Little Time To Write, Rubick’s Cube, and Open Discussion

Caterpillars, moths, butterflies, and all creatures great and small,

My plate overflows. Since I won’t have much time for writing, please use this thread to discuss or continue discussions on whatever you want. Hopefully, I’ll be back to my form of normal after the weekend.

So, what’s this thing about Rubick’s Cube? What I’ve recently realized is that meeting and making new friends often centers around specific topics or interests. Seldom do we actually go beyond certain subjects to get to know other things about each other.  I have several new friends who did not know that I love puzzles.

As a child, it was crossword and jigsaw puzzles. Even as an adult, wife and mother, there was a table in our recreation room (now more commonly called family room) for the specific purpose to put together 2000 piece jigsaw puzzles. I even purchased a Tupperware food divider to place the pieces in according to color and shape. At times, it would take me hours to separate the pieces.

Back around 1980, I purchased a Rubick’s Cube. About a month later, that darn puzzle cube almost caused marital problems, changed my eating habits, and my sleeping schedule. I found it difficult to put down. In the evening watching television, I was going to put it down just after the news. Then I was going to put it down just after the Late Show. Time was lost thereafter until the dog wanted out. The sun was rising.

So, I decided to put the puzzle box down after the news. That worked. However, I found myself taking it into the bathroom with me, having it while on the telephone, and even on the kitchen counter as I watched the food I was cooking. ENOUGH!

I remember it well. It was Friday night. The public broadcasting station showed old Tarzan movies on Friday nights and my family watched them together. The family on that night included Rubick’s cube. And, I solved it. My husband was very proud of me – actually relieved I presume, because we had not gone to bed at the same time for a month. But, our son, being mischievous, turned the layers mixing them again. He thought it was funny. It took me two days to solve the puzzle again. Twice after that, I would mix the layers again to solve again. After the second time, I became bored. My husband didn’t.

We were in the mall and a store had a sign about a discount to anyone who could solve Rubick’s cube in less than 3 minutes. Personally, I didn’t see anything in that store that I wanted to buy, and I wasn’t sure that I remembered how to solve the puzzle. But, my husband insisted that I solve the cube just to show off. So, I did – in less than 2 minutes. He bought a cassette tape recorded by some unknown artist.

All of that came back to me about a week ago when my son, now a mischievous adult, dug the solved puzzle cube out of a box, brought it into my office, turned the various layers, and then laughed when putting it in front of me. He said that I needed to have some fun. I placed that darn cube, unsolved, on a bookshelf behind me.

My new friends however, are learning how much I like puzzles. They became aware when hearing game sound effects in the background during our phone calls.   Bubbles is a free, online, match three game with sound effects. It’s a game that doesn’t require much concentration and if you lose, you just play again. It gives my hands something to do while on the phone.

I promise – no puzzles or games otherwise for the next several days. Our current news, trying to figure out how the thoughts of people work, are puzzle enough.

Now, to start open discussion, here’s a video that you might find interesting and want to discuss.  There are other subjects in the news that I’ll post in the comment section, and invite you to do the same.