It's four-thirty in the morning, and I just feel like venting out faceless, nameless frustrations today. Thus, if you don't want to read a (What's another word for "rant"? Got it!) vituperation today, then skip this post, please. For the past few weeks, I've been doing minimal (This word sounds catchy to me... :laugh:) vituperating, and I don't want to spoil my run by letting you walk into a trap without due warning...

*This is an IC post. Yes, again.*

Only this schoolyear has Marcelle realized one of the most difficult lessons he needs to learn. Indeed, Marcelle can't please everybody. If he writes in his blog about happy stuff, he gets called pretentious. If he vituperates, people ask him to stop depressing them. It's come to a point where Marcelle has stopped putting much stock into opinions of people who don't matter. Despite that, these not-too-flattering opinions get to him from time to time.

This is one of those times.

Bah Gawd, a lot of people seem to keep on confusing the character Marcelle portrays (Such as this one. Do note, though, that there's little difference in this case, since this is Marcelle's own blog, after all. No need to pretend...) with who Marcelle truly is. So, for a case in point, let's take the example of someone Marcelle knows wouldn't mind (Thus, telling you that he's not alone with the misconceptions.), Charles "The Stalker":

1) "...For someone who already has a girlfriend and is finding prospects at the same time, he's not the type of person I'd introduce to a female friend of mine"

Point taken, but there's something wrong with this statement. The term "Prospects" was a term Marcelle coined in jest. Say what you wish, but Marcelle has already had the chance to go after one of his so-called "Chinese Prospects" last summer. The other party was willing, mind you. Despite that, Marcelle and Grace are STILL together. Doesn't that tell you (Plural you. This is not just Charles Marcelle is addressing.) something? The fact is, Marcelle may seem to be girl-crazy, but that simply isn't the case. Why don't you talk to Grace one of these days, just in case you're in doubt? Do note that Marcelle hides nothing from her- not even that summer thing he's been talking about. So there's no worry that Grace has been whitewashed or anything of the sort.

In short, "Prospects" is nothing more than a long-running joke that never amounted and never will amount to anything. Let's face it: Marcelle isn't looking for a potential replacement for Grace, because he and Grace intend to be together for keeps. 'Nuf said, moving on.

2) "As for my complaints with Marcelle's gaming, it's not him as a player but him as a tourney judge. I think there was a point in time when he was expecting "compensation" for being the judge to the Raw Deal tournaments here in the Philippines. Monetary compensation (in the form of booster packs) that is. So hypothetically, if they didn't compensate you, you'd stop hosting tournaments and giving players the prizes the distributors gave you?"

This is a longer issue that needs a lot of explanation. Marcelle became the manager of RAW Deal in the Philippines after having replaced the previous one, Carlos Sandico. This is because Mr. Sandico has been suspected of taking belts from Comic Images instead of using it as prize support, and doctoring tournament results. On both counts, damaging circumstantial evidence has been found, such as strange names entered in the rankings of players whom none of the Arena group, or the Vitans, or the Javiers, or even the former players from Ateneo have ever seen or heard of. There was a need for change. Marcelle stepped up to the challenge.

Now, Freddie Tan gave Marcelle the same incentive he gave Carlos: Boosters for running tournaments. Nothing wrong there, right? It was offered to Marcelle, and he took it, naturally. There's nothing wrong with liking a system that's already present.

But what happened was Neutral Grounds in Galleria didn't get the next RAW Deal expansion, Mania. The players were ticked off. They had to order their cards from the States, but because NG doesn't have Mania, sanctioned tournaments cannot be run with Mania cards in people's decks. This ticked the players off even more, to the point that they wanted to ditch NG and run tourneys in Arena, with Marcelle managing, of course. Marcelle asked permission for this from the Commissioner of RAW Deal. Do take note that at the time, Arena did not carry RAW Deal.

Here's the reply from the commissioner: "... I discourage running tournaments in stores not selling RAW Deal... Priority should be given to stores that carry RAW Deal..."

In plain and simple language, Marcelle was told to stick it out with Neutral Grounds. Respecting the commissioner's decision, he had to tell the players so. What followed was the assumption that he was after the compensation alone, and the suspicion that he wanted to win tournaments himself by imposing Backlash, a system that was very friendly to Marcelle's character, Chyna. These allegations were disproved when Marcelle simply stopped joining tournaments, and when he started running tournaments in Arena without any compensation at all, as soon as they carried RAW Deal.

So why is Marcelle getting compensation right now? It's because Arena now has a sponsor, and the sponsor offered this compensation to him, when he discovered that it was Freddie's practice in NG. Simply put, the hypothetical scenario of Marcelle not receiving any compensation has already happened, and he still ran the tournaments for his players. Any attempt to contest this is an affront to Marcelle's integrity as not just a manager, but as a human being already, more so than allegation number one.

So Charles, on both counts, you were sadly mistaken. Especially on the second count. The first point may carry some weight because of Marcelle's constant jokes about it, but even then, the mere fact that the hypothetical scenario you posed in the first scenario has already happened, and Marcelle went through it already, tells you not to bet on Marcelle cheating on Grace anytime soon.

This vituperation, of course, doesn't entail any bad blood between Marcelle and Charles. Fact is, he appreciates the constructive criticism, but he also has to defend himself when he sees that the criticism is already off-tangent. While you're far from perfect, Marcelle nonetheless accepts you for who you are (And who you perceive yourself to be.). There is no need to reciprocate that, though. As long as you're not hacking Marcelle's blog and posting on his behalf, then he can live with the constructive criticism, since it helps out in his constant drive to improve himself.

There're still more, such as people who aren't used to Marcelle's debating style who take things personally, people who think his being nice to them is a hint of romantic interest, and even the notion that he's violent. The last one completely boggles the mind: physicalizing issues would be one of the last things Marcelle will have to do. There are far more... *ahem* subtle, devious ways than punching another guy's lights out.

*OOC Time.*

With that out of the way, let me end by reminding everyone that there's a difference between seeming and being: Indeed, I like portraying a character, and projecting an image, but I still believe that my true self manages to manifest itself when the time is right. Yes, some of these misunderstandings are caused by my own image constructs, but just like Eminem, it's still my job to remind people around me what is and is not real about what I project.

Don't expect me to be perfect. It's not my job to be so, jabroni.