A much needed reminder

Sadly sometimes its easy for me to forget the little things that are important, or can be important in life, some of the things that help remind you of who you are, where you are going, and where you should be looking.  I had a great reminder of this this actually all day today and have to thank my my brother in law, and my nephew for the reminder.

The reminder came in a manner I wasn't anticipating, you see my brother in law teaching my nephew how to play Magic the Gathering (MTG for short).  They had just finished the end of what I gather had been several tames.  I didn’t give it much mind because I’ve taught my other nephew and my niece (of the ones old enough and interested anyway)  how to play various card games, they however were mostly interested in Yu-Gi-Oh!.  Of interest to me was the fact that he used similar techniques that I used to teach them, so I listened with half an ear.  Knowing that I had decks and that I had cards he challenged me to some games to test some decks he put together.

I agreed based more off of the fact that I thought it would be a good learning experience and assumed the games wouldn’t take long, after all I was well out of practice.  In fact to be honest I hadn’t played a game in over a year, and hadn’t played a serious game in over ten…. which now that I think about it makes me feel sad, but that’s a different story.  I broke out all of my cards showing the sheer volume of the Yu-Gi-Oh! cards that I had as well as the number of magic cards, greatly impressing my nephew, however my brother in law as of course unimpressed having seen them before.

We broke out and surprisingly I won the first game.  Lost the second, and we ran in to a draw over a combination of an unclear rule, and misunderstanding  which was later resolved by him placing a call to a long standing friend of his who is deep in to MTG in the community he lives in.  From there things got more unusual.  To begin with we played probably a good eight games over the course of the day/evening and into the night.  I lost a few, won more, and managed to barely eked out victories in some 3-way games.

Of course for anyone who has faith in my abilities to play the game this, perhaps isn’t surprising.  However what was surprising to me was the fact that I had fun doing it.  It has been a very long time since I actually enjoyed myself playing a card game let alone playing against some one.  Sure I tried the Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) online game when it came out, however it lacked the social component that playing face to face with someone has.  Additionally I don’t feel that you should pay the same amount for digital online cards that you pay for physical cards, unless you are getting the physical cards as well.  As for the Steam, X-Box, and PS3 versions of the game, I’ve tried them but never had the money to actually purchase them so I’ll skim over them for now.

My point in all of this meandering is that I forgot that deep down I enjoy being social, sharing games, sharing experiences with friends and family.  The reason that I created this blog, the reason I created my webpage, and the reason that I stream is not for money, although that WOULD be nice, instead its to share the experiences and the love that I Have for games, and other media with you, the people who would be a part of my life.  In short I wanted to say “Thank you” to everyone who has encouraged me, or who continues to encourage me in the pursuit of my dreams. 

Please, I hope that all of you enjoy what I do, but never forget to enjoy the people around you, and share what love and experiences you can with them.  While they might drive you crazy at times, frustrate you beyond all sanity and make you wish you could climb the walls like Spider-Man, these are the people that help shape the foundation of who you are the most.