Slang for Scrabble

The day begins with the sound of the alarm cutting through the background gurgling of the humidifier. Brenda rolls over and hits the snooze button. We repeat this three more times until I finally get out of bed and go to the bathroom. After my shower I get dressed and then return to the bedroom to lie down by Brenda for a few minutes. Soon I get up to leave and start the morning commute. Thirty minutes later I arrive at work sit through a meeting and start to wonder how much more of this can I stand, because the days at work are long and boring.

Today it was easier than ever to fall asleep at work. Nick was out of the office and Tony was busy in another department. With the silence and the afternoon heat of the room, an involuntary nap is almost unavoidable. My chair becomes more and more comfortable and I start to slip away. I swear that I heard myself snoring for a moment this afternoon. Hopefully no one else did.

Scrabble has been different, because now the dictionary can only be used to question a word not as a source for new words. I'm not sure who talked to Brenda about this being the correct way to play, but it is now the standard for us. What this means is that on Monday night I won both games. Last night began with a tie and then Brenda won the second one. It was obvious that she wanted to win, because she does not like to lose.

With the new rule in effect, the game is more a challenge of vocabulary rather than seeing who can make a word from the letters that they have whether they know what the word means or not. Her words have become less complex and lean more toward slang and these are words that make me groan. Brenda got thirty nine points for the word geez. Then she questioned me a few rounds later when I used the word elegy. Sigh.

In our recent discussions, Brenda did admit that she is sorely lacking in parts of her education, but that I need to tone down my sarcasm. Condescension creeps far too easily into my voice and I can wound with an inflection or a sigh. She however has been known to do the same thing in regards to house cleaning and things of that nature to me.

There are times when I might focus more on the negative aspects of Brenda and I, but there are good times as well. For instance, last Saturday we bought matching mountain bikes, so now we have a new outdoor activity that we can both do. We only rode for a short time, but it was fun. Its something that we can do for most of the summer and for years to come. The new problem is that we need to invest in a bike rack, because transporting them in the trunk of my car takes too much effort and raises tempers.

Yesterday Brenda bought me Before These Crowded Streets by the Dave Matthews Band and I learned that Alanis sings backing vocals on a couple of songs. The best part is that it works for me. Alanis and Dave sound good together. Another added bonus is that the total length of the cd is over an hour.

I am still waiting for the video for Uninvited, the song from the City of Angels soundtrack, to come out even though I am sure that it will disappoint me. Then again maybe its out there and I just haven't seen it yet. Being with Brenda I have fallen behind in my pop culture studies. Over the past few months some of my interests have fallen by the side, but not any more.

Brenda informed me that it she has not taken more than three days off in a row in the last two years. I find this to be very sad and it explains why she is so lacking in pop culture. Its hard to be aware of what is happening in the world when you are working all of the time. I am not advocating television, but maybe if she took the time to read a book or something she might be able to talk about more than work.

Then again maybe it is my duty to bring some culture into her life, because its where I excel. I can talk for hours about art, books, film and music. Creativity is what motivates me and makes me feel alive. The only problem is that I get a somewhat lukewarm response from her. I want her to realize that there is so much more to life than making money, but maybe I am setting myself up for a fall.

Sacrifice and compromise. I get a day at the Art Institute of Chicago in exchange for Great America. I certainly don't see these as being equal on any level, but this is the plan that we agreed to keep.

I am trying to be more positive about life in general.