ooph - was stuck with about 20 s;uares unknown and tried a force-guess. it didnt fail until the final-block. thankfully i could undo it - but it was STILL hard... whew...

easy one

uh... how? it was easy to start with 7s and there were lots of pairs, but they never forced anything for me...

hi all

whew, that was a bit tricky

Not too bad for a hard, needed greens, but no guessing...

I'm out on this one again!

ha

Nailed that puppy!

Rank me, baby!

LOTS of green, sunshines!

Nix theme music.

go

Difficulty score = 29. I had to start over about 4 times!

No guessing needed.

no guessing required

yeah, that one was tricky for me!

aw, missed limer

guessing? why would i be hearing this word? this offends my ears. this word should not be mentioned in sudoku chat. it's like how you don't mention bees around someone who was traumatically stung by a horde of them as a child.

I GUESS you are right...

lalalalalalalalala i can't hear you lalalalalalalala

can someone loan me a 5?

it's not for drugs is it?

it will be if I don't find one soon... LOL

it doesn't really matter whether you have any of a certain number... i mean who cares what order you find things in, as long as you find things?

oh... back to guessing?

WHAT are you TALKING about?

that's not me getting mad by the way, just being confused.

Didn't think you were mad... I still don't have any 5s on my puzzle...

well, neither do i, but that's ok, they will come eventually. do you like star trek?

I used to watch it a lot... haven't seen it in a while though

do you remember a next gen episode called "the game" featuring ashley judd as wesley's love interest?

not sure... I don't know her by name. If I see the episode, I usually know I have seen it... I didn't miss many.

she's pretty, mostly acts in movies... anyway it was the one where they had that game they wore on their heads where you had to get these discs to go into these trumpet-shaped stalks

hmmm... maybe I didn't see it... what's the main story line?

somebody gives this game to... riker, i think... while he's vacationing on risa... and it's actually a mind control device and he spreads it to everyone on the ship but wesley and robin (ashley judd), with data, save the day.

excellent episode.

now it sound familiar... one of my favorites was Data getting drunk and falling down in the end-scene. Oh, and any episode where he was Sherlock Holmes. I also liked the Mark Twain episode.

anyway when they teach a new person how to play the game they always say you can't force it, you have to relax and just let it happen. that is like sudoku. except without the mind control. hopefully.

you didn't know i had a point there did you?

:)

hmmm... I am thinking I need a little mind-control... cause it ain't happening... LOL

no you need a little relaxing

also similar to those magic eye thingys

how can I relax when I know there are nine %s out there... alone and scared... unable to find their way to their *%^$#@ homes... LOL

but if you stay tense you are less able to help them

are you stalling, trying to avoid guessing where those 5s go?

not remotely

i am working on it while we chat

and i know i will not need to guess

yeah... I know... LALALALALALALlalalalalala... lol

ahhh there is the first 5...

wtg!!

i didn't do anything

one less orphan to feed...

maybe you should be listening to kokomo, it helps.

:-)

and done.

YAY...wtg!

sudoku is also like surfing. you just ride the wave.

sudoku is also like science. you're just discovering what was already there all along.

or like having a cold. you just treat the symptoms until it wroks itself out.

it is NOT like trying to find the perfect analogy for what sudoku is like. that is much harder. i am dissatisfied.

don't be dissatisfied... just "relax and let it happen"... LOL

giving birth? you don't control it, really, you're just along for the ride.

ouch...

what i am trying to say is that you don't DO sudoku, you just become one with a sudoku until that sudoku is done and reaches nirvana. it's really a zen thing.

oh... like the transcendentalist at a hamberger shack?

Only you never reach nirvana because there's always another sudoku ..

mmm... i haven't met any transcendentalists at hamburger shacks.

YOU don't reach nirvana, tor, keep up - the SUDOKU reaches nirvana.

when asked for his order, he said:

"Make me one with everything"

lol :) i love puns!

people can't reach nirvana, because people are too complicated. but sudokus can reach nirvana.

cats too

oh, it is also like dorothy, in the wizard of oz. the important truth was there all along, but the good witch wanted her to find it for herself. the sudoku is really done already when you first look at it, but you have to see it for yourself.

That's what I meant; the puzzle reaches nirvana while the solver remains in the world doomed to help sudokus reach nirvana ..

doomed? or blessed? it all depends on your point of view.

I just like finding out I guessed correctly... ;-)

if you RELAX while helping the sudoku to nirvana, it blesses you along the way.

you are as much of an IMP as torgone!

Doomed to give birth or blessed to give birth? Or both?

Doomed or blessed... what kind of anesthetic?

yes, in that case i would be on the doom side of the question.

but they do say that relaxing makes giving birth less painful too.

so you see, i am right when i say to relax. why don't people take me seriously?

only the people that never gave birth say that, hurshy!!!

oh and good day, everyone!

well my neighbor is a midwife and she says that she has seen people have virtually pain-free labor through hypnosis. but you have to prepare the whole pregnancy by not being panicky and not using words like "labor" that make it sound hard. i doubt i could do it myself, but the point is, if you DO it, it WORKS.

anyway the birth analogy was not my favorite. the zen one isn't bad, but i think the original star trek comparison is the best. the trouble is not everyone has seen it.

personally, I had to take myself outside my body to get through it - that worked well. Alot of mind control involved.

icky.

at least sudoku is CLEAN.

sigh. i'm such a gnostic, it's horrible.

wasn't icky... wasn't easy, but can't say it was icky either. End result was worth it, or I wouldn't have repeated the process 3 times!

I'm just here for the fun ..

that is something i don't understand, why would anyone, having been through that, DO IT AGAIN!

not that i am questioning your life choices, mamabear dear. i just, you know, don't get it.

Mother's love is hard to explain. But it is a wonderful thing.

hi torg!

might help if i didn't have a horrid relationship with my mother.

Heya mb!

AND there is the aded side of having someone who loves you just for you...and you don't have to be suspicious of it...at least fo a little while.

Mine wasn't great either hurshy, which made my mind up even more that my relationship with my children would be different. And now my daughters are my best friends!

see i have no memory of ever feeling the natural child's affection and love for its mother. i just never experienced that. so... i don't want to become that person in someone else's life.

Everybody is different, hurshy - that's what makes the world go round!

and also, my mom thinks that she isn't close to her mom but that she has great relationships with her 3 daughters - clearly, i disagree with her - so i worry that a mother can think she has this great relationship and be deluded.

Possible, but in my case, I can assure you, there is no dillusion.

oh yes, i didn't mean you

i meant the possibility of me.

anyway, it doesn't matter, there are so many circumstances at this point that would make it a REALLY bad idea for me to have kids. you never know, someday, if certain things work themselves out. but not now.

I wish you well, hurshy - either way!

thank you mamabear :) *hugs* same to you.

i mean not the either way part... lol

OH I know, hurshy..... cuz the either way part is impossible since I am already a mother. The only worse than actually going through labor would be trying to reverse the process!!! That's GOTTA be worse!!! LOL

LOL yes

although little boys...... never mind.

the odds are that i will not have kids, because i think that my life is pretty much irreparably screwed up. but, we can only do the best with what we have. and right now, i have 30 words to find back at babble.

You mean I beat you today?

if you are done, yes :)

i spent most of the morning sleeping, tutoring, and playing darts

the grid looked nasty to me, that's why I ended up here - is it cruel?

i think it's usual, mamabear.

i have got my 80% without the list, so

if i have significant trouble with that, it is a cruel grid, and if i get to 90 without breaking a sweat, it's an easy one.

It's not too bad ..

are you working on this sudoku, tor? when you're done, maybe you could pop over to babble for a little GWHIM.

golly, i talk too much.

I'm about to bail on this one . .I already guessed once and I'm stuck again ..

ACK

I'm not seeing much here.....either.

do you want help? if you promise not to use the g word i can help.

I think I might just pick one of the 18,000 1/5 combos and go with it

Thanks anyway, but if I can't get it with simple techniques I usually just drop it . .

OR i could give you a Super Duper Coded Hurshy Clue to tell you whether to pick the 1 or the 5, mama

Thanks, hursh - but I'll come back to it later - for now I gotta get back to work!!! ta ta! ta ta, too tor!

okey dokey, ttfn!

cya mamabear ..

I was trying to find a good capture of that Troops video for star Trek day just to mess with you . .

pllllt

bad enough shatner prostituting himself the way he does. this latest is the worst yet... the direct tv commercial, i think it is. using clips from STVI! the best movie! and splicing them in with him in his capt's uniform saying stuff about direct tv!! it's blasphemous, is what it is.

The man has no shame ..

He's an imp . .

it is true.

The man is an actor and works for a buck, just like the rest of us. Blame the person that came up with the ad campaign, not the actor.

you don't see nimoy doing it. he probably cried when he saw it.

Whatever .. I like Shat .. He doesn't take himself too seriously ..

They probably didn't offer it to him as he isn't as popular. True, Shatner could have turned it down but if they offered him enough it would be hard to refuse.

umm... i'm going back to babble

i can discuss politics and religion calmly, but not star trek... lol

Sorry. I love Star Trek - I meant no offense. I just don't blame the worker for what the manager did. The license holder to Star Trek is responsible and should be accountable. My opinion though...

everyone involved is responsible! heads should roll!

Off With Their Heads!

i feel better now :)

That's what's important...

help?

afsdjAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! ! 1 2 3 guess. [sigh].

???

exactly. that's what i'm thinking

I've only got one set of nine (upper left) completed.

i'm not even that far.

ugh. whatever. i think i'll go do something else for a bit - not thinking about it helps sometimes. c-ya

hmmm....that one was not that hard.....

dont' even tell me how but I got it! Something in the lower right quadrant didn't look right.

go

done

with a phone call. Wasn't that hard, more of a medium.

Done! Not too difficult.

ready, steady, go...

*yawn* ...looks like I've got bored with sudoku...

go

go

to

the

bathroom?

lol hursh