Ever since I was young, I've been aware of certain inabilities. Among them is the undeniable deficit of the hand-eye co-ordination that allows kids to play--and excel--at video games. I've never been good at video games; instead, I experienced the joy and exhilaration vicariously by watching others (mostly my brother) play. At last, I found a game I can manage: Civilization III. Any oaf, klutz or lubber with a brain can play. Having discovered the one computer game that I can handle, I've been playing it quite a bit--a lot, actually. Many more hours than I should. This morning when I awoke, it was all I could think of. I glanced at the clock on my computer, which read 9:04, and dutifully fired up the game. I played and played and played. Then my mouse stopped working. At first I thought the game had crashed, but then I realized everything else still worked. I frantically tried to continue my game but soon realized it was impossible without control of my mouse. My mouse had run out of batteries; it was time for MouseKeys. I got sick of that really soon though. And besides, it was already 4:30. What? 4:30? Where did all the time go?? Oh well, at least I hadn't missed any of the good TV shows yet. Heck, I even had time enough to grab some new batteries and throw in a few more turns.