Puzzler’s Desk by Steve Read – Hua Cao Shu Mu – 300 pieces

Although I chose which puzzle to do next, I find myself extremely annoyed with this puzzle. Not because of it’s quality (though that does needs an extra big straw for how much it sucks), but perhaps due to the fact that I’m old and cranky and don’t feel well.

This was a thrift store purchase of three puzzles in a box; no brand name I could be confident in, no titles of the artwork, no artist credit, no nothing. The quality is crap; thin pieces of chipboard that you can almost peel apart, extremely shiny finish, sharp backing, blurry reproduction, etc. It seems to be one of those companies that popped up during the pandemic to make a quick buck on the run on jigsaw puzzles, which again, annoys me.

In a world where the most banal, trivial information is readily available everywhere and where a company knows what ads to target me with based on which tissue I sneezed into yesterday – how is it that no one seems to be able to have the right information to stop companies and people from stealing artwork and bootlegging up some really crappy puzzles and selling them all over the world? (See? Old and cranky)

I’m finishing these puzzles to get them out of my house, which is the only reason I picked this one to assemble next. They’re taking up precious shelf space and they suck so loud I can hear them over my music when I’m working on a good quality puzzle. I want them gone.

My name is Stacey, I am old and cranky and I don’t feel well today – and this puzzle is annoying.