Today's first draw:

N  S  E  I  D  H

SHINED

DINES  HIDES  HINDS  SHINE  SHIED  SNIDE

DENS  DIES  DINE  DISH  ENDS  HENS  HIDE  HIED  HIES   HIND  SEND  SHED  SHIN    SIDE  SINE

DEN  DIE  DIN  END  HEN  HID  HIE  HIS  INS  SHE  SIN

Total points:  11,950

The second draw:

D  R  U  D  S  E

UDDERS

UDDER  DUDES

DUDE  DUDS  DUES  REDS  RUDE  RUED  RUES  RUSE  SUED  SURE  USED  USER

DUD  DUE  RED  RUE  SUE  USE

Total points now:  19,570

I used to be obsessed with TextTwist.  I would play for hours at a time, always telling myself that I'd stop as soon as I got to the next 100,000 or the next half hour.  But then at the half hour, I'd be a few thousand points short of a 100,000 mark, so I'd go on till...  Well, till I was exhausted and my brain stopped functioning.  When I first hit, 1,000,000 points, I thought now I'll quit for good.  But then I played some more and passed the million point mark; when I hit 2,000,000, I thought now I'll quit for good because I'm never going to reach that score again.  But I kept playing, and when I hit 3,000,000, I said finally I'll quit for good because I really will never hit that total again.  And quit I did.

I've started again, but now I ignore the score and don't save my games.  If I need to let the dog out, I'll just let the time expire and lose my points so I can open the door.  And it's become boring to do the smaller words; if I type 'era,' I automatically type 'are' and 'ear'; 'ram' leads to 'arm' and 'mar.'  How many times can even the most obsessive person type 'rat,' 'art,' and 'tar'?

Still, when I go to bed at night, six-letter combinations float through my mind.  S H I S E R--how many words can I make from that?  How many can I hold in mind while I drift off?  P T S O leads to six amazing combinations: post, pots, tops, spot, stop, and opts.  Can I find any other four-letter combo that's so productive?  I run through the alphabet.  Soon, if I'm lucky, the letters float away, and my mind and body shut down.  Another day is over--as long as letters don't appear in my dreams (reams, mares, drams...).