There are a few things in my life I regret. I regret selling my Magic the Gathering collection in 1995. I regret buying massive amounts of Spellfire with the money from Magic the Gathering. I regret getting Chris Munroe fired... well actually I don't regret that-- dude, it was a print of the movie Glitter, it had to burn. I regret losing my virginity in an Apollo moon capsule. I lost it to the wrong girl, in the wrong circumstances. I regret the time I bought Kevin the membership to NAMBLA, and got the newsletter sent to his parent's house. I thought it was funny at the time. I regret voting for the Liberal party, I didn't realize they were conservatives. I regret posting the details of Chris Munroe's private life on WNOHGB without his permission. I thought he would find it funny. My bad. I regret the fact that I never got to know my uncle, I thought I had more time to do so in. I regret that, while I was in London, I only ever found enough time to spend 30 minutes in the royal museum. Chris Munroe, I regret the time I crazy glued your hands to a desk. Everyone else found it funny, and yet you can't seem to find it in your heart to forgive me. I regret the hours and hours I've wasted arguing about the quality of Highlander 2. I regret the fact that I missed the one Garbage concert I could have attended. I regret owning two copies of the Titanic soundtrack. The first was a gift, the second was accidentally left by a guest at a party, I can't seem to unload either copy. I regret not driving Chris Munroe to the hospital when the crazy glue had ripped the skin off the palms of his hands. Dude, the hospital is like a fifteen minute drive each way, and Friends was on. I guess one of the things I most regret is the way I treated Sean Copin at Olapalooza 2.

In case you haven't heard of it, Olapalooza is an annual STCCG tourney held on the weekend of my birthday. People come from all over the province to play a good tournament, get drunk and go Kareoke afterwards.

Usually it's a good time. Olapalooza 2 almost ended the tradition.

I was playing (big surprise) a fast federation deck. The deck revolved around STP-ing a seeded ISS Enterprise to hand, then STP dropping the ISS enterprise with everyone in my hand (with the draw deck, it was almost inevitably 7 personnel or more).  The deck only had 12 dilemmas, but with those 7 personnel and various pregame downloads, I figured it would be a snap to get through any dilemma in the game. I was wrong.

After a rocky start (A timed win and a full win) I faced Sean Copin.

I'd known Sean for about a year at this point. He, his brother and one of his friends had started showing up at Edmonton tourneys. He was a skilled player, intelligent and creative. There were times that his aggressive barrage of mono-tonal action sequence explanations were irritating, and I can't say I was ever really his friend.

Sean was playing an Empok Nor Invasive Beam in deck. It was well constructed, and I knew I was in for a tough fight. On my first turn I solved 70 points worth of missions, and went for a third. I hit a Cytherians.

I realized at that point that I was screwed. I had no defense, and once he had his empok grab, he could slaughter my crew, and I would have no way of ever building up a decent attack force. I needed to make it to the end of the spaceline for the 15 points, and make it back to the mission I was solving. I was certain this would not be possible; the end of the spaceline was exactly 8 span away, and there was no way I could make it there and back in one turn.

I stood up, offered to shake is hand and said that he had won. He said "no, lets play it out." I replied that, it was OK, that I would concede. He insisted that we finish the game. I acquiesced, saying that if by some miracle I won, that I would not allow him to retroactively accept my concession.

I ended my turn and drew. I drew a Future Enterprise--I didn't think it was in the deck; it was a weird accident that it was there. I though that I had trimmed it out, and that the only ship was the ISS Enterprise.

We played on, he stumbled on his download, and was not able to make it to my ship that turn. I reported my Future Enterprise, managed to (using the two OS Scottys) make it to the end of the spaceline, switch ships and return to my mission for the win.

Now, Sean Copin reported to the TD that I had conceded. I freaked out on him. I was tired, I was cranky, and my deck had been buggered all day. I regret this more than anything I have done in STCCG before or since. I swore at Sean, and called him a little bastard.

I told the TD what had happened, and that we had continued playing after Sean had refused my offer of concession. I was rude and impolite, and surly to Sean. I had forgotten that it's a game. I had forgotten to have fun.

After that I never saw Sean again. I think he quit the CCG. I've never behaved as badly as I did that day, and I'm quite ashamed of myself for it.