Words With Strangers

 "If you're going to play at all, you're out to win.  Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy.  I hate to lose." - Derek Jeter

I don't like to lose at the big things but it doesn't much matter to me if I lose at a game of cards or a board game.  And I don't play Words With Friends because I'm out to win.  I actually enjoy playing a lot more against someone who can give me some competition.  It isn't as much fun to play against a weak opponent.  For one thing, I don't learn much from those games.  When I'm playing against a strong opponent, I learn new words.  I like words so that is a big bonus for me.

Unfortunately, there is a big time shift with most of the friends I play with.  Four of my five friends live in England.  When I feel like playing a game late in the evening while I watch TV, they are asleep.  So when I get the late night yen for a game, I elect the Smart Match option and the game automatically finds me a stranger to play with.  Most of the time, it's fun.  I've played with people all over the U.S. and the odd time from the U.K.  There is a chat feature on our games and usually at some point when one or the other of us has made a good play or is struggling, we will start to chat.  The comments usually don't go much beyond congratuations for a nice play or a groan about having consistently bad letters.  Sometimes we will exchange first names and locations in the world.  At the holidays, we exchanged Christmas and New Year's greetings.  

Sometimes I play two or three games against the same player.  Unfortunately, we're rarely evenly matched.  I'm a pretty good player and I think it discourages some people to continue after two or three consecutive losses.  If I lose, I usually invite my opponent to play again.  About a week ago, I found myself playing in a Smart Match against an opponent in Florida named Bonnie.  We played a couple of games and engaged in some innocuous chat.  I learned that Bonnie was originally from Ohio and had retired to Florida to escape the harsh winter.  Bonnie isn't a terrific player but she could play a decent game.  I enjoyed playing with her.  I was a little taken back when she asked me if I was cheating.  She was having a bad game - it happens to all of us.  After all, much of success in the game is about being lucky in drawing good tiles.  She wasn't experiencing luck in the draw.  I was.  If there is a way to cheat at Words With Friends, I don't know what it is.  I assured Bonnie that I was not cheating.  The next time I played a high scoring word, she resigned the game.  

Last night Smart Match paired me with a chatty opponent.  With the first move he asked my gender.  With the second, my age.  I assured him I am old enough to be his mother.  Then he asked for my picture.  From a bit of sleuthing on his screen name, I soon realized he was playing from an Oklahoma prison.  I think he was looking for a fantasy.  I was just looking for a good game.  He didn't play any words longer than three letters.  I was uncomfortable and so I resigned the game.  My next opponent started complaining about half way through the game that he (or she) just wasn't getting decent letters and would probably delete the game from his play history.  I didn't even know you could do that or why you would want to.  I was playing well.  He was playing adequately but was significantly behind. By the time the letters bag was almost empty, he commented that as a birthday gift to him, I should resign the game.  By the rules of Words With Friends, if you resign a game during play, you automatically lose.  I played my next word and commented that I'm sure he would have better luck next time.  He replied by calling me a word that sent me to the Urban Dictionary for a translation.  It was disgusting.  He stopped playing but still hasn't resigned.  I guess he's trying to wait me out.  He'll be waiting forever.  I don't care about taking the loss but I do care about standing up to a bully - even one whose identity I will never know.  I looked for a mechanism in the game to report him to Words With Friends but I didn't find one.

Today I'm playing against a new opponent.  I don't know if it is a man or a woman or where in the world he or she is located.  I do know that we are pretty evenly matched.  He or she led for most of the game.  We are close to the end now and I've taken the lead.  In the end, it doesn't much matter to me.  I've learned some new words.  It's been fun. 

And Then...

David dropped my Blackberry off mid-morning.  As the battery was low, I plugged it in to recharge.  It froze.  I took out the battery.  Nothing.  I turned it on and off.  Nothing.  An hour later, my friend Maurice stopped by.  I used his phone to call Bell about our land line.  They won't get a technician here until late tomorrow. Maurice is a techie but despite his best efforts, he couldn't get my Blackberry unstuck.  After several attempts, he called Rogers.  The news wasn't good.  My device had been corrupted.  Maurice had to reinstall all the software.  I lost everything on my device - all my pictures, call history, contact list, BBMs and texts.  I had some of it, though not as much as I should have, backed up.  Jacob will have a lot of work to do to try to get me back in working order.  Good thing I paid those five years of tuition for him to get a degree in computer engineering. 

Repairs

"If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine." - Morris West 

Seems like every time I turn around these days, something breaks.  Last week, it was the furnace.  We were without heat for about thirty hours during a bitter cold snap.  Even with a couple of space heaters running, two sweaters, heavy socks and a scarf wound around my neck, I was freezing.  The house got so cold that my warm breath continually fogged up my glasses.  

The furnace repairman came early in the morning following an early evening call the day before.  I was happy because I had assumed fixing the furnace would be a short job and I would still be able to make it to the lunch meeting I had scheduled.  It turned out that the repair was simple but the part had to be ordered and once delivered, a new appointment to have it installed needed to be scheduled.  I didn't make it to my meeting.  The furnace was finally repaired after 5 P.M.  I waited all day, unable to leave until everyone had done their part.  Of course, no one would give me a time.  I didn't know if the part would even arrive that day or the next.

For my birthday last year, Cath and Nan bought me a Nespresso coffeemaker.  Each morning I enjoy a delicious latte.  It is a small pleasure that starts my day off on the right foot.  Monday it stopped working.  It is an expensive machine, a luxury I would never have indulged in for myself.  I will figure out whatever machinations I must go through to have it repaired.  But I'm disappointed.  The machine has been treated gently.  How could it possibly be broken already?

Yesterday I travelled to Owen Sound with my friend David for a client meeting.  It was a long day and a long drive.  Our meetings were good and I was glad we made the trip.  Coming home, we ran into heavy snow.  The drive was slow and my back was aching when we got home around 8 P.M.  A couple of hours later, I realized that I had left my phone in David's car.  I picked up the land line phone to call him only to learn we had no service in the house.  I have no idea why.  I used Jacob's phone to call Bell only to hear an automated message telling me that I could set up a service appointment in a window between 8 A.M. and noon this morning, but only if I could provide them with a phone number where the Bell repairman could reach me before he comes.  There is something crazy about the logic there.  My phone isn't working and I can't have it repaired unless the phone company can call me. 

David and I communicated through e-mail late last night.  He will drop my phone off this morning.  I'm still waiting so I can call Bell and start the waiting game again.