Ding!

Hi everybody!

I'm told that "Ding!" is the WOW shorthand for "Level up!", and it is also occasionally used in the Magic Judge community. So ... Ding!

Yup, I took my Level 2 test this last weekend, and I passed "with flying colors" (quote from the L3 who tested me). I got two questions (out of 50) wrong, which of course I'm disappointed about, but I'm pretty stoked that I passed. :)

So now what? I hope to keep doing what I've been doing: working events, and mentoring new judges and judge candidates. But now I get to do so in a more formalistic way, including the process of actual certification. I do have a few more intermediate goals in mind though: participate more in education, and get into team leading and eventually head-judging more Competitive events. I'm not really sure how to make this happen, but that sounds like a good opportunity for me to touch base with my Regional Captain. :)

I also wanted to reflect a minute on something that's making the rounds in social media, both within and without the Magic community: the photo series of a guy posing in front of accidentally-exposed butt cracks. I have a few thoughts about this whole thing.

1. Nobody wants to see butt cracks. Magic players have a reputation for being "gross" anyway, and having ill-fitting pants/belts/shirts that expose butt cracks is only helping to propagate the stereotype. Maybe make it a part of your pre-tournament preparation to ask your friends to do a "crack check" before going to the event.

2. Posting this kind thing is inappropriate. If I find somebody doing this at my event, I will ask that person to stop. It's not as bad as the person who posted pictures at another event last year with rather rude commentary, but it's still a public disparaging.

3. It seems like a lot of this conversation has already gotten blown way out of proportion, by both sides of the issue. Personally, though I got a chuckle out of the photo series, I side with the idea that players should expect to attend an event without being publicly disparaged.

4. Butt seriously: Cover up your crack.

Yup, that's all I got for now. I haven't done much in the way of playing recently, since I've been studying for (and taking!) my L2 test. Tonight I'm gonna go to Standard and see how the Herd fares. And then we'll see about where to go next with Judging.

Thanks for reading!