If Not For Small Victories, I'd Have None At All

Today will never go down in history as a great day. No television specials, school closures, local festivals, greeting cards, or furniture sales will likely ever honor it. But today I had my own small brush with victory. For the first time in innumerable tries, I won one of those hidden picture computer games.

Its name was Magic Academy, and the storyline - such as it was, storylines being mere excuses to move you through levels in these things - follows the player as an orphan girl at a magic academy where her eldest sister disappeared during her studies (and never reappeared. )Weaving ones way through numerous professors and screens loaded with improbably hidden objects, plus the occasional scrambled picture and memory tile game to keep things fresh, "Annie" figures out what her sister was up to and how to get her back. And, yes, there is more than a little resemblance to the grounds and populace of a certain fictional British wizardly institution of youthful instruction, which I'm sure is simply a coincidence. So, nothing earth-shattering in the way of a plot, but you don't play a game like this for the plot depth. But I played it, and I played it pretty darned well, and I won.

Now, I did not purchase this game. At least, not directly. It, and numerous other little timekillers, came with the Critter, the laptop I purchased earlier this month as a free trial. Unlike the download version, I was able to play the full version of the game, unrestricted, except I only got to do so for about two boot-ups of a given game. Most of the freebies weren't my cup of cocoa - racing games, mini golf, sports junk - but this one looked somewhat intriguing, so in the interest of familiarizing myself with the Critter's touchpad controls I booted it up last night. I didn't expect to even like it particularly, as I've never had much luck with those hidden picture games. I just wanted to get better at using the thing, and it looked less tedious than Grand Nitro Racing. So I fired it up... and promptly lost the rest of the night as I blazed my way up the levels, quite unintentionally beating the clock.

I don't know what the difference was. Maybe it was playing on full screen instead of the cruddy little window you get stuck with playing free games online. Maybe it was the Critter's crisp flatscreen resolution. Maybe, as puzzle matching games go, it just happened to be an easier one. Maybe it was the incentive of actually knowing that, if I kept at it, I could win the game and not run into the Free Trial Version wall of frustration at the end. Or maybe it was sheer luck. Whatever it was, I haven't felt quite this involved in a game for quite some time, especially not a puzzle game and certainly never a hidden picture one. I barely paused for breaks. I switched off to my left hand every so often because my right wrist got tired of the level I had the keyboard set at. I even waited until I had the extra hours to spare to fire up the Critter again today and finish it off on the last bit of my free run. (Was it wrong of me to cook pot roast for dinner on the hottest day of summer thus far just so I'd have the extra free time to play while it roasted?) And I actually did it.

I haven't read many books lately. I haven't finished any drums since the White Buffalo Incident. (I've painted up more black rounds for black drums, but no finished ones yet.) I haven't sold anything, or written much of anything, or drawn anything. I haven't taught myself HTML or revamped my websites or mastered 3D computer art. In short, I'm still the same loser I was at the start of the month, the same one I've been for over three decades. But, as I look back on the tail end of June 2008, I'll know that I finally won myself a hidden picture puzzle game. Sometimes, it's the little victories in life that keep it sweet.