Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Poker Playing: Rules for Real Life
I enjoy poker, among other things, to pass the time. When I follow these basic "rules" I tend to win more than I lose, and find they are easily transferable to "real life":
- Don't get into other people's pissing contests.
- Be patient and look for opportunities to play worthwhile cards.
- Fold most hands.
- Don't go in at all unless you can afford to go "all in", or you can afford to lose the chips you play.
- Be patient.
- Fold at least 75% of your hands, but know WHY you are folding.
- Choose your battles.
- Don't be pressured by someone else to go "all in".
- Don't be pressured by someone else to keep increasing your bets.
- Don't chase a straight or flush. If it shows up...GREAT.
- If you have enough money to see the flop, do it.
- Don't bluff an "all in" against a player who has a lot more chips than you.
- Don't make a bet in anger, boredom, impatience or desperation.
- Hope and desire to win will not ensure a win.
- Are decisions made on fact or on whim?
- Get rid of a "bad hand" early, otherwise, you will have a sense of loyalty to see it through despite very bad odds.
- Playing "bad hands" just to see where they go only results in a more-than-90-percent chance of losing.
- Just because you feel entitled to everyone's money, doesn't mean you'll GET it.
- If you win a "bad hand" it is PURE luck and has nothing to do you YOU, so don't take credit.
- If you hear yourself say to yourself "I'm gonna lose everything"...you will. Lay low on those less secure days.
- If you're staring at your cards, figuratively wringing your hands, thinking "I might as well go all in to get rid of my chips"...then, what are you doing at the table in the first place? Give your money to charity instead.
- Occasionally, you'll run into a player at the table who wants to goad you into a fight. If you bite, you may as well just give them all your money.
- The nasty players who use hatred to piss you off are cowards. If you keep your cool, you'll clean them out. Anger is, after all, every player's downfall. Let THEM be angry.
Feel free to post more!
- Don't get into other people's pissing contests.
- Be patient and look for opportunities to play worthwhile cards.
- Fold most hands.
- Don't go in at all unless you can afford to go "all in", or you can afford to lose the chips you play.
- Be patient.
- Fold at least 75% of your hands, but know WHY you are folding.
- Choose your battles.
- Don't be pressured by someone else to go "all in".
- Don't be pressured by someone else to keep increasing your bets.
- Don't chase a straight or flush. If it shows up...GREAT.
- If you have enough money to see the flop, do it.
- Don't bluff an "all in" against a player who has a lot more chips than you.
- Don't make a bet in anger, boredom, impatience or desperation.
- Hope and desire to win will not ensure a win.
- Are decisions made on fact or on whim?
- Get rid of a "bad hand" early, otherwise, you will have a sense of loyalty to see it through despite very bad odds.
- Playing "bad hands" just to see where they go only results in a more-than-90-percent chance of losing.
- Just because you feel entitled to everyone's money, doesn't mean you'll GET it.
- If you win a "bad hand" it is PURE luck and has nothing to do you YOU, so don't take credit.
- If you hear yourself say to yourself "I'm gonna lose everything"...you will. Lay low on those less secure days.
- If you're staring at your cards, figuratively wringing your hands, thinking "I might as well go all in to get rid of my chips"...then, what are you doing at the table in the first place? Give your money to charity instead.
- Occasionally, you'll run into a player at the table who wants to goad you into a fight. If you bite, you may as well just give them all your money.
- The nasty players who use hatred to piss you off are cowards. If you keep your cool, you'll clean them out. Anger is, after all, every player's downfall. Let THEM be angry.
Feel free to post more!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
They Don't Round Up Canadians, DO They!
by Valerie A. Kelly
Despite hearing that I dwell way too much in the past, I recently signed up on an ancestry-hunt site. The show "Do You Know Who You Are?" spurred renewed interest in my heritage. Previously unbeknown to me, I found I have very recent "Alien" roots. In fact, my grandmother and others in her household were called "aliens" in one US Census, still citizens of the country across the US border. Apparently, none of them were US Citizens in that Census year.
Sadly, with this country's ever-growing fever to rid itself of expensive, parasitic, evil, "fer-ners" (you know the ones accused of sapping the burdened welfare and medical systems), I fear I will end up driving smack-dab into an illegal checkpoint at which I will be asked: "Do you have your papers?"
What papers? How do I prove that I am NOT "illegal" and am, in fact, indigenous to California? Frankly, I've never considered driving around with my passport, social security card, birth certificate and other "papers" that I long-ago learned belonged in a locked safe. And, God knows I LOOK like my relatives. I even TALK like them, having acquired a slight accent picked up in early childhood. Believe it or not, I was actually sent for speech therapy in second grade because I tended to pronounce "about" as "abOOt", and stuck a "t" in "else" to end up as "elts". So much for speech therapy because I still TALK like a Canadian if I am not diligent enough to hide the subtle accent.
So, having only a driver's license that can still be forged for the right price, the picture unfolds:
This 57-year-old, single, white woman who has been living on unemployment checks in this staggeringly horrid economy is now shackled in the back of a hot INS van with other people who "look" like someone from the other side of the border. We wait for "processing" and "verification" of citizenship. Cellphones confiscated. Unable to contact friends or relatives. And, our "papers" are not within reach.
Some in the van are transported back to Canada despite having US-born children remain behind, now remanded to custody of the State, forcing unwanted dependency on the disdainful system that so very much wants to rid itself of "excess". Some are "shipped back" to Canada where they know no one, despite having jobs here, despite paying taxes that supports their betrayal, despite never committing a crime in their lives, despite being responsible members of their communities. Few will be able to get the attention of an INS officer who is willing to listen, resulting from the inoculations of insensitivity, mandatory within INS training curriculum. After all, Canadians are all thieves, aren't they? And, George W. actually threatened to invade terrorist-loving Canada a few years ago. A warning to Canadian-Americans, born in America: You could be told "ABOOT FACE!" at some point in your life.
Ludicrous? Of course it is.
But, would it be just as ludicrous if my grandmother had been Hispanic or Mexican?
Yes.
BUT...the scenario actually COULD happen to my roommate if she doesn't carry "papers" that should stay in her vault. It HAS happened to my brother-in-law (though we like to pretend illegal roundups don't occur because "they're illegal"). And, I WAS pulled over for no reason in the desert just outside of San Diego because I drive a van and have tinted windows. The gun-toting reception I encountered far outweighed the reception when I was pulled over for actually speeding in Northern California. I admit, the border-conscious CHP guns WERE holstered after they took a good look in the back of the van and I turned out to be just a Canadian-looking white woman who does not fit "the profile".
Don't tell me racial profiling isn't happening.
They don't round up Canadians, do they?
Despite hearing that I dwell way too much in the past, I recently signed up on an ancestry-hunt site. The show "Do You Know Who You Are?" spurred renewed interest in my heritage. Previously unbeknown to me, I found I have very recent "Alien" roots. In fact, my grandmother and others in her household were called "aliens" in one US Census, still citizens of the country across the US border. Apparently, none of them were US Citizens in that Census year.
Sadly, with this country's ever-growing fever to rid itself of expensive, parasitic, evil, "fer-ners" (you know the ones accused of sapping the burdened welfare and medical systems), I fear I will end up driving smack-dab into an illegal checkpoint at which I will be asked: "Do you have your papers?"
What papers? How do I prove that I am NOT "illegal" and am, in fact, indigenous to California? Frankly, I've never considered driving around with my passport, social security card, birth certificate and other "papers" that I long-ago learned belonged in a locked safe. And, God knows I LOOK like my relatives. I even TALK like them, having acquired a slight accent picked up in early childhood. Believe it or not, I was actually sent for speech therapy in second grade because I tended to pronounce "about" as "abOOt", and stuck a "t" in "else" to end up as "elts". So much for speech therapy because I still TALK like a Canadian if I am not diligent enough to hide the subtle accent.
So, having only a driver's license that can still be forged for the right price, the picture unfolds:
This 57-year-old, single, white woman who has been living on unemployment checks in this staggeringly horrid economy is now shackled in the back of a hot INS van with other people who "look" like someone from the other side of the border. We wait for "processing" and "verification" of citizenship. Cellphones confiscated. Unable to contact friends or relatives. And, our "papers" are not within reach.
Some in the van are transported back to Canada despite having US-born children remain behind, now remanded to custody of the State, forcing unwanted dependency on the disdainful system that so very much wants to rid itself of "excess". Some are "shipped back" to Canada where they know no one, despite having jobs here, despite paying taxes that supports their betrayal, despite never committing a crime in their lives, despite being responsible members of their communities. Few will be able to get the attention of an INS officer who is willing to listen, resulting from the inoculations of insensitivity, mandatory within INS training curriculum. After all, Canadians are all thieves, aren't they? And, George W. actually threatened to invade terrorist-loving Canada a few years ago. A warning to Canadian-Americans, born in America: You could be told "ABOOT FACE!" at some point in your life.
Ludicrous? Of course it is.
But, would it be just as ludicrous if my grandmother had been Hispanic or Mexican?
Yes.
BUT...the scenario actually COULD happen to my roommate if she doesn't carry "papers" that should stay in her vault. It HAS happened to my brother-in-law (though we like to pretend illegal roundups don't occur because "they're illegal"). And, I WAS pulled over for no reason in the desert just outside of San Diego because I drive a van and have tinted windows. The gun-toting reception I encountered far outweighed the reception when I was pulled over for actually speeding in Northern California. I admit, the border-conscious CHP guns WERE holstered after they took a good look in the back of the van and I turned out to be just a Canadian-looking white woman who does not fit "the profile".
Don't tell me racial profiling isn't happening.
They don't round up Canadians, do they?
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Dualities & Paradoxes
by Valerie A. Kelly
Dualities.
The right and wrong of any argument.
The linear versus process of problem-solving strategies.
The macro and micro of perspective.
You get the idea.
That which makes existence interesting, yet, is the bane of most intelligence. Complex, yet simple. Seemingly absurd propositions that are proven true. Seemingly true propositions that prove to be absurd. Paradoxes. Ironic twists. Puzzles.
Good thing I love puzzles.
Literature, of course, would not exist without conflict, without antagonists and heroes. Religion would not exist without false profits, umm, I mean PROPHETS, preaching to turn your back on false prophets. Energy would not exist without expending energy. Death would not exist without birth. And, new would not exist without old. Philanthropy would not exist without greed. Cures, in their origins, are more lethal than illnesses.
The dark versus light of moral themes.
The life and death of our existence.
The ideal versus real of life experiences.
It just happens to be that my SECOND-favorite poem "of all time" brilliantly demonstrates the futility of being futile ... that a person who deeply desires to die actually has self-justification to live ... and that the very justification is generated from her own sense of incompetence and failure ... which created the desire to die in the first place. Resume' is a depressing, distressing and sometimes shocking poem for readers who are not depressed. Yet, it is an intensely inspirational and positively motivational poem to readers who ARE depressed and considering taking their own lives.* Dorothy Parker WOULD know about suicide, of course, having botched her own attempts on quite a few occasions, yet, ironically succeeding to kill herself later in her life after giving up her quest to do so. Hmmm.
Taxes would not exist without the demands of the taxed. Heroes always fall off their pedestals, yet admirers always act surprised at the fall. Infinity is finite. Humans strive for perfection, yet are inherently imperfect because they are human. Truth always contains falsehoods. Hmmm.
My FIRST-favorite poem "of all time" is from the Tao (pronounced "dow") and includes the lines: "bend and be straight", and "yield and overcome". It also states "the spoken Tao is not the Tao". So, the words used by the poet to describe the Tao cannot actually BE the Tao if identified in the words he used to speak of the Tao. Wow! Ironic how, from the Tao, which shows that power is an illusion and dogma is never truth, came the first organized religion that used the Tao as a basis for dogma to control a society and regulate military operations so it could conquer and control entire continents. Hmmm.
The love and hate within relationships.
The faith versus facts of seemingly hopeless situations.
The global versus community agendas within politics.
Food for thought, these paradoxes. And, life IS full of them. So, life, itself provides the puzzles to ponder. Not for the faint of heart, however, since paradox and duality demands a clear look at what most folks would consider squeamish, distasteful and uncomfortable. Life, thus paradox, requires that we sit in the same room with despair without losing hope. It requires that we look at the unwashed without becoming unclean. It demands that we wade through garbage without getting it stuck to the bottom of our feet. Duality insists that we embrace the anxiety created by its chasms, so that it no longer is catalyst for anxiety. And, paradox ultimately requires that we see and appreciate the absolute beauty that can only flourish and sustain itself from the nutrients provided by absolute shit.
The compatible colors found on opposite ends of the color wheel.
I always loved puzzles, riddles, irony, sarcasm, dry humor, and the word "conundrum".
And...I shall post just some of that which I see.
* (And, don't worry, folks ... THIS writer embraces life.)
______________________________________________________________________________
For those interested, the following is Dorothy Parker's poem, Resume':
Razors pain you.
Rivers are damp.
Acid stains you.
Drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful.
Nooses give.
Gas smells awful.
You might as well ... live.
______________________________________________________________________________
For those interested, the following is Dorothy Parker's poem, Resume':
Razors pain you.
Rivers are damp.
Acid stains you.
Drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful.
Nooses give.
Gas smells awful.
You might as well ... live.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Getting Started on This Blog
Hmmm. So, here I sit TWO days after starting this thing already having missed a day. Why? Despite a long list of topics created to ensure I'd have something about which to write, the dilemma set in about which topic to start with.
Then, of course, the obligatory internal dialogue:
V1 - "Isn't this rather self-absorbed?"
V2 - "No, a lot of people do it."
V1 - "But, who would want to read my opinions anyway?"
V2 - "Who knows? Does it really matter? Isn't the point of a blog just to have somewhere to write, like a journal, except it's open to anyone to read."
V1- "Hmmm. Not sure I'd want other people to READ my journal, Valerie."
V2 - "But you get to EDIT it, fool!"
V1 - "Okay. Yeah. But..."
V2 - "NO BUTs about it! Just DO it!"
V1 - "Okay, okay. I will. But, still, where do I start?"
V2 - "How 'bout with the inner dialogue that keeps you from writing?"
Then, of course, the obligatory internal dialogue:
V1 - "Isn't this rather self-absorbed?"
V2 - "No, a lot of people do it."
V1 - "But, who would want to read my opinions anyway?"
V2 - "Who knows? Does it really matter? Isn't the point of a blog just to have somewhere to write, like a journal, except it's open to anyone to read."
V1- "Hmmm. Not sure I'd want other people to READ my journal, Valerie."
V2 - "But you get to EDIT it, fool!"
V1 - "Okay. Yeah. But..."
V2 - "NO BUTs about it! Just DO it!"
V1 - "Okay, okay. I will. But, still, where do I start?"
V2 - "How 'bout with the inner dialogue that keeps you from writing?"
Friday, April 23, 2010
Welcome to the First Post
I have decided to begin a blog. Why?
Because every day I read, hear or see, a situation, an event, a vision, an issue that ignites opinion and desire to respond.
Because I prefer to keep my Facebook page reasonably polite and save the controversies for environments that allow more than two sentences. And, to keep FB for the joy of co-op farming with many people I've never met but have grown to enjoy. And for continuing to reconnect to people who sprinkled my past and remain connected to those who fill my present. Combined, they will, I am sure, fill my future.
Because my cousin expressed a desire to see me present more of my genuine side.
Because I need to write again on a regular basis for many, many reasons.
Because ... I want to.
So. This is my first post. Short. Self centered.
Don't worry. This blog will not be just all about Farmville. But the first post is about to end because I need to harvest my crops.
Because every day I read, hear or see, a situation, an event, a vision, an issue that ignites opinion and desire to respond.
Because I prefer to keep my Facebook page reasonably polite and save the controversies for environments that allow more than two sentences. And, to keep FB for the joy of co-op farming with many people I've never met but have grown to enjoy. And for continuing to reconnect to people who sprinkled my past and remain connected to those who fill my present. Combined, they will, I am sure, fill my future.
Because my cousin expressed a desire to see me present more of my genuine side.
Because I need to write again on a regular basis for many, many reasons.
Because ... I want to.
So. This is my first post. Short. Self centered.
Don't worry. This blog will not be just all about Farmville. But the first post is about to end because I need to harvest my crops.
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