The AARP Addiction

       My name is Brenda. And I think I have a problem.

       After only a few days of playing games on the AARP web site, I may have developed an internet game addiction.

       Yesterday, I started playing another word game -- where the player has to match parts of words to make whole words on a particular topic.  I tried level one, moved up quickly to level two, played all the options on level two, and then moved on to level three.  While this happened, over an hour of my morning slipped by.

       Today, I tried other games, and again lost more than an hour. 

       Sure, my brain felt good afterward.  I felt energized, exercised and awake. But where had the time gone? At what point did I decide to just keep on playing?

       I know what made me stop: my back started to hurt from crouching over the computer.

       But if not for that, who knows how long I might have stayed online? If I had stuck with doing my core exercises from February (Fitness in 15 Minutes a Day), I could still be playing even now. I might never take a break to eat, or sleep or even to walk Olympia. I might never spend quality time with Tom again.  Our life's delicate balance could become...unbalanced! (You'd think all these word games might have helped me develop a wider vocabulary so that I could have used a word other than "unbalanced", but apparently not.)

       Anyway, I am trying to stay away for now -- at least until tomorrow morning. But who knows what may happen then?

       Help me...please help me...before it's too late!