I'll also drop in on the side of a tablet can be useful even if you lack drawing skill. I don't do a whole lot of actual drawing or painting at work, but my tablet is my primary input device simply because it's more comfortable to use—it doesn't wear out my wrist as quickly as a mouse does.
I learned to use my tablet pretty quickly by playing Neverwinter Nights with it for a while. (The first one, NWN 2 wouldn't recognize it as an input device. Neither will Civilzation V.) Any of those addictive point-and-click browser games would work pretty well. Desktop Tower Defense, maybe.
The biggest problem I have with mine is that I have to reset some of my preferences every time I restart the computer. That doesn't happen for everyone, but it's been consistent for me, even on different computers. I think I must install the drivers wrong or something. Anyway, it only takes about 20 seconds to set it up each morning, so that's not a gigantic hassle. It's just a small annoyance. I also find Windows' "helpful" Tablet PC settings to be obnoxious. The Wacom pen has a two-button rocker switch, so you have a right-click available, but Windows insists on interpreting press-and-hold as a right-click, so you'll be in the middle of a slow, delicate stroke and Windows decides to open a context menu. Fortunately, if you stop and disable the Tablet PC service (Start > Run > services.msc opens the Services controls on Windows XP - 7. Not sure how to get there for 8+), that behavior goes away.
As for your last question, I suppose it depends on how fond of fire you are. Some people just don't feel right in the morning until they've made a burnt offering of a fax machine or something.