Man, I had no idea what I was getting into when I made this beast. I used to make these little tournaments when I was a kid and drew the names out of a hat and fairly played out each match in my head and tried not to be biased (failing often). Then for fun I made a huge 1200 or so character tournament and played it out and had so much fun. I remember Joseph winning that tournament in my head, but I just never felt fulfilled because I never really knew if he trully deserved to win. At the time I was finishing up with the DTL and I just had the thought to create this contest. I remember getting ahold of several DTLers, Phaed, Sparta, and a few others to see if there'd be an interest. I planned on giving out my own prizes, which was Amazing Spiderman 121 and 122 (death of Gwen and Norman) and I was stoked. I think we had around 20 people signed up to play eagerly.... then the hard times hit that Phaed mentioned and I had to sell those comics so I could buy food for the family and pay some bills and I thought the contest was a bust before it even began. We had a lot of drop outs, but Phaed came along on his white horse, offering prizes and offering his help, and without him this thing would have died long ago. POWdER-Man and W were big helps as well. I honestly don't have time to lead this tourney and I think Phaed is the one who keeps it going. Dude's awsome. One of these days when I get my situations all lined up again, I'm going to go all out and buy some of my own prizes for this thing and give Phaed a break.
Though good news... my wife, mother, and I have finally gotten our house out of forclosure and have paid the last of the ampped morgage payments we were required to pay to save the house after my stepfather desided to not pay anymore without telling my mom... so that's going to end up saving us all about 600 bucks a months, and my wife's school loans will be paid off here in about 3 to 4 months, saving an extra 200 or so a month. Then we just focus on the credit cards and we'll be good. If all goes as planned (and when does it ever go as planned) we will be completely dept free this time next year. Here's hoping!
Anyhow, Yeah, it's been a fun ride thus far, and while I'm completely COM'd out, I think I'll be fine after a long hiatus. I think I really just need time away from the computer and just focus on the family, work, church, and my book (which I'm almost done with!). I need to just get less busy for a while and cool down. Once I regain my bearings, I should be ready for another round of Contest. I don't think I'm going to be getting a team in the DTL, but I may consider co-owning a team. I don't know, still debating it all. The co-owning thing sounds nice, but I'm anal retentive and it'd bug me if I don't get to design my team how I like it. We'll see.
Hmm, and I can't find anyone to come over and play Risk with me!
I'm bored. I might work on my book soon. I'm rambling so bad it isn't funny!
I could demonstrate it with this round of matches to show what it could look like and the benefits.
