Me and Alec Baldwin. . .

I've never been thrown off an airplane for doing it, but I have to admit that I am also addicted.

I play Words With Friends on my iphone and find myself staring at that little screen at all sorts of odd times, like standing on the check-out line at Publix, between tram tours at Fairchild Gardens, and while watching a Netflix movie at night with the "significant other". Words are my business, the written kind that is, and I admit it, I am a vicious competitor.

And speaking of the "significant other", ever since I downloaded the Words app on his iphone, we've had a serious difference of opinion about the rules of the game. Benard feels it is poor sportsmanship on my part when I trump him with a triple score word. I tell him he shouldn't make it so easy for me to do so. Poor guy. . he also gets beaten regularly by his daughter Paula. If this keeps up, he may need psychotherapy soon.

I play regularly with four or five other people, all with very different lifestyles, but all seriously competitive. Some I beat. Some beat me.Some it's about even.

They range from Mario, the head of Reading Services at WLRN where I read every Tuesday morning, to Jon, the husband of my daughter's half sister who last week played from Korea where he was on tour as the sound engineer for John Legend. (Jon doesn't let a little thing like a change of continents get in the way of his Word games.) In between are two or three women friends, including my good friend Merele, best described as "one tough cookie" wordwise and,of course,the often disgruntled "significant other".

In addition to the fun of competition, the game has added significantly to my already pretty extensive vocabulary. Take the word "qi". . .very handy when you have the letter "q" on your board and no "u" to make a normal word. According to Google, it has Chinese roots and means "part of every living thing". And you thought I was just wasting my time playing games.

By the way, my user name is JoanSpec, and I warn you, I give no quarter. Ask my daughter. She refuses to play with me any more. I may have to let Benard win this current game we're playing or I'm possibly in danger of losing him as well. Then who would cook dinner???
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