Day 25

I think one of the most interesting things is how focused my writing has been. I'm not coming in and out of the program with random thoughts. Sure I was thinking about learning to draw and how that relates to the "everyone should learn (to) _" debates, but I was able to compartmentalize. Yeah I can think about that stuff, but I need to hit the Go button and when that happens, you need to focus.

I'll have my weekly summary up as well as a final wrap-up as well.


Last Day!


Starting of with Space Whack.
Almost beat the top score. My average dropped because I was trying to break into the 6s but once I did I had to do the same for the 7s.

Stabilizer: I could really hate this game. It wouldn't be hard. But I don't. (Not going to lie, I won't miss Data Room.) It's definitely the one I was most wary of going in and my performance really is hit-or-miss. But it also has the most to do: Locking onto an arbitrary position, rememebering it in sequence, then associating it with a letter. Without a doubt you're dong the most work of all the games when you play it. I'm just glad it doesn't make you repeat them all in sequence. But my point is, I'm more surprised at how well I do with it than mad at the game. Anyway, one final bout.
My biggest complaint is that it seems to ask the first and last a whole lot. I've had days where more than half of them were the first or last and there was no way I could give you the middle. I was a week or so in before I really started remembering every single location.
Yup. Still not even on the board. Oh well.

Visual Data Link (AKA The Grid): I thought I would kill this one. I expected to be past "the magic number 7" within the first couple weeks when I initially saw it. It's not like I don't have enough practice, either.
And a decent finish. Far from the top score, but the fact that I started in the 4s and landed in the 7s with some good back-and-forth in the middle meant that I was at least doing it right.

Input Module: I still can't belive this is the one I'm so good at. I used to get really scared to play since a) I knew it would be hard I could screw it all up and b) it would take a lot of energy to concentrate like that. But then I realized that while it still took something for me to do it, it wasn't nearly as bad as I was dreading.
Damn. 8th place. My highest was "only" 9.3.

Rotating Data Link: This one still gets me. I'm almost never stumped by the rotation. In fact, I don't even think I could put it in as it's given. But still, that extra brainpower has some cost since I'm still significanlty behind in this compared to the regular grid.
And a decent finish, especially compared to more recent attempts.

Input Module with Lid: This is one where I thought it was going to be so hard that I put everything I could into it, and it shows. At one point it was my best game, but that was in part because I wasn't really using the visual patterns in the standard Input Module.
Not the best score, but I still made it well into the board which is really quite something.

3D Cube: This one is so much easier than the data room on pretty much every level. And I don't think I've taken it as seriously.
And a respectable 2nd place finish.

Asteroids: I don't take this one serously at all. I mean I still try, but I really don't put a whole lot of thinking and rehersing into it.
Not a great score. Couldn't break into the 6s

Day 24

Considering I was playing the games I'm worst at today, I think it went a lot better than it could have. I'm still chasing that stratospheric 117 that I got a few days ago.


Rotating Dots are back, so I might as well.
I think I did alright. Landed in the middle of the board. If I hadn't missed a couple in the middle, I think I would have come out on top.

Sorter, which I haven't done in a while, is starting off with 6. Might be a little tricky.
Did pretty good. Bar should be nice and tight there.

Yesterday I did so well on the Grid and today I was stuck around 6. I kept wanting to go up but couldn't. I could get 6s, but not consistently and that got really annoying.

Top score on Whack. Still felt I could have gone higher if not for an error here and there.

Not bad on Data Room, though I spent too much time in the 5s.

I can't belive I'm still getting top scores on Input Module. I nailed my first couple 10s today. This is insane.

Not so great on 3D Cube. I kept getting bumped down and couldn't barely get into the 6s.

I use Asteroids as a cool down. I don't really put a whole lot of effort into it, and I think that shows. I almost got another 7 and I did get the highest average.

Day 23

Today was a good day. It seemed short, even though it wasn't. It's pretty close to the end, so I'm not going to wind up too far from where I am now. I had some unrealistic expectations about some of the games, but I would have never guessed that I would do this well on the Input Panels which I haven't even flattened out on.


I remember the last time I had a party over the weekend and came back on Monday. It didn't really go over that well so I took yesterday off. I only have a few more days left, so I want them to count.


Rotating Dots and Sorter are off today so I'll start with Space Whack.
I almost forgot how to play. 3 days off is the most that I've ever done, but I think I can get back in the swing.
I did ok. I was really going for a while but I missed a couple on their first or second popups, so it knocked me down pretty hard.

I was doing alright at Stabilizer last week, but I barely made it onto the board today. I'm still kind of foggy even though I've gone through all my morning stuff.

Did pretty well on the Grid. I would have gone higher, but they hit you so hard for missing the earlier dots even though I could have it the rest of them.

I almost forgot to reverse the numbers on Input Panel, but I caught myself before I clicked.
It's kind of funny how you actually have to learn how to remember a different sized group of digits. It's not quite the same as just cramming one more in. It just won't fit.
Rocked the socks off of Input. Even tried a 10. I did get knocked down for a little while, but I got back up.

Wow. I must not have done Rotating Grid in a while. They started me off at 4, how cute.
I really could have gone a lot farther if they didn't punish me so hard for missing the 1st or 2nd dot. I was way more frustrated by them pushing me down than actually missing them.

Thought I was doing OK on Blind Input, but I barely got into the 8s. Still got some points, though.

3D Cube was ok. Didn't score that well, but my bar will be super short.

It says I did great on Asteroids even though I kind of took a beating in the middle.

And then I went racing because I want to make sure I've beaten the yellow guy on every track. But seriously WTF?

Day 22

I am amazed at how well I did today. The improvements on Data Link and Input Module are incredible. I was relaxed but focused, I was brisk but didn't rush. It's tempting to just want to keep at it, but I need to make other changes.


Yesterday started off fairly promising and then kind of imploded. I've been thinking about the nature of good days and bad days and have concluded that they are in part a result of how things are generally already going (and currently, I have an issue with the potential to derail my short and medium term plans) but mostly the good/bad doesn't come from what happens to me but how I handle it.

It would be nice if I could just make good days happen. And I thought I could do that if I turned myself into some kind of ultra-competent super hero, but as it Uncle Ben tried to teach us: Mo' powers, Mo' problems. So I need a new plan of attack. Obviously I'm not going to turn completely away from brute strength, but the strategy has proven unreliable.


Anyway, let's get started. Rotating Dots are back, so I might as well.

Not too bad. I got on a small losing streak, and it just droped me like a sack of bricks.

Did alright on sorter.

Wow. My average on the grid went up an entire point today. I was just... doing it. I tried a couple 8s, but I was getting totally lost. 7s though, I could do rather reliably. It was crazy.

And a fairly impressive run on data room.

First place in space whack. I had some game ideas, so I had to put those down somewhere else in order to continue.

Highest average yet on 3d Cube and I got my 1st 7. I also figured out that the further along you screw up, the less penalized you are for it. Which, again, is why I think you should have to put in all of them because so many that I miss is because of one of them.

Just finished Input Module. Over half a point growth on the average, though I didn't reach as far into the 9s has I had in the past.

I had a long climb back up on Asteroids and I couldn't break the 6s.

I can't belive they robbed my of that extra racer. That's amazing.

Day 21

So I'm starting Week 5 today. No new games, it looks like.

Yesterday was kind of a personal disaster. Not in the CogMed, but after. Some things happened and I didn't quite react properly and it was all just screwed up.


Anyway, let's do this. Rotating dots are back, so I'll start off with that.

When there's only the pressure I put on myself I can take a whole lot of frustration, but when other people get involved things get a much harder.

Did pretty well on the dots.

Oh no! I've never gone from rotating dots to stabilizer before. The dots (and only the dots) are now counter-rotating in my vision. Hopefully it's over by the time I finish writing this.

Not great on stabilizer, still.

Though I did just ace the Grid.

The lizard came back, and I tried to get him again. Then I got stuck in a really long thought, some of which I captured. But I spent so much time on it, I got kicked off the game. D'Oh.

What a trial. I don't even know how long I spent with Input Panel. Long enough to be kicked out of the game plus easily 10 more mins, possibly 20. UGH.

Still, I did make it to the top of the board.

I was doing so well on the rotated grid. I really was going to break records. But now I'm going to break my damn keyboard. I don't want to calmn down. I want to be done with this.

End of Week 4

Flow is a funny thing. You naturally learn and increase your skill and if you want to keep it up, you have to increase the difficulty. My doctor said there'd be weeks like this.

It's been a real slog. The fight is almost over and neither of us are going down, so I have to get in as many hits as I've got. But my hands are dropping and my feet are bricks.

It doesn't help that I'm against a machine that doesn't let up. It just stops after the finish line like some kind of John Henry machine. Or the Terminator. Maybe there's an ending where the robots are crushed by huge presses or lowered into molten metal. "I now know why you procrastinate, but it is something that I cannot do."


Would you like some data? Again everything right of the red line happened this week.

As you can see, last week ended pretty well, then last Wed was a disaster. I came back on Saturday with by best score ever and I've been stuck right around or just below where I had been. I've got a few places where I can pull together for the last week and see if I can't get some more out of it.

My time has been going down steadily. This is likely a function of me learning the games. My writing times are a little scattered, but there's a trend of them staying about the same when I do feel like writing.

This week's addition was Space Whack. I do think this is all the games, though I guess we'll see tomorrow.

Things are still changing on the Grid (Visual Data Link). There is a general upward trend which is good. Also notice how short today's bar is. I seem to be staggering upward on the 3D Grid (Data Room). I seem to be holding steady on the Rotating Grid and Dots as well as the Cube (though there was some frustration with it yesterday).
I have no idea what's going on with Stabilizer.
Sorter is popping out, which I'm happy with.
I'm stunned that I can still get more out of Input Module, though it looks like I've peaked with the lid on.

Day 20

Today was interesting. I was able to keep focus and not wander off in the middle mainly because I had done all my time wasting beforehand. It's kind of like the way a friend of mine is experimenting with what I might call Reductive Buddhism: One way of wanting nothing is to have nothing left to want. It's kind of the spiritual equivilant of smoking that whole carton of cigarettes.


I really took my time this morning before coming in. I'm glad that I have the ability to do that. But it was definitly not productive, and not all that neccessary.

The past few days, I've been jumping right in when I didn't quite feel up to it so today is kind of an experiment. Hopefully I'll rock it out and everything (I hope that every day, honestly) but I think tomorrow I can have a bit more restraint. I was going to take tomorrow off, but we will again be hosting for the next two weekends which means that I can't do Saturdays.

That's alright because I'm almost done! Today will be the end of Week 4 and a week from today, I will be finished! I'll post my weekly wrapup as per usual right after this goes up.


Let's get started, shall we? Hm, an interesting mix. Nothing rotates today. And since Asteroids is on the menu, I shall start with The Whack.

I know they look for your mouse before the gremlin comes up, but I'm always tempted to see how long he keeps his head up before you pop him. Of course, I'm never more curious than I am willing to take a dive. Even for science.

Alright, I did it. It was just eating at me. As long as the mouse is over his crater you have all the time in the world. Look deep into the terror of his yellow eyes as he has realized his inextrictable doom.

If it wasn't for the Cinco de Mayo Mirracle where I somehow got 7.25 on Space Whack, I would be getting 1st every day. At least my averages have been progressively growing.

Sorter? Nailed. 1st place with a huge jump in avg and top score.

Let's see if the Grid has any hope of containing me.

Hm I guess it does. I kept getting tripped up in the 6s. I could have gone farther and I was just racing right through them. I just kept losing one single detail. Still, I feel fine about how I did. The less I feel I have to work for it, the more I think it's working and it's not like I completely tanked it. I was in my proper win/lose/win routine just in a different mode. If I can keep that up, I've got plenty of room to go with it.

Taking a quick break. There is a lizard trapped in this room and I'm going to make only one attempt at getting it out.

That's a negative. I did make a decent go at it, but in the end he decided that hiding in this dry and bug-free was a better deal than getting caught. Again, I have a much larger spiel negative reinforcement that goes pretty well with DHH's recent RailsConf Keynote about progress and risk aversion, but I have some time that I need to make up.

And I'm back on top of Input Module. I didn't place yesterday but I tied for the 3rd time the top score of 9.4 broken by today's highest average of 8.47. Feels pretty good.

Huge successes on Data Room. I almost got a 7.

I somehow slipped back down on Stabilizer. I'm again not even on the board today. I did catch up significantly, but I was stuck in the 6s.

Not great on Blind Input. I wasn't able to hold my focus and then I got really frustrated.

Oh well. Asteroids and then I'm done.