Tag Archives: reality shows

Doing Puzzles

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I have seen and done many puzzles–not all at once, but one here and one there, and then many puzzles were done.  Puzzles have become so much more elaborate now that there are mobile phones, laptops, and hand-held computers.  The chance to just take out a puzzle to do it at any time transcends the old way of buying newspapers and puzzle books.  They type of puzzles I miss the most are the ones that come in 500 and 1000 pieces, and not only in pictures of animals and landscapes, but in painted pictures considered fine art.  Scenes of families in cramped kitchens around a table–perhaps celebrating a birthday party–or the real parties–that of the Fathers of Confederation in a room similar in color to that of the family at the birthday party.

These types of puzzles didn’t just take a couple of hours to finish–but up to a couple of months. The beautiful thing about it is that you can leave it at any time and come back and pick it up at any time too–progress never given up and only continued from the one time to the next, from one step to the next.

I have very little time now, with my schedule of one thing after one thing to do.  I am imagining when I retire and come close to sitting inside of a nursing home, that I can sit an afternoon or two in a week, just putting puzzles together.  I imagine the TV will be tuned into an afternoon Soap or TV Movie, and, if I am tired of hearing voices in argument all the time, I can turn on the radio and listen to Classical Music.  I see relaxation and happy times just sitting by myself.  (I am imagining that I will send my husband out of the house to go pursue one thing or another.  Just not me.)  My plans for the future tend to be simple, which makes my plans to make it happen, also, simple.  To do and to execute.  I will not attempt those complex things with sudden surprises or unforeseen ambush, as I am literally inviting those things to happen.

The beauty of a puzzle is the quietness of thought and easy concentration on solving the question–to find the answer.  Sometimes, when I am met with a mathematical puzzle, anywhere from solving the amount of tax I will be paying, to the answer to an algorithm in calculus, I start to panic and apply all methods I know of to find that final number…  And, I say, thank you, to all those calculators on mobile phones and on iPods for allowing me to be able to find the answer even if I am not at home, using my trusty calculator!

So, yes, there are some puzzles that are complete problems, that I will not be able to ever, solve.

I want to instill in my kids the ability to do puzzles.  The easy part is putting a puzzle in front of them.  When they were very young, they would usually play with the toy or puzzle for a little while, but, as many puzzles come in simple, I didn’t know what the next puzzle should be?  Now, that they are older, I often accompany them on their experience of puzzles by going to the “Science Center” or by helping out on homework.  Television has also become one of those quagmires to me.  Obviously, my kids are entertained by Disney, while I prefer those deep talking ones, of Reality Shows and fantasy shows of victor and victory.

Sometimes I worry that if my kids do not find something educational, as fun, that they will miss out on the fun.  So, I spend time explaining, as they do their homework.  I go crazy, scavenger hunting for the perfect toy that would helpt them learn puzzles.  But, at the end of the day, I often just give over to what I hear them try to tell me.  That they simply do not like those “Educational Toys” dressed up as “fun.”  So, my husband has introduced some card games, played with the 52-deck of cards for them to play.  We have stayed away from the all-out-hard-as-hard-liquor gambling games, by playing games with  technical ability involved, thus keeping my children’s attention.  So far, I do not smell any ill-begotten habits.  We still go to Disney Park every few years, and there is no disappointment.

I thank my own dad for giving me the joy of the puzzle. The simpler, the better.  It keeps me humming along to the songs on the radio, and I don’t get bored at looking at all the beautiful people on the Soaps or on Matinee Movies as they speak in endless circles about so-and-so and in how-to-do-it speak to demonstrate the technique.  The beauty is that once a puzzle is done, there is always just another one around the corner.  At the dollar store, they cost one or two dollars for endless fun.  I hope that this part of me doesn’t disappear or become obsolete.  I would hate never to buy another one of those One Thousand Piece Puzzles.  I think I will have to down-size and get a puzzle table.  One that fits in the living area.  And then, to have that space, and that comfort, all ready, to be used and enjoyed, I think I can do that.

Those Special Days

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I love the days that are special days.  I look forward to the coming day, planning events and getting all the perfect bits and pieces that make the day, the time, and the people, important.  This method of living through the calendar days requires accumulating “things.”  It is not these “things” that are important in and of themselves, but the people, the event, and the time that they are associated with.  Specifically, this year, as by coincidence, Mother’s Day and my brother-in-law’s birthday fall on the same day.  At this point, I am already half-way through thinking, planning, and purchasing “the things” that will fill this “double-day.”

More and more, I am attracted to those things that are more artistic.  I will buy a book full of words that are pretty and that tell a decorative story, rather than any story that is full of thrill and complex mathematical  problems that require suspending belief in the real world.  I prefer a few well-placed words, to a book that I can’t put down.  So, now, when I start the “accumulation of things” for “the special days” in the calendar, some, “tasteless, bland, white” card, figurine, book, and ecetera  is what I will look for, and usually it is what I get.

Part of my plan, which is a new criteria that developed only during the past year, is to try to fit the purchases of “the things” inside of a budget.  I wan to get to the day, with something that says, more “special, loved, and cherished” than any other day.  So, what I spend on the other deadline days in the calendar, should, not be able to compete with the “special days” and the amount I spend.  There is no way the money I spend can indeed reciprocate and represent the “specialness.”

How do I do this?  I have recently discovered “niche marketing” and the “niche market.”  I am finding more “hand-made” things, and “one-of-a-kind” things, in little shops that do not compete in anyway with giant marketplaces like William Sonoma and Crate and Barrel.  There, I can endlessly spend money, but rarely am I satisfied with the “thing” I have bought.

Being without a car, has led me to here, in my journey.  Because I have to walk, I try to fit everything I need to do, within a small radius of space.  And, I have discovered, the stores along those trendy streets, where the designers go, where the artists live and sell, and where things close to home are on sale, for a reasonable price, I can fulfill my wishes and desires… all in a small radius of a walk.

Also, I am a fan of those reality shows that average joe professionals host, and sometimes, compete with each other in.  It is a community that shows up on television at least once a week, and I am usually there, watching.

My hurrays for all the up-and-coming niche markets!  I feel I live a rich life and that I live it in reality.  I am comfortable and I am surrounded by all the comfortable things, which, for some reason, have to be earned through graduating from school and finding a way to make a living.  If this, is in fact, the real world, then, I give my hurrays again.  There are more and more…  One day, I too, will join with the “cottage industry” and end up on the trendy street.  I won’t only be giving on those special days, but I will also receive as much as I give.