Confessions of a Computer-game Addict

I think about it all the time. I crave it when I'm not doing it. I wake up and want to do it. No matter how much I do it, I always want more. I can't stop. It's computer games. My name is Emkay, and I am an Acroholic.

My favorite computer game in the world is "Acrophobia" which I've been playing for about 6 months. You are given letters, and you make acros; example: WTHIGOWA, What the hell is going on with acrophobia? The game began freezing all the time, every time you'd go in. There's a chat room, I have friends there, and they all give me (((((hugs))))) when I enter.

Now it's been down for several days and I'm freaking. This extra time forced me to do tasks I'd never normally contemplate doing, like dusting, laundry and (God forbid) cooking. This time away from the computer has caused me to reevaluate my life, relationships, hopes for the future, and more. Acrophobia has let me down. When I didn't want to deal with life, I went to Acro. Now its not there. I even had to look in the mirror (after I cleaned it) and discovered how fat I'd gotten.

I was forced to find a new game, and I'm now addicted to "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", online. But this is challenging and frustrating, and so unfair that I can't win any money like the contestants on TV! And so far, I've only been able to get to the $250,000 level, not to the million. My boyfriend, he of the NY, street-wise, gambling past, however, is gloating in the fact that he has reached the million dollar question not once, but twice! And he's no Yale graduate! (Neither am I.)

They're having try-outs for the new Millionaire show with that Meridith something, but I think I'll pass. I can see myself getting a $100 question, about a Mother Goose nursery rhyme or something, and I will turn purple with embarrasement as I use all my lifelines on the first question. It really does look so easy on TV. But I should know better, I belong to another Trivia site, where I generally get about 65% of the questions right. So, I'm only going to have a 65% quality of life, I guess.

I miss my Acro-buddies. But I'm glad to know there's other addicts like me, who like to escape the frustrations of the real world, into the frustration and the humbling experience of knowing you are not the smartest, fastest, and cleverest. But we're all in it together.