Guilty Pleasures

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Before you jump to conclusions and think I'm going to share some juicy secrets about me, hold your horses, this is serious business ๐Ÿ˜œ Today I'm going to show you what I do while thinking about big things in life.

There are times when one needs to think about serious things, maybe find a solution to a problem, or just shut everything out and be with their thoughts. Some go to the pub and drink, others play video games, while others go to a walk. We are different and deal with things differently, I don't think there are two people acting the same way in the same situation, even if they are relatives or long time partners. This is human nature and this is why I don't like to write advice posts.

Over the years one has the time and the occasion to work out what works best for them. Sometimes what you do can help you make a better decision.

I used to play games, which was fun but addictive too and eye killer as well. It's easy to lose track of time, so it wasn't the best solution.

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Rubik's Cube

So this is my guilty pleasure now. One of them, to be precise ๐Ÿ˜‚. This is the Rubik's cube, developed by the Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernล‘ Rubik.

Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toy Corp in 1980 via businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer. The cube was released internationally in 1980 and became one of the most recognized icons in popular culture. It won the 1980 German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle. As of January 2009, 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide, making it the world's bestselling puzzle game and bestselling toy.

On the original classic Rubik's Cube, each of the six faces was covered by nine stickers, each of one of six solid colours: white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. Some later versions of the cube have been updated to use coloured plastic panels instead, which prevents peeling and fading. Since 1988, the arrangement of colours has been standardised with white opposite yellow, blue opposite green, and orange opposite red, and the red, white, and blue arranged clockwise in that order. On early cubes, the position of the colours varied from cube to cube. An internal pivot mechanism enables each face to turn independently, thus mixing up the colours. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be returned to have only one colour. Similar puzzles have now been produced with various numbers of sides, dimensions, and stickers, not all of them by Rubik. source

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We had this cube when we were kids and played with it a lot, till the plastic was so worn that the cube fell apart with each move. I don't know what's happened to the cubes, most likely they ended up in the garbage as were useless.

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This year (don't ask me how) I remembered how fun this cube was and decided to get one. As the quoted Wikipedia test says, you can buy it worldwide, but those are not like the original and because I didn't want some cheap Chinese plastic ๐Ÿ’ฉ, I asked someone who made a trip to Hungary in July to buy me one.

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This is a preowned piece, second had bought at the flea market, but it's the original series. I have no idea how much it was as it was a gift, but I'm glad I have one from the original series.

Back in the day this cube was a huge thing, there were championships organized, the fastest to complete the task won. I'm not sure what the world record is, but according to this article it's 2.78 seconds, which is absolutely INSANE! According to the same article, the cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,856,000 possible combinations.

There are tutorials, formulas online, videos about how to solve it, but I haven't given up yet on the idea of trying to solve it myself.What's the fun is learning how to solve it?

This cube reminds me of the technical drawing classes we had in high school. For me it was a lot of fun and I had very good grades, but we had to learn it wasn't for everyone. We had classmates, who were part of the elite, with the highest grades at everything, except technical drawing. So for now, it's still a challenge for me, it makes me focused, but in the same time it allows me to think of the problems I have to solve. It's the perfect mind game.

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Coloring

Yes, no matter how stupid or childish this looks, it is a coloring book for adults and you'll see it's not as easy as you think.

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Coloring for adults has been a trending recreational activity for years, maybe it still is. There are different coloring books, one more expensive than the other. I only have this one, which wasn't cheap, but for me it worth it. It's called The Secret Garden and I love it.

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There are a lot of cool drawings of different difficulty. The best thing is there are pages, where it gives you the opportunity to draw what you want. Here, you can draw birds on the scarecrow. On other pages you can draw flowers and other things to complete the drawing.

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The first impression may be that this is very easy, but you need a certain level of precision if you don't want to look like a first grader or a kindergarten kid. You need to stay inside the lines, plus see the whole picture, to be able to select the perfect colors.

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For me this is not just a coloring book, it's more like a guide, a tutorial about doodling. I love doodles but again, who on earth has time for everything? So I thought while I'm coloring, I could also print some of the patterns in my memory, to be able to help me later, when I will attempt to draw something half decent.

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With this occasion I had to realize I have some pencils, that are not suitable for my needs. I must have bought them at the beginning. If you want something decent, you have to choose good quality. What you see in my had is the best I could find.

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This is also water-soluble, so I can use it as aquarelle colored pencil.

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It's nice to zoom out, quit looking at charts, log off the usual devices we're addicted to and do something that is relaxing and helps to solve some problems.

So what's your guilty pleasure?

If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:


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43 comments
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I don't play Rubik's cube ๐Ÿ˜…
But I tried once but didn't got my attention though but I like watching my siblings playing that one when I was in high school.
With the coloring book, I like it since I love drawings and maybe that will help me to have fun on my own and make my mind at peace when I have problems. ๐Ÿ˜Š

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You should definitely try it out as it's therapeutic for sure.

The Rubik's cube is another matter though as you need to know what and how and in order to learn, you need to practice a lot.

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Yes, I've seen ny cousin so addicted with Rubik's cube. It's easy for him now. He did a lot of practice abd he said he's watching videos. He's teaching my siblings though. ,๐Ÿ˜Š

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Yeah, you can learn from tutorials and most likely I will watch some one day.

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You can do it @erika ๐Ÿ˜Š๐Ÿค—

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I know I can do it, just don't want to rush it ๐Ÿ˜ƒ๐Ÿค—

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Of course, things always takes time ๐Ÿ˜Š๐Ÿค—
And enjoy๐Ÿ˜Š

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I just want to join your second guilty pleasure, right now!!!! :D

The Rubik's cube is my niece's speciality. She has don't-know-how-many of them, different shapes and all... "crazy" girl hahaha

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You are welcome anytime! I know you can see the benefits of it already ๐Ÿ˜
I'm glad to hear the younger generations are also interested in it. It's a good puzzle :)

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I keep trying playing rubiks cube because it looks like satisfying playing on it but unfortunately I didn't used any tricks that makes me fail it. Hehe anyway, I love the coloring book of adult. It gives me interest having it. Ohhh I love it!

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Same here ๐Ÿ˜ƒ I'm still naive to think I can solve it by myself, while I know I will never have enough time to do so.

Knowing that I'm not the only one using coloring book for adults ... makes me feel less guilty ๐Ÿ˜‚

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That s it ?! Coloring ๐Ÿ™„
I just made a special cake

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I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean.

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Making cakes is my guilty pleasure :)

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Oh, that is indeed a guilty pleasure ๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿฅฎ

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Rubiks cube, colouring and getting perfect manicures it seems.

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Guilty of all of those, although I'm not sure about the perfect manicures. It's just homemade self care ๐Ÿ’…๐Ÿ˜‡

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Home made self care works too you know. Had me fooled...But what the hell do I know about manicures I guess. Lol.

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Lol, don't feel bad as once a manicurist had herself fooled too. She asked me where did I get those artificial nails? I said these are my own nails. She then told me that it's not worth lying to her as she knows. Then I gave her my hand and her jaw dropped ๐Ÿ˜‚ It was a funny moment, her realizing she was wrong.

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Well, they certainly look the part and if you had the professional fooled I'd day you have the process down to a fine art.

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I was 18, when I first went to a manicurist and came home so disappointed, I can't even tell you! I was asking myself, what did I pay for so much, when I had to do the rest myself? So I've learnt to do it myself and now I can only blame myself ๐Ÿ˜„

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You are a creative person. You have the ability to think outside the box and come up with new ideas. You are also resourceful and can find ways to make your ideas a reality. You have the power to change the world with your creativity.

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Thank you! I love creativity and I think it makes one better. Trying different things is a must. Thanks for stopping by.

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I thought you were at the beach from your thumbnail lol. It cut off the part with the keyboard. :P

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I'm good at fooling people, right? ๐Ÿ˜‚

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I am old enough to have been at school when the Rubick's Cube craze took off.

It's a brilliant puzzle and I never did solve it. Well... my brother and I eventually smashed one and put it back together as "solved" for fun ๐Ÿ˜†

There were also a variety of different shapes eventually. A pyramid etc.

Some of the kids knew the solution. It's a mathematical formula apparently. A repeated movement after and initial few moves - there's your clue ;)

As for the colouring in... I relate. It's often when I walk away from a problem and have enough space that a solution comes to me. So your share here makes sense!

I think any task that encourages some kind of single minded focus rests the mind maybe? And this allows it to "breathe" and allow new ideas and a kind of stream of consciousness flow... clever of you!

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Well... my brother and I eventually smashed one and put it back together as "solved" for fun ๐Ÿ˜†

๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿคฃ Very smart!

Oh, we had the Babel Tower which was something similar, with balls. Was a fun game.

I agree with what you said about coloring and the rest. Each of us should find an activity that ease the mind and helps working out the needed solution. This is kind of a therapy.

Thank you for the nice comment :)

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Oh, we had the Babel Tower which was something similar, with balls. Was a fun game.

This must be old school becuase I couldn't find it in a search :)

I miss the old days...

I had a little simple simon machine that I played for hours.

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Not keen on the way the person smashes the buttons in the video :/ Sorry for that!

But yes. Learning to still the mind is probably the best kind of therapy! Well said.

And my pleasure :) Good content makes it easy to engage ๐Ÿ˜Š

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I don't know this game, have never seen it, but have been able to find a photo of the Babel tower game :)

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Ring a bell? ๐Ÿ˜€

Ours was a bit different as the balls were not so gradient, I mean in one column were all red, in the next blue and so on.

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I've never seen this?

This looks super interesting... I can't find anything on it :?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel_(1986_video_game)

Video games... maybe based on it?

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It's possible, who knows :)

The idea is to gather all the balls of the same color in the same column and there's only one spot free, to be able to move the balls.

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My favourite game was and is Rubik's cube, I can do one side without any problem but until now now able to do the rest. Maybe just need more time. But I really enjoy it.

The colouring books are also somehting I enjoyed to do with my son when he was little. But I love mandala to colour due to the pattern. When at the end if everything done nicely you have great pattern.

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One side is easy, the rest is not so much, so I guess I'm going to keep trying for awhile, then watch some cheating videos ๐Ÿ˜€

I used to do mandala coloring a few years ago and loved it, but there's never enough time for everything, unfortunately.

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I love your guilty pleasures. It shows how intellectual and creative you are.

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Thank you, I'm glad to hear that :)

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