I was hoping that my 100th DCL match of the season would be memorable. And indeed it was, just not for the right reasons.

You see, Wats injured me.

Prior to the game, I noticed my right shoulder/neck was sore. I had played an Ascend x4 earlier in the day against IsAB - won 20-10 - and had done two single player runs with the Rangers. All in all, about 4 or 5 hours of Descenting.

So Wats challenges me to an Ascend x4. My two previous Ascend x4 games were against pilots who have in the past beaten me. IsAB of course, and then SeaWyrm, who I beat 20-4. Naturally, I thought I had this game in the bag.

Well, before the first kill is even taken, I tweak my shoulder dodging a homing missile. Mind you, I'm all keyboard, so it's pretty hard to actually move while playing on the keyboard, but I do this thing called "chair dodging". You know, when a missile is coming at you, you can either press the appropriate keys to move your pyro out of the way, or you can press the appropriate keys to move your pyro out of the way AND lean in the direction you're trying to move. It really works, you should try it. Well anyway, Wats was throwing all kinds of weaponry at me, and I chair dodged one of his homers and... ouch.

What I also didn't realize is that Ascend (with no X's) is Wats's home level. So, with me whining about being hurt (see YouTube video), kept playing. I'm sure I could have stopped citing the injury, but my pride and love of the game would not allow it.

We played very evenly. 5 to 5, 10 to 10, 15 to 15... it was almost even the whole way. I pulled ahead and somehow eked out a win.

And boy am I feeling it later. I tried driving and couldn't really see behind me well. Showering wasn't fun. I played a bit of WoW and was sore the whole time.

But I know me. I'd do it all again for the love of the game. Hell, I'll probably even play another DCL tonight. :)