Reality does indeed suck compared to fantasy, Hawaiian Mage, but "reality" doesn't TOTALLY suck completely, does it?
OK, maybe it does, mostly. But we all have an oasis of happiness now and then, don't you think? Depends on the given person, I guess, and their (current) lot in life. Remember what the Quakers said when they said you can't appreciate the good without the bad. All is relative.
If you can play Magic expertly but design poorly, or design well but play poorly (and I assume you've tried to play a lot), then you may be only in the top 20%, according to my figures. But my figures are merely arbitrary, insert you own as you wish.
Regarding religious fanatics, I've found that if you ignore them, they'll go away. If you can't ignore them, then my heart goes out to you because you have a long road to hoe until you CAN be away from them and then ignore them, which eventually you will, and I know, it won't be too soon. Just hang in there. You'll be fine.
My teammate at Team Hacked, Digby Carter, revealed to me recently that his local elementary school banned Magic thanks to the card Demonic Tutor. Oh my God, that's soo lame. But never underestimate the role of mothers in our culture, especially young ones, who tend to be paranoid in the extreme. Be nice to them, be patient, and explain, for as long as it takes.
For me, surrounded by women as much as I am on a daily basis (and God love them), it's quite refreshing to get out once in a while "with the guys." And that's all Magic is really, male "bonding" (a word I despise, but it fits), and mostly a chance to get out and hang for a while with OTHER intelligent men, which is quite refreshing compared to the number of idiots (not women, NO!) we have to deal with on a daily basis.
We're not Satanists, we're not hanging out at our weekly cabal meetings sacrificing a sheep or somebody's wife (for shame!) or something .....we're just a bunch of intelligent guys hangin' with a bunch of other intelligent guys, and it beats the hell out of a Mensa meeting. In fact, it's quite LIKE a Mensa meeting, only instead of eating canapes and standing around playing mindgames by comparing how relatively large our intellectual penises are, we're actually sitting politely across from each other doing gentlemanly battle, and proving it.
Peace, my brothers and few sisters in Magic, Peace.
As Ben Franklin said, "If we don't hang together, we will surely hang separately."
God bless Magic! I'm sure He does. It beats the hell out of drugs, eh?
[Edited by Mars on 01-15-01 at 10:59 AM]