@ElendilTheTall, I find it easier to commit a new Scrabble word to memory if I see it in context, so I made a point to look up rorquals. While there,I found ziphiidae (beaked whales) and Kogiidae (dwarf whales). Hmm, is that like jumbo shrimp?

@Jolenealaska haha. my scrabble nemesis is a comedian :P

I've been awaiting your ping!

Read this ifyou haven't yet:

nice to be waited for :)

That idea is so simple, yet so brilliant...

It really does almost make me want to do it.

While an argument from authority is rarely worth listening to, I would simply say that Paul Hollywood is one of the most renowned pastry chefs in the country, and if he says it works, it almost certainly does :)

Well, what are you waiting for?

OK! Hold for link!

you can have tikka massala soup with puff pastry croutons :P

pogo.com/friend/join.do?sn=AlaskaJolene

lol

I meant what are you waiting for in regards to puff pastry, you scrabble fiend you

Gee

Scrabble sounds way more fun than rolling puff pastry.

Does that mean I need to wait more?

lol

<stretches>

<dusts off desk?

<arranges pens just so>

<checks watch>

<checks e-mail>

<yawns>

<drums fingers>

You're killing me here

oh, I lost my place

can't no do my morning routine

ha!

<stretches>

<dusts off desk>

but seriously!

give me two minutes to arrange a caffeine IV and I'm there

Ok, I'll even wait longer! Just ping me :)

I'll ditch the room b4 another player tries to join.

kettle is a-boiling

yes, yes, instant coffee, travesty, how can you drink that stuff, blah blah

ok go

@Jolenealaska ping

ok brb

pogo.com/friend/join.do?sn=AlaskaJolene

@Jolenealaska thought that was going to be rorqual :)

I tried! :)

That would have been epic!

sorry work

and a total guess!

I thought it might be related to piano

but googling it it seems to be a disease

what is with the medical bent today

hade is a geology term!

is it?

It has to do with veins in rocks

I've done some geology and never heard of it

live and learn

the angle of a vein

file that one way

I know that one because I challenged it once. I insisted that it needed an s

My opponent was quite tickled

as tickled as only a Scrabble nerd could be

he probably still tells the story at big meet ups

Probably :)

Take the way that game ended as a lesson too. If you've got high value letters towards the end, do whatever it takes to get rid of them, if you get stuck with a Z, it counts against you for 20 points.

so noted

I am loathe to use a q or z for 10 points, but it's far worse to get stuck with them

Another little thing i've noticed. Save those blanks for really big plays, don't waste them to add 15 points to your score. Save those blanks for bingoes or huge TWS plays.

Towards the beginning of the game when there is still room on the board, a blank is almost an automatic bingo (for those of us who can see the words)

likewise noted, sensei

:)

You're going to be killer at this game. The Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble King of the universe.

great, the most lucrative titles on earth!

:/

Yes! The little ones' college will be a piece of cake!

I want one of these as a pet

it would be like having a pet alien

What is that???

that is a Venezuelan Poodle Moth

obviously

:P

That belongs in Mos Eisley

this belongs in Mos Eisley

a mantis shrimp

I think it's actually a prawn.

lets look at the diagram you didn't draw

:P

hehehe

christ my boss makes crap coffee

he pours the water on as it boils and 'stirs' in the sugar like he's beating an egg

result, tasteless coffee with a pile of sugar at the bottom

It's probably a hint.

a hint that he's an all-purpose dick hole

Pogo is going to be up soon. I'm going to watch some Chopped. Cya in a bit to hit you up for another game.:)

ok - don't hold your breath though, actually got some work on my desk :)

Ok, I won't hold my breath. I'll just quietly hope.

You could pray to Scrabblos, Lord of Scrabble...

Oh Scrabblos, Oh Scrabblos

I call unto thee

Only a game

Can set my soul free

I really should

put down my head

but I lost the last game

it fills me with dread

Whew...I wasn't sure I was going to come up with an ending for that. I didn't mean to hit enter after the first line, I meant to give myself some time to think about ti!

@ElendilTheTall if you get a chance before someone beats you to it, the pork leg OP has asked for further advice.

@Jolenealaska thanks, I have bestowed upon him my Holy Wisdom

I hope he's genuflecting.

Morning.

How is y'all's cookery?

Hi Cerby! My grocery budget isn't allowing for much fun cookery for a while. I'm reduced to digging things out of my freezer and cutting off the freezer burn.

Hehe.

Lovely.

I wish I had a freezer!

I wanted to buy a mini-freezer but never did, when I moved here.

Well, they're definitely nice to have, but if you're like me you end up with year old mystery packages.

Haha I think everybody has those.

Even in one's fridge.

I found a small plastic bag with something black in it yesterday.

Or dark brown.

Did you see my alien life potatoes a while back?

Was it something with chocolate? Was it originally white but turned brown?

I did!

Those were awesome! (with a little butter)

When I dug through my memory, it turned out it was once garlic butter with lemon zest.

Ah, but I thought they had dried out too much to still be edible?

Wow, it was in there a while then!

Yes, I didn't know butter could turn black.

I was joking! :)

Ohh haha.

You know me, I would cut off the bad parts and eat anything.

If that line would stay with my newly starred mouth explosion line, I'd star that.

Oh what the hell.

Hah.

What the hell indeed.

I think the answer to that is that it is way my bedtime and I'm getting punchy. :)

BUT, if I can stay up for another 1 hour 45 minutes, I can make the phone calls I need to make and get them over with. Then I can sleep well.

Ow.

Heh.

What time is it? 1.45h before shops open?

It's 6:15.

So yes.

I need to talk to a couple of people at the VA

they open at 8

The veteran agency?

Yep, Veterans Administration.

Just bureaucratic stuff, but it has to get done.

Then again, if you went to bed now, would they still be open when you woke up?

Of course I would be the last person to tell you to get a normal sleep cycle...

I woke up at 15.15 today.

Possibly not, unless I set an alarm.

Right.

That would not be totally abnormal for me either.

And some of the VA offices close by 15:30.

That's early.

Have you ever tried sleeping pills? Do they work well? I wish I had some.

Yes it is. It's annoying.

Yeah, they do help me to fall asleep, but I feel druggy in the morning. So, I'll take them sometimes, but rarely.

Hmm.

But they could be useful during a transition period of a couple of days, when you want to get back to a normal cycle?

How long does the druggy effect last after you wake up?

I already feel awful and druggy when I wake up, most days, so perhaps that wouldn't matter for me...

That's how I use them. I'll try to force myself to stay up around the clock until I should go to bed, but inevitably I get a burst of energy right then. So that's when I'll take a pill.

The druggy feeling can last half the day, and that's with Ambien which isn't supposed to do that.

Right, staying up around the clock until I should go to bed, I have tried that many times. But my eyes turn red then and I feel awful, and I may still be unable to sleep when bed time comes, as you say. I've stopped doing that.

Ambien, is that a sleeping pill?

Yep, AKA Zolpidem.

Probably the most commonly prescribed sleeping pill in the US.

OK.

So have you ever tried going to bed late (our current cycle), then going to bed at a "normal" time tomorrow with Ambien, and doing that for five days straight? Does that work to get you into normal bed times?

That's what I would want to try, if I had sleeping pills.

No, it doesn't put me out if I'm really wide awake (as I am at midnight unless I've been up for nearly around the clock)

Hmm that sucks.

I have at least be tired on some level for it to work.

Is two pills allowed?

You know how you can be tired but not sleepy? I often have that. Maybe a pill could still work then?

No, but I've tried it anyway. It will cause me to sleep, but the druginess the next day makes it not worth it.

That's when it works, tired but not sleepy.

Like at midnight after I've been up around the clock.

Rummi is doing a sleep discipline thing to try to sleep more effectively. I've tried that too. It works until the very first time I sleep in.

Then I'm back to square one.

@Jolenealaska OK noted.

@Jolenealaska OK so that's good, for me.

So how does her thing work?

Hmmm...let me see if I can find her mention of it...

chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/16457655#16457655 and the next few messages.

@Jolenealaska Ah OK, interesting.

As you say, I would ruin that in one day of sleeping in. Which always happens when I try something similar.

And, as Rummy says, it only works if you can sleep those 6 hours. Which you and I probably can't.

@Cerberus - Did you do that?!?

@Jolenealaska Scrabblos is apparently unmerciful

Apparently!

Not to mention the archangels of starring.

I would accuse you, but since yours is starred too, I blame Cerby.

@Jolenealaska Nope, not that exact régime. But I have tried going to bed early for five days straight. The result is that I will wake up after 4 hours every night, unable to sleep any longer. So it's not worth it. After a week or so, my cycle might have become "normal", but then, as you say, it will rapidly deteriorate again.

I was asking if you were the bad poetry starrer.

O, dear. No, I am not!

Some moderator should remove those stars...

good grief

THAT WHICH SCRABBLOS HAS ORDAINED CANNOT BE REMOVED, HEATHEN

Was it thou??

Beware, lest he shake his mighty tile bag in your general direction

It can't be, his intro to it starred too!

True.

Then who??

I haven't noticed anyone else here!

Scrabblos moves in mysterious (though only horizontal or vertical) ways...

An evil plot to confuse us.

Haha.

heehee

I could get the hang of this religion lark

it's easy

1. Spout meaningless platitudes 2. Profit

I always knew that I'd be an apostle

I knew that I would make it if I tried

Jolenealaska pleases Scrabblos - the Blessing of the Triple Word Score be upon thee

<genuflects> (which may the only time in my life that I have used that word twice in the same day..or year even)

It would make a pretty good scrabble score

FIFTEEN

plus 50 probably...and there's that TWS Scrabblos has promised!

The Scrabble Board of Scrabblos Himself: aspinaloflondon.com/products/scrabble-set-in-camel-jewel-calf

$1,700 for a Scrabble board! WOW

It is covered in leather made from the skins of Monopoly players

HA!

You guys have a great night! Cya!

@Jolenealaska night

sleep tight

Don't you hate it when you come up with a great line minutes too late??

Re: that $1700 Scrabble board - It's all fun and games until someone loses an I.