Bejeweled Blitz

I thought I'd said some disparaging words about the FB app in the title awhile back, but I can't find them so maybe it stayed in my head. It's just as well, since my opinion has changed.

Plenty of my FB friends, both people I've known in real life and some only online, had been playing it, so I thought I'd give it a try. And I did and played it for a long time. Lining up those jewels and trying to score can be quite addicting. The reason I came to frown upon it is that, like with most games, if I master it, then what? How can I apply that skill anywhere? Since I couldn't, I decided it wasn't for me and was just a waste a time.

But, as it turns out, I still play it. And I like it. And I don't care if I learn nothing from it since it is an end in itself, sort of like listening to my Ipod, or reading a "mind candy" book like an old Hardy Boys or Tom Swift story. The reason I play it is because my mind can be completely shut off from most other things. I might have a tune going around in my head, I might hum something. But I'm not concerned with the world, so to speak, while I play.

I said elsewhere that my mind never, ever shuts off. So it is a relief to me to find an activity that I may never be very good at, but that occupies my mind in enough ways to close the rest of "it" out for a time. I don't know what others get out of it. It is no social activity for me--I keep my chat closed while I'm on FB if I'm playing it, and I never compare scores or challenge anyone, or worry about it at all. I just see if I can get better, or not. See if I can figure out a way to be more efficient, or not. I'm getting really good at looking at the initial lay of the jewels and knowing immediately if it's "hopeless" for getting a high score or not. I wish they'd put in a "new field" button so I could get a new lay immediately. Still, there is something to be gained from playing an impossible hand.