And justlikethat, we’re into birthday season. The birthday twins will be celebrating later today, and I have to get up and start cooking in a bit, so until then, let’s have a little fun.
And play Connections!
Which may be entirely unknown to those of you who don’t have NYT subscriptions, but let me just say: The Times is killing it in their Games section. It’s not just the venerable crossword puzzle anymore, but an expanding array of phone-friendly games like Wordle, Tiles, Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed and Sudoku.
But Connections is my new fave. It looks simple: Take a tiled array of 16 words and divide them into four groups. Here’s a recent one:
The groups are color-coded: Yellow, green, blue, purple. Yellow is the easiest level, purple the trickiest. You get four mistakes, after which you’re locked out until the following day. I almost always solve it, and as I’ve gotten better at it, I’m starting to hold myself to my own standards — zero mistakes, maybe, or getting blue or purple first. But as you can see looking at these 16, you have to consider which words might have more than one meaning, and might belong in multiple categories. “Waffle,” for instance, could belong with “waver,” as the two are synonyms in one sense of the word. It might also go with “hedge,” when you think about it — they’re all ways of putting off a firm decision.
But that’s for the easier levels. The key to getting a difficult level first, I’ve found, is to pick a word that seemingly has no similarities with anything else, and then bear down. On this one, I did pretty well once I started thinking about the apparent outlier “Russian.” Once I connected it with “bloody” and “mule,” I was home free. This is how I solved it:
As you can see, “hedge” and “waver” did go together, but not with “waffle.”
Anyway, it’s a fun thing to knock out over your second cup of coffee. Always the second — I’m still fuzzy until the first hits home.
Since we’re nearing the end of the month, let’s do some gift links to other NYT content. Here’s an interesting column about the why-aren’t-people-marrying-anymore conundrum that looks at it from the ground level:
On the rare occasions that women are actually asked about their experiences with relationships, the answers are rarely what anyone wants to hear. In the late 1990s, the sociologists Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas interviewed 162 low-income single mothers in Camden, N.J., and Philadelphia to understand why they had children without being married. “Money is seldom the primary reason” why mothers say they are no longer with their children’s fathers. Instead, mothers point to “far more serious” offenses: “It is the drug and alcohol abuse, the criminal behavior and consequent incarceration, the repeated infidelity, and the patterns of intimate violence that are the villains looming largest in poor mothers’ accounts of relational failure.”
But it doesn’t take behavior this harmful to discourage marriage; often, simple compatibility or constancy can be elusive. Ms. Camino, for her part, has dabbled in dating since her partner left, but hasn’t yet met anyone who shares her values, someone who’s funny and — she hesitates to use the word “feminist” — but a man who won’t just roll his eyes and say something about being on her period whenever she voices an opinion. The last person she went out with “ghosted” her, disappearing without warning after four months of dating. “There are women that are just out here trying, and the men aren’t ready,” she told me. “They don’t care, most of them.” Who, exactly, is Ms. Camino supposed to marry?
With that, I gotta get cookin’. But first, today’s Connections. Happy week ahead, all.
Deborah said on November 12, 2023 at 2:54 pm
I started playing Connections a couple of weeks ago, I was pathetic the first few days, but now I’ve got the hang of it. It’s fun. Every morning now I do Wordle, Connections and the Mini Crossword, I don’t want to pay extra for the regular crossword and besides I’m not that into crossword puzzles in general but the mini is quick because you play against time.
There was a big Palestinian protest around the Water Tower today around noon, it may be still going on. When we walked down to Eataly it was going strong, the cops were out in force and big heavy trucks were ready to block traffic if necessary. Lots of Green, white, black and red flags sticking up through sunroofs and honking by circling cars. Didn’t seem like anything bad was happening that I could tell.
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David C said on November 12, 2023 at 3:37 pm
I’ve never been good at word games. It probably has to do with growing up dyslexic in the days before it was widely recognized. Throw the kid in the dumb reading group and hope he can get a union job on a punch press. I threw sand in their gears by being good a science. So yeah, words aren’t quite my enemies but it’s close.
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Alan Stamm said on November 12, 2023 at 4:40 pm
Naturally, this word nerd is a Connections addict who earned a “Perfect!” screen back pat today and nearly always slides through each morning with zero to two errors. Brain exercise before the physical kind.
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Suzanne said on November 12, 2023 at 4:53 pm
I have been doing Connections & Wordle. I am getting better at connections but about once a week, there is one level that even when I see the answer, I still don’t really get. It’s usually some pop culture thing or turn of phrase that I have never heard. It uses the old brain, though!
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Deborah said on November 12, 2023 at 6:04 pm
Around 3 or 3:30 this afternoon there were a bunch of black SUV limos, like maybe 15 or so out front of the Westin Hotel on Delaware at Michigan, they had red and blue lights flashing like crazy. We could see them from our place. Someone important must have been there but no clues on the internet who that might have been. At first when we saw all the flashing lights we thought something must have happened at the Palestinian protest a block or so further down Michigan Ave, but nothing showed up when we googled it. Do any of you Chicagoans know who might have been in town?
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Dorothy said on November 12, 2023 at 8:15 pm
I’m addicted to the TIMES games and had never played Connections – until today. And I got a perfect score on my first try! Letter Boxed, though, confounds me nearly every single day.
Deborah a few months ago we saw similar activity in downtown Columbus and thanks to our buddy Jeff (TMMO) I found out it was Governor DeWine who was being whisked about. Maybe it’s the governor that you saw? Or almost saw?
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Dexter Friend said on November 13, 2023 at 3:24 am
David, I wasn’t a dumb kid and it took a long time to get my union job running punch presses. The control panels for these monster presses dwarfed an airline captain’s dashboard. Most of the few selected people trained to run these presses bid out as soon as possible. I did it for 10 straight years. This stuff was technical with small tolerances for parts inspection. To get these behemoths to run properly and turn out perfect part was an art form.
Yahoo! News has a story of mental health meds killing libido. Men tell of no-pleasure orgasms. A 27 year old woman said “my clitoris feels like a knuckle.”
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David C said on November 13, 2023 at 5:37 am
I didn’t know that Dexter. I’m a design guy, not a manufacturing guy. I should have said putting on lugnuts.
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Dorothy said on November 13, 2023 at 6:15 am
Oh how the mighty fall! I crashed and burned on Connections this morning. Gah!
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alex said on November 13, 2023 at 7:00 am
Wordle has become a habit and recently I’ve gotten several Wordles on the second try. I don’t go with the popular start words (“adieu,” “slate,” etc.) but always choose them at random and I always seem to do best when I don’t overthink it. I’ve also done well at Spelling Bee. I can see the value in honing one’s mental sharpness first thing in the morning but really need to get off my ass and work on physical fitness. The problem with Wordle and Spelling Bee is that they’re accompanied by the NYT and its limitless temptations for doom scrolling, and this is on top of my WaPo subscription which is another rabbit hole. And of course I don’t want to miss out on the arrests, house fires and obits in the local rags. With a daily reading list like that one, is it any wonder I never pick up a book anymore?
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Kath said on November 13, 2023 at 9:16 am
If you like Connections, check out the British game show “Only Connect.” It’s available on YouTube. Teams of three play Connections and three other very difficult word games. It’s delightful.
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diane said on November 13, 2023 at 9:23 am
I’m a boom or bust Connections player. Some days I don’t get it at all and run out of tries and other days I’m “perfect”.
.
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Jenny said on November 13, 2023 at 9:23 am
I’ve been playing Connections, in addition to Spelling Bee and Wordle every morning. I added Colorfle, where you match a target color by mixing different colors. Since I started watercolor painting, I’m able to get the right mix in this game within 3-4 tries.
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Dorothy said on November 13, 2023 at 9:51 am
Alex if you have a dog, those situations kind of take care of themselves. I do my daily solitaire game; start Spelling Bee; do the Mini Crossword; do Wordle; and now I’ve added Connections to the mix. I get my shower and then walk Nestle. Breakfast follows that. And I have huge chunks of time throughout my day to read WaPo, NYT, revisit Bee, etc. I’ve read 25 books (so far) this year, knit several gift items, two sweaters, lots of quilt blocks and finished 2 or 3 quilts. Retirement is great!
PS I do the same thing – a random word starts WORDLE for me. I think it’s boring to start with the same word every day. It feels like more of a challenge to try a different word every day.
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Icarus said on November 13, 2023 at 9:56 am
I just discovered Connections last week. It took a few tries to get the hang of it and I found a site that lets you practice on previous games.
I also play Wordle and Nerdle. For Nerdle I only do the Instant, Speed and Maxi as I figured out a sequence for the others that doesn’t leave much to chance.
Looking forward to visiting Chicago next week for T-day. Hope the weather holds out.
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tajalli said on November 13, 2023 at 10:57 am
I’ve liked reading the comics and doing puzzles after reading the funny papers as my morning ritual and that carried over to the internet. Hashi is my favorite and might be great for folks with dyslexia – no letters involved.
https://www.puzzle-bridges.com/
Also found a great rabbit hole puzzle call Blocks that is also spatially based.
https://www.coolmathgames.com/0-bloxorz
The latter has suspense-inducing sounds, which I usually turn off, but the entire site is fun.
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Deborah said on November 13, 2023 at 10:57 am
Jenny, thanks for bringing Colorfle to my attention. I find mixing colors of light quite different than colors of paint or ink, so I’m not so hot at it yet. In my early days as a graphic designer I had to do jillions of press observations for printed pieces I had designed, I often had to tell the press operators how to tweak the colors to get what I wanted but that was a long time ago so I’m rusty. Also those were ink colors not light colors, and it was usually CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) inks but sometimes PMS (pantone matching system) ink colors. Now-a-days most graphic designers deal with CMYK or RBG (red, blue, green) on computers and most printing seems to be digital now. I was dealing with print pieces back pre-computer, before the spoon was invented as they say.
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FDChief said on November 13, 2023 at 11:13 am
Apparently “birthday season” this year includes the Big Guy; our local grocery has just skipped over Thanksgiving and gone straight to Christmas. Trees, wreaths…the Starbucks inside is advertising the red-and-green holiday cups…
Is it me, or does the first offensive in the War on Christmas seem to start earlier every year? I get it; Xmas = $$$. But you’d think there’d be a break point where sales vs shelf space would be a money LOSER instead. But maybe that’s why I’m not in retail.
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Julie Robinson said on November 13, 2023 at 12:43 pm
At the fabric and craft stores, Christmas starts in July. I think only the grocery stores advertise for Thanksgiving. We ignore it since we got off the presents merry-go-round many years ago.
The WaPo is trying to compete on games too, for those with a subscription, and there is an app for a Connections-type game that I’ve been getting ads for. Since I’m not really a game person I can’t comment on it or any of the others.
Reading, now, there’s my true vice. I keep an annual list of books read and I’m at 117 so far in 2023. The numbers were boosted by Covid and a broken ankle early in the year; normally it’s about 100. I listen to audiobooks almost any time I’m by myself, including getting ready in the morning and face washing/tooth brushing at night. And still I can’t make a dent in my to be read list.
After four days in cloudy New York City I’m craving the sun, and wouldn’t you know, it’s a rare cloudy week in Orlando. But my zinnias are in full bloom, and it’s hard not to smile when you have such cheerful flowers.
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Jeff Gill said on November 13, 2023 at 3:06 pm
David C., thank you for a graceful apology; Dexter, sincere appreciation for your gentle retort about punch presses and skills and precision. A lesson for all of us.
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Deborah said on November 13, 2023 at 4:11 pm
I have never before been a game person but since Wordle started I’m hooked and a few others too as I mentioned before.
My book reading has been dragging the last couple of years, the internet has taken over my brain. I don’t listen to books that often but maybe that will get me back on track. I’m embarrassed by how few books I’ve read this year.
I see that Trump’s sister has died, I wonder if he’ll bury her at his golf course too?
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jim said on November 13, 2023 at 5:02 pm
This week’s Stone Kettle Station is the funniest thing I have read in ages!
https://www.stonekettle.com
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David C said on November 13, 2023 at 5:22 pm
I’m sure Trump will us his sister dying to try to get a year or three delay in his trials. So he can “mourn”, of course.
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Julie Robinson said on November 13, 2023 at 5:37 pm
Ramaswamay “is some sort of tele-presence remotely operated robo-Trump powered by cocaine scraped from dollar bills still warm and creased by a pole dancer’s G-string”. Hilarious. But I couldn’t read the whole thing; I just can’t engage at any level with the toxicity of the Republican party.
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David C said on November 13, 2023 at 8:13 pm
My dad is in the hospital again. It’s probably the tenth time this year and likely the last time. His suffering will be over but my mom’s is just starting. She can’t form short term memories. Dad’s going to be dying over and over for her. I can’t imagine what a horror that’s going to be. The person she’s been with for 66 years will be gone and she won’t know why. So we tell her and she’s sad all over again or we lie. What a choice.
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brian stouder said on November 13, 2023 at 9:03 pm
David, here’s hoping all goes as well as things possibly can, in such circumstances. Time and patience
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Julie Robinson said on November 13, 2023 at 10:02 pm
David, my heart goes out to you; it’s just plain awful. I hope and pray that you are able to find small moments of peace in the middle of this.
We found that saying something along the lines of “he can’t be here right now” and “you’ll see him again soon” was more helpful than repeating the death news. Of course everyone is different, and asking your mom what she likes/loves about your dad, or for memories of early life together, or looking at pictures together may be what helps in your situation.
I’m learning all over what infinite patience is needed.
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David C said on November 14, 2023 at 5:59 am
I’ve been awake all night thinking about it. Mom’s memory slips in and out. Sometimes she remembers things like her oldest brother passed away and that she has a year old great-granddaughter. Sometimes she doesn’t. She recognizes what’s happening because it happened to her mother too. Thanks for your suggestions, Julie. I think they’ll help. I guess it’s a blessing that her memory problem is stable. She’s not progressing to forgetting herself or family. The past is very clear so it gives us lots to talk about when we see her. But I know there’s going to be a sometimes underlying and sometimes overt sadness to the rest of her life.
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Deborah said on November 14, 2023 at 7:04 am
David C, so sorry. When Uncle J’s brother died we decided not to tell him, it made it easier on everyone. They didn’t live near each other and as far as I know uncle J never asked about his brother during the rest of his own life, which by that time wasn’t much longer. We all felt pretty bad about doing that but it probably was the best thing to have done at the time. So sad.
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Jeff Gill said on November 14, 2023 at 10:19 am
David C., walking along that path with you. Memory is a strange & wonderful thing even when it’s failing. And I’m not sure how much of this year I want to remember myself.
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David C said on November 14, 2023 at 11:05 am
I’m with you Jeff. I was home last weekend and mom asked me if Obama was still President, except she asked if it was “that black guy”. If she’s forgotten 2017 through 2021 I’d like to join her.
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Jeff Borden said on November 14, 2023 at 1:27 pm
There are limitless reasons to despise the Federalist Society and its leader, Leonard Leo, for manufacturing right-wing judges on an assembly line and flooding our courts with the finished product. But apparently that’s not enough. Project 2025 is the latest outrage, outlining a massive plan to gut the federal government of civil service professionals and replacing them with hundreds of tRumpanzee apparatchiks who would follow only the orders given by the orange cancer. And then there’s the anti-immigration efforts, which are appalling and on a huge scale including ongoing sweeps and raids to round up undocumented immigrants, house them in massive camps and send them on their way. tRump plans to raid the Defense Department budget to pay for this as he did with his stupid wall. It’s pure insanity.
No one wants the crisis at the border, which both parties have played a role in creating. But, man, we need ’em. The average age of an American citizen in 2000 was 30. It was 38 in 2022. Native born Americans are not replacing themselves any more, which will create huge issue going forward in virtually every sector of life from agriculture to elder care. It will be slow-motion suicide.
It should surprise no one the architect of this cruelty is the despicable Steven Miller, who previously created the child separation policy as a deterrent. We should just melt down the Statue of Liberty and use it to make tRump statues. It clearly no longer represents this country or its values.
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Dorothy said on November 14, 2023 at 1:29 pm
David I’ve been thinking about you and hoping things haven’t been too unbearable for you. I did get to visit with my dad in the hospital before he passed away and it helped to know I’d gotten some time with him. I lived in South Carolina at the time and he died in Pittsburgh.
Sometimes I wonder if, when we all talk about these situations with our parents or other loved ones, we might possibly be the protagonists in these situations ourselves in the not-too-distant future. It seems inevitable, right, that some of us will have memory issues? I pay really close attention to anyone who talks about this because I feel like it might help me if my husband starts to struggle. Or if I have trouble thinking of something my brain almost immediately goes to “oh Lord, is this the start of my own memory issues?!” It is a gradual process – you don’t just wake up one day and all your memories are jumbled or missing. What a cruel way to spend the rest of your life for anyone (caregivers too) who has to go through that!
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Sherri said on November 14, 2023 at 2:45 pm
Project 2025 is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about when I say the work isn’t done when the election is over. Even if by some miracle there’s a huge Blue wave in 2024, the Project 2025 people aren’t just going to disappear. Neither are the Federalist Society, the Heritage Foundation, the Alliance Defending Freedom (who now has one of their own as Speaker!), or Steve Bannon. Trump is just the noise. Defeating him is necessary but not sufficient.
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Dave said on November 14, 2023 at 4:27 pm
Our next door neighbor, who is 81, told me just last week that he’s starting prescription medicine for dementia. I’m not certain why he chose to tell me this but he does struggle with coming up with words in conversation, he warned me two years ago when we first met that he had trouble coming up with words at times. He doesn’t seem any worse to me than he was when we first met but I know it upsets him, who wouldn’t it upset? He and his wife are both 81. I told him I was patient and found that he always has something interesting to say, he liked my answer, he said.
As I’ve related many times, we went through this with my mother, terribly unpleasant, David, I sympathize with your current situation. I was with my father when he passed away but not my mother, sadly, none of the family was there when she left us, which bothers me. Would she have had that final moment of recognition after such a long time of not knowing us?
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LAMary said on November 14, 2023 at 4:58 pm
I’ve never been great at remembering names. Now I’m 70 and I think it’s worse but maybe I’m just assuming it is. I tell people I’m likely to remember their dog’s birthday but not their name. I went to a friend’s 70th birthday party a couple of weeks ago. Everyone there was about the same age as the birthday boy and I. I think I was doing pretty well with remembering names. One guy there was a former co-worker of the host whom I met once in 1977. He had no recollection of me. I remembered what type of motorcycle he had and what his nickname was and eventually his name.
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Sherri said on November 14, 2023 at 5:29 pm
I take topirimate daily to help prevent migraines, and one unfortunate side effect of that medication is that I can sometimes struggle to come up with a particular word. One of my doctors called it the dumb blonde drug. Fortunately I have a large enough vocabulary that usually I can just move on to another word, but sometimes I need a specific word and it just won’t come in the moment. But it reduced my migraines down to a more manageable 2-4 a month, which I can take sumatriptan for. When I was getting more like two a week, my doctor didn’t want me taking that much sumatriptan, especially since there’s a potential for a negative interaction with my antidepressant (though I had been taking the combo long before the interaction had been discovered.)
Aren’t co-morbidities fun? I’m off to surgery tomorrow to repair my fractured orbital floor, and had to negotiate with the anesthesia nurse yesterday which of my meds I could take before my surgery (anti-depressant yes, BP med no).
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David C said on November 14, 2023 at 6:32 pm
I’m terrible remembering names too. There are people I’ve worked with for sixteen years who if I run into them at a store or something, I just don’t remember. I can BS my way through it unless Mary is with me. Then I have to fess up so I can introduce them. It’s embarrassing.
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Dave said on November 14, 2023 at 6:40 pm
We’ve an extended family member by marriage who is terminally ill. She used to talk about her sister, who used to make strange choices about her life. My sister asked yesterday if anyone could remember her name, I’m guessing that I haven’t thought of this person in decades but I came up with it immediately. I was so happy, silly thing to be happy about but still. Oh, and I know what we had for dinner last night, too.
Dumb blond drug, Sherri? My wife, who has lost a good bit of her hearing and wears hearing aids is still offended by the ear, nose, and throat doctor who said, in essence, “Oh, so you can’t hear”, and then laughed. She doesn’t want to continue with him and her hearing is getting worse, it seems, even with hearing aids.
Bad crash on I-70 today, only about four miles from my childhood home. I wonder and they haven’t said if it was another case of slowed or stopped traffic and a semi driver not paying close enough attention. Speculation on my part.
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LindaG said on November 14, 2023 at 6:53 pm
When I can’t think of a name immediately, I say, “Give me 10 minutes.” It usually works. (Age 82)
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Suzanne said on November 14, 2023 at 8:44 pm
I am 65 and everyone I know that is approximately my age tells me they find it difficult to remember names. I can know all sorts of things about someone – where they work, how many kids, what color their car is – but then can’t remember their name. It’s so frustrating. It always comes to me eventually!
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Jeff Gill said on November 14, 2023 at 8:47 pm
Six dead just outside of Etna on I-70 in Licking County, Ohio; three were band kids on a rented tour bus heading for an event in Columbus, from up in Tuscarawas County. For marching band kids and parents and teachers and boosters, it’s been a long day all over Ohio.
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Dorothy said on November 14, 2023 at 8:59 pm
Jeff I’ve been thinking about you just about all day ever since I found out, around 11:30 this morning, about that accident. Thinking of you since it happened in Licking County. It even made the national news tonight. Three teenagers dead, two parents of other kids, and a teacher as well. It’s just heartbreaking. Dave – the local news said they called the company that owns the tractor trailer to ask for a comment and whoever answered the phone hung up on them.
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Deborah said on November 14, 2023 at 9:26 pm
I have had some kind of disability where I can’t think of a word I want to say. I’ve had it my whole life, as a result I speak hesitantly. It’s embarrassing, but most of the time I can think of a different word that means the same thing but it takes a bit of time for it to surface and come out of my mouth. It’s worse when I’m stressed. I think it’s something similar to stuttering except I don’t actually stutter, I just hesitate.
I used to remember names with no trouble, names always came to me quickly but names are becoming difficult for me now. I usually come up with the name eventually and when I do it just pops in my head even if I haven’t thought about it for a while. I have read that as one age’s remembering names is usually the first thing to go. I am better at names than my husband though he has always had a harder time with names than I have now.
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Sherri said on November 14, 2023 at 9:41 pm
Yeah, Dave, that’s what he called it. I put up with it because he was my psychiatrist at the time and it’s not easy to find a psychiatrist to work with; when he retired suddenly I tried calling quite a few, none of whom were taking new patients, before giving up and asking my primary care doctor to manage my antidepressant.
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Mark P said on November 15, 2023 at 2:12 am
I have mentioned before that my wife is fairly early in that long journey into the darkness of dementia. Our relationship has been contentious from the beginning. Because of that I sometimes (often?) have trouble acting with charity when I deal with some of the behaviors that dementia causes. Her memory problems are obvious, but the cognitive decline is not always that obvious. Today at a doctor visit, a nurse was doing some testing for nerve problems in her feet and legs. She told my wife to do something, and my wife asked a question that gave me one of those flashes of insight into her condition. I could see a little bit of how the gears are working, or maybe not working, inside her mind. It broke my heart. I almost cried. I doubt that the nurse or my wife would have understood why. I feel like crying right now, as I type this. I hope I can translate that understanding into action when I deal with her.
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Dexter Friend said on November 15, 2023 at 3:59 am
David, now that all my family’s previous generation are gone, a younger person may look and think I must be relieved. Relief is not what it is. I believe the 4 stations of grief tome is just outside professional claptrap…for me, not saying it is not good for some.
For me, it’s simply accepting life on life’s terms, a part of recovery that I latched onto. Living for today in a whirlwind of grief is just hard, but we must go on.
From recovery, I learned that acceptance in the key. This part is easy to grasp, no fork in the road to ponder: death is final, and accepting it peacefully takes time. After God knows how long for each person, peace comes. I buried them all, went to all the funerals. Only the last uncle, at age 92, was cremated.
Losing Carla Lee, my wife, 3 years ago to Covid19 was different. I had to conjur up all my tools of recovery and acceptance for that. With my past, one might think I was tempted to throw away my 28 years of sobriety over that death. Not a chance. I had a full tool box of help and I had a computer and a telephone. Best.
And David, I was being a bit snarky on the punch press retort. I knew what you meant. Now, those piece-in piece out hand fed presses are mostly operated by robotic arms. I started on those before being moved to the giant monsters that required cutting huge sections of the roof out to fit them. I ran enough of the single stroke presses to have witnessed several finger amputations when safey protocols were breached. They utilize fast-jerk cables attached to wrists if an operator is out of rhythm with the cycle. Dangerous stuff. Many refused to even start in that department.
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David C said on November 15, 2023 at 6:04 am
I sort of knew you were being snarky, Dexter, but your point was well taken anyway. Yesterday was a bad day. Everything hit me all at once. I’d be surprised if dad is still alive for Christmas. I’m just glad it looks like it’s not going to happen tomorrow on my mom’s birthday. Dad’s 86 so he’s had a good run and was mostly healthy until about two years ago. Mom will never remember the present again but but we have a lot of past to relive so I guess it will be OK-ish.
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JodiP said on November 15, 2023 at 9:21 am
My heart goes out to all caretakers who are sharing their stories. I hope sharing here, knowing you are heard and supported is some help. The NYT had a recent article about the quiet rage of caregivers. We absolutely depend on family members to do most of this difficult work but don’t provide enough support.
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Heather said on November 15, 2023 at 10:12 am
I often forget names. Just last week I ran into an acquaintance I have known for years and when the time came to introduce her to someone my mind blanked. Embarrassing.
I have an aunt in California who has been suffering from dementia—it has been a slow decline since she was in a car accident about 10 years ago but got quite serious in the last couple of years. My other aunts have been quite frustrated that her daughter, who lives nearby, seemed content to wait for some kind of catastrophe to happen before doing anything. She is finally going to a memory care facility. Luckily there is money to pay for it since she has a pension and they can sell her house. As for me if that happens…I don’t like to think about it.
Regarding the marriage topic in Nancy’s post, this is a big topic on TikTok. There are so many divorced women in their 40s/50s who say they’re never getting married again. At my age (53) I don’t really see the point. I have realized I really like living alone and doing what I want to do.
I love Wordle and Connections. Also Quordle, in which you have to solve four Wordles simultaneously.
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Deborah said on November 15, 2023 at 10:30 am
That crash in Ohio made the local Santa Fe newspaper.
This morning I didn’t get Wordle (way too many options) and I didn’t get any of the Connections either, bummer. At least I got the Mini crossword in 3.47 minutes, anything under 5 is good for me.
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