Okay everyone. Serious stuff to be said.

I spent the majority of my morning making friendship bracelet valentines.
That's right. And they're pink and purple (and green and blue and gray and orange).

And now you're thinking: Who is this person writing this post and making pink valentines??!

Do not worry. I am still Ruth. I am still unaffected by cute kittens memes or clips of the puppy bowl. (If you still don't believe me, I know a quick way to convince you: I had a really delicious lunch. Split pea soup with a sleeve of crackers, followed by chocolate chip cookies.)

So while I was crouched on the carpeted floor, the heel of my left foot pinning down one end of a bracelet, my fingers twisting each strand (over, under, over, under), I pondered: "What should I write about for my blog post?"

The answer that eventually came to me? Doors.

You see, earlier this afternoon I had a conversation with our dear brother/son/friend Andrew. As he was leaving the room, he noticed that my door was not square. I knew this, but had not previously given the dilemma much attention. After briefly examining the frame, Andrew concluded that loosening the screws on the top hinge would allow the door to to ease back into its intended position. I immediately saw the sense in such a course of action. Basically, the easiest way to fix my door would be by messing it up in just the right way.

"And so I ran to grab the screwdriver to promptly rectify the problem"..... is not what happened next. My door still hangs crooked and sticks the tiniest bit. Here is the part where I make some kind of parallel to the experience we all share known as life.... Sorry, I'm not as good at this as Joseph is. Mostly, I thought it was funny. You agree, don't you?

It reminds me a bit of the emergence of humor in very young children. Some of the earliest jokes (both made and perceived) involve understanding that something does not work a certain way. A simple example: a teacher begins singing the ABCs with his/her class. When they reach "H," he/she replaces said letter with "Z." The children stop. "Q?" the teacher suggests. "S?" Before too long the children are laughing and shaking their heads. "H!" They yell. The teacher saying a different letter is funny because everyone knows it is wrong.

I guess it all ties back to heuristics. We have lots of shortcuts in the way we think of the world, schemas if you will (actually, still schemas if you won't). We assume that things work a certain way, because they usually do work that way. So, usually we are right. Heuristics enable us to spend cognitive resources on more complicated problems by saving us resources on simple processes (and then I go ruining it all by thinking too much about stupid hinges). Sometimes though, they make it difficult to see more effective solutions that are simply not accounted for by our schemas.

And that is my very own thicket of bramble thoughts!