Guilt-Free Pleasures, Take Two

I have a confession to make: I am a nerd. More to the point, I'm a gaming nerd. Not hard core like the folks who compete in professional Halo tournaments, but nerdy enough to have gained employment at a GameStop video game store and to enjoy my WiiFit far more than is appropriate. Also, since I first discovered them, I have had a sweet tooth for online games in which you can interact with other players around the planet.

After quite a long break, I've returned to the joystick. (Well, not really, as joysticks are old school, thoroughly outdated. But you know what I mean.) This weekend I took advantage of World of Warcraft's free trial, and found myself immersed in the computer game. Now, perhaps spending hours of a gorgeously sunny Sunday does not sound like something to brag about. I agree, but I'm not bragging about the gaming. Instead, I'm proud of the fact that I allowed myself the "guilty" pleasure of playing a game. Not since before my eating disorder took hold have I allowed myself to be still and fully enjoy such a luxury. If I obeyed my compulsions, I would have been at the gym scoring an extra workout, or out hiking a mountain. That is a victory for me, and so I wanted to share the latest addition to my list of not-so-guilty pleasures.

When I last wrote about some things that I enjoy whose indulgence would induce some guilt if I let it, I asked what your not-so-guilty pleasures are. I liked them so much (not to mention that I share more than a few, such as watching America's Next Top Model) that I decided to share a few of the responses. Interestingly, these little indulgences fell into two categories: food and entertainment. Does that say something about the nature of humans and comfort? I'm not sure . . . but here are your responses nonetheless!

• chocolate! (no surprises there . . . it's hard to find a person who can write off all forms of the stuff
  
• young adult books
• "exorbitant amounts of coffee" (I agree completely!)
• Sex and the City + popcorn
• reality TV marathons
• "spending way too much time on YouTube"
• blog reading (!)
  

As Lisa wrote, "Life's too short to always be serious!!" You all know how to have a guilt-free good time. I had so much fun reading your comments! Thank you for posting them. I always read every comment posted to Kitchen Courage, and each gives me such a lift. Thank you!

Do you have anything new to add to the list of fluffy (but important) pleasures? And if you play WoW or Guilt -- er, Guild Wars and want to team up, let me know! We can get our nerd on together.