The Crimson Room: More internet crack

Ever get hooked on something so quickly, you don't know what hit you? Have you ever gotten so caught up in a game or puzzle that you refuse to give up until you have mastered it? I recently got hooked on a little online puzzle that I like to classify as 'Internet Crack'. I blame my 'BlogDaddy'. What I meant to say was, I blame a certain someone for 'suggesting' I join the group, and see if I can escape from The Crimson Room . Yes, I finally caved in to peer pressure. Everyone else was doing it! And yes, by Golly, if they were going to jump off of a bridge, I would have followed. You see, I tried so very hard to ignore them. I tried to focus on the other conversations that were happening. I DID! I even had that lame soda commercial on brainwash rotation in my head, trying to crowd out the nagging little thoughts that were prodding my good sense. Above the muppets in my head singing "Muh nah muh na! DOO doo doo doo DOO!", I kept hearing:

• C'mon! Just click on the little linky-loo that they posted.
• You know you want to!
• Don't you want to know what the heck everyone is talking about?
• Go ahead! Just one little peek.
• Who's it gonna' hurt?
• You can close the window anytime.
• DO IT! Don't you want to join in and click around the room and find stuff?
• Click! CLICK DAMN YOU! CLIIIIIIIICK!

I bet you can guess what happened next. Yep, I clicked the link. I clicked that damn link and didn't stop clicking until I found everything and escaped that stupid little room that existed only on my screen. And NO, I could not have closed that window at anytime. It was too late! I was instantly sucked in, with no hope of escape, until I solved the puzzle.

Who knows how much time I spent clicking around a virtual room before I finally escaped. Needless to say, I escaped right into another room. The pushers I was chatting with mentioned a BLUE ROOM, so of course I had to give that one a go as well. I was lucky I escaped that room with my sanity. By this time, my mind was primed and ready to go. After round 1 in the Crimson Room, I completed this one relatively quickly. Stupid code, vacuum tube and yen be damned. Again, I escaped only to be sucked into the Viridian Room.

This room wasn't just a puzzle where your goal was to find all the crap and escape. There were puzzles within this puzzle. There were codes, diarys and funky sounds behind a door that sounded like someone were spinning records backwards. Was I supposed to be scared because of the 'ghostly noises', the skeleton on the floor, and the implication of a suicide? Well, I wasn't. By this time, I was mostly aggravated, and determined to solve this puzzle. With the help of my friends, of course. We hemmed and hawed about the things in the room, trying to make sense of it all.

The ones who had already completed the room were attempting to gives us hints, but despite their best intentions, a couple of us said ' To hell with it' and quit. In a twist of fate, the first person to damn the game to hell was my BlogDaddy (aka Internet Crack peddler). After the onset of a migraine and what seemed a lifetime later, I solved all the puzzles, rang a little bell and escaped. No sooner had I finished, someone mentioned the fact that there were 'walkthroughs' for the game available on the web. I had been so caught up in the silly room, I didn't stop to THINK about finding cheats! I was so irritated with myself for not realizing this, I went into the kitchen and rewarded myself with ice cream.

I vowed never to get involved with another addictive internet puzzle. What a waste of time. Hey! Did you know that the Tangerine Room and the Pink Prison will be out soon?! I found that tasty info on the web! It's not as if I will click on the links I bookmarked or anything...