Puzzling...
Sunday, September 16, 2012 at 12:51AM Forgive me for the lack of updates of late, but it's funding season. I've spent so many hours thinking of different ways to describe how awesome I am that even I'm beginning to believe it...
I don't like 'TV'1. Like not at all. I try to watch these shows that people rave about (Lost, Breaking Bad, etc.) and I just don't get it. It seems to me that once you go without cable for years and years (grad school will do that to you) the concept of trying to come up with interesting stories week after week seems ridiculous. It's all just soap operas2.
There does seem to be one 'benefit' that TV provides, at least when it comes to managing your life: It's probably the world's best time-killer. When you're in a relationship and you frequently want to 'spend time together', sitting in front of the TV can be an easy solution. More difficult is finding alternatives that are so cheap and relaxing.
Enter jigsaw puzzles. Yes they're simple and archaic (you don't have to plug them in), but they're a lot fun. I'll do almost any puzzle as long as it doesn't contain any of the following:
a) Dolphins (I have an inexplicable hatred of seascapes).
b) Thomas Kinkaid's work
c) Jesus in any unironic setting
For some reason clearly linked to my childhood, I love puzzles involving elements of fantasy. Dragons are best, followed wizards, knights, and princesses. I recently found a puzzle that had all four, which was awesome:
;)
This is actually a classic Larry Elmore DragonLance cover puzzle found on the internets.
Thankfully the gf enjoys puzzles and is actually in agreement with my preferences. Never again shall I have to assemble an awful toll-painting of some stupid cottage in a region that obviously doesn't get cellular data coverage (or at best can access 'edge'... ungh).
Furthermore, we've taken it to the next level by gluing the puzzles together and mounting them on our wall. In the past, I've had a personal disdain for this practice as it just felt somewhat rural and umm... poor. But we're both postdocs, so who are we kidding on that count?
;)
No dragons :-(
The only downside to jigsaw puzzles is that they can sometimes be more addictive than drugs, and occasionally we'll find ourselves unintentionally staying up past our bedtime because we were convinced that we could quickly finish this or that part of a design. Oh well, better this than staying up to watch one more episode of Two and a Half Men I guess (no really, why does anyone find that show funny?).
Unfortunately, I'll end on a downer by pointing out that occasionally you get a puzzle that doesn't live up to your initial expectations. I should have looked at the picture on the box more closely before getting this one:
;)
Clearly everyone in this painting is carrying around some extraneous chromosomes...
1I'm talking about cable here. I use my TV to watch movies and play games, of course.
2I've really come to the conclusion that this applies to pretty much everything. Almost all of the best 'media' comes from stories written with a defined arc based on a good idea. Beginning anything without a clear path through the middle and to the end just seems ripe for disappointment.
Reader Comments (1)
Jigsaw puzzles are good. My parents give at least one to each other every christmas, and after the big dinner is cleared away, the dining room table becomes the puzzle surface. It usually takes until about New Year's to put it all together.
Did Kinkaid ever paint a picture of Jesus riding a dolphin? 'cause if he did, I know what I'm buying for you...