1.04.2008

There Ott* to be a Law ...

So ... sometime back in the last century, Mrs. Gee was living at home while doing her student-teaching. We hung out a lot because ... well ... she is just a barrel of fun. During the course of that semester she introduced me to a new and all-consuming habit.

Crossword Puzzles.

Oh, it's a puzzle all right. It's a puzzle as to why I would devote valuable hours every single day to this ... vice ... that as far as I know, does not have a 12-step program to help its victims. It's a puzzle as to why I suddenly have added words to my vocabulary like ilk and alee and Mel Ott*. It's a puzzle as to why I cannot ... repeat cannot ... consume my daily dose of cereal without my daily dose of words.

In my defense I will offer two excuses: A) Somewhere, sometime, someone did a study that said that doing crossword puzzles will help to stave off Alzheimers. (What that probably means is that when I am old and rambling off about nothing in particular, it will include an imaginary conversation with Mel*.) B) I consider it a virtue and not a vice that I can walk away from an unfinished crossword, when I have reach an impasse and my cereal is gone. PDaddy cannot say the same. But then PDaddy has so much information floating around in that brilliant head of his that he seldom reaches an impasse.

Two last notes: A) I don't ... I repeat I don't do Sudoku. Don't even try to get me started ... and B) Mel Ott* played baseball for the Giants and was the "First National Leaguer to hit 500 homers".

I learned that just yesterday.

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6 comments:

steph said...

oh, i'm too much of a dummy to do crosswords, but i do envy your amazing ability.

i have recently started on sudoku... i may be too much of a dummy for that too, but i know when to walk away b/c the puzzle is just too tough!

melissa said...

the daily wildcat had a great crossword everyday! i blame that crossword for my missing out on joining your brilliant DIL in the summa cum laude club.

awww i miss the daily wildcat crossword :-)

Angy said...

oooo my friend and i were just talking about this the other day! i would looooove to be able to do a crossword but i just don't have all that random knowledge lol.

i do however love me some sudoku but it does get frustrating after a while :P

Kelley Bochman Smith said...

I would start doing crossword puzzles if it would garantee that I would be as smart as you. I'm sure it would help my spelling...

Amy G. said...

Amen to the Daily Wildcat Crossword puzzle, Melissa. In fact, it was that very puzzle that I would download and print 2 copies each day so that mommie and I could race...hence...the beginning of the obsession!

Kate said...

I love crosswords. My mom & grandma do too. They used to laugh at me because I would do them in pen. Now they do them in pen too. I don't do them as much any more because my husband takes the one from the newspaper every morning. But over Christmas, we had a few crossword races. So fun. We love Sudoku too. Sudoku races are much quicker. :)