the Proof of my success!
For my regulars, you know that crossing off items on my Life To-Do List is a very satisfying moment for me. The To-Do list actually guides me. It shows me what I should be spending my time and energy on. It allows me to focus on my goals.
Because I am often enthusiastic when I cross an item off the list, I don’t know how to truly communicate the sense of accomplishment I feel today when crossing off #11: Beat Dr. Fowler in a game of Scrabble. Without cheating.
Now compared to “Travel to Africa (#2)” or “Have a $0 balance on all my credit cards(#28),” you wouldn’t necessarily assume this would be a big accomplishment for me. You also wouldn’t necessarily understand how formidable an opponent this elusive “Dr. Fowler” is.
Dr. Keith Fowler
I’d like to paint you the picture so that you can appreciate my enthusiasm. Dr. Keith Fowler, D.F.A. (see his website) is one of the most brilliant men I know. He is a professor at my alma mater, the University of California, Irvine. Check out his picture… doesn’t he just LOOK like a genius? A little from his bio:
As a Fulbright Scholar at The Shakespeare Institute in England, Fowler staged the Midlands premiere of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage after observing Brecht’s original production in (formerly East) Berlin. As a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and Shubert Scholar at Yale, 1961-64, he earned a Doctor of Fine Arts degree in Directing, and he later studied with Lee Strasberg in the director’s unit of the Actors Studio, New York. He has taught at Williams College, the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary, and was Chief of Directing at the Yale School of Drama before joining the Irvine drama faculty.
Now back in the days of Scrabulous (May it Rest In Peace) I introduced Papa Fow Fow (as I lovingly call him) to the wonders of online word play. You may be wondering, does he regularly use a computer? Tisk Tisk I say to you! Dr. Fowler had a facebook account before I did! He has more friends than I do! He is always online. Except when he takes trips to the Galapagos. We learned together. We grumbled when Scrabulous went offline because Hasbro filed complaints of copyright infringement. We slowly embraced the new online Scrabble Beta and have steadily been gaming since then.
I’d put up a good fight time and time again. Then… WAP! Fowler would pull out some 75 point word score. He’d play words I didn’t even know existed. Sometimes I even cheated and looked online for word help… and STILL lost! But I did begin to pay attention to his strategy. Placement of tiles is just as important as length of words, I learned. And similar to his teaching methodology which I lovingly remember from my days as an undergrad, he was coaching me and I didn’t even know it.
My Pride was his Facebook Status Update
Today, I salute you, Dr. Fowler! I revel in your facebook status. I celebrate the triumph less for gloating purposes (though I can’t lie, I’m tempted)… but more for the sense of accomplishment I feel because it is YOU, dear sir, that I “whupped.” It may never happen again… but I most definitely took a screen picture so I’d never forget.
Thanks for the game. And never ceasing to teach me a lesson.
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