Many people start resolutions as the new year begins. However, I decided to get a head start on one last June.
Patience has always been a struggle for me. My tolerance of nonsense has been quite limited over the years, though I hate finding myself losing my temper. So I decided to start, over the summer, to build my patience. How does one work on that, you might ask.
Puzzles.
I wanted to support National Novel Writing Month, the non-profit group that I use for my students’ annual writing project. They had a neat puzzle for sale, so I thought, “Why not?”
It was difficult. There were a lot of similar colors, especially some streets and a park. The sky was tough. Admittedly, Michelle chipped in and helped me so I could finish it before we went on vacation.
It was tough for me to focus and sit for an extended period of time, trying to find links between different areas of the puzzle. But I forced myself to do so, often spending time listening to an audiobook or podcast. I don’t think I could do a puzzle in silence!
While on vacation, we visited Red Rocks in Colorado. It’s a beautiful vista, and when I saw a puzzle in their gift shop, I figured I’d continue my newfound hobby. Uff da! If you’ve ever seen Red Rocks, you can imagine the toughness of that puzzle! Lots of rock, lots of sky, and lots of prairie grass!
I’m learning little tricks of the trade. I try to start by simply finding all the edge pieces. If I can put that together, it gives the illusion of progress. But it also allows me to work on certain areas and know I have somewhere to connect them. This is not news to anyone who has ever done a puzzle. Perish forbid I should ever find all the edge pieces on the first try, though!
I find that the number of times I sift through the pieces, transferring ones I’m not going to use yet to a different box, grows with each puzzle. I can make better progress if I just find all of one section. For example, as I did a Star Wars puzzle, I searched for all the pieces that showed a TIE fighter. Once I got that starship done, it brought a sense of accomplishment.
I’m very much an amateur at puzzle building. However, there are people who are quite competitive. That’s right, puzzling is a sport! Minnesota is becoming known as the state of speed jigsaw, according to a story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Our state has both the second- and third-ranked puzzlers in the country. One said she did a 500-piece puzzle in 31 minutes. Another completed a 1000-piece puzzle in 90 minutes.
1000-piece puzzles often take me a couple of weeks to get done.
There are even team competitions. Two people have two hours to get a 1000-piece puzzle finished. In a world championship competition, a team from Minnesota finished second to a group from Spain. There are also four-member teams, and a Minnesota group also placed second in that category.
Speculation in the article was that Minnesotans are so good because of our long winters and nothing else to do. (That could change this year since the snow has been noticeably absent!) But maybe it’s also because Minnesotans are largely patient people. It’s part of our “Minnesota Nice” mantra, where we might just smile and nod instead of telling someone what we really think, in an effort to avoid any strife.
I’m a competitive person, but I can’t see myself entering any contests any time soon. I’m still working on the patient part. I’ve only given up on a puzzle once, when the pieces were flimsy and didn’t fit together very well.
I just keep plugging away, learning new ideas as I go. For example, when I get to a point where there is a large section of one color, I’ll do a shape sort, placing all those with the same points together to try out one by one. It’s not very exciting, but it is effective. I’ve also learned to check the floor for pieces since our cat likes to jump up and settle himself on top of the puzzle.
That’s frustrating, but not as patience-trying as when a piece seems to fit but really doesn’t. On my most recent puzzle, a few times I thought the pieces fit, only to discover, on a second look, that things didn’t match up exactly. Argh!
Is my patience better? Hard to tell, but just like a big jigsaw puzzle, it’s a process. I do know I feel a sense of accomplishment and pride when I finish a puzzle and do the required puzzle rub, running your hand across the completed work to check that everything is there. Even if Michelle and Chewbacca are the only ones to see the finished piece, it’s still a fun thing.
Michelle and Anton both got me puzzles for Christmas. One has a bunch of comic book covers, so the words and pictures make it a little easier. The other is an outdoor view of US Bank Stadium. That might take a bit longer. It will for sure help my patience!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is gleek, which means to play a trick, as in, “They thought it would be funny to gleek the puzzle builder by hiding one edge piece.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!