In the morning I like a little zone-out time while I’m waking up and thinking about the day. One of my most long-running distractions is an iPhone word game app called WhirlyWord. The reason I say my relationship with it is dysfunctional is because I’m constantly talking back to it about the limits and quirkiness of the dictionary. Pet peeves: leaving out common words, redacting anything the least bit “unsuitable” or rude, and yet including obscure botanical and medical terms.

But I’ve been playing it since December 2012, and even though I accidentally reset my progress a while back and had to start over, the number of puzzles has keep me interested (and muttering under my breath) for all this time.