20181102

Returning to life?

Been an eon since I posted here; I wish I could say that there were better reasons for it.  Basically, Marvel Puzzle Quest took over the time I was using for posting here, and then it took over the time I was using for biking, and then it nearly took over my life.  If you'd like a better idea, I maintained an instagram account (@mpq_diaries) for much of that time.  That account more or less replaced this.

I played it way more than was healthy for the better part of two years, and did have fun doing it.  But basically every other part of my life took hits (some a lot, some only a bit); I wasn't sleeping well, keeping up with my family, staying in touch with friends, or doing well at work.  The battery use meter in iOS was an interesting tracker; well over 90% of my phone use went to Puzzle Quest or to Line (a communications app that is basically a requirement for top-level play in MPQ).

Finally, about six months ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and decided that I needed to quit (for the sake of my marriage, if nothing else.  Ironically, it has made very little difference there).  And I stayed away completely for a month or two, getting back into biking and reading.  I then spent about two months playing again, finding some balance and generally enjoying it.

But I decided that playing it half-assed wasn't so fun (no sense of progress), and I could see that the short-cuts I had taken to be competitive over those couple months weren't going to keep working, so I gave it up again a couple months ago.  Now, I'm back to biking heavily (and I've found a way to keep up with podcasts while doing that), and reading enough to keep me entertained.  I'm also spending a lot more time with the family and occasionally getting to see a movie.

So, after only getting in 300-ish miles over two+ years, I've gotten in 4k since April (when I first quit Puzzle Quest), and might hit 5k by the end of the year.  In fact, I've been doing my 15-mile (each way) commute every day for the past couple weeks.  If I keep that up, I'll be comfortably over 5k, but there will definitely be some difficulties when it gets colder.  Not sure if I'll be able to deal with all of them (though to give an idea, I'm not too worried about the cold of the ride itself.  I have good cold-weather gear.  It has more to do with starting and ending at work, and with precipitation while cold).

To get back to phone use, there are a couple interesting tidbits there.  At the peak of my MPQ usage, I was charging my phone battery 2-3 times a day (so a case with a battery was a must).  Now I can consistently get two days of use out of a charge.  Occasionally I'll even get three.  And my top two apps are Overcast and Safari (each right around 25%).  It certainly feels way healthier.  And I sleep a lot more, which is definitely healthier.  Plus, I'm way more productive at work.

My weight, in my MPQ days, went up about 20 lbs.  I've lost much of that back, but not as much as I should because I haven't done a great job with my diet.  I've stayed on an Atkins-ish diet for the last three years, but my strictness has fluctuated a lot.  When I first started, I was very strict,  and got down to 150*.  Anyway, during my MPQ time, I was not strict (and didn't exercise, worth mentioning), and went up into the 170-175 range.  I've since improved on the diet as well, but not to nearly the degree as when I first started: I've dropped back down to as low as 154, but am mostly right around 160.  I'd really like to consistently get to 155 again.

Anyway, as much fun as I had while playing MPQ, I really don't recommend it.  At least, don't try to be competitive; don't let it take over your life.  So not worth it.  And if you're playing, and hoping to make the 5-star transition?  You can get to that point with a so-so time commitment with little or no money spent (but, to be clear, it'll take several years).  But that transition will take a ton of time (save all your CP and LTs for a year or more), or a crapload of money (I knew quite a few people who spent $30k or more.  The 550s, or end-game players, have all spent considerably more than that.)  How did I do on that measure?  I had five or six characters in the 490-515 range with a ton of time and ~$10k spent.  Sort of proud of that (everyone I knew that had a better roster spent multiples of that), but I really shouldn't be.  It was a terrible way to spend money and was way too much time.

All of that is to say, I'm back, and happy about that.


* I graduated high school at 155, and went up to the 165-170 range in college.  For many, many years after, I was generally at the low end of that range in the Ultimate Frisbee offseason, and the high end (maybe a couple more, even) during the season (March-November, roughly).  The only time I went higher than 175 was for 6-8 months right after meeting my wife; I briefly went up to about 190 then.

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