Do you Sudoku?

We all have our addictions – chocolate, caffeine, green M&Ms, shoe shopping, blogs – whatever it is, we've got to have it. For those of us with truly addictive personalities (and you know who you are) the only thing keeping us from living in a rubber room is finding ‘socially acceptable’ addictions. I would have to admit that I would fall into the ‘addictive personality’ category! I am addicted to watching commentaries and extra features on DVD’s (particularly chic flicks and comedies)...I just can’t leave any extra features un-watched! I am addicted to eating the crumbs off of a pan, licking spatulas, and scraping out the cookie dough left on the sides of the mixing bowl. I am addicted to listening to a CD over and over until I've learned every word to every song. I am addicted to a few other quirky things, but I guess you’re getting the idea!

One of my addictions is puzzles. You could probably say I’ve been addicted to puzzles all my life. When I was a kid, I had one 1,000-piece puzzle and 2 or 3 500-piece puzzles that I put together and took apart many, many times! I usually had one spread out on the floor in front of my TV so I could work on it while watching my home-school videos! (I know, I was a total dork!) Haha! :D Lately I haven’t had much time for puzzles, but I am still very easily addicted to puzzle-type games.

So I was really excited when I discovered Sudoku this past fall. At first glance, Sudoku looks like a math puzzle; it is not. Sudoku is pure logic – even the hardest Sudoku puzzle can be done without guessing. I hate guessing – it upsets the balance of my universe. I spend enough time battling uncertainty in my real life. ;) When I turn to my puzzles, I want to know they can be mastered with thought and reasoning, not luck or chance. When designed properly, there is only one perfect solution to a Sudoku puzzle. I like that – perfection achievable through brain power (even if it is just a little box on paper!).

Anyone can do Sudoku – just because it involves numbers and not letters, doesn't make it harder for people who don't have a ‘math brain.’ There really is no math involved in a Sudoku puzzle. It’s just a matter of placing numbers in grids so that the numbers 1-9 appear only once in each column, row, and box. No division. No square roots. No integers. Just numbers – they could be letters or symbols or cupcakes – and it would be the same game. (In fact, I think you can find Sudoku puzzles that are done with all of those things!)

I don’t know what it is about Sudoku, but I find it to be very relaxing and enjoyable. The minutes fly by as I solve puzzle after puzzle. I love doing it while sitting next to Jordan while he plays Xbox (I know, sounds romantic, doesn’t it?!) or while watching a commentary on a beloved movie. I can play online at www.websudoku.com or I can play it on my little handheld (which means I can take it with me and play whenever I want – YAY!).

Lately I’ve had a new addiction strike me. It’s called TextTwist. Ever heard of it? I think that’s another post for another day, though. ;) Why am I so easily addicted? Is it because my perfectionist personality needs an outlet for perfectionism? Is it because I need the wind-down time? Is my over-active brain just in need of a challenge? Who knows? But whatever it is, Sudoku puzzles are a good fix...at least for now -- Haha!!

So what's your fix these days?