Patience

I am not known for my patience.  In fact, I am very impatient, and that leads to some very abrupt, inappropriate and down right rude interactions or reactions by me. 

This has been a problem for me as I use the computer.  I get tired of waiting for a computer as it churns out results, so I often click, click, click, and cause more problems for myself. I click before I fully read a dialogue box.  I click and cause the computer to freeze from too many commands. I click and click incorrectly or inadvertently on something or another.

One of the things that has helped me manage my impatience while using the computer is Solitaire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitaire.

I first learned to play Solitaire when I was in the  8th or 9th grade.  At that time, I was playing Solitaire with hard copy decks, not on the computer.  And, I have played a lot of Solitaire over the years. I have even kept score when I play Solitaire.  I played Solitaire to help me to relax so I could go to sleep, in high school and college.  A friend from college reminded me how much I played Solitaire when we were talking about how the computer sucked up our time. She was right. Before computers, I played Solitaire a lot.  I can not imagine how much time I have wasted over the years, playing Solitaire. But I played Solitaire waiting for classes in college, I played Solitaire while watching TV or listening to music or the radio. I played Solitaire in airports and bus stations, waiting to travel. I played Solitaire when I was waiting for whatever.

I have played a LOT of Solitaire in my life.

My favorite types of Solitaire are Klondike Solitaire and, on the computer Spider Solitaire. 

There are lots of types of Solitaire.  In the movie The Hellfighters http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063060/, Madelyn Buckman tells her daughter Tish Buckman that Hoyle called Solitaire "Patience" and it had a number of variations (I do not recall how many, maybe 52).  Madelyn said she had played them all.

Well, sometimes, Solitaire is my savior.  When I click on applications and programs that load slowly on my computer, I usually go to a Solitaire game.  I play Solitaire while things are loading. That prevents me from multiple clicking and freezing up the computer. It just helps me to be patient while waiting for something to load.

So, while Solitaire may be a waste of time, for me, it serves a purpose.  Because I have so little patience.