interests coming up from strange places

My last post was filled with random thoughts about going away...but that trip never materialized.

Monday morning, I woke up essentially blind in one eye. It was one of the most frightening episodes of my life, to go to sleep healthy and whole and to wake up and no know what the problem was.

I was rushed to the docs and discovered I had a very severe eye infection and was told I should NOT go away. My eyesight could be permanently damaged and the eye doc wanted to keep a very close eye on me for the next few days.

To make a long story short, my husband went and had one of the most bizarre (in positive ways) weeks and my mom flew down to get me to the docs, be moral support, etc. There's a looooong involved story there but in the interest of not airing dirty laundry on this blog, I'll be a good girl and keep quiet.

Anyway, to get to the point of this blog...

I read...a LOT. Reading is essential for work and I read for pleasure as well. When suddenly faced with this eye issue, I knew my reading would be severely curtailed and I felt a quite a bit stressed about that. I'm not someone who can lie on the couch and stare at the TV all day without any other stimulation. Especially not if it is on Fox News all day.

I finally decided that I'd work as much as I could and find a way to keep my mind occupied in a way that didn't involve reading. I was so nervous that keeping my mind active was more than necessary--it was my sanity.

Enter Sudoku.

Sudoku is a Japanese numbers logic puzzle. I had been introduced to it by a friend on a message board a couple of months back and had even downloaded a trial version of a Sudoku PC game some time ago. But I never seemed to have the free time to investigate it.

As we were waiting for my perscriptions on Monday, Mark dragged me into a bookstore so that I could pick up a couple of magazines or maybe a book I'd been waiting for (I reeealllly wanted to get Lynn Viehls' Private Demon). Instead, I got two weeks of People Magazine and a Sudoku book. Lynn's book wasn't there yet but I have it in my hands as of this morning!

By Thursday, I was feeling well enough to try Sudoku and within five minutes I was hooked. These logic puzzles engaged my mind in a wholly different way and didn't bother my one sighted eye at all! I must have worked on these puzzles for two or three hours, in a time where ten minutes spent a my computer was agonizing.

I appear to have a new hobby and interest that I hope to engage in even after I'm wholly healed.

Health update: Mom is gone so things are MUCH quieter(and saner!!), the eye is still in a GREAT deal of pain but I have blurry vision in it and I'm progressing well, according to the doctor on my last visit. I'll be going back to him on Monday, so I hope to have some even better news then!

Meanwhile, bring on Sudoku!

Here are some Sudoku links in case this post has piqued your interest.

http://www.sudoku.com/
http://www.websudoku.com/
http://www.sudokumaster.co.uk/