some thoughts on obsessive hobbies [guest poster]Sorry about the sporadic posting—I thought Nathalie was coming back to town earlier than she was, and I figured people would rather hear from the lady of the house. But I think I screwed up the dates. Anyway.
The latest entry on Impeccable Jones, my friend Pete’s blog, features some great links for Scrabble buffs like myself. For background: here in IC there’s not often a whole lot to do, so we spend a lot of time at bars. But I am a) not a big drinker, and b) have the attention span of a gnat, so I’ve developed some new habits and refreshed some old ones: namely, pool, poker, and Scrabble.
I’ve loved Scrabble ever since my dad and grandfather refused to let me play in their intensely competitive games. Poker, on the other hand, is a new thing for me. Fortuitously enough, the past year or so has brought two very fine books on both topics: Word Freak by Stephan Fatsis, and Positively Fifth Street by James McManus, and I lifted my semi-ban on non-fiction to read them within a week of each other.
The books are surprisingly similar. Both involve a reporter assigned to a story on a topic in which he has a certain but limited personal interest (although in McManus’s case, I suspect he downplayed his skills somewhat), with the reporter becoming obsessed with the world he’s entered and wanting to become a part of it. Fatsis joined a Scrabble league and spent a great deal of time trying to improve his national ranking; McManus used the money Harper’s paid him for the story to enter satellite tournaments to eventually land in the World Series of Poker.
What fascinated me was my disparate responses to reading about fairly similar situations. (That was so, “Enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What do you think of me?” Sorry.) I mean, I love Scrabble, I love poker. But after reading Word Freak, I thanked the heavens that I was not and never would be a pro Scrabble player. It’s a totally different game at that level, and everything I like about it changes—normally you want to think about points, offense, defense, lining up plays, all that, and wouldn’t it be nice to bingo once in a while? But the top-tier games seemed to me to be almost exclusively about anagramming, and the words themselves didn’t matter. In fact, knowledge of English was not a prerequisite—there were players who simply memorized the English dictionary and then memorized the base sets of letters most likely to produce bingos, and they did fine. It wasn’t about words anymore. I appreciated playing with friends so much more after that, and getting better hasn’t been much of a focus. (Winning’s still a focus, of course, but that’s a separate issue.)
After reading Positively Fifth Street, though, I wanted to be Annie Duke. I wanted to be a professional poker player. Everything I like about Texas Hold ‘Em—using not just your cards and the board but all of your knowledge about the players, their bets, the statistics, the pot odds—escalates in significance as you become a better player. And the fact is, I’m not Annie Duke. I’m lucky if I can keep my head above water in a 50-cent limit game. So while my appreciation for the game intensified, while I became far more aware of my own suckiness and limitations, and I’m reminded of them every time I play.
Ironic, isn’t it?
Which reminds me that my friend told me to check out a website the other day, and I thought she said it was called Extreme Irony, which I thought was hilarious. Even better, though. Extreme Ironing.
Michelle: I’m not sure where you came to Iowa City from, but I’m guessing a larger city given your comments about how there is so little to do in Iowa City — namely your labeling of IC as “independent-movie-free.” I don’t disagree that the local calendar sometimes leaves something to be desired, but there are plenty of things going on for those motivated to partake.
And IC is definitely NOT independent-movie-free. Have you not heard of the Bijou?www.bijoutheater.org. It’s one of the most respected student-run theaters in the country. We show independent, foreign, and art films all year, including a smaller program in the summer. Our fall schedule opens this Thursday, Aug. 26. While we don’t have Donnie Darko in the line-up at this point, our calendar is strong, and I’d encourage you to check us out if you haven’t already done so. I’ll even hook you up with a free ticket. Just drop me an e-mail.
So, anyway, there are things happening in Iowa City. I recently returned from San Francisco, and there were few films playing that IC residents haven’t already been able to see, or won’t be able to soon at the Bijou.
Posted by Andy B. at August 21, 2004 02:19 PMThe Bijou’s great, but you can only expect so much from one theater. The problem isn’t that IC isn’t San Francisco, but that it isn’t Madison. Or Ann Arbor, or Bloomington, or Champaign. It’s a fine place, I guess, but I’ve always been suspicious of people who like it too much in the same way I am suspicious of Scientologists and people who think they are psychic.
Posted by at August 21, 2004 02:51 PMoh, i was totally being facetious. i love the bijou, and anyone who knew me both here and in my previous incarnations can tell you that the big joke is that i am infinitely busier and more social in ic than i have ever been in any city i’ve ever lived in. even my bowling is improving. i was just making fun of myself a li’l bit for becoming such a game junkie. didn’t mean to offend.
Posted by michelle at August 23, 2004 05:04 PMMichelle, m’dear, you completely forgot about obsessively watching the poker obsessives play poker on TV. Which is the rut into which my life has apparently decided to give up the ghost. I think I’m beginning to believe, as I sleepily loll on the couch after yet another 12 hour work day clutching my Tivo remote like some totem, that the voice of Lon McEachern covering the WSOP on ESPN is the voice of the Megatron himself. Which would be the voice of the voice of God. Which is stupid.
T.
P.S. Miss you in that bigger city you came from that has only slightly better independent cinema…not that I would know.
P.P.S. Waiting for the Quicksilver review, I’m taking a 3 month-long deep breath before I try to tackle “The Confusion” and I’m only tackling that so it will force me to read “The System of the World”. My reading is entirely dependent on inertia. (ha! An in-joke! A remarkably poor one, mind you…)
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. Voltaire (1694 - 1778)
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