TECHNOLOGY: Games

Finally figured out why I still spend mental downtime in Freecell or Tiles rather than Anchorhead or other Interactive Fiction. Basically it’s because IF requires two hands on the keyboard, and Freecell and the like require one hand and a mouse. Very rarely do I limit myself to performing only one thing at a time, and while it’s normal to be doing one thing while thinking of another—which is excellent for a writer in particular—but the best is when both hands can be occupied with two different tasks. At the computer, it’s usually eating and freewheeling with the mouse. Time is wasted if food must be put down to free both hands to type. I also have perfected physical multitasking in the kitchen and in my workshop. I’m often putting a framed piece together with one hand while opening drawers, flipping pages, writing sales slips or orders, or doing whatever I can with the other hand as its partner mechanically carries out its job. While it’s a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing, the brain is at least smart enough to oversee it all.