Doors

My days have been very full lately, too full, some have told me. I work full time and push through other mandatory projects most of the evening and night.   Beyond work, there will be a wedding in just four short weeks.  (I should mention that the wedding is mine.)  And planning a wedding is, I have learned, no small joke. I have to find time to fill my days with sun, books, exercise, and friends. You know. Real life. And very late in the day (about the time today becomes tomorrow) I write fiction.


Through all this, Tyler introduced me to an application for iOS called Doors. This is a real game.  I'm not sure how to explain it except to say that all you are given is a locked door. There is no instruction. Just a room (a different room each level) with a door you need to open.

Together, Tyler and I sit and look at the room.  We search.  And, against all logic, we find a way to open the door.

(Is this making any sense?)

From one level to the next, we find our way by exploring.  We touch.  We look. We find. We try. We fail.  We try again.  Sometimes we discover a pattern and we follow it through and the door unlocks.  Sometimes the door opens and everything we've done finally makes sense when it didn't before.

Tyler's strategy for this game is to stare at the room for long periods of time.  He studies it and finds the small pieces, the tiny connections, the most obscure pattern.  Then, he makes a move.

It should come as no surprise that I click everywhere.  I touch everything in the room in every possible pattern until something happens and, then, I touch everything again.

"Stop touching everything!" says Tyler.

"Do something!" I shout while he stares.

This is, apparently, the only way I know how to unlock doors.