Nazo means puzzle in Japanese. In a weird phase of my life, I used to enjoy jigsaw puzzles. From 2006 to 2009, I worked a summer job that allowed me to come home and watch Big Brother, a very mindless show that I regret having wasted hours of my life on (same as LOST, survivor, and eventually probably, Game of Thrones). What I did to mix with this boredom (I've always been a multitasker) was solve 1000-piece (or was it just 500 pieces) crossword puzzles. I know, not the most strenuous exercise, even a 5th grader could do it! But I always enjoyed these weeks of starting on a puzzle, finding the edges, applying the artwork, and then finally joyously placing that last piece. It's similar to the accomplished feeling of finishing an endeavor, reaching a destination, getting closure, winning a championship, etc., that I haven't really enjoyed that much in my life (my graduations were usually tarnished by fears of the job market/ the next step), and sports and fantasy baseball championships have come few and far between, unfortunately.
That's why I think it's a great idea that the Los Angeles public Library provides free jigsaw puzzles for patrons to solve, and then frames the completed puzzles along their walls. Great free activity that the bottom levels of society (unfortunately like most urban libraries, the LA library is populated by vagrants and vagabonds from the nearby Skid Row area) that at least keeps people occupied and provides a departure from their otherwise joyless lives. Hopefully no one steals the pieces (that would truly be a meaningless, wasteful tragedy), but I do hope for others to experience the same sense of accomplishment upon completing a puzzle.
Sometimes life feels like a puzzle, a lot of pieces floating around with that one piece you can't find (not just talking about when I can't find my car keys) where you have to fit things together into a schedule and balance them all at once. It's a delicate balancing act, but just like finally completing a puzzle, once in a while you finish something and feel a nice tingling, briefly give a sigh of relief, or like after running my marathon, just going home and taking a long nap. And then you're on to the next puzzle.
Sent from my iPhone
1 comment:
(Cheese Alert - but you know I am a serious person and I really mean it...)
You are the very important piece of the puzzle of my life! Hope we can find more pieces together and build a bigger puzzle ;)
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