Round 1

It's another one of those weeks where the battle between Good and Evil culminates in the pursuit of taking over the mind. The tension is higher than usual and the ambience is feverish, to say the least.

On the one side of the ring we have Evil with a pretty impressive lineup tonight, headed by captains Bad Work Morale and Self-deprecation, who can barely conceal their aggressive rookie Procrastination from sight. A recent ambush featuring Work Overload and Impatience Regarding Electronic Equipment have momentarily turned the tables, and the team is probably looking to garner style points from all the resultant foul language...

On the other hand we have Inspiration, Gratitude and Resilience holding the fort for Good, having dominated last week's state of mind with a strong show of Variation, Appreciation and Serenity, drawing strength from experiences of nature and friendship. However, there has been slight damage done to the defense, including an episode of Wavering Faith and Self-redefinition, and old injuries like Heartbreak seem to keep haunting the team's successes. Nonetheless, they are confident that even this battle stands a fair chance of being won. Hope, the ever-faithful mascot, is back after being nursed back to health by Family, Friendship and Music.

*Bing*

Ooooh!! Evil immediately pulls out the stops with a trusty old strategy: Saying Yes to Everything (haven't seen that one for a while! Must be a big hole in Good's defense there), followed by a good sock from Procrastination leaving Good gridlocked, because saying no after a yes would mean Disappointment and the Good team can't afford that! Or can they?

Inspiration takes over and trumps Evil with two tricks I haven't seen in a long time: Asking for Help and Planning Ahead, very classy. Procrastination is tackled by Sense of Duty, at least for the moment. However the performance is slightly marred by Pride, so Asking For Help may be too little too late... No, wait, Collaborative Enjoyment appears in the fray and gives Inspiration the needed boost!

Both teams are using Distraction with great success, but neither side has mastered the side-effects contrary to their means. While Good uses it as a defensive strategy against Stress and Self-deprecation, thereby strengthening Inspiration, Evil uses its powerful properties to disarm Concentration, giving Bad Work Morale an unguarded opening.

Evil is now using a full arsenal of Substance Abuse! The caffeine high fools both Inspiration and Resilience into a deceptive sense of invincibility, but unbeknownst to them has also planted Dependency in their midst. It's a sneak ambush! Hope looks on hopelessly while Gratitude, for love of coffee, just doesn't know what to do. And here comes the punch: Evil uses FACEBOOK to top off the attack with a big slap of Distraction. Good is completely stuck in a syrupy trap of Competitiveness, Curiosity and Wanting to Please. The team is being torn apart by inner conflict, Communicativeness and Sociability being at odds with Good Work Morale about the whole situation.

Discipline blows the whistle, throwing Evil's gridlock off and giving Good a penalty of No Email Or Internet For Fifteen Minutes. Hope seems strangely confident in spite of it all, because some progress has been made during this round. The Evil team retreats into the depths of the mind where they normally hide, leaving Gratitude thankful that things aren't worse, Resilience stretching for good measure, and Inspiration, peculiarly heartened by it all, whiling away some time together with Sense of Duty by writing a slightly ludicrous blog post...

Until the next round...