Guilty Pleasures

You know, I’ve got a few guilty pleasures that I just can’t shake. I’m a hopeless bibliophile—seriously, I’d probably live in a bookstore if they’d let me. Then there’s my love affair with old-time radio shows, especially those deliciously eerie science fiction dramas. And, of course, I can’t forget my addiction to MORPGs.

Anyone who knows me should have figured out by now that if they’re scratching their heads about what to get me for my birthday or Christmas, just grab a gift card to a bookstore. Better yet, find out which book I’m missing from my favorite authors. My pleasure reading is mostly Sci-Fi and Fantasy, while my non-fiction dives into theology, in all its divine and devilish flavors. I’ve probably lost more books than I can count over the years, thanks to moving around and life being life. But there’s nothing quite like the thrill of stumbling across one of my old favorites in a dusty bookstore or, better yet, finding it lurking on someone’s shelf—forgotten or otherwise. If I had the cash, I’d be snapping up first editions left and right, but for now, I’ll stick to hunting down those lost treasures.

Let me take you back to a time when I was just a young whippersnapper, hanging out at a ranch in the wilds of Colorado. One night, I was fiddling with the dial on an old radio when suddenly, I heard it: “It… is… later… than… you… think!” For the next half-hour, I was utterly spellbound by a haunting tale spun by Arch Oboler for his radio drama series, Lights Out. That was it. I was hooked, and my obsession with old-time radio was born. Thank the dark lords for the Internet, MP3s, and massive hard drives—because now I’ve got about three solid months of radio shows from the US, Australia, and Britain to keep me company during those long, lonely nights.

When I moved back to Nebraska, my daughter introduced me to a little game called Runescape. I wasn’t working for about a year due to some health issues, so I had plenty of time to dive into it. Once I could afford to pay for my own games, I switched over to World of Warcraft. That game is something else—an absolute blast and a great way to blow off steam. There’s nothing quite like imagining those in-game critters as your boss or that jerk who cut you off in traffic. Therapeutic? You bet.