Finding the chase and cutting to it

Tenacious is a word often used to describe me, whether a small kid working out how insulin worked or playing bridge with my family on a Sunday evening, I am a sticker. I learn what I need to do something to the best of my ability and have goals saying whether that process is complete.

Whether it was working out how the Rubik cube worked in the 1980s (20 minutes a day before I went to sleep) or passing my motorcycle test, I keep on until the job is done.

Stubborn is another would that could be used with things like the motorcycle, but tenacious sounds much more positive, somehow.

I write this as I am recovering from the local lurgy that has been doing the rounds. I am OK. until I try to move, eat, or sleep, then everything goes to pot.

Before we go any further, there are a couple of things you may not appreciate about me. I never expected to get to 50 odd, and the whole “protecting your brain” from age related fatigue (or dare we say it macular dementia) was just not on my radar.

It was on my husband’s and when he got Vista, he started playing some of the “Microsoft games” as a work-out for his brain. Like going to the gym, he saw that as a way to preserve what he had.

Long story short, I started doing the same thing 6 years ago, although even then I resisted Solitaire – shocking waste of time and a feature on Andy Hamiliton’s Old Harry’s Game gave our protagonist his score when he entered hell. “What’s that for?” “That’s how many points you earned playing solitaire”…

Well, when I finally got a Window’s 7 machine in 2019, I promised myself I’d get to 3000 on Spider (one of the games). Which I did within a couple of years. I have done all my favourite games: Klondike, Pyramid, Freecell.

I had one left, a game I really don’t like very much at all. Tri-peaks. Today, I finished that final goal.

So why the title of this piece? Surely, I am not going to let this honed skill die? No, there are daily challenges, which I can typically do in five minutes before breakfast. I also do a few crosswords and word games.

I can’t see that part of my daily routine stopping.

But I have been doing extra games and competitions to get the total points. Now that I have reached my goal, I can learn a new skill.

Or write an update for my book.

My presentation at Snoopcon went reasonably well, I might try developing that skill or use the 45-60 minutes a day I have spent doing solitaire on learning a new game or skill.

Or writing one. Or playing bridge – I have taken a bit of a break from that.

The world is my oyster!