) brought their stepbrother along. I was surprised to learn that my pals know ASL (American Sign Language), as their stepbrother is deaf. I've been aware of the existence of ASL, but I've never really seen it demonstrated. I think it's SO cool! After coming home from the function, I was inspired to learn how to sign "My name is Jesse". I think I've got it off by heart now!

Are there any LJers going to Orlando that know sign, or know people going to Orlando that know sign? I would love to learn a little to surprise my pals. Man, I love languages; I wish it were actually possible to learn them all! That obviously will never happen, but I hope to learn some along the way...

P.S. The $40 charge from OT was resolved, so all good there now.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/lockcode.asp

Warning claims thieves armed with "code grabbers" gain access to vehicles by recording signals sent by remote keyless entry devices.

 A very common Scrabble word, but a rare antelope, the GOA.



Brought to you by the SF Scrabble Slakcerz.

 

• the Galatea website at http://adrianlee.com/galatea/index.htm.
  
  
• the Fringe Festival website at http://fringenyc.org/.

I don't know if I'll have enough time to get to all of them...I probably wont...but whatever.

Criteria: All sevens and eights beginning with A, with associated anagrams where applicable; Anagram Quiz mode with five second timer.

Results: 3275/3755 (87.2%)

If you're in the stands of a major sporting events waving a broom, I don't care who you root for, you're an idiot.

No matter how much you like that Canadian power trio, you need to play RHAMNUS instead. RHAM is a high school in CT, think of RHAMNUS as alumnus from RHAM! Yea, I am finding more and more phoney bingos every day on JT/Aerolith. AABILLR looks like AIRBALL*, but it is BARILLA instead! HAIRBALL is good on the other hand. BEHIOTW is trickier than I think it should be... of course HOWBEIT. But I guarantee many won't be looking for a bingo with that rack. The bingo pair with CEINOPRT is trickier than it looks... ENTROPIC and INCEPTOR easy to miss if you don't go over the alphagram. That wasn't a JT/Aerolith, that was an ISC miss where I played CONTRI(T)E instead.

Tomorrow starts Albany, with 20 games of div 1! I need to win half of my games, just gotta stay focused and rested. I am declining the early birds, my full attention is on those 20 games!

I will be going without formal yoga for several days... it is funny last year I didn't do any yoga, and now if I go without a few days I feel guilty!

Here is yesterday's and then today's classes:
I tried the yoga class that Tolarjev has been recommending for months( Read more... )