Never Bring a Knife to a Gunfight

Compete:  To seek or strive for the same thing, position, or reward for which another is striving.  

More musings on the payment schedule for my bounced check . . . 

Never bring a knife to a gunfight.  The question is this: who is holding the knife here?  I don't feel like I've got a gun on me.

I'm sure I'm going to repeat myself but here's the SuperK Playing A Game story again.  When we were first married my wife - who enjoys playing games - was always badgering me to play a game with her, any game, she didn't care.  I protested and I protested, aware that a game for me was a contest to win, not a leisure activity.  Finally, I relented and we picked up some harmless board game.  I won the first several games - not because I'm smarter or more talented at games than she is but because I was dialed in to the activity while she was chatting and talking and looking around.  Just enjoying the game and the company.  Then she started to get the better of me in one of the rounds.  Seeing almost certain defeat I went into my Bloody Last Stand mode - you know, delaying the defeat as long as possible in the hope that I could pull out a miraculous, Hail Mary finish and walk away with an improbable win.  I'm like one of those suicidal guerrilla organizations that's so entrenched in the jungle that only total annihilation can convince them that the jig is up.

The look on her face when she realized that I was draining every possible ounce of pleasure out of her victory as I possibly could.  It wasn't personal at all - it was victory or it was defeat.

Anyway, do I pay $2.07 or do I pay $30?  Massachusetts Dud has suggested that I pay the full amount less one penny.  I'm seriously considering this technique.