A little plastic, a little cardboard, and smiles

There's just something about "supplies."

I have a nostalgic love of school supplies. Every August I still get a small thrill out of looking at the back-to-school ads, and the thrill is even bigger if I can find a reason to talk myself into buying some notebooks or markers or mechanical pencils.

Well, the same sort of thing happens to me with supplies for my Magic: the Gathering hobby. Recently, I've been uninterested in Magic. Ever since playing with Paul over the summer, I really haven't cared to build decks or even open cards. I had a box sit unopened for several months, and that was previously unheard of.

As Christmas approached, though, I knew I would soon have the opportunity to play again, so I started getting ready to build and modify decks with new cards. And then I realized I didn't have enough card sleeves, deck containers, and storage boxes for the chore. So I had to find supplies.

Supplies! I have a very good supplier for sleeves and deck containers. But I decided I would browse the net for others. I looked and compared prices and ultimately ended up ordering from the same place, but I got hooked again! Supplies! My local game store has closed this year, so I had to find a place to buy storage boxes. Again, surfing the net found me a supplier. And then, lo and behold, one of my Magic card suppliers was having a sale on boxes of the latest set. So, despite the fact that I had not even opened the initial box from the set, I ordered that, too!

Over the past week, then, UPS and the US Postal Service have delivered my new supplies.

I got a silly grin as I opened my package of storage boxes (shipped in flat piece I had to assemble.) I practically giggled as I put one together and began to dream of the fun I'd have organizing cards into this new empty cardboard box (with three rows!) So I put another one together. And then filled them. What fun!

I grinned again as I got my package with sleeves and deck containers. Some of them are green and some are red! How cool is that!

What a silly thing my personality is -- getting such a kick out of supplies for organizing! (My mom never would have believed her son, owner of a disaster area of a bedroom, would get a kick out of organizing.) Yet, I guess that's how I work. The supplies bring to mind the enjoyment of building and playing the game, and then I get excited in anticipation of the fun I'll have in the future.

It may be silly, but it's who I am. And now, I'm just a week from vacation, and during that vacation, I'll get to play again!

Smiles!