I assume that I am not the only Skyrim widow out there after the holiday season. I don't know much about the game, to be honest. I don't even know how to pronounce it! "SKY-rim"? "SKEE-rim"? Who the hell knows?

Needless to say, this game has left me with quite a bit of time on my hands. Especially because, it seems, the game makes you lose all sense of time. No, seriously. The other day I laid down to take a nap and said "Don't let me sleep too long." I woke up three hours later, and he thought only thirty minutes had passed.

Now, I'm not going to tell him not to play. He works hard during the day, and deserves his time to relax. But, I can't just keep sleeping every time he plays. No person should sleep that much (though, the soundtrack to the game is pretty relaxing, and will lull you off to dreamland in no time if you're not careful).

His suggestions have been oh-so-helpful, as I'm sure you can guess. They've included, but have not been limited to: "you could fold the laundry", "there are still some boxes that need to be unpacked. You could do that", and "Make me a sandwich?". That last one was met with "Turn off your stupid game and make your own damn sandwich!", I blame hormones.

So, I've had to come up with some better things to do while he rots his brain running around a fake country that's being taken over by aliens, or orks, or whatever the bad guys are.

Most guys (or girls that are gamers) will tell you to "Just play with him! You'll learn to love the game!". No. I won't. Unless it's Mario Kart, or at some point I get to kill a giant lizard and save the princess, I will have no idea how to play the game in the first place. Zelda was too complex for me. Controllers these days have too many buttons. I understand the sentiment behind it, but the fact of the matter is that no gamer will ever understand why some people don't like playing, and most non-gamers will not magically become gamers over night.

So, what can you do while your boyfriend is lost in a land of make-believe for hours on end?



