I know what you mean about the mental chore. It works best if you don't think about it and just do it. When we start thinking about 1 hour per day 5 days per week it does becomes a chore.
Interesting report I read last night is that when people do something creative for reward they become less creative. They become concerned about their performance and they to contain themselves doing the minimum necessary to get the reward. This even happens when we set our own goal like becoming a proficient photoreader, we know our reward would be to have more free time, easier studying or better grades etc. So we do the minimum and become concerned about our performance.
The folks that look at photoreading as an enjoyment unto itself find they have faster success with it. It seems that some thing we need to do just for the heck of it and forget what good can come of it if we succeed or not. That is probably why Paul keeps telling you to play with it.
Flutie you don't have to learn to photoread, you invested in it because inwardly you knew you could learn to photoread. Don't worry about 'learning it' just play with it. Play the tapes, experiment with the games. Just to see how far you can go. You can play with it by playing 1 side of a tape per day every second day if you want. You play 1 side see what happens and then let it go. The play the other side notice what you did well this time then let it go. And so on. Yep your friends might have learnt it 1 hour per day 5 days per week and there's nothing wrong with enjoying the scenery while you become acquainted with a new reading technique. Go with the flow... your flow that is.
If putting the tape in makes you anxious then I suggest you have a baseball bat ready in case it comes snapping at you 
(Ok bad humour). Have fun with it. 
Alex
