Rocktober

Okay, this post won't have much to do with rock & roll, but it is October, and I do enjoy some good rock. Oh, actually, I've got something to review. I'll get to that next post.

First, my Magic game has significantly improved. I went 3-1 at the Zendikar release on the strength of a good Landfall deck, and a couple of Friday Night Magics ago, I won the whole thing (earning a Misty Rainforest and a Marsh Flats for my efforts, both $15-20 cards right now). So that was cool. But then something happened. I stopped doing as well. I went 1-2 at Zendikar Game Day, where my beloved Devour deck got easily dismantled by Vampires. The following Friday Night Magic, I went 1-2 again on a surprisingly weak red-white aggro deck. And I didn't take it very well. I was all grumpy and grumbly, and frankly, not a good sport about the whole thing. So I took a step back and looked at the whole thing. I realized, okay, I'm supposed to be having FUN doing this, right? So I need to have fun. I started letting competitiveness get in the way of enjoying myself. So last night, I took my homemade Landfall deck to the Standard Constructed tournament, and I went 0-3. BUT! I had a good attitude about the whole thing, and it helped that I was able to pull off a sick combo of Baloth Woodcrasher + 3 Harrows for 28 damage in one swing. I had what I guess is called a "Timmy" moment. I was all, "YES! This is why I play Magic!" I still got my butt kicked in that match by Vampires, but I had fun. :)

Then another funny thing happened last night. I forgot to take 50mg of my 75mg dose of Anafranil. And I had a surprisingly crisp mental day today. The great thing about Anafranil is that it boosts my mood and helps me to let go of unwanted thoughts. The not-so-great thing is that it covers up bad moods and stifles motivation, and hinders my ability to hold onto wanted thoughts. So today I found myself energized, awake, alert, motivated, and thinking more sharply than I have in quite while. And I didn't suffer any kind of "moody" effects. Win! I happened to have an appointment with my psychiatrist today, and I told her what happened. I also told her how my moods have been stabilizing, and how I'm not as concerned about stopping "unwanted" thoughts as I used to be, and how I've improved in a lot of my higher-level attitudes about stuff (religion, recovery, etc.). She was all "Good for you!" and gave me her blessing to come down from 75mg to 50mg. So I'm gonna do that and see how it goes. Neat!

Another funny thing has happened. My soon-to-be-ex-wife is getting hooked on Magic. I've been telling her about it, and she became curious, and she got totally sucked into it. Now she wants to buy all kinds of cards and build decks and play and stuff. It's funny. :) An interesting thing I've noted about all of this is how much "hobby" type stuff we have in common now that we've been separated for almost two years. We've both rediscovered music, exercising, recovery (in a non-co-dependent way), and now Magic. It's the kind of thing where it could easily make a guy jealous ("Gee, I wish my wife liked Rush and played Magic..."), but it doesn't even faze me anymore. Because I know that there's a hell of a lot more to relationships than shared interests. Shared interests are important, but successful communication and problem-solving are infinitely more so. Without the ability to work out differences, there's no room for anything else. So, I consider it a lesson learned.