Question of the week: Are you an Elite addict or just un-happy?

Another label to add to the few I've got already...gosh, those university types sure work hard for their grants these days [rolleyes]

I'm definitely addicted but not unhappy. Winter is fast approaching where all my extra curricular hobbies like my motorbikes are severely curtailed. I certainly don't lie about the amount of time I spend playing games to anyone who finds me interesting enough to speak to and my wife has no complaints as I try to be as attentive as I always was. I'm not as physically active as I feel I should be, but the tin legs tend to cut down the amount of running around I still imagine I can do.

I don't drink, socially or otherwise, have many, many friends and an active social life. As a rule, I totally avoid popular social networking and all current affairs (newspapers, internet and TV/radio) mainly because it's no longer my job to care about the who or why politicians are sleeping with/fiddling money from/at war with any more. I don't go on holidays abroad since we live on a beautiful group of ancient and historic islands, ferry travel between them is free for the two of us and the motorbike since I'm a resident, can't get better than that...

Playing games is certainly a bit of escapism for me but not a form of avoidance related coping strategy. I opted for totally avoiding the lives and cares of the mainland folk when I moved to the middle of the North Sea, it's working out just fine so far.

My only other addiction is to the fiend tobacco...that and winding up the other islanders on our small rock with tall tales to the extent that if they hear some juicy gossip about me in the local shop, they automatically disbelieve it and assume that I started it off in the first place. Our kids are grown up, one in the Forces the others in paying work and their own homes...occasionally they or ex forces mates on bikes descend on us like a plague of locusts, eat all our food and then scoot off again to their busy lives...bliss.

In the main, apart from tidying up some paperwork every month or so to present to the charities commission about the details of grants our veterans charity gives to disabled or traumatised service personnel or something involving getting some mentally broken squaddie off the streets and into permanent accommodation or making sure they aren't starving through lack of money or folk who care... my days aren't that busy.

I spent almost my entire adult life at war or getting involved in someone else's bunfights...so, to be perfectly honest...sitting in front of a PC playing games socially or on my ownsome is unadulterated luxury, not a guilty secret. Pity I had to almost come home in a black bin bag to have that piece of escapism...but it's way more fun doing it virtually than taking part in the real stuff [yesnod]

Being retired and living on a remote island with a nice PC in my 'Harry Potter' cupboard is pretty fine all in all.
 
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