my own worst enemy

Take Two

Monday, November 12, 2007

Pangle introduced me to a sweet new game a while back called Take Two. Admittedly, Matty GP introduced her to it -- it was a game he and his 12 siblings played as kids. It cheap, easy to learn, and addicting as hell. Here's how you play:

What you need:

A set of Scrabble tiles (just the tiles, no board)
A flat playing surface, preferably a large table

How to play:

Start by laying all the tiles face down in the middle of the playing surface. Mix up the letters. Each player selects 7 tiles and places them face-down in the palm of their hand (don't look!). When each player has their tiles in hand, someone says "Go!" and everyone flips their hand over onto the table so the tiles are now face up.


The object is to form a crossword using all of your letters -- i.e., imagine you are playing Scrabble by yourself, positioning word after word, only you have to use all seven letters. All standard Scrabble rules apply. House rules generally dictate that the "Q" tile counts as "Qu" for the sake of player sanity, and the well-being of the player who gets all the "U" tiles.

The first person to use all seven letters yells "Take Two!" Every player then takes two more tiles, regardless of whether or not they finished using the first seven.


Now each player must use all nine tiles to form a new crossword. Players can build off the crossword they already built or rearrange any or all of the tiles to make a new one.


The first player to use all their tiles shouts "Take Two!". Every player again takes two more tiles. This continues until all of the Scrabble tiles in the center of the playing surface are gone.

If a player shouts "Take Two!" and there are no tiles left (or not enough for everyone to take two), then that player is the winner of the round. You can keep score of how many rounds each player wins, or just play for the fun of it.

The rounds are hectic and a little nerve-wracking, especially if you fall behind the person shouting "Take Two". Often times the winner of a round is different than the person who shouted "Take Two!" the most, so don't get flustered. Also, sometimes you have to be willing to abandon the words you already have to fit in the new letters. And even if you don't win one round, there's another one coming in a matter of minutes.

A group of us played last night for about two hours, and if it hadn't been for work today we would have played longer.

Labels: I'm a big nerd, Pangalicious, weekend

Author: Goat » Comments:

Moesday, Wednesday, Frursday

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

The sun is in the Southern sky and Jupiter is aligned with Mars. And the result is an event so glorious and rare that it only happens once - maybe five times - a year. I speak, of course, of the Three Day Work Week.

Yes, the ever-elusive Three Day Work Week has arrived as a combination of national holiday and 9/80 off Friday, and I'm taking full advantage. The parents were in town for the past week, so I spent spent Monday biking aroudn the South Bay with them. And this Friday I'm planning to go sailing to either Catalina or the Channel Islands with Gilbert. Whah-thah!

The only thing about the Three Day work Week is that you spend the whole week wondering what day it is. Tuesday feels like Monday when you first start, but by the end you're thinking about how there are only two days left in the week. Thursday becomes the new Friday even though you swear it's only half-way over. And you spend all day Wednesday thinking it's three different days. It's a tough burden to suffer through, but I think I can manage.

Top it all off by rubbing it in the faces of your friends and you have a successful Three Day Work Week.

Labels: weekend, work

Author: Goat » Comments:

I want my baby back, baby back, baby back...

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

I got a letter form U.S. Customs this weekend telling me that they are finally ready to "remit the forfeiture of my vehicle," which is a bunch of fancy lawyer jargon for "you can have your car back." That's right, bitches, Rashanda the Honda is that much closer to making her way back into my arms! Sadly, nothing is easy when the government is involved, so there are still several steps before I get my baby back. I have to sign a Hold Harmless Agreement, pay storages fees (which will probably be about $700 which I'm not happy about), schedule an insurance adjuster, get the car towed back to LA, get the registration re-instated, and so on, and so on. Basically, it's going to take up a whole weekend here soon. The worst part is that I still have no idea what shape she is in. All I've been told is that the radio is gone (big surprise) and that Customs had to remove some sort of "compartment."

In our own form of civil boycott, my roommates and I have decided to form our own 50-mile bicycle ride right here in the safety of the U-nited States of Amerka. We're calling it the "Dude, Where's My Car" Bicycle Ride. Some of us, whose names rhyme with "boat," are fondly refering to it as the "Fuck Mexico"* Bicycle Ride. I'll let you think about that one for a bit. Anyways, the ride will begin somewhere in the vacinity of Buellton or Solvang and wind it's way down PCH to the town of Carpenteria, where there will be much drinking and debauchery, and no car thefts. We still have to map out the route, but we intend to hold the event on or about the same weekend as the Rosarito-Ensenada ride (that's the one where Rashanda was kidnapped).

As for the rest of this past weekend, everything rocked. The barcade lived up to all expectations. Old school games at old school prices (just a quarter!) and PBR in a can for two bucks. Two bucks! I know, I know, that's $1.50 too much. But for LA nightlife, a two dollar beer is something special. Follow it all up with Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles and you have a hell of an evening.

Saturday night was Mel & Jess's Mardi Gras party, complete with beads, masks, and streamers, none of which were used properly. None of the girls actually earned their beads, so that was a disappointment. Mostly it was just a grand occassion for getting housed. Mel apparently took advantage of said opportunity as she doesn't remember much of anything from the party. Well done.

Booter and I began watching the complete series of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. If you have never seen this show, well, then you're in a sad state of affairs. Or blessed, depending how you look at it. To give you an idea of the target audience, my Dad absolutely loves the show for it's sense of humor. You've been warned. Or encouraged. You decide.


* Note: I don't hate all of Mexico, just the petty thieves, drug dealers, corrupt cops, and diarrhea-causing water.

Labels: Los Angeles, Mexico, Rashanda, TV, US Customs, weekend

Author: Goat » Comments:

Working for the weekend

Friday, February 09, 2007

This week has been pretty easy at work, relatively. We finally moved out of the sweatshop and into a spacious bay with real desks and climate control, so if nothing else the environment is much improved. Plus the days are getting longer so it's no longer dark when I go home. Nevertheless, I can't wait for the weekend to start. That's in ten minutes, and it seems like an eternity.

I don't even have anything back planned for the weekend. Two of the roommates are out and the other is never around, it seems, so I guess I'll figure out something. I'm not too worried, though. I could use a laid couple of days.

When I leave work tonight I'm headed to meet Mel for dinner at the El Segundo Fish Co. I'm pretty stoked because I haven't gotten to chill with Mel in a while. I think we serve cheap therapy for each other. And we trade back massages -- something I sorely miss since I'm no longer near Ginger. After dinner we're meeting up with Gilbert to check out a "barcade" in Koreatown. Apparently they have vintage 80s arcade games like Rampage, Ms Pacman, and Galaga, and serve beer. Could I fit the target audience any better? Grew up in the 80s? Check. Nerd who loves old school games? Check. Loves to drink beer? Check. Tonight has some pretty high expectations to live up to.

I have successfully killed the last ten minutes of work. So long, suckers!

Labels: video games, weekend

Author: Goat » Comments: