magid

* clocks changing tonight

i never did understand how that gave anyone "more" time, rather than more conveniently named time. the clocks always seem to change just when shabbat is at the right times. now it will end late enough that saturday night plans are trickier. and the afternoon almost demands a nap, or a long walk... time flows in circles, and i have to reaccustom myself to the rhythm of summer shabbatot, so different than winter. invitations are more likely to be lunch ones, and the food different, too.

* hand update

i realized that people i hadn't seen who'd heard i'd broken a finger were expecting a splint over one finger, not my forearm... one person said i should just say i hurt my hand, & leave it at that.

so, an update. i've been doing the exercises, and there's definitely improvement. i have more range of motion, and more easy motion, not as big a mental hurdle to do. when i take the splint off to move the 2 fingers, i move the others as well, also my wrist, and i feel everything creaking less. the fingers still resemble overstuffed sausages, but i have more degrees of rotation at each joint.

the back of my hand is hurting much less; i don't know if it's recovered from all the probing/bleeding from the appt weds, or is becoming more accustomed to motion in general as i do more, or if it was infected, and the antibiotics are doing their job. whatever - i'm just glad it doesn't hurt much. i don't have to elevate the hand as much as i sleep, and holding it horizontally for a bit seems to feel ok too. of course, i expect there'll be need for painkillers mon after the pins come out, but hopefully it won't be much.

* boggle permutations

kept thinking about this, playing with the usual rules or variants, but with new wrinkles. i'm not sure they'f really be playable w/o much mental change, though...

cylindrical boggle: 2 opposite sides of the board link up, so there are no corners, just 2 opposite edges.

spherical boggle: same as above, but all opposite sides meet up.

moebius boggle: like cylindrical, but flop the matchups, so opposite corners match up.

klein bottle boggle 1: 2 sides meet normally, 2 sides flop.

klein bottle boggle 2 (i know this is topologically different than the one above, but couldn't figure out which really was a klein bottle (1 eems more likely to me.), which something else (what?). i need to take a topology course.): like spherical, but both sides flop their matchups.

* shabbat

before shabbat, had my 1st shower in weeks. i feel so much cleaner after a shower than a bath- baths are more for soaking in, i guess.

i had my first invitation out for shabbat dinner in a long time. it went later than i'd expected (i got home after midnight, a few moments before the light in the livingroom went off.), but had some interesting conversation, some of which i felt rather separate from... i haven't thought about how i should make the world a better place (in those terms, anyway) in a while.

* omer

it is the 10th night, which is one week and 3 days, aka 13 base 7.

I saw a word during the last round with Queue today, but hadn't quite managed to start the first letter when time ran out. In the end, we tied, so had I managed to write it, I would've been able to say I won by "labias." (I would've written the plural first, though I suppose it would be more fun to say I won by a labia.... :-)

managed to sink three balls in a row, which is a first for me, i think.

thanks to zzbottom for lots of coaching.

(and i did well in the other game today too: i won more than half the boggle rounds i played with queue. obviously the gaming gods were smiling today, or something.)

game night friday night: aquarius, lost cities, solitaire (2 kinds)
saturday: connect four, boggle
sunday: dragon's gold, boggle, quiddler

and all of the gaming was with good friends, relaxing.

plus i got to hear greg greenway at passim saturday night.

and i went out for shabbat lunch (first shabbat meal out in ages), where i got to hold a not-quite-1-month-old baby :-) (his dad says he's nearing the big point oh eight... what a math geek.)

i didn't manage to attack more of the mess in my apt sunday, but i was hanging out with friends, which is rather more fun. (perhaps i shall manage to do useful things to my apt tonight.)

i was so proud of making a really nice salad for lunch today (assembled at work: romaine, mesclun, scallion, halved grape tomatoes, chopped up hard boiled egg, a spicy vinaigrette made at home).
(sad, that this is the most pleasing part of my workday. (well, other than boggle. i found donuts, not to mention mavens and ravens :-))

and then there's a building-wide holiday festival-of-sugar. most of which i can't (won't? where does kosher fall in that range?) eat, except for the immediately identifiable hershey's and reese's stuff. so of course to compensate, i eat far too much really-not-exciting chocolate.
ho-hum.

maybe the romaine will counteract the chocolate?

as queue suspected, i will now gloat (gloaters!) over today's boggle success.
usually we play 5 games at lunch. i may win one, or once in a great while, two, games.
today, amazingly, i won three and tied one game!!! not that i had many wonderful words (hoopoe was decent), but it was still pleasing to beat the master (see how i appreciate the slow honing of my skills?) today....