When The Cards Turn Against You

Here is a  picture of a total stranger, let's call her Madame X, who wants me to tell you about her addiction but wants to remain anonymous. This is her story:

It all started when she got an iPad. Certainly a fun item and very useful in the right hands but when it gets into the wrong hands it can become the tool of the devil. You see she made the mistake of putting Solitaire on this iPad. A harmless little game for most but for Madame X it was like giving crack to a well known singer who was in a movie with Kevin Costner. Well it started out with one game ... no problem red on black, black on red, four aces just waiting to be reunited with their respective suit but then it turned ugly.

One game led to another and another and another until Madame X lost control. Just one more game, she would mutter, but she knew it would be two, three, 15 more games. She couldn't stop. If she lost a game she just had to try again. If she won a game she was on a streak and no one quits when they're on a streak. It was insanity I tell you...INSANITY.

Then last night she selected STATS by mistake and up came a screen that displayed now only how many games she had played, but how much time she had spent playing those games. I won't reveal those numbers because I'm, I mean Madame X, is appalled and slightly embarrassed at the results. But it occurred to Madame X that before she complains about not having time to get everything she wants to do done, she should consider getting the Solitaire monkey off her back.

So Madame X has gone cold turkey -- she's deleted Solitaire from the iPad and checked herself into the Milton Bradley Clinic to try to reclaim her life from those little red and black demons.

Good luck Madame X --- you'll need it.