Aside from family life, hitting career goals and other grown-uppy stuff, I think my favourite years of my life was my late 20s. It was awesome playing volleyball 5 days a week with a crew of some of my favourite people - Ross, Sol, Peter, Keri, Andy, Jeff, Sieng, Maki, Phaedra, Gwyneth, Derek, Tomoko, Andie, Don, Ben, Alicia, Sean, Megan and obviously Jim. Long days playing doubles in the park with a couple nets, good food, patios, and good laughs. The perfect balance of free time, expendable money and youthful energy. Watching Jordan play volleyball has brought back some of my favourite memories on the court.
#1) R2s - probably my favourite format cause I’m not overly tall, never hit overly hard, hated blocking so this format eliminated some of those weaknesses. Also having half the court as girls keeps the testosterone levels down and a bit more friendly.
2) Specialized tournaments - under 6 foot and Asian invitationals were always great too. Same reasons as above except for the testosterone. Lots of pride in these tournaments but the level of ball was always scrappy and high.
3) travelling - whistler will always be my favourite but Kelowna was a close second. Travelling to Victoria, saltspring or anywhere was always awesome. Too many stories to tell and try to forget.
Monday, December 9, 2019
Friday, June 21, 2019
3am musings
It’s 330am and I can’t sleep because I have a headache. Reading over past blogs, I’ve progressively gotten more serious so I thought I’d blog about something I haven’t for some time - poker. Now I don’t get to play much anymore so in case I ever forget, here’s some things to remember:
1) don’t play fancy with beginners. They don’t know what you are pretending to have so playing fancy doesn’t work. They don’t have poker logic so they will do illogical stuff like look up a bluff when they really shouldn’t be. So play straight. If you’re going to bluff, it doesn’t need to be too much. If they want to look you up, they will whether it’s a pot sized bet or not.
2) play the person not the cards. If you are the best poker player at the table, people will want to beat you so odds are they will try to play fancy. If you play straight and tight, you’ll win. Don’t let them goad you into something. If they are loud and impatient people, they tend to play erratic and impatient. Look them up on occasion - they often don’t have the cards. They just have FOMO so they stay in. If they are quiet and reserved, they tend to play that way too. If they represent something, they usually have it. You can probably push them off lots of pots just by betting and representing big cards. They’ll fold if they don’t have it. Bet early and get information cheap.
3) change you style during the game. Know your table image. If people think you’re aggressive, play tight for a while. Once they see you playing tight, play aggressive occasionally. Give people a tell that isn’t a tell just to mess with them. Talk lots then not at all for nothing to do with your cards.
1) don’t play fancy with beginners. They don’t know what you are pretending to have so playing fancy doesn’t work. They don’t have poker logic so they will do illogical stuff like look up a bluff when they really shouldn’t be. So play straight. If you’re going to bluff, it doesn’t need to be too much. If they want to look you up, they will whether it’s a pot sized bet or not.
2) play the person not the cards. If you are the best poker player at the table, people will want to beat you so odds are they will try to play fancy. If you play straight and tight, you’ll win. Don’t let them goad you into something. If they are loud and impatient people, they tend to play erratic and impatient. Look them up on occasion - they often don’t have the cards. They just have FOMO so they stay in. If they are quiet and reserved, they tend to play that way too. If they represent something, they usually have it. You can probably push them off lots of pots just by betting and representing big cards. They’ll fold if they don’t have it. Bet early and get information cheap.
3) change you style during the game. Know your table image. If people think you’re aggressive, play tight for a while. Once they see you playing tight, play aggressive occasionally. Give people a tell that isn’t a tell just to mess with them. Talk lots then not at all for nothing to do with your cards.
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Getting older 2
a lot gets posted about how getting older sucks (as I did last time apparently) but there’s actually a lot that is great about it too. I think if you asked most people in their 40s if they could go back to being young again, they’d say no. So here’s a few observations:
-the 20s are great cause it’s the first taste of real freedom.
-the 30s are great cause it’s like your 20s except with money
-the 40s are great cause you really stop giving a shit.
Here’s what I mean by that:
1) despite what I thought in my teens and 20s (and embarrassingly some of my 30s), no one cares who wins. That’s not to say life is one big pointless task that always ends in a tie - but winning really has little to do with beating anyone else. It’s more like hiking than sports. Winning is getting to whatever destination you’ve set as your goal. It makes no difference if you get there first. As long as you don’t give up and keep pressing on, you’re a winner. And as any team sport person knows, winning is a helluva lot more fun with friends by your side.
2) you own what you got not what you wish you had. The most attractive people in the world are confident. I’ve met poor people that are confident, uglier people that are confident - and every their ability to stand tall in making a mistake, in staying positive through challenges, in being proud of their differences - makes them attractive people to be around. The truth is that everyone is insecure and the confident ones aren’t those that cover that up, it’s the ones that own it and act in spite of it. If I knew the good looking girls in high school wanted to be liked as much as I did, I’d have had a lot more confidence. If I knew my future boss wanted an all star employee to make them look good as much as I wanted the job, I’d have stood a lot taller.
3) with exception to maybe your home, there’s always an asshole in the room. Someone who wants to win by putting others down. Someone who covers their insecurity with arrogance. A bully that feels good when others are humiliated. In my 40s, I’ve discovered that those people are sad, lonely individuals that have no self worth because others in their 40s no longer give a ahit. So these assholes pick on those that are younger, those with health or personal challenges - which may make them feel better cause they still have high school cred - but to the rest of us, you may declare yourself as the king of the castle, but us dirty rascals are killing ourselves laughing as we enjoy each other’s company on the journey. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a team, your work, your church, even your friendship circle, there’s always an asshole. No point trying to change that. And if you don’t think there is one, maybe it’s me - so I’d better look in the mirror.
-the 20s are great cause it’s the first taste of real freedom.
-the 30s are great cause it’s like your 20s except with money
-the 40s are great cause you really stop giving a shit.
Here’s what I mean by that:
1) despite what I thought in my teens and 20s (and embarrassingly some of my 30s), no one cares who wins. That’s not to say life is one big pointless task that always ends in a tie - but winning really has little to do with beating anyone else. It’s more like hiking than sports. Winning is getting to whatever destination you’ve set as your goal. It makes no difference if you get there first. As long as you don’t give up and keep pressing on, you’re a winner. And as any team sport person knows, winning is a helluva lot more fun with friends by your side.
2) you own what you got not what you wish you had. The most attractive people in the world are confident. I’ve met poor people that are confident, uglier people that are confident - and every their ability to stand tall in making a mistake, in staying positive through challenges, in being proud of their differences - makes them attractive people to be around. The truth is that everyone is insecure and the confident ones aren’t those that cover that up, it’s the ones that own it and act in spite of it. If I knew the good looking girls in high school wanted to be liked as much as I did, I’d have had a lot more confidence. If I knew my future boss wanted an all star employee to make them look good as much as I wanted the job, I’d have stood a lot taller.
3) with exception to maybe your home, there’s always an asshole in the room. Someone who wants to win by putting others down. Someone who covers their insecurity with arrogance. A bully that feels good when others are humiliated. In my 40s, I’ve discovered that those people are sad, lonely individuals that have no self worth because others in their 40s no longer give a ahit. So these assholes pick on those that are younger, those with health or personal challenges - which may make them feel better cause they still have high school cred - but to the rest of us, you may declare yourself as the king of the castle, but us dirty rascals are killing ourselves laughing as we enjoy each other’s company on the journey. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a team, your work, your church, even your friendship circle, there’s always an asshole. No point trying to change that. And if you don’t think there is one, maybe it’s me - so I’d better look in the mirror.
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