Game freezing alot?

I'm not sure why, but as of today, my game freezes (eight times in a row as of this writing) when I'm trying to connect to people.  The clouds in the background stop moving and I can't click on any of the buttons, though the music progresses normally and I can still move the cursor around.  I've had to give up by now on joining any games.  Anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Most but not all of the time it would happen after saying "Failed to connect to: impulsenameguy".