Subbing in and the Pouncing Pussy

Today's title is courtesy of my boy Squig, who never fails to make me laugh or smile, and completely proves wrong the saying that elite players are douchebags.
I ran 10 man vault yesterday with some guildies and some members of Just Wipe It and Aeon, who along with Conviction and Escalation, are fighting to see who will be the next guild on Turalyon to down Yogg-Saron. I had a great time, got warlock T7 and T8 gloves, and got to meet some great people. It's always hard to run with elite players I don't know, because I am afraid what they will think of me, but these guys are really cool, and I appreciated them being there.
Last night, when I finally got home, I went up to Icecrown to work on the Tournament dailies. The guild had already down Deconstructor and Kologarn, and I listened to the Ignis kill on vent. About an hour into it, I get a tell from Dem, "Wanna come in?" My answer was, "If you need me, hell yeah." The way my guildies reacted to me coming in surprised and touched me. I got cheers and hugs from the raid members, and a tell saying hi from Cinnas as soon as I joined the group. Sometimes when I write this stuff I feel like Sally Field: "You like me, you really like me." The truth is, however, that I'm not the person who tears up the dps meters. That my guildies are willing to understand my challenges and support me means the world to me.
Auraya is a tough fight, there is no two ways about it. If you can survive the pull, you can probably get through it. After the second wipe, Dem sent me a tell asking if I was glad I came, "Welcome to Death." I told him I was where I wanted to be. Yes, wiping is expensive, but I want to be with my guild hitting my head against the wall as much as I can.
After trying a few different ways to pull, we got it done, third new boss kill for Clan Redundancy Clan last night, yay! I died partway through, and couldn't top 2000 dps, but I was there.
After raid, Flip and I discussed my spec a little more, and I tweaked it again. There are a lot of new facets to playing an affliction warlock that I'm still getting used to, but I am getting used to them. I will say, as I continue to struggle, that there are times when I just want to throw my hands in the air and say, "forget it, I'm done, no more." I know there will be a boss before Algalon who will bring me to tears, even if he doesn't feed on them. What keeps me going is the combination of my love for raiding and seeing new content, and the support of my friends.