Sidetracked

I've wanted to post a couple of times in the past week or so, including some new pictures, but I got sidetracked. It happens to me every now and then. It's a common tale on the internet..."I saw a link that looked interesting, so I clicked on it, and found a game. I haven't stopped to eat, drink, sleep, or pee since."

OK, it's not quite that bad (kids do need attention once in a while), but I've been hit by not one, not two, but by three distracting internet games in the last week. I started playing Sudoku, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I understood the logic involved. Number tend to scare me off, but I realized it could be played with letters (or symbols, or whatever), which made me feel a bit less threatened by it. I can get through most Hard puzzles, and even the occasional Evil one. But only online. I like this site's version in particular because I can enter multiple numbers until I can eliminate all but the correct one. On paper I would have to erase, and that would just frustrate my perfectionist self.

Then I found a sequel to a game I got caught up in briefly earlier this year: Hapland. Try this one before getting sucked into Hapland 2, which is a bit more complicated. To play without hints, you simply need to click and try everything you can think of and see how things interact. It can be infuriating...after you play a while you understand what needs to happen, but you just can't make it happen AND YOU KEEP GETTING YOUR LITTLE STICK MAN KILLED!!! Yes, I googled hints. For both. I think I caved and did the walkthrough for Hapland 1, but got by with just one key hint for Hapland 2. Just let me warn you before you click on one of those links: you will either not see the point and go away, or you will give up all other pursuits for the rest of the day, snapping at your spouse and children to leave you alone, YOU'RE TRYING NOT TO GET THIS GUY KILLED, DARN IT! And if you don't get so frustrated that you look up hints, like I did, you won't be happy until you've figured it out. Little stick men will haunt your dreams.

And if you DO figure out Hapland and want another challenge, try Escape from Rhetundo Island. If Hapland 1 and 2 didn't make you bonkers, this one will. Even with a hints page, I haven't been able to get past level five. Like the Haplands, a lot is based on timing things just right. Don't send me hate mail. You have been warned.

Then last night somehow (I honestly don't remember exactly how), I got onto an online multi-player game...you know the kind, with wizards and knights and wenches and spells. I had never played one before, but this one actually looked inviting enough to try. I'm not going to tell you where this one is, because I finally gave up on it. After I couldn't even complete the last part of the tutorial because I couldn't cast a spell on a chicken after half an hour of trying...I decided it was truly a waste of my time.

And then I got sidetracked by my birthday, which was also this week. I'm halfway to 70 now, old enough to run for president, as one friend pointed out. It was a good day: Leo took the afternoon off and we went shopping at the mall. He gave me $200 to spend at this store in the mall (guess whose idea THAT was?), and I came away with some stuff for him as well as some more comfortable items. Then we had dinner at Skyline Chili, went back home for whipped chocolate cheesecake, and then it was out to Borders for me (what birthday would be complete without a chance to hang out in my favorite place??)

Anyway, I DO have pictures to post, but I still can't get to them because I'm on the laptop. Arghhhhh...but will try soon.