Please pay no attention to my unruly beard.

Day 2 is also one week of no alcohol for me

Alcohol has always been something I've struggled with a bit. Since I started drinking in the late 1990s, I've taken several long-term breaks. I think the longest was about 15 months, which was a few years ago. Unfortunately, I've always gone back to drinking. It's everywhere around me, and I've always been good at lying to myself.

It's easy to quit drinking. I've done it a thousand times. - W.C. Fields

Morning walk with Stella

Who was walking who? I thought I was taking her on a walk, but in the beginning, it looked like she wanted to lead the way. She had the leash in her mouth as if she was saying okay dad, I know where we're going... I lead. She gave it up pretty quickly after this photo was taken, though.

In-walk entertainment

I've been listening to a book called Alcohol Explained lately. It's an interesting read either way, but it's particularly informative right now, as I'm trying to quit drinking alcohol again. The book explains why it's so tempting and why so many people are able to quit but eventually go back to drinking.

More Splinterlands

More losing. I had a Dragon Quest today, and at least that part was pretty easy. I'm still struggling to make it to the Champion League, but I've got a couple of days left. Unfortunately, it seems to get more difficult with each passing day. I'll just have to hope that I luck out.

I was going to get a screenshot of my rewards, but the Splinterlands site glitched out again. I love the game, but the website has issues sometimes. Like when you hit battle and you're just fleeing in the background. If you've always got a million tabs open and you kinda hop between them all day long, you won't notice if you flee in the background. If you're really unlucky, you'll do a few times and the game will lock you out for an hour.

Thank goodness for PeakMonsters

These are pretty good rewards. Not breathtaking, but not bad. I enjoy getting potions, because I always need them at some point. No matter how many I get, I still have to buy more when I get packs of cards, so I enjoy receiving every potion that I can get via rewards. They're worth 40-50 DEC each, and I think many people forget that.

No more Splinterlands

I'm done playing for a while, I've decided. I've been working on this post throughout the day, so that's why my tune changed so quickly. It wasn't as quick as it seems.

Why quit?

It's too frustrating and I'm going to be far too busy to play it pretty soon. I've been trying for three or four seasons in a row to make it to the Champion League, which is something that I did every season at one point. I've gotten so close a few times, only to slip backwards. Then, I'd slip even further backwards. Each day, I'd get almost there, and then slide back. Today, that happened, and I decided that was enough. I left the Guild I was in and put all of my cards up for rent. I paid enough DEC into the Guild that I don't think I was robbing them of the benefits or anything. I tried it out, and it was cool, but I don't want to be expected to play all the time.

I lost my fucking ass in all of the Guild brawls I tried playing in. Like... literally lost every match. The people I was playing are the same handful of people who win every single tournament. I stood no chance.

I'm not selling my cards, though. I'm not even intending to quit forever. I'll probably just sit a season or several out, earn some DEC, buy more cards, and reassess later on when I'm not as busy. Just like with quitting drinking, I've quit Splinterlands a few times in the past as well.

Blog? We don't need no stinkin' blog.

I've decided to compose these posts right on the WeAreAlive frontend. When I push them from my regular blog via the EXXP plugin, it doesn't end up in the right community. Yesterday, I had to cross-post it into the correct community so it would be seen. Realistically, there's no reason I need to have a separate blog on the "regular" internet.

Anyway, I'm not really sure if I'm doing this right. I'm mostly trying to talk about my day and include some photos. Maybe I'm writing too much? I don't know. If you happened to actually make it this far, thanks for putting up with my crap.