Pacman Fever

Today marks 28 days since I last played Enemy Territory. About five or six weeks for Anarchy Online.

I'm occupying my time with learning HTML. My first website is up and running and includes my resume and details of career accomplishments, replete with pictures and URL links. The homepage even has one of those Email Me forms on it. I think HTML for me is sort of like Double Bubble for someone who quit smoking. It never would have learned if I hadn't quit playing.

It satisfying cravings, involving 'point-and-click' motions and critical thinking. Difference is I don't get so completely frazzled, even when I spend hours debugging Javascript. My site is quite straightforward as websites go, but it's my newbie website!

I remember telling my doctor a while back that gaming was okay because the software itself was so 'creative'. His reply was, "Yeah, but that's someone else's creativity, not yours." I understand what he meant now.

People are already asking me to do stuff for them with HTML, which is funny given that I can barely remember the tags for italics or bold. Our local political party riding association may actually pay me money to revamp ours. Be afraid, very afraid.

My wife took me out to dinner, and it was good meal. My unilateral purchase of a $60 HTML book cast a pall over our meal, but it got us talking more about the fragile onion skin I live inside. Fact is that compulsive spending is another problem for me, and one that I promised to raise with my 'sponsor' when I see him tomorrow. Maybe the 'job' will pay for the book?

We've revisited our often abused (by me) policy on maximum unilateral purchases, pushing the limit down to $50. I readily agreed to it. We're working on ways for me to pay back the credit card faster. A job would be a good place to start.

Sublime gift for seeing the obvious.

I felt so ****ed bad about blowing more money, like a little kid. Time to be a grown up and give my poor wife a break from this turmoil...

I'm sure St. Paul must have been speaking about a computer game addiction: "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, but now that I am a man I have given up childish things."

On the positive side, we did talk more candidly about these issues than in recent memory. Slow painful progress is being made.

As if to mock me during our restaurant meal, the 80's music gods in the restaurant tormented us with a crusty old tune called Pacman fever, blasting it over the speakers. I didn't have a pen and a fast hand to write down the lyrics, but through the wonders of Web technology - somebody actually took time to write this @#%$ down - here are the lyrics. They speak for themselves:

I got a pocket full of Quarters
and I'm headed to the Arcade

I don't have alot of money
but I'm bringing everything I made

I got a callus on my Finger
and my shoulder's hurtin' too

I'm gonna eat em all up
just as soon as they turn blue

{Chorus}
Cause I got.. Pacman Fever......
It's Driving me Crazy......
I got Pacman Fever.......
I'm goin' outta my mind......

I got all the patterns down
up until the 9th key

I got speedy on my tail
and I know it's either him or me

So, I'm headed out the backdoor
and In and out of Sight

Gonna eat the Cherries up
and take em all for a ride

{Chorus}

I'm gonna Fake to the left
and move to the Right

Cause Pokey's too slow
and Blinky's out of Sight

Now I got em on the run
and I'm looking for the Highscore

So, it's once around the Block
and I slide back out the Side door

I'm really cookin' now
eating everything in Sight

All my money's gone
so I'll be back tomorrow Night

{Chorus}

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