Everything I Really Need to Know in Life I Learned From Playing Blue

This was co-authored by Mike Manzer, and we posted it to mtg-strategy-l June 1, 1996. I didn't know I still had a copy of it; I'm glad I do.

A lot of it doesn't make sense unless you're familiar with Magic: The Gathering. There's still a lot of timeless wisdom here, even if you're not.

• If you appear innocent, people will, at first, assume you're not dangerous.


• People will only make that mistake once.


• Never give up the element of surprise.


• When faced with a problem, make it disappear.


• If you can't make it disappear, take control of it.


• If you can't take control of it, incapacitate it.


• If you can't incapacitate it, keep it busy.


• Keep your resources open.


• Recycle (even if it's not yours).


• Always have a backup plan.


• If you mess with people enough, they get mad.


• When people get mad, they make stupid mistakes.


• Some people really are named Tim.


• A little dash of water can do wonders to clear a cluttered battlefield...


• Big flying things scare people.


• Know your enemies.


• Always look like you are in control.


• Glasses are no fun.


• If you poke people, they get annoyed.


• If you poke people enough, they will die.


• People usually get annoyed before they die.


• Appearances are important.


• You never get a second chance to make a first impression.


• First impressions aren't everything.


• Things never seem quite as cool as they used to be.


• Appear strong where you are weak and appear weak when you are strong.


• Mountains suck. So do Forests. Taigas are just evil.


• Brute force is not all its cracked up to be.


• The bigger they are, the harder they fall.


• Things are tougher to stop once they've gotten started.


• Play people against each other.


• ALWAYS look like you know what you are doing.


• Even when you try to make things fair, they won't be.


• Never tap out.

Personal Study Plan

I made a personal study plan this year. I started thinking about this sometime last year, and decided that the start of a new year would be a good time to write down some of my goals and formulate a plan.

After some prayerful pondering, I came up with the following goals:

1. Read the Sunday School lesson every week.


2. Read the Priesthood lesson every week.


3. Review a talk from General Conference each week. (If you do this, you can just about review an entire Conference by the time the next one comes around.)


4. Read the Ensign each month.


5. Read the Limbaugh Letter each month.


6. Write a talk each month.

In addition, I want to read A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, The 8th Habit, and some others. I didn't set concrete goals for when to finish those. Maybe I should. This is a first pass at this — next time, I'll keep what works and fix what doesn't.

There are two months per planner-size page (this is just the top):

The objective is to check off one box per day, wherever the box is.

Last year, it took me about three days to do justice to the reading for Gospel Doctrine. We'll see if that number gets adjusted as we get further into the Doctrine and Covenants. (The "L" is for weeks where I need to prepare a lesson.) One day for the reading for Elders' Quorum, one day reviewing a conference talk of my choosing, and one day where I'm free to choose whatever I want to study.

In addition to the weekly reading, there's monthly reading: two days in the Ensign (one specifically on the home teaching message for the month), one day to read the Limbaugh Letter, and four days to read longer books. The month is rounded out with two days to prepare a talk and one day spent studying civics — national history, fiat economics, biographies… It's kind of a wild card.

After putting two months on the page, I still had room for one more line. I decided to give myself some flexibility. Six times over a two-month period, my daily personal study can be listening to a podcast. Maybe I'll get lost wandering down the streets of Lake Wobegone. Maybe I'll test my awareness of current events. Or stick my head under the hood with Click and Clack. (If I'm feeling especially bold, I may even Meet the Press.) I figure I can make more time for them if they're a legitimate part of my study.

The part that I'm really pleased with is the last part:

I'm giving myself six days of legitimately missing a day. I figure it's going to happen — some days, I just won't have the time, energy, or inclination to study. I thought this was an intriguing idea, and I'm kind of excited about it. I'm building a little bit of leniency (mercy? clemency?) into the goal. This is a motivational too as much as anything, and I can miss six days (over two months) and still check off a box.

Apparently, I Chose to Dance

Another almost-four-year-old post.

The day will come that we look back on what we do today, and we will either smile at what we did, or we will regret what we didn't do. It's not whether I win or lose, it's that I'm getting back up. And I am going to have fun until the final buzzer sounds.

Successfully Vague

A blog post I wrote over four years ago, "Intentionally Vague":

I did a good thing tonight. The sort of thing you always think of doing, but never do. The sort of thing that you always assume someone else will do.

We're all "someone else" to someone else.

It was good. Doubt and uncertainty were replaced by a general giggly feeling. It's hard to describe.

I have no idea what I was talking about.

Christmas Photos May Be Delayed

I was going to pull the photos from the Christmas trip off the camera sometime this week. They may be delayed, or not. I'm going to wait until iPhoto '09 is available, so I have an excuse to play with it with a purpose.

(Why does Apple have to make such good stuff?)

In the meantime, you can help me decide whether to post the photos on Flickr or MobileMe…