So, sad stuff, my mom died when I was 23, and my dad just passed this week, as I’m just shy of 40. Early and sucks but is what it is.
The sad isn’t the point of this, though. The point of this is that I now have both of their thick gold wedding bands. I probably could have asked for them before, and he probably would have given them to me, but they weren’t my memory to have yet.
Now that I have them, however, they have proven to be a peak fidget toy for driving. I hate driving, especially long-distance, and I tend to start nodding off because it’s boring af. Im AutDHD, so yeah the falling asleep bit is normal for me, and so fucking dangerous. If public transit was an option, I’d absolutely use it, but it isn’t a practical option (thanks carbrain US, for making me a danger to the people around me as a matter of course… really thrilled to be forced into this position…)
My mom’s is just big enough to fit my off-hand index finger, and my dad’s is just small enough to not fit over that, but its way too big for me alone. But if I put it on first and then my mom’s, it stays put and jingles around. The noise it makes when I tap my finger on the wheel is so ridiculously pleasing to me. It keeps me occupied enough to stay awake, so I’m not a giant hazard on the road. Yay! Win!
So, what’s your “turns out I needed this all along” fidget?
A “Rubik’s” cube (actually a Chinese MoYu speedcube) that I tuned to feel “just right”.
It’s both a great fidget toy and a nice way to kill a minute or two with a puzzle when my mind drifts. I work from home and I find long meetings become much more bearable by just spinning layers at random or spinning it by its vertices.
Speedcubes are incredible. There are different ways of solving one that suit different people. if you don’t want to learn lots of algorithms there’s the beginner method or roux, if you have a medium taste for algorithms there’s cfop (with 1-look and 2-look variants of OLL and PLL) and if you’re a memorization slut there’s always ZB with its 774 algorithms to learn. I love it. Then there are also algorithms and solutions for higher order puzzles, and also ones for different puzzle shapes. It’s an awesome hobby. And if you get a good cube set up right the feel is really good too.