Every Friday, I write about whatever the heck I want… because it’s fun.

I pretend to hate video games… but I really don’t. I just stay away because I have no self control. Anyone who doubts this should watch me in the same room as a bag of Cap Cod kettle cooked salt and vinegar chips…

Yum.

Oh right, yes, computer games. I may have never got past level three in Super Mario Brothers when I was a kid (or even now) but I did have some games that I was good enough at to actually enjoy.

I started off with Tetris on the Gameboy. That thing got passed around in our family so much, I am surprised it didn’t melt the year we got it.

Briefly in college, there was Snood. I had to uninstall it off my computer, the only time I’ve even had to uninstall anything.

I even went through a Spider Solitaire phase that was so intense, I would dream I was playing it all night. I had reached a point in my life where I had enough self control to just not let myself even open the program for a year. And I’ve gone the last few years being a pretty productive internet user…

You think I'm self disciplined, huh? You haven't seen me and Bejeweled together yet!



Then a few weeks ago, I met Bejeweled.

I love that when you break any game like this down into what it is, it sounds stupid: You try to get lines of the same jewel (at least three but ideally, four or five) in a row, then they explode and disappear. I feel embarrassed just saying it but it’s so fun!

At first, I was a casual user: playing it while waiting for someone to show up for dinner for example. Pretty soon though, I found I would lie in bed with my iTouch playing it until midnight.

So I gave it up for Lent. And my first big test will be in a few minutes when I get in a car as the passenger on a longish drive to Saddleback Mountain skiing. I guess I’ll *gasp* have to talk to my companions, undistracted by little jewels getting crushed together.

Here’s hoping your Friday is equally social… but, if you were going to have your attention and time stolen by something completely artificial, what’s your guilty pleasure?



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