A voice from the past, or what happened at DMF

[Mr. Fantazy]

Hey all,

Damn seems like forever since I've looked at an MTG site. Things here are looking sharp, great job guys! It's good to see many of the old names still here and the return of some, a belated welcome back Z!

Unless you're part of the So. Cal. T1 scene you probably have no clue who I am as I rarely posted anything other than Tournament Announcements and Results, however many of you are well known by me through your many posts that have enlightened and humored the Vintage Community for so long now. I had a little time today and really wanted to say something to the So.Cal. Vintage crew about my sudden selling of DMF and disappearence, so here goes.

What Happened?

Let's just say I got several shitty draws, lol. Looking back I would have to say that the beginning of the end was getting run down in the parking lot. (short story long, apparently informing someone that the property owner would tow their car if they parked in that spot results in verbal altercations followed by a hit and run.) My recovery from the inncident was much slower than I had hoped and much more taxing on me mentally than I expected. My guess is the long period of heavy medication didn't help much either. Not just taxing on me but on the family too. Between the trouble going on at home, the shock of the inncident, and the extreme depression I was going through, things at the store strated to slip. Many of you were there at some point when I would just fall apart and close the store. I truely apologize for whatever may have happened or been said during those times. Thankfully, you guys were and still are some of the greatest people I've had the pleasure of knowing, I had more support and concern from you than a man may honestly expect.

As this was going on life figgered I could use just a little more to handle and promply served me more to deal with, which in the end resulted in my selling DMF.

Around August sometime my mother in law began being very ill. Several doctor visits could find nothing wrong with her, despite the fact that she was obviously sick. In late August, early September she became Jaundice, and was extremely yellow (think Mountain Dew). During the treatment for her condition one of the scans showed a growth in her pancreas. A biopsy revealed it to be Pancreatic Cancer. She then developed Pancreatitus and went into the hospital for a week long stay.

As many of you know we had two family buisness' running, DMF and Clark's Printing (which she ran), with the print shop being the more lucrative of the two. her hospitalization required me to put time in at the print shop, so I was litterally running both buisness'. This is when the wife and I started weighing our options and looking into what we were going to do, as there was no way I could keep up both shops.

At this point there was a surgical option for the cancer. The operation (Wipple Procedure) is an intense operation that was dangerous in and of itself, and with no certainty that all the cancer could be removed. When Sue finally came home, she was schedualed for the operation in a couple of weeks and she began getting me up to speed on the print shop. This lasted a couple of days before the doctors admitted her to the hospital again with Pancreatitus.

We had offers to buy DMF after the first 6 months of opening, which we had laughed about since we had no intention of selling untill the kids were out of school at the earliest. However, now selling or closing was a possibility that we had to address, but which buisness to sell/close had to be thought about. DMF was my baby, I loved that store and the people who played there were more than customers, they were friends. They had supported my efforts there 110%. So we waited to see what was going to happen. Another scan revealed that the tumor in the pancreas was to close to an artery to be operated on but there was hope that chemotherapy could reduce it's size and pull it back enough to continue. A few days later another scan found a mass in her lung, another biopsy, cancer, and also that the tumor in the pancreas was not next to the artery but encasing the artery making it inoperateable. It was clear at this point that she was terminal (Pancreatic Cancer is quite aggressive with about a 6 month survivability) so we sold DMF. Litterally the decision and the actual selling occured on the same day and the new owners had control the next day, as I went to printing, and helping take care of her full time. Sue, my mother in law, is now at home and pretty much bed ridden. By all acounts she will pass before this month is done.

I know that was a tad long winded, but alot went on in life in a short amount of time.

What's Current?

Well, I'm now printing full time, and helping with the end of life care of my wifes mother. My depression has finally pretty much subsided, and Jeanette and I have our 23 year relationship back on track for the most part.

I haven't really played MTG for quite a while now, but don't be shocked if I should make an appearance somewhere, sometime.

I know I've kind of rambled a lot but I felt really bad about my sudden departure and not having a chance to really talk to anyone, and I wanted you to know what happened.

I want to say that the people at DMF were very special to me and continue to be in my thoughts. I hope all is well with you, and wish the very best for all of you. I look forward to being able to sling cards, or just hang out for a bit when the opportunity arises. You guys are the greatest. I also hope all is going well at DMF and you are getting the support you so deserve.

Shawn Newman
Former owner of Dear Mr. Fantazy

[Evergreen]

Hey Shawn, this is John Hodge.  First off, don't ever feel like you need to apoligize for the closing of the shop, or any actions leading up to that point.  I can safely say that none of us have had to deal with that much shit on our plate at the same time, and the fact that you kept it to together as well as you did is a testament to your character.  At least all of the Type 1 guys, and I'm sure almost everyone else that frequented the store understood that you had much more important things going on in your life that took priority over magic, as they should have.

Thankfully, you guys were and still are some of the greatest people I've had the pleasure of knowing, I had more support and concern from you than a man may honestly expect.
   
DMF was my baby, I loved that store and the people who played there were more than customers, they were friends.

The feeling is more than mutual man, that's why we were all so down when you announced you were going to be getting out for a while.  It wasn't because we thought we would get less support for Type 1, or that we woulden't have a place to play, it was because you were one of the guys.  I drove all the way down from Hollywood every weekend to hang out and play cards with you the same way I did for Gio, Chris, Josh and Rob.  I remember the first time I came to the shop, I got there about 2 hours before the tournament started, I was the only one there, and you sat there and listened to me drone on about the power of mono black dragon.  Then after everyone got there you went way out of your way to ask everyone that came in if they had the elvish spirit guides and dance of the deads I needed to get under the proxy limit, and you had known me for about an hour.  Or the time you fronted me money so I could go to comic-con, or when you lent me your power so I could play at gen-con so cal, or the innumerable random pimp black cards you hunted down for me just because I thought they were cool, even though I'm sure it was a pain in the ass.  It was things like this that made DMF the greatest gaming store I have ever played in, it wasn't the store itself, but the atmosphere you created.  No matter who owns the store, DMF will always be your baby, we all still find ourselves refering to the store as "Shawn's," and while you left the store in good hands, your not an easy guy to replace.

I hope your mother-in-law is at least comfortable, and I am glad to hear that life seems to be finally dealing you a better hand.  So get your ass back down here sometime, we are usually here every saturday (although a bunch of us are gonna be in vegas this weekend), and sometimes come down on thursdays.  Just don't bring Unstacked, I've been doing pretty well at the tournamnets and I don't know if I can handle losing every game to that deck again  .
 

[Moxlotus]

A magic shop is a magic shop.  It's nothing compared to real life.  Good luck man.

[Hi-Val]

Though it's kind of a grim reminder at this point, Allah only gives us that which we can handle.

Good to hear things are back on track!

[Robert the Swordsman]

Shawn, I'm so happy to be hearing from you.

That's a whole lot of awful stuff to have gone through in such a short time, and no amount of consolation I can offer can really do it any justice, but just know that John is right: you have absolutely nothing to apologize for (as you may be aware, I'm a bit of an expert when it comes to the word "sorry", so trust me on this); neither you nor anybody else said or did anything wrong.

I'm really sorry about your mother-in-law... at least she's stable and peaceful for the time being, and that's a nice situation given the circumstances. You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that your depression has mostly subsided; we were all really worried for you during those times, but in the end you really handled it and handled it well, even with so many forces at work against you. It was impressive to say the very least.

The shop means a lot to all of us, but your health means a whole lot more, and I'm really glad to hear that things are looking up for the first time in a long while. Don't worry, though, it's still "Shawn's".

If you ever feel like throwing around some cardboard on a lonely Saturday night, it'd be a pleasure to see you again.

[Anusien]

Sucks.  Good luck going forward.

[xrizzo]

Hey Shawn,

I just saw this.  I am very sorry to hear about the turn of events the past many months here.  Everyone really appreciates what you did for Mtg in socal.  I hope this difficult period ends soon and takes a turn for the better very shortly. 

-Tim