What I'm Wasting Time On

Hi, my name is Kim and I'm an addict. I'm addicted to computer games. I like the quick ones like Freecell and Sudoku, unlike The Eldest and DH who are into the multi-player role playing games. My current favorite is Guess the Colors on the Games for the Brain website (which is the top link in my links I like list). I failed miserably on my first few stabs at it; DH looked over my shoulder and gave me a few hints and we managed to solve the puzzle, though. (He's naturally good at that kind of thing.) I knew this was something I could master, however, so I kept at it. I'm getting pretty good now, I have to say. I still get stumped but I've figured out how to figure it out and I can usually solve them in 4 to 6 moves. I knew there had to be a strategy but I didn't know what it was to begin with. I stuck with it and it clicked- I know what I'm looking for now. I love it when that happens! I also stop by Jigzone a few times a day and solve an 87 piece crazy cut puzzle in around 5 minutes flat. That's also something that took me a while to master; when I first started working on that cut (and there are a bunch of different cuts, that happens to be my favorite) I was TERRIBLE, often taking longer than the average time. Now I can frequently solve it in a half to a third of the average time, although I'll NEVER come close to the fastest times.

It's just fun to master something I'm initially bad at. It was the same with Sudoku- I couldn't get anywhere with those puzzles in the beginning, then I started to solve some easy ones, then I stuck with it and now I can solve... medium hard ones. (I don't even tackle the really hard ones- they hurt me.) It's part of my morning routine to solve a quick and easy Sudoku for speed, sometimes a harder Sudoku, one Jigzone puzzle, and one Guess the Colors. I call them my brain exercises, as in "don't bother me, Child X, I'm in the middle of my brain exercises". But they're really just big time wasters when I should be doing more productive things! ;)