What's one positive/neutral thing that's happened today?

[Rax]

Background

In this topic, https://intfiction.org/t/informal-poll-use-of-hints/55856/17, back on 09-May-2022, I wrote:

@Rax

I prefer to eschew hints for two reasons:

1. Few things annoy me more than seeing the solution to a puzzle I could have solved if I’d just given it a little more time and effort; and
2. There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of solving a problem that had been bugging me for some time.

The end result: a few pleasing successes along with a pile of unfinished games. One of these is So Far, which I’ve been battling off and on since 2006. Try as I may, I can’t get out of Caught in Metal.

As @mathbrush pointed out, confidence in the author is vital. Having solved both A Change in the Weather and Spider and Web without hints, I’m willing to give Mr. Plotkin the benefit of the doubt that he isn’t wasting my time. That said, I see four ways this could end. From most to least preferable:

1. I finally solve the puzzle and spend the rest of my life reveling in my brilliance and my tenacity.
2. I give up and discover I’d been wasting all these years working on something I was never going to solve.
3. I give up, only to find out I’d been on the edge of a solution but had stupidly missed a vital clue.
4. I’m involved in a serious car wreck, and as I’m being rushed to the hospital, I spend my final minutes wondering how So Far ends.

Unless I get ending #4, I’ll keep you posted.

I did it! I finished So Far!

After almost 17 years, I finally got out of Caught in Metal. Breakthrough: I discovered I could break the ceramic square to create a light source. After that, it was a relatively quick trip to the end.

What an amazing feeling. For the ensuing 15 minutes, I felt like I could do pretty much anything I set my mind to.

Then I thought, hmm, 17 years, maybe I shouldn’t be celebrating this. Not when there are probably players who solved the puzzle in 17 minutes.

Oh well, I’ll take my successes where I can get 'em.