The 40-hour gamers are able to play in a way that I used to when I was a teenager, but can’t anymore. They devote full evenings and entire weekends to marathon play-sessions. They get into the zone — that Csikszentmihalyian state of “flow” where all distractions drop away, and you focus with lizard-brain survival intensity on solving the puzzles, leveling up, methodically remounting and remounting dread fights against the bosses until you spy the chink in their armor.

And hell, anyone can lick a game in 40 hours easily if they play like that. —Clive Thompson —The Mythical 40-Hour Gamer (Wired)

The other day I was imagining what I would do if I get a little extra cash from a consulting gig. What games to buy?

And I realized I have such a backlog of games already, and such a long to-do list for the 2-3 hours I get each night after the kids are in bed, that nothing really appealed to me.

My wife is planning to take the kids to visit her parents for two weeks during Thanksgiving (and we didn’t have enough airline points to get me a ticket too). There will be a little time for games. But I’ll probably be a good boy and work on my syllabi for next year during that timeslot (so that I’ll have a more relaxing Christmas break).