Thursday, July 29, 2010

Burst o' energy

Today I felt good, better than I can remember in the recent past. Not that nothing is bothering me, but nothing is weighing on me. It may be because I just came to a realization. I'm right a lot of the time. Yes, people get angry at me and on good occasion shout me down without listening. What does that say about them? Dunno, guess it varies. But it doesn't say anything about me. So I can transcend some of the nastiness just by recognizing it for what it is. Yes, this is a recent realization, for some reason.

Also, my acid reflux is under control. That means I got a better sleep last night. It helps.

MASSIVE SEGUE ALERT
I am, at present, pretty good at doing crossword puzzles. When people see this, they say I must be smart. Which I am, but not a genius. There is a way, though, to bring slightly above-average intelligence to bear on crosswords and conquer most of them.


1. Find an answer that you know. Not think you know, but actually know.
2. After you solve it, pick a clue that crosses it. Assuming your first answer was right, you've got one letter in at least three others. (Crosswords never use less than three letters for a correct response).
3. Keep going.
4. If you get stuck, move to another part of the grid.


Like I say, this gives you a push, even if you don't always complete the puzzle. Even better, it means you get a true challenge, rather than just heartbreak and bafflement.

2 comments:

susan said...

The interesting thing about educating oneself outside the mainstream is that one develops clarity. Unsubstantiated opinions have no inherent value; only reasoning allows us to comprehend reality and develop depth of understanding. Waste is a terrible thing to mind.

Two things I know about acid reflux that help me:
Don't eat while slouched.
If worse comes to worse a tsp of bicarbonate of soda in half a glass of warm water.

I haven't done a crossword in a long time but that was my trick too :-)

Ben said...

Hadn't known about the bicarbonate of soda thing. I'll have to keep that one on tap.

Somthing started me thinking a few weeks ago. I was on the bus, sitting next to an older black guy. He asked me if I was a violent person. Since as far as I know I'm not a violent person, I said no. He said, "That's too bad, because I'm a violent person, and I'll kick your ass. Don't talk to me no more." To top it off he told someone else that he can always spot someone who doesn't like black people.

Now there's a few things I could have taken from that. The obvious lesson would have been that black people are assholes. Being raised by liberals does have some effect though, so that one didn't satisfy me. I eventually concluded two things. One, he didn't know me, so his opinion said nothing about me. Two, since I didn't like him--because of the color of his skin and all :)--I had no reason to worry about whether he liked me.

That's just a clarifier I thought of after the initial post.