Update

Wow, it's been ages!

I think I mentioned last time that I had bought my daughter an account and had even started a new toon. Well, we still have the account and I still have a toon - a different one now because my daughter deleted the first one. I'm getting back into the game (albeit in a more realistic way) but I have an excuse...

I have a friend (who I actually met in Toontown), in fact, the same one who came to visit me in October. Shortly after she returned home, she was diagnosed with cancer and had major surgery. She is still battling this horrible disease, which has weakened her body but not her spirit. On her good days, she likes to play Toontown. While she has a ton of friends on her big toons, I made a toon so we could quietly play together on one of the toons she doesn't use much. When she's not feeling up to playing, I play my toon for an hour or so to build it up because even her little toon is much stronger than mine!

So that's my excuse, a good one maybe, but still an excuse. I do find that Toontown is different for me now, luckily. When I first started playing again, I did go a little ways down the old path of obsession/addiction, but I caught myself in time. I worked hard at keeping it in perspective, and I managed it. I still really like to play, but I'm not obsessed. I don't think about the game much when I'm not playing, and if I miss a day or so, I'm not cranky and chomping at the bit to get back to it. It really is just a game for me now.