Please note: I wrote this some time ago, whilst I was deep in the grip of my addiction to Starcraft, and the online community surrounding it; it may not mean much to those who weren't so into those things. I ran across it the other day and it took me on a happy little nostalgia trip, so I thought I'd post it for (hopefully) the amusement of people with the same fond memories that I have.

This message is for all of you maladjusted individuals out there who spend all of your time playing or thinking about Starcraft. I used to be like that - Starcraft this, Starcraft that, must play Starcraft now.. but no longer. I'm cured. So, I thought I'd share how my day today went with all of you, so you can see how rewarding a Starcraft-free day can be, and maybe break free yourselves, to live a normal, entirely Starcraft-free life like mine, without Starcraft.

I woke up this morning for work (I work at Meijer Inc's corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan), and as I always do, began my morning with an invigorating stretch and a rousing recitation of the corporate motto: "My life for Meijer!" After that, I went downstairs and made breakfast, following my usual production order. (Incidentally, I find that this order will get you out the door in under five minutes, assuming you want to go the Toaster Strudel - coffee - toast route. It goes like so: first toaster slot Strudel, filter in, coffee in, second toaster slot bread, coffee maker on, frosting packet open - and right around here the Strudel should be done. Frost it, toast out, pour coffee, and you're ready to go. You can add in turning on the stove and getting out a pan if you're not rushing and want to try for eggs, but I prefer an early start. Try this out - it's great! Just make sure you give me credit if you use it.)

Anyhoo, I finished breakfast and drove to work. It's getting alarming to drive through downtown Ann Arbor - all these scary looking teens on motorcycles hanging around like packs of vultures. It seems like our factories should be researching something useful instead of building those bloody little bikes, but I guess they must be good for something.

The Meijer corporate headquarters looks kind of jerry rigged, and everyone acts as if it might lift up and move at any time, but it's home. We're building an add-on to house the new satellite dish and dealing with a stubborn infestation of ants (which I find strangely disturbing for some reason), so outside at least everything looks busy. It was kind of slow inside, though, with it being Friday and all - lots of resources sitting around unused, that kind of thing. It's okay, though - most of our competitors in the area are pretty much defeated, so we can afford to sit back and pump out our basic products en masse.

I spent lunch hour playing a little game I have with my boss's assistant (see, there are games besides Starcraft!) My boss really sees himself as the head of the company, so all the good stuff is in his office suite - the printer, copier, water cooler, etc - and he has all of these little interns running back and forth between his desk and the aforementioned printer/copier/etc bringing him things. It's cute. But anyway, his assistant sits in a little cubicle outside the office, and eats his lunch and looks around. I try to sneak up, invisible-like, and shine the little laser pen I keep around for presentations on my boss. If the assistant sees me he'll pop up and throw a ball of paper at me, and then I lose. But if I can keep the laser on target for more than 20 seconds or so .. well, I don't know, he always catches me. I wonder what would actually happen .. .. oh well.

Ok, so I didn't get too much done at work, but it was a good, semi-productive day. I was a little worried about getting my car going - it's old and the parking break sticks, it seems to take forever to switch out of stationary mode so I can move it - but it worked finally and I drove home. I almost got my work clothes all wet because my neighbor turned on his sprinkler just as I was getting out of my car - but it's one of those four-legged jobbies that can't hit anything and doesn't get it very wet even if it does, so I was fine. I made dinner (I've got some great late-day food strats, email me if you're interested) and spent the evening going over the company's end-of-quarter number - units produced, resources acquired, structures built, that sort of thing, and when everything was OK, went to bed.

So there you go. An entire day without even a hint of Starcraft. No Starcraft anywhere! In fact, I haven't played Starcraft for .. for a long time. You could be like me, if you hold firm and stop obsessing so much!

Maybe one game now and then would be ok - since I've kicked the habit and all.

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