Scrabulous.

Not just Scrabble.
and simply Fabulous.
hence: Scrabulous.

I would say that on average, it occupies 4 hours of my day. now, note that I have been staying up later than average, in order to fit this in. It's not that it takes the place, per se, of my other useless internet browsing allocation, nor the time displacing techniques that I strive to perfect throughout the day. It's more that it takes on the time when I would otherwise be getting up and slogging around the house, making food, or cleaning the dishes that somehow accumulate only for me; and that time at night that most people reserve for sleeping, or getting those last few productive projects in.

It has become an addiction.
and for good reason. I have been trying to figure out why I like these odd video games, these applications, the mind numbing stimulation of tetrical, or scrabulous, or scramble (boggle). and I think it's because it gives me zone out time. sure, I'm thinking, and processing, and for the most part far outscoring my opponents - but there's little real attention payed. drifting. almost in a zen state. I really noticed it today with scrabulous. I could actually keep playing in amidst the phone calls and tutoring arrangements that came up - and while being a good secretary, I kept up all of the 27 games that I have running simultaneously to keep me occupied. and I could feel the haze in my mind. A light overlay of scrabulous that didn't penetrate any other ideas, didn't overlay, or fog the rest, but was like a transparency or sketch or whisper constantly humming to itself, and waiting for me to be free enough to give in to its wiles. and I have not yet entirely decided whether this is a good thing, and it's keeping me from picking up bad habits, and doing other self destructive things, and being worse off than feeling slightly zoned for a small part of the day; or if it's just plain old bad, and keeping me from my potential, and making me forget to do things that are on my list, and scrapping time that could be spent with real people doing real things. on the one hand, is my feeling that it's saving part of my sanity by giving it some out - and on the other is the fear that I'm actually slipping into a dislocated madness and only by wrenching myself back can this be reversed.

anyway. it's 2 am, and I still have a dozen live games running. I should finish those up before bed. gnight.