When I use the Duolingo app on my phone, since I refuse to pay for the premium version, I see a lot of ads. Some are for local furniture stores, some are for Duolingo Plus (the paid version), some are for other language learning apps, but a lot are for games. There’s one where you have to put pieces of a “wooden” puzzle together, and one where the fat king gets in all kinds of danger and his life depends on you moving little icons around on the screen, and then there are all of the different versions of water sorting puzzles; some use test tubes, some use bottles, or vases, some even use colored balls instead of water, which is not the same at all. There’s something unreasonably peaceful, and satisfying, about watching water pour from one bottle to another, until all of the blues are with the blues and all of the greens are with the greens. I found myself watching the water sorting game ads all the way through to the end, instead of dropping my phone and looking for something else to do for those thirty seconds.
And a few weeks ago, after the Duolingo tournament had raised my stress level into infinity instead of the app’s usual calming effect, I gave in and downloaded one of the water sorting games.
There’s no productivity excuse for playing this game; I’m not learning a new language or important scientific principles, but the game is actually the embodiment of some lessons I keep thinking I’ve learned, and keep having to relearn: one, that it’s okay to fail, as long as you keep trying (the game lets you retry the same puzzle until you’ve mastered it, without penalty); and two, sometimes, in order to reach your stated goal you have to take a circuitous route, because there will be barriers in your way that you can’t foresee.
The goal of the water sorting game is to move the sections of colored water from one bottle to another until each bottle holds only one color of water, and you get two empty bottles to help you sort, because you can only pour purple onto purple or green onto green, but any color can be poured into an empty bottle. And the strategy that works for you in one puzzle rarely works in the next one, so that time after time I have to relearn that even if my goal is to get all of the purples into one test tube, I’ll still have to deal with the reds and greens and yellows in the way.
So, for example, if I want to write the sequel to Yeshiva Girl, which I’ve been trying to do for a very, very long time, I have to accept that there will be more barriers to overcome, and that I won’t always (or even usually) know what they will be ahead of time. I’ll need to try new things, again, and again, again, and if I continue to fail, I may have to start over from the beginning with a blank page. But starting over doesn’t mean I’m failing, it means I’m learning, and inevitably, I will find a way forward.
There’s a variation of the water sorting game where you can’t see the color of the water below the top section of each bottle until you move the top section away and the next color is revealed, and therefore you cannot plan ahead. I love this variation because it frees me up to accept my blindness, and to accept that I won’t know everything that will be coming my way, and therefore I can take a deep breath and know that I can’t be expected to plan and strategize, and it’s okay to just take it one step at a time, and see what happens.
I still go to Duolingo every day to work on my languages, and I haven’t fallen into a deep hole wherein all I do all day long is sort colored water instead of writing or getting chores done, yet, but each time I take time out to play the game, I feel like my brain waves are untangling and relaxing back into place, or finding new and better configurations that can help me work through the knots in my actual life with a little more patience.
If you haven’t had a chance yet, please check out my Young Adult novel, Yeshiva Girl, on Amazon. And if you feel called to write a review of the book, on Amazon, or anywhere else, I’d be honored.
Yeshiva Girl is about a Jewish teenager on Long Island, named Isabel, though her father calls her Jezebel. Her father has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior with one of his students, which he denies, but Izzy implicitly believes it’s true. As a result of his problems, her father sends her to a co-ed Orthodox yeshiva for tenth grade, out of the blue, and Izzy and her mother can’t figure out how to prevent it. At Yeshiva, though, Izzy finds that religious people are much more complicated than she had expected. Some, like her father, may use religion as a place to hide, but others search for and find comfort, and community, and even enlightenment. The question is, what will Izzy find?
rachelmankowitz 
I’m curious about the stairs in your photo because they look so much like the stairs up from the North Beach in Fairhope to the Bluff where we live. I need to be climbing them for exercise (and after I get my second hip, I will positively do so again)!
The steps are at Sea Cliff beach, near where we used to live. There’s a really beautiful view, but Cricket was more interested in the journey.
So if you wrote a sequel to YG, would it be Izzy as an adult ?
College. I have it basically plotted out, but I’m struggling with structure, and too many ideas.
Aww, well I hope you find your voice again YG was such a great read.
Thank you so much!
I’m willing to bet that the makers of that game never anticipated anyone getting life lessons from it. Love how you think!
Ha! Thank you!!!
Fascinating how tasks/games that some might find frustrating can provide a sense of mental tranquility to others! I love doing Jumbles, being dyslexic I have an advantage. So glad you are into the sequel to Yeshiva Girl. Keep at it! Hugs 🐾
Thank you! My Mom loves all of the scrabble games and they drive me crazy. To each her own.
I do Wordle and Spelling Bee every day, but for pure mindless recreation, it’s hard to beat FreeCell!
I subscribed to your posts because of the cute pics of Cricket. Reminds me of my beloved Pepper, the Cockapoo. I enjoyed this post and all the ways you wove the game through your writing process. I have been working on a novel for years and have many of the pieces. Right now I am writing a short back story about each of the main characters, including the dog, to get to know them better. I get distracted writing nonfiction, but I am really feeling drawn back to the fiction book. I just went swimming. I must say there is something wonderful about water. Keep writing.
Good to see you enjoying yourself.
Thank you!
It’s so wonderful that the game has given you so much insight. It sounds like it has been created by someone with great understanding of the human mind.
It certainly works for me!
I think the game was exactly what you needed at the moment. If it helps you organize your thoughts and analyze your thinking, it’s not wasted time.
I think you’re right!
A little bit of #metime during the day is never a bad thing Rachel
Thank you!
Good post again Rachel. Treats by proxy for Cricket and Ellie. How’s your Mum?
She’s doing really well! Thank you!
Good to know. Take care.
We all need ‘distractions’ to take our focus away from overthinking things, which is what I believe your water bottle game does. Leave it to YOU to find a lesson in playing it!
Ha! Thank you!
Some folks are fascinated in “water sorting” in the same way that some of us get caught up in playing solitaire on our devices.
My Mom is a huge fan of solitaire!
I hate patience, too (LOL). ❤
Sounds to me like this game has produced some unexpected benefits and that is all good.
Do you ever use the free version of DuoLingo on a laptop or desktop computer versus your phone? I am assuming that you use your phone because it is so conveniently nearby almost all the time (if you are like the rest of us). If not, you might like it (but perhaps I do not spend as much time in a single session on DuoLingo as you do (I have never been close to being in any competition!) and, therefore, that may be the reason I have never hit the forced roadblocks you describe. 😀
Love reading about the water sorting puzzle, though!
Thank you!
I love that game. My granddaughter introduced it to me. I also love the feature that you can’t always anticipate what the next color will be. I am starting a series of posts about all sorts of games and puzzles. Glad to see we share one.
Looking forward to reading!
Thanks! This is really good to know! I have also seen so many ads for the water sorting game but didn’t know if I should actually get it. Great writing style as always.
Thank you!
want to play Words With Friends next?
I am terrible at scrabble!
I’ve been noticing the game Ads at Duolingo, the fat king and the fish one keep coming up. Maybe I will try this water one sometimes 🙂
The fish one freaks me out. Points for each smaller fish you eat?! Eek!
Yes I am well aware of the expression “back to to the drawing board” There’s lefty to learn from playing silly games like this. Have you been playing Wordle?
Wordless freaks me out; word games in general overwhelm me, interestingly enough.
Why is that?