Words with Friends

It started casually one day when a friend of mine was talking to me and then his phone beeped.  It wasn't a call or a text message, but a notification from Words with Friends telling him that one of his friends had played a word and now it was his turn.

"What's Words with Friends?" I naively asked.

He explained that it is an online game played by folks with iPhones and Android phones.  It's pretty much Scrabble.  You can play against a friend you know or you can let the game pick a random opponent for you.

Hmm, I thought.  This could be interesting.

I downloaded the app to my iphone and he was my first opponent.  It was easy to figure out and fun.

I linked to my Facebook contacts and started playing with a couple of my Facebook friends.

I tried playing against a few random opponents.

Then I went to a family reunion and discovered that several of my cousins also played.  Great!

Finally, I got my husband to play.

Now I have 11 games going at once, down from a high of 20 games at once.  Yes, I still have a life, but Words is slowly taking it over.

One of the features I like best is that you can chat with your opponent as you play.  The interface is something like a text message format, but it functions within the app, so you can share scintillating  thoughts such as, "Wow! Great word!" and  "Gobo?  Really?"  I particularly like using the chat feature for a little intellectual trash talking and intimidation - "Are you ready to give up yet? You can click that 'resign' button at any time and end your suffering."  Or you can start chatting up a new friend that you met through selecting a random opponent, just to distract them (this is really fun with Chess with Friends...LOL).

There is an unofficial fan site that has news, word lists, a score calculator, and a link to the Words with Friends Facebook wall. You can even track your own Words statistics, and sign up for tournament notifications.

As you might expect, there are also apps and websites to help you cheat. You just enter the letters that you have and the app spits out all of the possible words.  You can then enter tile positions, spaces, and linking letters to come up with even more options.  Wow.  But you would never cheat, would you?

So, why am I writing about this?  Because writing is about words, silly.

If you are a Words with Friends player, look me up and start a game with me.  I'm veronicarobbins on Words.

Then, if you really like to play, you can look me up on Hanging with Friends (a version of hangman) and Chess with Friends.

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Slowing Down

"Stop and smell the roses." That's the phrase that comes to mind when I think about people moving so fast that they don't take the time to enjoy life.  It's usually used figuratively when people are so busy that they are rushing through life and not enjoying all the wonderful people and experiences in front of them. Sometimes, though, it takes on a literal meaning.

That's how it is for me right now.  I've been going a mile a minute, rushing to get work done and troubleshooting problems so fast that the days, weeks, and months are just flying by. It's really easy to do, especially when the writing projects in front of me are piling up and I need to move quickly from one to the other.

Then something happened.  Somehow (I still don't know exactly what I did), I injured my knee.  Getting from place to place (even from room to room in my own house) is a challenge.  I can't just hurry around, not noticing what's around me; I'm moving very slowly, assisted by my trusty cane, and I'm noticing everything. Every piece of furniture is a potential obstacle. The two steps on my front porch seem like Mt. Shasta. Decisions about where to go are made based on how difficult it will be to get there, not the purpose for going.

But it's not all bad. I've rediscovered family photographs and knickknacks that I had forgotten were there.  Moving more slowly gives me a chance to enjoy them all over again. The longer time it takes me to walk down the hallway at home gives me more time to chat with my 7 year old, who seems to like the extra time with me as he follows me around the house at my new leisurely pace.

I didn't choose this slowdown, but I'm learning to appreciate it as best I can. Not only am I smelling a few roses, but I'm rediscovering roses that I had forgotten were there.


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Overwhelmed....But It's Still a Wonderful World

I'll admit it.  I'm completely overwhelmed. I have a huge workload right now and I have been distracted by everything you can imagine, from family issues to finances. From underneath the mountain of obligations, frustrations, and challenges, it's easy to forget what a wonderful life I have and what an amazing world this is. So, here's a little reminder from Louis Armstrong himself.





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