Where Do You Score 39 Points for FUCK?
Let me set the stage for last night’s home entertainment: 2-1/2 serious Scrabble players and 2-1/2 people watching The Forty Year Old Virgin (the movie, that is) in the same family room.
Our friends Linda and Michael were over to watch the pathetic Redskins actually win the first playoff game. After being satiated with my homemade split pea soup, salad, baked apples, and a lot of wine, we opted to stay home, as opposed to trying to decide on a current movie in a real theater.
Making decisions about movies with them is always an ordeal because everyone has so many requirements and they consult multiple reviewing sources ahead of time. The 3 movies we currently had out from Netflix included: Cinderalla Man (rejected by Linda and me because it dealt with boxing), Sea Inside (rejected by Linda and me because it dealt with death), and The Forty Year Old Virgin (chosen by default since it was the only one left). At which point, Linda and I suggested that Scrabble be an optional choice. She is that type of Scrabble player who seldom goes through a game without using all 7 letters. You just assume that she is going to win from the outset. Her husband Michael, on the other hand, would not list spelling as one of his greatest strengths, despite the fact that he graduated from G’town Law and has a prestigious job in a local university. So the Scrabble players were Linda, Dan (still home from law school), and I, with Dan only putting half of his attention into the Scrabble game.
Five minutes into the movie, it was obvious to Linda and me that we had made the right choice. Dan, however, seemed totally absorbed by this inane story of some guy who at 40 decides that it is time to do it. How utterly absurd! – the theme and the enactment of it... As we struggled to make sense of our letters, the background noise seemed to be a sound loop of FUCK-BOOB-DICK- and other related 4-letter words. At one point, Linda said to Dan, “Just listen, you will have any number of ideas how to use those letters.”
I had unbelievable letters, drawing Z and X on the first turn. I most always had vowels and I got a lot of the high-score consonants. Linda had to turn her letters in at one point because she had so many of the same letter (I think it was E). The real competition was between Linda and me since Dan was far more interested in chortling with the boys over the virgin movie. I have lost many a Scrabble game at the very end, because my end-game SUCKS: I refuse to agonize over how to maximize points from the dregs of my letters and how to go out first. However, as luck would have it, I actually prevailed even though Linda went out first, winning handily by 7 points.
The virgin movie was still causing uproarious laughter in the background, but as Linda threatened to walk home, Michael said that even he had had enough. They left, I went to bed, and I woke up today to find out that the virgin had finally gotten what he wanted. A happy ending I guess...
Our friends Linda and Michael were over to watch the pathetic Redskins actually win the first playoff game. After being satiated with my homemade split pea soup, salad, baked apples, and a lot of wine, we opted to stay home, as opposed to trying to decide on a current movie in a real theater.
Making decisions about movies with them is always an ordeal because everyone has so many requirements and they consult multiple reviewing sources ahead of time. The 3 movies we currently had out from Netflix included: Cinderalla Man (rejected by Linda and me because it dealt with boxing), Sea Inside (rejected by Linda and me because it dealt with death), and The Forty Year Old Virgin (chosen by default since it was the only one left). At which point, Linda and I suggested that Scrabble be an optional choice. She is that type of Scrabble player who seldom goes through a game without using all 7 letters. You just assume that she is going to win from the outset. Her husband Michael, on the other hand, would not list spelling as one of his greatest strengths, despite the fact that he graduated from G’town Law and has a prestigious job in a local university. So the Scrabble players were Linda, Dan (still home from law school), and I, with Dan only putting half of his attention into the Scrabble game.
Five minutes into the movie, it was obvious to Linda and me that we had made the right choice. Dan, however, seemed totally absorbed by this inane story of some guy who at 40 decides that it is time to do it. How utterly absurd! – the theme and the enactment of it... As we struggled to make sense of our letters, the background noise seemed to be a sound loop of FUCK-BOOB-DICK- and other related 4-letter words. At one point, Linda said to Dan, “Just listen, you will have any number of ideas how to use those letters.”
I had unbelievable letters, drawing Z and X on the first turn. I most always had vowels and I got a lot of the high-score consonants. Linda had to turn her letters in at one point because she had so many of the same letter (I think it was E). The real competition was between Linda and me since Dan was far more interested in chortling with the boys over the virgin movie. I have lost many a Scrabble game at the very end, because my end-game SUCKS: I refuse to agonize over how to maximize points from the dregs of my letters and how to go out first. However, as luck would have it, I actually prevailed even though Linda went out first, winning handily by 7 points.
The virgin movie was still causing uproarious laughter in the background, but as Linda threatened to walk home, Michael said that even he had had enough. They left, I went to bed, and I woke up today to find out that the virgin had finally gotten what he wanted. A happy ending I guess...
posted by Barbara at 12:54 PM
2 Comments:
I'm a terrible Scrabbler. I like finding cool words, just couldn't care less about the points. It's bad for the competition, but I have fun.
Being good at spelling doesn't have much to do with being good at Scrabble, does it? But I'm pretty bad at both.
Also, I thought the 40-year-old Virgin movie was kind of sweet and funny. I link to a guy who calls his blog "Amost 40-Year-Old Virgin." He's a bit more angry and bitter than the guy in the movie, though.
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