Entry #6: Now I Am An Athiest(Challenging of a Belief)

When I was a real small child, I was raised to be a catholic. My parents weren't particularly religious, but my Grandma sure as heck was, as was my uncle. Whenever Grandma was over for Easter, or Christmas, even though we normally wouldn't go to mass, she kind of forced us, and I don't think any of us were particularly happy about it, granted, for a long period of time we did go to Church every Sunday, but thankfully that stopped pretty quickly. Now, part of that Catholic upbringing included Religious Education, which, ironically, is the reason I realized I didn't believe in Catholicism.

Now, I'm going to preface the rest of the blog entry with this: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING CATHOLIC OR ANY OTHER RELIGION. I am simply stating the facts that led me to my eventual rise into Atheism.

Now, prior to Religious Ed, I hadn't really read much of the Bible, but during Religious Ed, I started to notice beliefs that were quite frankly really disturbing. For example, the tale of Abraham, who God asked to sacrifice his son, AND HE ALMOST DID IT, if not for the fact that an Angel then told him not to. That was one of the first stories that had me a bit on the fence. And then there was the whole "praise God above all else" thing, but if you look at many aspects of the Bible, you realize that God is kind of a terrible individual, committing attempted genocide multiple times. (See: Noah's Ark) And also, the existence of a supreme being with the kind of powers that God is purported to have is, in my opinion, ridiculous. There are also several paradoxes, as one of the Ten Commandments is "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and while Jesus did, according to the Bible teach that killing was real bad, among other things, there are several stories (David and Goliath, the story of Abraham) in which Killing, or willingness to kill(usually in the name of God) is not only acceptable, BUT THE MAIN POINT OF THE STORY.

For these reasons, among others, I am no longer a Catholic, nor do I want to be a Catholic, or a member of any religion. I am perfectly content with being Eric Lasko, Athiest Extraordinaire.

Entry #5: Of Modern Masters and Magic(Incident of Failure)

Very recently, on May 22nd to be precise, a set of Magic: The Gathering called Modern Masters 2015 Edition was released. I had been incredibly excited about the set, and in particular, my local Game/Comic Store's (http://octobercountrycomics.com/) draft of the set. What a draft is, is a limited format where you can only use cards opened from packs of the set that you receive at the event(to simplify it drastically) to make a deck and play a tournament. Now, when we had received our cards, I thought I had a great pool, as I opened up enough in rares/foil cards to pay for my draft, as well as some other very playable cards! But alas, it wasn't enough.
Every round, you could feel the determination and effort emanating from my playing, and yet in the first round, I was wrecked by a control deck, which shut me down and made it so I couldn't play any of my cards(man, for a new kid he was really good!) Second round, Theo, the tournament organizer destroyed me with a deck of elementals and sorceries.(For those new to magic, what this means is that he played a lot of big creatures to take away my life, as well as spells to make them more powerful) Third round, I played Charlie, the deserter, whose losses drive him from the draft early(ruining many people's records) but this time he decided to stay for third round, and he beat me bad, much to my chagrin. I ended up winning round 4 (against a little kid who didn't quite understand the rules of the game), but it didn't really help. I was utterly defeated, and down in the dumps, though I wore happiness like a mask, deflecting worries and fears.

But this night taught me something. It's just a game, and I shouldn't let losing drag me down. I should lose with a smile and shake my opponent's hand and tell them "good games" and get ready for the next round. I also learned to not be so cocky with my pulls. I had a good pool overall, but not enough creatures to pull the kind of assault I was going for, and it ended up biting me in the butt in the end. Hopefully, next draft I'll learn from my mistakes, and go in with a better attitude and better foresight when I pick my pulls, in order to achieve a better balance.

Now, after hearing this story, do you want to play Magic: The Gathering? Or more specifically, do you want to learn how to draft? If so, here's how you too can draft! http://www.gatheringmagic.com/melissadetora-041212-a-beginners-guide-to-drafting/
http://www.ehow.com/how_2090329_play-magic-gathering.html

And if you do already game, please don't forget to support your local game store instead of that big box store in the mall! You can't play Magic at Target or Walmart.