kenjisan

I think I may have a gambling problem

In the last two days, I've been in as many poker games. The first organized by myself and Glynn, the second organized by a college friend I haven't seen in years (thanks Lyle, if you happen to stumble upon this site). While both games heavily featured Texas Holdem (Lyle's alternating TH and dealer's choice), the mechanics behind the games were wildly different (limit vs. no-limit, tournmanet vs. non-tournament).

A few quick thoughts on this and then I'm going to bed:

• I enjoy playing no-limit more than limit poker. It's not that I don't like playing with limits, because I seem to enjoy any poker I can get in on. It's just that in no-limit poker, you can make more of a statement with your betting, and thus, I feel there is more strategy in betting. "All in" could be a desperate move, or it could be a stroke of brilliance.
  
• That being said, I can see the merits of limit poker: very small chip swings=prolonged playing time=more (theoretical) fun.
  
• I can see the merits of both tournament style and non-tournament style (i.e. playing until there is one player with all the chips vs. playing until everyone decides to stop). However, like no-limit poker, I think tournament style is more exciting.
  
• A set of written rules are an important thing, even in a "friendly" game. Also, these rules can be overriden if the majority thinks they should be.
  
• Friendly buy-ins can work, even in tournament style play, as long as the system isn't abused. If someone in one of my games is abusing the system, then maybe that person shouldn't be playing in my game.
  

This is the dream of...

I had another one of my London Underground dreams last night. These are coming more and more frequently of late. The city’s always the same: some amalgam of DC and London and sometimes Tokyo, and always involving some form of underground public transportation. The train cars are closer to the surface than the DC metro or the London Tube, the train stations sometimes open air, like Tokyo, or maybe New Crobuzon’s Perdido Street Station. And the world is so vivid, so developed and real. It breaths, like a real one, and with each dream, it unfolds anew.

Yesterday, Sunday, was the first day in as long as I can remember that I was actually bored. It felt like one of those summer days back in high school, when I had no job and nothing to do. Nothing seemed particularly appealing to me; no one was doing anything that I was interested in. For the first time in my entire life, I considered going in to work on the weekend just because I knew there were things to do there. The reasoning is such: if everything is going to be boring, might as well do something productive while I’m bored. I even might have gone in, were it not for the fact that my computer was in shambles.

While the details of last night’s dream have been lost to this drizzly day’s realities, I do remember one shining, little epiphany. In it – meaning my dream – I was about to go on a trip far away… let’s say New Zealand. I was going to leave in maybe a month or two, and that inevitable feeling of apathy in the workplace was creeping in. After all, in a month, I would be off to new adventures, and what I do now would be forgotten and out of mind.

The epiphany came when I was in the twilight between sleep and consciousness, and it’s nothing amazing or new. It’s the same old one we all at least know of: life is what you make of it, and work is a means to living that life, not the meaning of it. Blah blah. But in my dream – and for a few minutes while awake – I felt that message in that profound way that you can only get from dreams, and this entry is an attempt to cling to that feeling.

It compels me to do something with my life, something that doesn’t involve toiling away in some office along some heavily trodden path.

New computer/new job

No, I didn't really get a new job, but I did get a new computer, which oddly makes me feel like I got a new job. Normally, I wouldn't notice much of a difference. This time, there are a couple of things that help:

1. My monitor went from a 20 inch CRT to a 23 inch LCD.
   
2. Photoshop and Quark no longer take ten minutes to load (an exaggeration, of course, it only really took about nine-and-a-half minutes before)
   
3. Fonts and font-versions are making my life a living hell
   

A more serious entry on I, Robot the movie to follow... someday...

I'm running again

Four miles yesterday. Only two and a half this morning. But it's a start. It's been too long since I consistently ran, and the number of times I've started up and stopped is beginning to piss me off. Even with the little bit of running I've done over the past three days, my legs are aching and sore (and it feels wonderul) and I'm remembering why I enjoyed running so much.

One of these reasons is that the only competition I've got is myself. I'm not racing anyone. At times, I'm not even running with anyone. So all I've got are my previous paces and times, and the knowledge that if I can keep at it, I can improve. Weird motivation, huh?

My current schedule is here for any who are interested, although since I completed this schedule last year, I feel as though maybe I should bump up to the next level.

Beginner Half Marathon Program

Four years

There's not much more to say than "wow." I keep kicking myself; this must be a dream.