Crushing Candies

I never enjoy eating candies in my life, no matter how pretty or handsome it is.  I prefer chocolate a thousand times more than candies.  I love the rich, creamy and bittersweet taste of chocolate.  I feel less guilty when eating chocolate because international researches have proven that chocolate has high anti-oxidant and aphrodisiac agents. I can debate about why chocolate is better than candies for hours but this is not the reason why I write this post.

Today's post is about my confession of flirting with something not chocolatey.... I confess that I am now addicted to candy.... But not just a simple sweet candy. it is a special one called Candy Crush. If you don't know what Candy Crush is..... hmmmmm it's time to give uncle google a call.

Yes, it is very unlike me to play computer games, more so anything involving candies.  But regretfully I have to admit that I am hooked now. I am a bit embarrassed of acquiring a new addiction knowing that I already have a long list of addictions.  But this candy is insanely addictive.

I don't really play computer games other than the old-fashioned "serious" games like  Freecell and Minesweeper.  My kids used to tell me that I was such a boring person, spending my free time reading, cooking and writing instead of having something really fun, like playing games.

When my husband bought an ipad for us, I was not interested in it.  Yes, it is very high-tech and looks pretty sleek but other than that, I don't really find it useful. (..well... I am not the type who judge something from its looks).  I can't do my accounting work using ipad, I can't watch anything that has Adobe Flash and I have to be delicate while touching the screen.   The fact that I don't have any chemistry with touch screen makes it even more unattractive to me.

But one day, my daughter managed to influence me to play Candy Crush.  I declined the offer but she insisted that I might like it.  Not wanting to disappoint her, I let her teach me how to play.  I was a bit slow in the beginning.  I couldn't understand how the points work, how to get high scores.  I overly analyzed the game.  When I asked my kids about the point system, they looked at me with a blank face.

"Mommy, it's just a game.  Don't be too serious with it, just play laaaa....," she told me.

That's when it hit me...

Have I lost the fun in me?  Am I really too serious now? Have I grown "old" that fast? Am I a boring middle-age-almost-menopause lady now?

NO NO NO..... I have to show my kids that I am not that person.  I am still a fun person who can enjoy games that most "fun people" play. I have my reputation at stake now.... I have to play..!!

Then I started playing.. Every time I completed one level, I felt the a sense of achievement.  I couldn't believe that I could complete all 33 levels within 3 days. Every time I completed 1 level, I shouted and showed off to my kids.  When I reached level 35, I got stuck.  I needed friends to help me.  I panicked.  I send requests to my Facebook friends to help me.... Only to realize that all those while I played using my daughter's account. None of her friends helped me.  I couldn't advance to the next level.  After a few days not crashing candies, I became restless... I needed my fix... That's when I knew my addiction was real.

I needed to beg my husband to let me buy the ticket to advance to the next level (because the ipad is using his account).  It's only 99 cents but my pride was too high to ask him.  I didn't want him to know that I acquired a new addiction.  He is still upset that I had a rebound with my coffee addiction after being clean for a few months.  But after a week without Candy Crush, I had to ignore my pride and told him what happened.  Contrary to my initial fear, he said OK and didn't ask anything at all. So I bought the ticket, felt happy and started playing again.

When I hit level 90, my kids started to complain.  They hated me for ignoring them.  I spent a lot of time on the ipad that they had to settle for Mi Sedap Soto for a few lunches. I felt so guilty....

Similar to what normal people will do, my guilt made me defensive...... I tried to justify my addiction.  "You know girls, you can learn a lot of things from playing Candy Crush," I told my children.  "Do you learn anything?"

My daughters gave me blank looks.

"When you play a game, you learn about perseverance, about not giving up and keep on trying until you succeed.  While playing this game, you are actually trained to be patient, to think strategically, to concentrate and at the same time, to be caring.  You learn to help others by giving tickets and lives to your friends."

I was surprised when I uttered those words.  Wow... I am good...!! Now I started to feel less guilty.  I am training my brain, man...!!

But actually it is true... Don't you think so? The game really taught us all those....

And I also learn a lot about life from Candy Crush Saga : you get helps from the least expected Facebook friends.  I get tickets and lives from FB friends who don't really keep in touch with me.  I even got lives from acquaintances too..!! It restores my belief in humanity... :)

However, the most important thing that I learned from Candy Crush is :  when a man says "sweet, wonderful, fantastic", don't flatter yourself....  You can die just seconds after the Candy Man says you did FANTASTIC...!!

Have a great week ahead friends....