Re: Piecepackaholics Anonymous [was: Plastic Color Piecepacks...]

["sipig" <sperry@...>]

--- In piecepack@yahoogroups.com, "Clark D. Rodeffer" <clark@...> wrote:
>
> --- In piecepack@yahoogroups.com, "Ron Hale-Evans" <rwhe@> wrote:
> > Does anyone else have my, er, problem? Is
> > there a 12 Step program for this?
>
> Hello. My name is Clark, and I'm a piecepackaholic.
>
> (Hi, Clark!)
>
> I can't really remember very well how or even when I first learned
> about the piecepack. It may have been from someone I thought I trusted
> as a friend at the time, but who turned out to be a pusher. No, that's
> a lie, and these meetings aren't for liars. The truth is, I tried to
> stay away, I really did. But then I heard about a design contest, and
> I was looking for a high, and I just, I just ... did it. But the
> numbness of piecepack familiarity has muddled my memory to the point
> where I just don't recall the details any more. Or maybe I'm still
> repressing those memories. It's hard to face, you know? And I know I'm
> rambling now, trying to delay naming my own demons. But delay as I
> might, admitting I have a piecepack problem is something I can't avoid
> any longer.
>
> So here's my story. I started down the slippery slope of piecepack
> addiction around the time that Mesomorph released their second edition
> set. I knew about the piecepack before then, had heard stories of
> other users and the effects piecepacks had had on them. I didn't run
> in "those" circles, and I never thought of myself as an addictive
> personality. Nevertheless, I was kind of scared of the piecepack and
> its possibilities. See, I knew it was something I might get hooked on
> if I let myself, and I didn't want that to happen. Does anyone ever
> want to get hooked? So I avoided piecepacks. I mean, I wasn't one of
> those crazy guys that stand out on a street corner preaching against
> the evils of piecepacks or anything like that. I just didn't say
> anything one way or the other. I may not have approved, but my silence
> didn't disapprove, either. Secretly I kept visiting the web sites,
> downloading the graphics, and then quickly deleting them and clearing
> my browser cache and history before anything came of it. Once, I tried
> making a tiny cardboard set, thinking that just a little bit couldn't
> hurt, right? And it really was a little thing. It was 1/3 size or so,
> and everything fit in a cassette tape case, easy to hide. But because
> it was so small and hard to use, it taunted me, it begged me for more.
> And I was lost. And I knew it. So one cold evening, with a clear head
> and a deliberate will, I sat down at my computer, went to the
> Mesomorph site, pressed that PayPal button, and ordered a second
> edition set.
>
> It wasn't bad at first. In fact, piecepacking was kind of fun! I
> played a few games, made up a couple, and even showed it to my
> friends. Man, I thought I was in control then. Little did I know. Then
> I heard there was going to be a new edition, and it was going to have
> an expansion for playing cards. Something inside me told me not to do
> it, but I did anyway. I ordered another. And another. And I started
> making more and more new games willy-nilly. I was in trouble and I
> knew it. I tried to get rid of some of the accumulating piecepacks by
> giving them away as gifts to family members and leaving them at
> other's houses after gaming sessions, but I couldn't get enough. Then,
> tragedy struck. I won one of the piecepack design contests.
>
> Now I was in deep. I had to judge and comment on a ton of other games,
> and some of them (miraculously) required more piecepacks than I had on
> hand at the time. So I bought more. Then there was yet another
> expansion, something with the four seasons, so I had to have it. And I
> saw that another company (IcePack Games) was selling piecepacks, so I
> bought everything they had as well, including weaponry sets, basic
> sets, playing card sets, piecepack cards, piecepack money, you name
> it. And recently Blue Panther started making piecepacks, too, and I'm
> finding myself in a car with two stacks of rules to about 50 different
> games, heading up the highway to meet in a secret pizza parlor to play
> piecepack games with the Blue Panther himself. And then a few days
> later, I find myself heading up the very same highway again, this time
> with a car load of spray paint to make a few custom sets. I find
> myself downloading VASSAL modules and making decks of piecepack cards
> with nanDECK, even sending piecepack contraband across international
> borders! Need I go on?
>
> Well, a lot of time has passed since that first taste, and I keep
> trying to take control of my piecepack addiction, but I've never been
> able to do so. I've tried to hide it, keeping piecepacks in the car
> (multiple sets), at work (multiple sets) and under the bed (multiple
> sets), but all to no avail. So here I am, still scraping money
> together to buy every new thing, still even promoting piecepacks to
> others. I simply can't help myself. I'm powerless and out of control.
> But that's the first step, right? Did I do it? I admitted that I'm
> powerless. I know it's only a start, and I have a long, long way yet
> to go, but I just needed to get that off my chest. I ... I'd like to
> sit down now, if it's OK.
>
> Clark
>
ROFLMAO!