Post by Danny Richards on Feb 18, 2016 18:59:03 GMT -6
It’s hasn’t been long since I made the move to Mason, Virginia. It’s a nice little place, a big change from Osaka and Tokyo I can say that much. Bustling big city life in Japan is something but coming back to a normal run-of-the-mill city is something I think I’ve needed. I found a nice little place in West Gunston, it’s a nice neighbourhood, a lot like what I grew up with except with more minivans. It’s cute. Like something from the movies. Or maybe I’ve been watching too many movies. I dunno. I was out of work for awhile over Christmas so I had plenty of time to just chill out at home.
Anyways it turned out that there was a nerd shop in town, which had really made accepting this job at IWC worth it for me, not gonna lie. The Basement Comics and Games store. Reminded me of the Good Games stores I’d always go to back home in Australia. So many fond memories of crushing people in Magic there…and some not so fond ones…but that’s besides the point. I discovered the store and had been there a few times, played a round of draft, went to Friday Night Magic, discussed the obvious superiority of DC over Marvel; just the normal stuff. Felt like a place to just hang out when I wasn’t training. It was nice. It was good.
Unfortunately I didn’t plan for this.
“Closed on Mondays”
“You’ve gotta be kidding!” I groaned. I’d put together a wicked new standard deck, was so keen to try it out against the locals and maybe see if they had Settlers of Catan on sale or something. But no. Closed on Mondays.
So I’d reached a little bit of an awkward crossroads. I had my laptop, my magic deck and a couple of comics while standing outside of a closed nerdshack in downtown Mason. What the hell was I supposed to do for the rest of the day now? Mondays was meant to be my rest day from working out and training. The chill easy day where I would hang out and make sure I wasn’t blown up or too sore before the show on Tuesday Night.
“Bugger. Can’t game, may as well eat. Could really go for a good coffee or something. There’s gotta be an internet cafe around here somewhere. Maybe I can just draft online for a bit.”
So I wandered around, did some google searching and low and behold I found a place. Not sure if it was an internet cafe or anything but they damn sure did coffee and that’s all I really wanted right now. I was so disappointed and kinda annoyed at myself that I hadn’t figured out that Sheldon didn’t open the store on Mondays, I mean I had been there a bit since I made the move but still. Ugh. Coffee is what was important and on my mind right now.
Turns out the coffee place did have wi-fi and some comfy lil chairs for me to kinda wind down and try and de-annoy myself from a valuable missed opportunity of geeking it up. Cappuccino with a shot of vanilla. Ah yes. A classic. So as I sat there on my laptop browsing the latest pro deck lists while enjoying my coffee I came upon a revelation. Why on earth was that card not in my deck at four. Why! A simple misstep but something easily rectified. Any veteran Magic player will always bring his binder when his decks make an appearance.
So of course without any real consideration for what others may think of me or my hobbies, I pulled out my beautiful binder based on artwork from the recent Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch sets and started searching the binder for the cards I needed. I was immersed and wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on around me. So it turned out two brutes had sauntered over to the table, whether it was from interest or not was yet to be seen. I glanced upwards, finally noticed their presence and kind of jumped back slightly. When you get in the zone you don’t really notice what’s going on around you.
“Oh…uh…hey…what’s up?” I murmured in what was not exactly my most confident voice but I had been startled to be fair.
“What that crap you got there, bro?” One of them snickered.
“Pokemon cards or something, bro? Hah, loser!” The other ignorantly commented.
“I’ll have you know they are cards from the far superior card game, Magic the Gathering which has been in print since 1993. Pokemon is a fine franchise but I much prefer the video games to the trading card game though they are introducing new mechanics so I may—“
Before I could continue my tangent and very educational speech on the different popular card games right now and why Magic the Gathering is obviously the best choice the first of the two pulled the binder right out of my hands. They were both definitely jocks or something. Wife beaters, shorts, the usual shtick. Sunglasses indoors. Super classy. Must’ve dropped by to pick up their pumpkin spice latte and felt the need to show off their obvious masculinity.
“Maybe I’d care if you were speaking English, bro.”
“Yeah bro, this stuff is for kids anyway.”
They bumped fists like only two stereotypical bro-culture influenced adult men could. Truly astounding. There is a moment when push comes to shove and I knew when that was. It was not now. As I stood to my feet the bros seemed a bit stand-offish. Not intimidated, just curious and slightly worried. Like a stray cat when you move towards it.
“I’d like my binder back, please. I have somewhere I need to be.”
The two figure it’s not worth the trouble I suppose and instead of placing my property in my outstretched hand, they drop it on the table in front of me, causing my coffee to spill on the table slightly but not enough to splash onto my laptop. Luckily for them. I only cleaned it recently. I took in a deep breath and just started packing up my stuff, not in any rush but not at a slow leisurely pace either. My pace was deliberate. Methodical perhaps. I was unsure on what these two men were thinking but I felt like Clark Kent before he changes into Superman. Having to pretend you’re vulnerable, like you’re smaller and weaker than you really are.
Except I don’t have superhuman strength and I'm not from a different planet or anything.
I just don’t like conflict.
I gave the waitress a tip and apologised for the mess. She was taken aback by the situation it seemed. I was courteous enough to not make a scene. All my life I’ve had to deal with guys like those two. Always so hyped on their own existence and assuming that they’re stronger than others and can push others around. Just straight up bullying. The kind of stuff I hate and that I have fought for every day in my life.
“Yeah get outta here, bro.”
“Go back to yo momma’s basement, nerd.”
I took a deep breath and continued walking out of the store. I could’ve done something, perhaps some would say I should’ve done something but I’m not some delinquent who fights people on the street for trying to bully me. I’m more righteous than that. Some people have opinions of nerds like me and that’s their choice I’ve got nothing against what they do with themselves. Them insulting me and trying to bully me will never affect me or who I am or what I do.
It’s when bullies attack my friends that I might do something. I’ve never been one to protect myself but when it comes to fighting for the people I care about, I’ll do whatever it takes.
As I left the store I heard some heckling in the background but I continued to just ignore them. Today was more of a stay at home day. Maybe I’ll watch something on Crunchyroll.
Today’s got me the case of the Mondays.
Anyways it turned out that there was a nerd shop in town, which had really made accepting this job at IWC worth it for me, not gonna lie. The Basement Comics and Games store. Reminded me of the Good Games stores I’d always go to back home in Australia. So many fond memories of crushing people in Magic there…and some not so fond ones…but that’s besides the point. I discovered the store and had been there a few times, played a round of draft, went to Friday Night Magic, discussed the obvious superiority of DC over Marvel; just the normal stuff. Felt like a place to just hang out when I wasn’t training. It was nice. It was good.
Unfortunately I didn’t plan for this.
“Closed on Mondays”
“You’ve gotta be kidding!” I groaned. I’d put together a wicked new standard deck, was so keen to try it out against the locals and maybe see if they had Settlers of Catan on sale or something. But no. Closed on Mondays.
So I’d reached a little bit of an awkward crossroads. I had my laptop, my magic deck and a couple of comics while standing outside of a closed nerdshack in downtown Mason. What the hell was I supposed to do for the rest of the day now? Mondays was meant to be my rest day from working out and training. The chill easy day where I would hang out and make sure I wasn’t blown up or too sore before the show on Tuesday Night.
“Bugger. Can’t game, may as well eat. Could really go for a good coffee or something. There’s gotta be an internet cafe around here somewhere. Maybe I can just draft online for a bit.”
So I wandered around, did some google searching and low and behold I found a place. Not sure if it was an internet cafe or anything but they damn sure did coffee and that’s all I really wanted right now. I was so disappointed and kinda annoyed at myself that I hadn’t figured out that Sheldon didn’t open the store on Mondays, I mean I had been there a bit since I made the move but still. Ugh. Coffee is what was important and on my mind right now.
Turns out the coffee place did have wi-fi and some comfy lil chairs for me to kinda wind down and try and de-annoy myself from a valuable missed opportunity of geeking it up. Cappuccino with a shot of vanilla. Ah yes. A classic. So as I sat there on my laptop browsing the latest pro deck lists while enjoying my coffee I came upon a revelation. Why on earth was that card not in my deck at four. Why! A simple misstep but something easily rectified. Any veteran Magic player will always bring his binder when his decks make an appearance.
So of course without any real consideration for what others may think of me or my hobbies, I pulled out my beautiful binder based on artwork from the recent Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch sets and started searching the binder for the cards I needed. I was immersed and wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on around me. So it turned out two brutes had sauntered over to the table, whether it was from interest or not was yet to be seen. I glanced upwards, finally noticed their presence and kind of jumped back slightly. When you get in the zone you don’t really notice what’s going on around you.
“Oh…uh…hey…what’s up?” I murmured in what was not exactly my most confident voice but I had been startled to be fair.
“What that crap you got there, bro?” One of them snickered.
“Pokemon cards or something, bro? Hah, loser!” The other ignorantly commented.
“I’ll have you know they are cards from the far superior card game, Magic the Gathering which has been in print since 1993. Pokemon is a fine franchise but I much prefer the video games to the trading card game though they are introducing new mechanics so I may—“
Before I could continue my tangent and very educational speech on the different popular card games right now and why Magic the Gathering is obviously the best choice the first of the two pulled the binder right out of my hands. They were both definitely jocks or something. Wife beaters, shorts, the usual shtick. Sunglasses indoors. Super classy. Must’ve dropped by to pick up their pumpkin spice latte and felt the need to show off their obvious masculinity.
“Maybe I’d care if you were speaking English, bro.”
“Yeah bro, this stuff is for kids anyway.”
They bumped fists like only two stereotypical bro-culture influenced adult men could. Truly astounding. There is a moment when push comes to shove and I knew when that was. It was not now. As I stood to my feet the bros seemed a bit stand-offish. Not intimidated, just curious and slightly worried. Like a stray cat when you move towards it.
“I’d like my binder back, please. I have somewhere I need to be.”
The two figure it’s not worth the trouble I suppose and instead of placing my property in my outstretched hand, they drop it on the table in front of me, causing my coffee to spill on the table slightly but not enough to splash onto my laptop. Luckily for them. I only cleaned it recently. I took in a deep breath and just started packing up my stuff, not in any rush but not at a slow leisurely pace either. My pace was deliberate. Methodical perhaps. I was unsure on what these two men were thinking but I felt like Clark Kent before he changes into Superman. Having to pretend you’re vulnerable, like you’re smaller and weaker than you really are.
Except I don’t have superhuman strength and I'm not from a different planet or anything.
I just don’t like conflict.
I gave the waitress a tip and apologised for the mess. She was taken aback by the situation it seemed. I was courteous enough to not make a scene. All my life I’ve had to deal with guys like those two. Always so hyped on their own existence and assuming that they’re stronger than others and can push others around. Just straight up bullying. The kind of stuff I hate and that I have fought for every day in my life.
“Yeah get outta here, bro.”
“Go back to yo momma’s basement, nerd.”
I took a deep breath and continued walking out of the store. I could’ve done something, perhaps some would say I should’ve done something but I’m not some delinquent who fights people on the street for trying to bully me. I’m more righteous than that. Some people have opinions of nerds like me and that’s their choice I’ve got nothing against what they do with themselves. Them insulting me and trying to bully me will never affect me or who I am or what I do.
It’s when bullies attack my friends that I might do something. I’ve never been one to protect myself but when it comes to fighting for the people I care about, I’ll do whatever it takes.
As I left the store I heard some heckling in the background but I continued to just ignore them. Today was more of a stay at home day. Maybe I’ll watch something on Crunchyroll.
Today’s got me the case of the Mondays.
