Quadplex scrabble against computer3/31/2024 ![]() ![]() And it all kinda fell into place after that. We trekked up to Dallas, apprehensive, but won the first game 628-110 (we only phoneyed once, with REDLIGHT*, which we thought was valid), and rallied around the win to finish 6-0 +~1800, crushing the competition. ![]() But while there, Mary Rhoades informed us about the School Scrabble State Championship, being held two weeks later. In short, it was a disaster- I went 2-10 and finished 33rd/34, with Chris finishing 32nd. Shortly after, Stefan Fatsis' Word Freak came as a Christmas present, and within two months Chris and I were registered for our first tournament. I loved the game and was okay losing, as long as it wasn't to Chris. I started playing there too, because I could play opponents who weren't Chris. Then in 5th grade, Chris found a website (the now largely defunct ). I resented losing to Chris, and actually refused to play the game for over a year. It got to the point where if the other three players could combine their scores to beat Chris, it was a victory (yes, we still played dreaded four-way games). Chris got much better than the rest of us very quickly. Scrabble became a favorite of my older brother, Chris, when I was in 3rd grade. Since as long as I can remember, Friday nights were 'game nights' in the Canik household. This blog was primarily created to connect with fellow Scrabblers, so they already know all the quirks and I won't go too in-depth here. I'll talk more about timpani in a later post, though.Ĭompetitive Scrabble. The pinnacle of my music career was playing Holst's Mars with my High School Symphony Orchestra (which, for what it's worth, won the award for best high school orchestra in Texas). So I stayed away from the drumline* of things. I felt like that was an insult to music, dynamics should come and go with the music and not have arbitrary number values. When I was watching a drumline* rehearsal, the director treated dynamics as a number- forte is played at '9 inches', piano at '3 inches', with other numbers assigned to other dynamics. ![]() I appreciate music for the musical aspects. Some marching season, I chose timpani over drumline*. By the end of 7th grade, I had taken a keen liking to timpani. I chose that largely because my older brother also played percussion, and I did a lot of following in his footsteps (he started playing Scrabble, now look where I am). In hindsight, it was a very poor decision. ![]() I used to play percussion in High School band. Gregory has 10 racquetball courts, and I play racquetball 5 days a week, with sessions often lasting well over an hour. I'm by no means on a 'water and vitamins' regiment now, though. UT's Gregory Gym is across the street from my dorm and I make good use of it, working out and staying in shape. Now, I'm closer to 6'3 190 (okay, fine, I might be 6'2 1/2, but everyone else adds a little, so I do too). I love discussing things, controversial or well-accepted, profound or simple. I have my own leanings, but I honestly don't know anything about running a country, and I can't really trust candidates telling the same lies every 4 years to try and win my vote. I won't argue politics because, quite frankly, I just don't understand them all that much. My mom was telling me from the time I was 3 that I should be a judge because I had a great concept of fairness and what's right and wrong. I like considering all the facts before I decide on my viewpoint. I like to consider myself very open-minded. I don't mean to brag, most of the things I get good at are so trivial that they will never have a practical application and will never benefit me in life. Teacher wasn't too thrilled when she had to come up with a special curriculum just for me. I was reading before I was two years old, and in Kindergarten I made a perfect score on an 8th grade reading comprehension test. Hell, even learning how to read was an obsession to me for a while. A few examples from my childhood: Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Scrabble, Pokemon, ERS (card game), timpani. I have a tendency to take things and obsess over them, getting far better at those things than anyone ever should be. I have a younger sister, Megan, who is 14, an 8th grader. I have a younger brother, Jon, who is 16, a high school junior. I have an older brother, Chris, who is 20, attending UT Austin studying Computer Science. I have an older half-sister, Erika, who is 29, married with a kid and living in Kansas. I am the middle of 5 children in the Canik household. I play tournament Scrabble, I'm currently rated 1824, which is perhaps the grossest case of being overrated I've ever seen. I'm studying Biochemistry with ambitions to be a doctor. I am a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin. I live in Austin, Texas, and always have. I am Matt Canik (bingoboy/bluehair on ISC). I guess I'm going to (maybe) be meeting some people on here. ![]()
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