I would like to take a satirical approach to this project and create two contrasting puzzles to represent how I feel playing the daily NYT connections. As an avid player of all the NYT games, I find it interesting how, in Connections, especially, there is extremely varying difficulty between daily puzzles. The first puzzle includes the following words: Bass, Train, Bus, Boo, Yellow, Minnow, Few, Flounder, Green, Car, Two, Purple, Trout, Bike, Red, and Sue. From easiest to hardest, the connections would be as follows: Red/Yellow/Green/Purple are all colors, Two/Boo/Sue/Few all rhyme, Car/Bus/Train/Bike are all modes of transportation, and all have wheels. Lastly, Bass/Flounder/Minnow/Trout are all types of fish. While this is an exaggeration of an easy connections puzzle, in an example like this, I would likely find myself overthinking the answer, attempting to connect Bus, Flounder, Yellow, and Few. Busses are yellow, Flounder in the movie "The Little Mermaid" is yellow, of course, the color yellow is yellow, and the color yellow has the third-fewest energy of the ROY G BIV light spectrum. While this may seem like quite a stretch, my thought process seems reasonable compared to some of the more difficult daily puzzles. The second puzzle I will present includes the following words: Price, Power, Doubt, Women, Youth, Fungi, Prize, Woven, Hunky, Soft, Sewn, Warm, Fire, Black, Grind, Grave. Upon first glance, one may be grasping at straws to make some sort of connection between these. Warm and fire? Women and Woven? All the words have five letters, save for Soft, Fire, Sewn, and Warm. Could those be a category of their own, based solely on letter count? There are endless possible combinations one could come up with, but I'll spare you a few words by telling you the answers. However, if so inclined, I encourage you to stretch your brain by attempting to string together a semblance of a category between these. If you are ready for the solution from easiest to hardest, please read on. The easiest category of these I would call "Words to Describe a Blanket". This category includes the words Hunky, Soft, Sewn, and Warm. But shouldn't Woven be in there? And how can a blanket be Hunky? You tell me! As you can see, I've already created a significant overlap, a frustration of mine in the real daily Connections puzzle. Let's move on to the "Green" category: Price, Doubt, Women, and Power are all the last words of books on the New York Times bestsellers list for August 25, 2024. You should've known that one! The blue category for this puzzle is a personal favorite of mine: Fungi, Prize, Woven, and Youth are all words that were used for Wordle in 2022. If you are an avid player of Wordle (perhaps with an eidetic memory) this should have been easy—however, the words "Power" and "Doubt" from the previous category were also Wordle words used in 2022, creating more overlap. You can view an archive of past Wordle words at https://www.fiveforks.com/wordle/. Lastly, the hardest category follows a typical pattern seen in other Connections puzzles: "______stone" includes Fire, Black, Grind, and Grave. Of course, these puzzles are a satirical exaggeration of what easy versus difficult Connections games are; however, in some cases, not by much. Will my frustrations and complaints prevent me from participating in future games? Absolutely not.

In second grade, I was at my friend's house for a sleepover. We were out swimming in the pool all day and were getting settled in for the night. I kept complaining about a weird feeling in my hands; they felt tingly, itchy, and hot. Her mom suggested I wash my hands; it's probably something from chlorine. She gave me an ice pack and put me to sleep, but the feeling persisted that night and the next day. In fourth grade, I went to a summer camp at Upland Hills Farm. We spent all day outside, whether it was crafting, milking cows, or swimming in the lake. The camp started on Monday, and by Wednesday, I called my mom to take me home. My hands felt like they were on fire, yet none of the counselors could feel any heat on my hands. I stood by the water pump, rinsing my hands with lukewarm water while waiting for my mom to pick me up and take me to air conditioning and ice packs. We made a dermatologist appointment, and I was prescribed a hand cream, but it didn't help with further reactions. In tenth grade, I went to band camp for the first time. By now, I had connected this reaction to time in the sun. I skipped band camp freshman year out of fear of a similar reaction. Four days of nearly 10 hours in the sun...not for me! However, in sophomore year, I became Color Guard Captain, and it was inevitable that I would have to attend. I did my best to remember to apply sunscreen quickly between sessions; alas, it wasn't enough. By day 4, I was sitting in the gym, tears streaming down my face, holding an itty-bitty battery-powered fan to slightly reduce the internal heat. I was in so much pain I could hardly talk or move. Once again, my mom came to pick me up early. It was about this time in my life my parents started to research this. After years of these reactions, we had come to two conclusions: It was caused by the sun, and was not a skin condition. After a few thorough Google-ing sessions, we found something called Erythropoietic Protoporphyria, EPP for short. The National Library of Medicine describes EPP as "...an inherited condition resulting in the accumulation of protoporphyrins in red blood cells that causes acute, painful, non-blistering photosensitivity and potential liver disease" (Ahmed Jan, Masood). Although, I'm sure you figured that out from my anecdotes. My blood got tested for high blood protoporphyrins, and sure enough, they were high. We also found that this disorder is connected to low iron levels, which were also present in my blood tests. I'm on my way into junior year and my family is still trying to crack the case of EPP. Those who are close to me and have followed my story have learned with me about this disorder, and those I meet are sure to learn about it soon enough. It can be tricky to try to spread awareness about such a niche disorder, but I do my best. I am happy to explain to others why I wear gloves in the sun and why it is so important for me to consistently apply sunscreen. Sometimes, it's as simple as "I'm allergic to the sun," but if I have time, I'll talk about blood protoporphyrins, low iron, and liver disease. I make sure to spread awareness by advocating for myself both in doctors' offices and in sunny social situations so I can always make sure to find some shade.