Addictions? I've Had A Few

Okay, let's get back to business.

Reading has not been happening. Birthday week with Bob home 24/7. No reading time for me.

Lots of fun things were done though and even boring mundane things like hanging out watching TV together. I really am all about the small things.

Okay, I like the big ball buster things too but sometimes I take a moment during the small things.

Anyways, the topic is addiction.

Not in a bad way because I figured it out pretty young. I have an addictive quality in that if I start something the odds are I'm going to obsess about it for a while.

We've discussed addictions with me before.

I'm not allowed to go to a casino.

Seriously.

Thing is I'm very good about going to casinos. Okay, I've been like once. And I went after the time I was at a race track during university.

University years were slim pickings for money and I worked throughout the year. Let's just say losing the money I came with was bad. Hitting the ATM for another hundred bucks hurt for more than the usual reasons.

Bad ATM.

Having learned a painful lesson a few years before it was no surprise that I took precautions that my mother and her best friend thought were hilarious before entering the casino. I took my 20 dollars (yeah, still slim pickings for money) and ID out and then hid my wallet under my car seat, locked the door and told the ladies to not let me leave the casino without one of them. My mom and her BF didn't understand why I didn't just take my wallet in with me. I explained that I knew about ATMs and that I would spend more than I had if I let loose. I ended up leaving with 60 bucks which was awesome but then I know (logically) that's very unusual.

My mother discovered the hard way where I got my addictive nature when my dad went to the casino with her. His ATM card got a work out and mom was forced to put her foot down. Dad hasn't been back since but I'm tellin' ya, my father and I would be high rollers if we had money to burn.

Just sayin.

It's in the blood!

Lucky me, it doesn't just have to do with gambling. Nope. My first credit card was about wore out before I realized the consequences. Ouch. Luckily I'm not nearly as addicted but I can get in trouble so I have a card that has a 500 dollar limit so that if I lose control they'll cut me off.

I know. Personal willpower for me can be a fleeting thing so I have to put in special obstacles to help me keep it together. But I do put in obstacles because I know consequences and logic and hell, I know myself. It's probably a hard thing to understand if you don't have an addictive personality.

It's also the reason I don't drink. I've had the odd drink and when I turned legal my best bud took me out and we got 'tipsy'. Let's just say that the 60 bucks I spent in drinks just made me stupid and pee all night like a race horse. So it didn't stick. Phew!

Now I'll drop you another 'quirk'.

I can eat the exact same food day after day for months on end. My thing right now is toasted bacon sandwich with fries and gravy. After 14 years of marriage Bob knows when he's in trouble. I was addicted to McDs for about a year, A&W was probably the longest with 2 years, Tim Horton's sandwich lasted about 9 months etc. I could go a day or two but sooner or later I was going to give Bob some serious grief and he was going to drive me to the destination with C-Rex crawling through the cab of the truck.

The good news about my addictions is that they can run their course. I can go to McD's but it's not the same. I still love A&W fries but I don't need them every day and I long ago lost interest in the TH sandwich.

I just never know when something will lose it's grip on me and that can be frustrating because trying to force it doesn't work.

My latest addiction is Yoville on Facebook. I think I've gone over every nook and cranny in the joint. Bob will ask me if I need to go to my 'job' in Yoville - have to go every six hours to get coins to buy fake stuff for your fake house online.

Thing is, you can spend actual money on Yoville to get the stuff you want. I can't tell you how many times I've hovered over the 'purchase coins' option. I explained it to Bob thinking maybe he would say 'you know what, go ahead and buy a few dollars worth'.

Uh, no.

Bob told me he'd call our internet provider and tell them his wife had lost her frickin' mind and they were to never, ever, ever put internet in our house again.

Meanie.

I just have to let this new addiction run it's course.

The funny thing is Blogging and Reading were never in the 'addiction' categories for me. Although I do have to be careful as sometimes I'll be reading and wishing I didn't have to go out and visit people or do laundry or uh -

I do other stuff!

I do know when I first started reading romance books I read them back to back to back and I resented time taken away from reading. So I think I was addicted at first.

Luckily for me, it still holds it's shine after 20 some odd years.

Now, if only I could get addicted to salad, exercise, running marathons, cooking, cleaning.....