The Trials of Man Solo - It's a Puzzlement!

Before there was a pandemic, muh DAB, Dennis and I enjoyed working the jigsaw puzzles into full images.  It usually happened during weeklong vacations in Palm Springs, where we took our time and did a little every day until we completed it by the time we left.

From this photo of us behind one of our first collaborations, you would never guess that there was a huge divide between Dennis and me. 

The divide is filled with arguments for and against having the box around for reference.  

Dennis thinks it's fine and I am vehemently of the thought that it is cheating!!!  

Even so, Dennis and I work together to get the job done, without me looking at the box.

Then, Covid hit and we were all stuck in our homes, some of us alone.  Jigsaw puzzles became all the rage again!  Dennis already had some on hand, but I was not prepared, as I always left him in charge of our puzzle assignments.  Luckily, Dennis had a few that he had solved and made a contact free delivery to me.  I grabbed one and shoved the others under the sofa, so I wouldn't be able to subconsciously memorize the image and CHEAT!

Here's two...

They were lovely and fun to solve, but the pandemic kept going on, so I had to get some of my own.

 I happened upon a Marvel heroes puzzle on Mondo.com, thought it looked cool and bought it.

Once I opened the box, I noticed this puzzle was different from all the others I had done before.

ALL THE PUZZLE PIECES WERE THE SAME SHAPE!

Look at the pic below.

I was quite intrigued and thought I was ready for the challenge.

I started with the white portion with Captain America's Shield attached.

That was extremely difficult and time consuming... luckily I had a pandemicful of time available.

After the lower part was complete, I thought the upper area with faces and objects would be much easier.  All of a sudden, I felt intimidated by the rest of it because all the the other pieces were red, white & blue and looked very similar.  I soon discovered that pieces didn't fit where I was certain they would.  It was another long test of my sanity to complete it.  Even the last five pieces didn't seem like they would fit anywhere in the puzzle.  Ultimately, I was triumphant and I felt like an actual Avenger.

I was very proud of my work, but also a little traumatized.

It was a little while before I could even think of starting another puzzle.

Believe me, this puzzle spent a lot of time just sitting on my dining room table. 

The day I took it apart and put the pieces back in the box, I cried a little on the inside.

It was my birthday, October 2020 when I got a horrible gift from my friend Stacy McQueen.

It was a jigsaw puzzle.  It was an image of the twins in THE SHINING.  It was all red and black.

It was untouched until November.

I girded my loins and got to work.

I immediately felt the challenge.

Adding to the challenge, stuff was opening up, again,

so I didn't have as much spare time to work on it.

The puzzle sat, unsolved for weeks (Months?) at a time,

waiting for me to get a few pieces in place before moving on to something else.

Time passed and I'd give Stacy periodic updates here & there.

It became even more difficult as I returned to the office half time.

It got so bad that I broke out the box for reference and even then, it was so hard!

Finally, on December 29, 2022

I FINISHED the puzzle!

Over two years later, I was made whole.

I can't tell you how many times it occurred to me to just take it all apart and forget about it,

but that's not me.  I just had to finish it... it was FUN! Right?

And we all know, all work and no play makes Danny a dull boy.

I bought a frame and framed that shit!
I don't even have anywhere to hang it, 

but DAMMIT I'm proud of it.

Also, it's nice to have my entire dining room table back.

 

CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC!!!

Social Distancing? Self-Quarantine?

I've been shut in at home since the the afternoon of March 17, when The City of West Hollywood sent us home away from possible exposure to the virus.  I've only left to get groceries.  To be honest, I haven't really minded be home all the time.  I'm so used to house/pet sitting so often that being home is still kind of fresh to me.  I thought I'd have to time to do so many things, but I've been keeping myself pretty busy... and not all with TV!  Working from home, at first, was spending the entire day by my laptop trying to get connected to GoToMyPC, taking meetings about how we're going to do what we need to do and constant emails from various departments and divisions figuring out what works and what doesn't... Then finally last Wednesday, I got hit with time sheets and logs and invoices... all needed to be done quickly and just organizing myself with the actual practice of 

getting it all done was painful.

I am social with family and friends via Marco Polo, which is like a video walkie-talkie.  I like that you can leave your video message and the recipient(s) can respond immediately or get to it later.  I find it a nice way to check in and let everyone know I'm still alive.  I've also been active with friends on other platforms to play You Don't Know My Life,

hang out,

or have a cocktail party!

I also embarked a project that has taken much more time than I anticipated- I reorganized all my Dunnys.  I had at least 5 boxes of Dunnys that weren't displayed, so I retired a great portion of my Dunny wall and replaced them with the newer sets.  I still have to figure out storage for the retired ones, where they can be safe and organized, hidden away until another great rotation, so my dining table is cluttered with grouped Dunnys and empty boxes (that a collector must save).  That means I can't live out the daytime fantasy of working on a huge jigsaw puzzle until I get the Dunnys all situated.

Surprisingly, I've not increased my on-line porn enjoyment.  In fact it might be a little less. I guess, without the busy schedule and my time a little more relaxed, I don't feel the pressure to enjoy it in the only chance I'll get (usually, just before sleeping).  Lately, I've been tiring myself out either staying up too late watching a movie or playing my newly rediscovered XBox One.  Seriously, it had been over a year or so since I had last turned it on (I was too busy!) now, If I'm not careful (Which I haven't been) I could stay up 'til 3:00 am making colorful things go >POP<.  It's stupid, but fun.  I allow it, since I'm still waking up within an hour, or so, of my regular wake-up time... perhaps it's because it's a lot easier to sneak in a nap, now.

(Cuphead: Don't Deal With the Devil)

Most importantly, I figured I'd have more time to write in my blog. (Yeah, I know they're dead.)
If so, why has it taken almost 2 weeks for me to post?  Well, I'm busy being busy!

Hopefully, more to come soon!

STAY HOME!!