Back in Ohio in early 1990s we had a neighbor, who brought a small Mac PC loaded with a few simple games, all in the name of learning English. Yet, she spent large chunks of time playing games, knowing too well that she should be better than this. Every time I called her, she told me she would close the game first for fear that her husband suddenly came home and found out her game addiction.

I always remember this episode as I thought to myself at that time, “You can cheat your husband and even everybody in the world, but you cannot cheat yourself. You cannot cheat your life. In the end, you hurt yourself most by this self-deceiving behavior. It is your time and your life that you game away. So foolish!”

When we met nearly a decade later, she commented how lucky I was with job, degree and two children while she had none. It is not the matter of luck. Each of us is given equal amount of time. How much can we expect to get out of our time with this self-deceiving behavior? Not much. Life is so precious. Don’t shortchange yourself with cheap games.

P.S. tomorrow morning I will leave for China for a 20-day visit. There are mountains of things that I need to attend on this last day. Already feeling exhausted inside out.