As God is My Witness, I'm Playing Fantasy Hockey

So yeah, I haven't posted in a while. It's not that I've been too busy with work; I mean I do a lot of work now that I'm a Ph.D student, but if I really wanted to, I could sit down and bang out one of these entries really quickly. And yes, there are times when I think I should write an entry but I just don't feel like it. I have no obligations to anyone with this blog, I don't even think very many people read it, so from the start I've decided this would be an outlet I would use when I was able. And I haven't been able...

Or it may just be that I was distracted by the Seahawks' new day-glo uniforms.

Actually what has happened is procrastination. Rather than this blog serving as something I could use to channel my creative energy instead of, oh, doing work, I've come up with so many other reasons to not do work that this blog has been neglected. It almost feels like the more work I have now, the harder the work becomes, the more avenues I find to do something other than work. It's definitely not a healthy thing.

At first I just had the Internet to distract me, and Facebook especially. Then I added Twitter. Then came Facebook applications, specifically Mafia Wars. Then I got dragged into Farmville, and believe me, these things require a lot of time and attention. After all, I have achievements to earn, crops to harvest, ugly ducklings to adopt, and so on. Also, since I live in an apartment with two people and one television, this means TV watching is rationed. Saturdays (like this) are my day off so I can catch up on some things.

For example... I just stopped for 40 minutes to catch up on this week's "Fringe." In the middle of this entry. I'm getting distracted from my distractions. But other shows require me to use the Internet... and how am I gonna do that when I need the Internet to whack mobsters and harvest crops? By the way, that reminds me, I need to do a "State of the Tube" entry soon... I've been putting it off...

Also the Internet has made it easier to be sucked into the world of fantasy sports. I started with baseball, which I know a lot about so that's not too difficult and after 4 years (and 3 2nd-place finishes in my league), I know how to field a winning fantasy team without it running my life. Then I added fantasy football, but I've pared it back to being in a salary-cap league. I only have to do something with that one day a week, that being the day the salaries reset. But then I added another baseball game, on Facebook (of course) and that requires me to look at it once a week or more. And finally the capper... the sign that you know you've gone overboard with these things... I signed up for fantasy hockey.

Yeah... I know. But at least it isn't fantasy NASCAR. I know people who do that, and believe me, that's pretty sad. Not to mention puzzling because how do they get Internet in the trailer park? Anyway, this is a sport I have become much more interested in the last few years because of the Sabres, but I still admittedly know little about. Also, the rosters are huge and they don't play everyday, so I have to make personnel decisions almost everyday depending on who has a game that night.

Oh, and I may have signed up for TWO fantasy hockey leagues...

To those of you who are concerned about my well-being, let me assure you that I am getting my work done. Even when my laptop crashed last week and I thought it was dead (turns out it's not... yet), I went to campus, worked until everything was done, and I am doing well in my classes, so there's no need to worry. As for this blog, it will continue on its irregular schedule, which means that whenever I feel like writing, I shall.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to accept some new topiaries for my farm...