Did anyone notice, yesterday?
That I was getting ahead of myself?
The day ended much as it started but it was still June 26th, not 27th. I had actually checked, too! (?)
Let’s put it down to distraction.
In 2020 I was compelled far too often to tune in YouTube to view the latest appalling news items and I don’t want to start that again.
Being informed is one thing…
Just this morning, I was thinking about obsession. Chiefly because Wordle has started to feature overmuch in my daily activities.
Wordle and its many offshoots.
With Airportle you have to guess three-letter airport codes, which was something I used every day for 38 years. Obviously I could not possibly ever have encountered more than a fraction, so it’s a bit pointless.
So pointless, that it’s become habit just to enter random codes without much thought, so why bother?
Which was obvious this morning when I failed to consider the airport where I worked for 31 years.
Time to abandon Airportle clearly, and Globle as well.
The quiz I am very vaguely addicted to is Tridle, where you have three words to solve at once, in 8 attempts.
Puzzles and quizzes are a very common activity and it can’t be a bad thing, as you age, to keep the brain cells turning over, right?
Tridle offers a bit more challenge, but at times I get very frustrated with myself.
“How could I not have thought of that!”
Grant sometimes helps but I have to complete one quiz by myself, every day.
What will happen if I don’t?
(That’s the obsessive part!)
From the start, I realised there must be methods for solving three words simultaneously and I would have to work one out for myself.
Which to an extent, I have.
The problem is remembering to apply the method.
Instead I revert to mental thrashing about and getting annoyed and frustrated.
It’s actually an interesting test of human behaviour.
Why do we become so task oriented that we forget the bigger picture?
Each time I fail, it’s not because a word was obscure but because I forgot the principles.
It’s all so basic and yet it seems to me that this is so often the origin of social problems, the not being able to step back, detach and re-consider the bigger picture.
In my Customer Service days I suffered through quite a few boring training sessions but a handful were interesting and enlightening.
At the age of 50 I was brow-beaten into attending a two-day session that involved travelling to Minnesota, which in itself was a mind-numbing exercise, given that we were expected to find seats on oversold flights using free tickets.
Our first day was an outdoor activity which involved things like “trust fall”, zip-line rides and climbing a wall while attached to two other people.
It pleased me immensely that I got up the wall easily, helping my younger teammates.
But my major satisfaction was climbing up and standing atop a telephone pole, despite my fear of heights.
It was a day of physical exertion but good to be outdoors on a sunny day.
Then followed an excruciating day of total twaddle.
In the evaluation that was required, my negative remarks were more polite but got me into trouble.
So I was invited to a de-briefing session and encouraged to change my mind.
One way or the other, it made no difference to me but on principle I refused.
Bloody minded woman.
Maybe if the journey back and forth had not been such an ordeal I might have been more cooperative.
Dealing with crowds of passengers was generally a challenge, given that most people who travel are nervous for any number of reasons and often situations would arise that we had absolutely no control over.
Keeping people fed and watered and informed was what you strived for, as it usually kept most of them off your back. It was seldom as simple as that.
Human behaviour has always fascinated me.
One day I was handling a number of departures, one of which was an oversold West Indian flight. A standby passenger got up to the gate even though she clearly had no hope of getting a seat.
In the middle of boarding confirmed passengers, this woman approached the desk making a fuss and when she was asked to step aside she wailed:
“I’m going down!”, by which she meant to the floor.
If this woman had not announced her intention, maybe I would have re-acted differently.
What should one do? I called the office for a wheelchair and ambulance to the medical office, then informed the cabin crew, who came to watch.
My job was to dispatch flights on time, so I let the boarding continue. It was suggested that I was cold and un-caring. Perhaps I should have had hysterics too?
The woman was fine but because she was at the medical office, she missed the next flight that could have accommodated her.
No-one ever took me to task about my appalling attitude.
Was it a case of being too task-oriented?
Interrupting the boarding and delaying the flight wasn’t going to change anything.
Maybe I should have offered the woman someone else’s seat? Um, no.
Perhaps I should have tried to look visually concerned?
Or just managed to look less annoyed. I am cursed with a face that tells all.
Making hay while the sun shone over the weekend.
This morning we had a much-needed downpour.
Good for the garden, Pete!
The twins were very wet at breakfast.
Two sparrows messed up my shot but it amused me.
My mantra in life, Carolyn, has been always: “Why Not? Rather than Why?
Joanna
Word games (Wordle…) train part of the brain.
Logic and numbers games (Sudoku…) train another part of the brain.
By alternating the two types of games, you train your (almost) whole brain. 😉
Maybe I should look at Sudoku but numbers always give me headache!
Why do people imagine they will get preferential treatment by making a big fuss? It has the opposite effect with me and makes me less inclined to help!
That was the reaction most of the staff had. I once went out of my way to help a couple because I felt sorry for HIM, then I turned to the wife and said “next time try being nice”. She suddenly went quiet!
At the age of 50 👀 you climbed a wall and standing atop a telephone pole … oh my, I have some serious work to do about my capabilities!! I ❤️ that last photo – I’m going to bed now with a smile … at the end of the day of 27 June 😉.
Wet groundhogs are a nice by-product of the rain. (No rain here today, 70F and sunny, hooray!)
I have never even looked at Wordle, or Sudoko, or anything remotely similar. I just don’t care if I can guess the words or numbers, never have. I lack that competitive gene that makes great chess players and quiz champions. But I did once get all the questions right, including the million-pound question, while watching an episode of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ Then again, that is a lot easier from a sofa, instead of being under pressure on national TV. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.