So Olof started playing sudoku several weeks ago but, being one to sneer disdainfully at all things “trendy,” I resisted. Even though a pastime of Puzzles! Numbers! Logic! is right up my alley, I held out, not wanting to jump off the same bridge as everybody else. I fought the good fight until last week, when Olof unpacked the sudoku board game I bought him for his birthday. Though it was ostensibly he and Lydia who were playing, it didn’t take long before I kibbitzed my way right into the game and was hooked. I moved quickly to Olof’s puzzle books and then to playing online. I’ve stayed up past my bedtime for the last several days straight, playing “just one more.”

I have to admit that I’m surprised I haven’t given up on it yet, because the thing is, I’m not very good. Though I was a Mathcounts “mathlete” back in the day, was just a point or two shy of making a perfect grade in my college logic course, and scored 780 on the analytical section of the GRE (whew! I’ve been trying for years to work that tidbit into a blog entry), sudoku mastery eludes me. I’ve been playing on WebSudoku, and it keeps track of your time and tells you how you rate compared to other players. Only twice–twice–in at least a hundred games have I gotten an above-average time, and those were in the 54th and 52nd percentile. Most often I finish in the the lower twenty-to-thirty percent.

Generally speaking, I don’t like to spend my time doing things I’m not good at, and by “good,” I mean “excellent.” It’s one of my bigger character flaws, I know, and I’m sure I’ve missed out on a lot of fun and plenty of rewarding experiences because of it, but I can’t seem to help myself. The sudoku business is a whole ‘nother story, though; it’s taken the wind right out of my over-achiever’s sails. I play and I play and I play some more, setting my sights on a middle-of-the-road result. I hardly know what’s come over me, and I’m not sure I like it.

I’ll never make the honor roll at this rate.