Jamie Wakefield

Things are rolling along. Not very fast, but they are rolling along. This weekend, Hilary, Michelle, Doug and I all went to the Planar Chaos Pre-Release in Montreal. None of us did well, but we had a great time. I got a great column out of it, had some steak and so much laughter tears were streaming out of my eyes at dinner. We didn’t go to win since you don’t qualify for anything, we just went to honor the release of Marilyn’s tribute card . Sorry for the lack of updates. Much of the things I write about here have become food for my column at Star City Games . My column appears every Tuesday. Still have a lot of stuff that doesn’t belong in there that does belong here, so updates aren’t ending, just getting a little more sparse. Plans for Madrid grow by the day. Right now I am reading Death and The Sun and it occured to me the writer’s not very good at what I do. Which is draw you in. The story of the matador’s life is interesting, but you care about what happens to him purely by th...

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”~ Calvin Coolidge

Ah, its good to be back. I’m not trying to brag. Honest. But it sure makes one feel good when you get this kind of a reaction to the announcement you’re going to be writing about Magic again. Thank you all for the votes of confidence and support. And the reaction to my first article was just as flattering.

A friend on my boards wanted to know a few things, so I answered her questions and then thought, huh, I bet more than a few people are wondering this as well. So, here. “How long are you planning to stay in Europe for? Are you moving in with Wendy?” I’m moving in with Wendy. We’re at the stage of our relationship where the next step is to live together and see if we kill each other or get along. If the answer is kill each other, I’ll be in Europe until then. Then I’ll be in jail. Or dead. If the answer is get along, I’ll be in Europe a long time. “While you’re here, are you planning on visiting any other places? Like for example, England ?” Yes. We have future plans to visit Ireland, Italy, England, and her parent company is in Paris so she goes there all the time. We’re planning on taking an overnight train to Paris in the future. So much better than flying. “What are you going to do about getting a job? Presumably you won’t be able to work in Spain because you won’t have the right pe...

Getting back into the swing of normal life. Wendy has gone back to Madrid. What a fantastic three weeks of drinking and debauchery that was. I get to see her again in only seven short weeks! Yay. Sigh. Last night was get back to normal life night. Talked with Wendy for only 20 minutes then let her go because she was exhausted from her trip home. Did four loads of laundry, wrote three pages for Star City, worked out, talked with Don, Hilary, Michelle, Mom and Dad. Delivered my Christmas present to Molly’s family since it finally got shipped to my house. (A Fooseball table.) Planning on going to the “Planar Chaos” Pre-release in Montreal in a couple weeks. Gotta have material for writing and it seems only fitting. I hate pre-releases but I think this one is important. Michelle and Hilary want me and Rod to go with them so that the old Team Quarterstaff is reunited for the release of Timbermare. Going to be practicing online for the Extended PTQ’s I’ll be attending in Montreal and Madrid...

In an extremely rare move, Wizards of the Coast has printed a tribute card to Marilyn. You can see the card and read my thoughts on it here - http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/13483.html Make sure to read the thoughts people have in the forums link at the bottom of the article.

Sick as a dog. I have been sick for about the last 8 days. Wonderful when Wendy is in town. Gave my notice at work. Hmmm, that´s not quite right. I gave it last week. Today I told a bunch of important (to me) people so they wouldn´t hear about it from someone else when they should hear it from me. My last day of work is February 16th. Moving to Madrid on March 3rd. Some people at work were not surprised at all. Some couldn´t believe it. Writing for Star City again. Enjoying Magic a lot these days and playing it a lot online. I´m pretty sure they have Pro Tour Qualifiers in Madrid. Will be nice not to have to get up at 4:30 in the morning and drive three and a half hours to Boston. Submitted the first thirty pages of my novel to Wizards book publishing division. Completely separate. I´m sure they have no idea who I am. WOTC and Starcitygames gave me an amazing surprise that I can´t tell you about until Monday. Wendy home until Sunday. We´re having a very good time together.