Nicknames

I remember when I was a youngling and attending summer camp (before I joined the Jedi training academy) that a lot of the "cool" kids had nicknames. I always thought nicknames were cool because they were unusual and said more about the person than most normal names. I always thought it was exceptionally cool when these nicknames were also used by adults in the camp (counselors, group leaders, etc.). My attempts to get a nickname failed tremendously back then. In retrospect it was probably because I was trying to come up with a nickname myself and that's simply not how it's done; others that know you have to come up with it. Why they never did is still somewhat beyond me. Maybe it was because my first name was anything but ordinary. Or maybe it was because they just didn't know me well enough. At any rate, as it turns out I have aquired a few nicknames since day camp and they are as follows:

Gangsta: This was given to me in college by my friend Mike. It's not a stand alone nickname, but is inserted into my full name as "Hayden-William Clinton 'Gangsta' Courtland." I honestly don't know what caused Mike to come up with this, but it may have been because I spent a lot of time in college talking about how I wanted to bust a cap in this person and that professor and so on. Currently, only Mike uses this nickname for me.

Sunshine: This was given to me in my bookstore days. For those that know me, it's pretty clear that I can be rather somber and brooding. It's sort of my default state unless I work against it. I applied to be a bookseller at Borders and when I got shuffled downstairs and became what is now termed a barista, well, people started calling me sunshine to reflect the 'bizzarro world' of my personality during that year. I'm a lot more outgoing nowadays, so people generally don't call me this, unless maybe if I'm having a bad day.

Single H: This came about when Greg (aka Triple G) brought the nicknaming convention to the forefront at the end of our Decipher days. Basically your nickname is the number of times the first letter of your first name appears in your combined first and last names. For me, H only appears once, so I'm single H. For the most part, only people tied to my past Decipher gaming life call me by this name, but there are a lot of them out there, so this nickname is still active.

Superman: As the imagery for this entry suggests, Superman is a nickname that I have been given, but only in the past year. What's interesting about this nickname is that it came independently from people at my gaming store and people on my soccer team. The guys see different sides of me and yet they've converged on this same nickname. At the store I think it has to do with my efficiency at multi-tasking and having a commanding presence when judging tournaments. At soccer I mostly play in goal and apparently I've had some flying saves that have warranted my being named after the Man of Steel.

So, I've finally gotten my wish and I even have nicknames that differ depending on the circle of people that know me. Pretty cool I say. So, does anyone have a nickname I'm not aware of?

Core Performance Week 1 & Dissention

For quite some time now I've been going to soccer practice and watching people get hurt. They generally don't get seriously hurt, but they pull something and can't continue playing. It's really not that surprising since we're all at desks for 12 hours and then start running around on a soccer field. I would often feel on the verge of such injuries myself and so I realized that I can't go on this way. I mean, I'm planning on playing in a major soccer tournament in July and I'm pulling muscles in an hour long practice? There were other issues too, like my not getting enough time to exercise regularly and my getting tired every day around 3-4 pm. I finally decided I can do better...and did something about it.

This week wraps up week #1 of a 12+ week exercise/nutrition regimen known as the Core Performance Program (or Core for short). I bought the book by Mark Verstegen and was immediately impressed with his approach. It was very much in line with the philosophy of Aikido (of which I'm a former student) in emphasizing the improvement of your body as a whole. The program has a lot of movement and stretch routines, but also incorporates aerobic exercise, strength training, and nutrition suggestions. The major changes as a result of this program is that I now get up every morning at 6 am and exercise for at least an hour. I also eat every three hours, which also means I don't eat monstrous breakfast, lunches, and dinners. In only a week I am feeling more flexible and do not get tired during the day. Wow. I can't wait to see how I look/feel after week 12.

On a totally unrelated note, this weekend was the Dissention PreRelease. The set is the last in a great (especially by comparison to the last) block. Dissention is also better than Guildpact (according to what I've seen and heard) and yet after all of this, the attendance numbers around the northeast and in MD were low. So, this was overall a pretty mediocre PreRelease. Nobody's really sure why this is, but we're all hoping it doesn't carry over to Cold Snap, though it probably will since Cold Snap is an orphan set.

Top 8 Magic Podcasts Me!

I wanted to take some time to let all you gamers know about a relatively new company started by a friend of mine, Brian David-Marshall. The company site is Top8Magic.com and is aimed at being a source for cutting edge strategy information for Magic: the Gathering. The first print publication from this company is Deckade by Michael Flores. Flores is a regular at my local gaming store (Neutral Ground) and I attended his book signing event this past weekend. The book is amazing. It chronicles 10 years worth of Magic commentary and strategy. In most cases, the entries are as they actually appeared as posts on the web. Although this book is extremely long, if you are a Magic player (or were at some poing in your life) you'll find sections of this book hard to pass up, if even only for nostalgic reasons. I highly recommend this book and you can purchase a copy through the website as linked above.

I should note also that Top8Magic.com has regular podcasts that you can download from iTunes for free. There's lots of good Magic discussion in these downloads and also a fair bit of local flavor. For example, in a recent podcast, the discussion turned to local judges in the northeast and my name came up. I'm not going to spoil the context of the discussion and will let you listen for yourself. For those that know me, and know me as a judge, this will be well worth the listen! If you don't want to listen to the whole session, skip to around the 17 minute and 15 second mark for the Hayden goodness. Click here to download the podcast mp3. Enjoy!