jakorte's blog

Been attempting to accomplish something since late September ’10. It was a big deal to me, and lately became a very big deal for me. It took a lot of tears to get to this point, but on Saturday 1/8, I made a change to my facebook relationship status: from widowed to single. And then quickly distracted myself from the imagined implications of that one word achievement by trying to figure out the facebook Scrabble application with friends.

With three of us in the same room, vying for the same direct satellite connection, the main frustrations stemmed from having to wait: waiting our turn, waiting on messages, and getting information out of order, before or after each other. When it was my turn, player 3 would get the answer first. When it was player 1’s turn, I would get the answer first.

We’d impatiently ask each other, “Did you get it? What is it? What is it?” And even if someone told me, I still couldn’t react to it properly until the answer showed up on my screen. At best I had a vague idea of other letters I could build off of, but no idea if the projection of how I might use my tiles was even viable.

Waiting for GOD’s a lot like that. Sometimes it seems like others get their answers in a more timely manner. Once I saw the answer in context to my own play board, I was able to make better placement decisions, find alternate and more profitable positions. So, I stopped paying attention to what was coming and calculated by what I had to work with in front of me on the board.

For the most part, this monumental decision went unnoticed. No backlash. No support. GOD is like that, too. In the same room with us with hit or miss connectivity based on individual reception or receptivity.

So maybe that’s what the status change was all about: being more receptive, squelching my impatience, acknowledging what I have to work with, and moving the pieces into the best possible usability for myself… and maybe for the inclusion of some others.