In 2009…

The last 40 days of my life have been quite hectic in comparison to the 23 years 325 days prior. I’ve been bouncing back and forth between working for my brother in Kansas City and back to my old job in Saint Joseph as the tech guy for Allied Home Mortgage. This wouldn’t be an issue except for the fact that I am having car issues…meaning mine is not on the road currently. Who knows when it will be up and running again, but once it is, my life will become 100 times easier.

The farther I get from the poker lifestyle the more interesting the compare and contrast becomes. Personality wise I don’t think I’ve changed all that much. Something feels different though. I know I’m way less dependent on money, learning to work and entertain myself within my own means. This would definitely be a plus in the growing up part of life thing.

Even though poker is out of my life, it seems to be the thing I’m connected to the most in the definition of who I am. Any time I’m introduced to someone the very next line is typically something along the lines of “Oh and he used to play poker professionally”. People like to ask me questions about it and get stories of a young degenerate gambler. That’s all fine and stuff, but you know, it’s also somewhat weird. I think it’s weird mostly because I don’t really think of it as special, I mean yeah I did something a lot of people will never experience…but at the same time I just really stumbled into it. Don’t get me wrong, it was definitely a fun time and allowed me to do a lot of stuff I wanted with travelling and such. Financially it was a variable, but I really never worried about that as much as just being able to do what I wanted with the people that I enjoyed being with the most. I guess my question is … How long will I be defined by something that is no longer and will probably never be a part of my life? My guess is probably a long time or until I do something that is perceived to be more interesting than professional poker.

I’ve been fortunate enough to find someone to hang with in Kansas City and actually enjoy myself. Don’t get me wrong, there are some good people in KC but I’m weird and very rarely connect with someone and have no problem hanging with them whenever / where ever. This is only regarding my guy friends, the whole other spectra of dating and find a girl is another story. There has only been about four, maybe five people that I have really been good friends with to the point of never getting tired of them. This is one of the aspects of sociology that has always intrigued me. What factors play into real friendships, the ones that really connect people. Common habits, interests, social settings, humor, economic settings? As someone who believes more in science as opposed to some force that works mysteriously in the world, I could probably come up with some combination that connects me with all of the four people on that list. However as someone who wouldn’t necessarily be against a mysterious force at play, I can see how that can be an alluring thought.

On that thought, I have been pondering religion more and more lately. Most likely because I just watched Religulous the other night. I found it entertaining, but at the same time it didn’t strike me as something that will actually make people think about religion and really question whether or not it is beneficial. Don’t get me wrong, Bill Maher asks some great questions and the religious people looked like complete ass hats, which always makes me smile, but at the same time you can find people on the other side of the coin with just as few answers as these folks. I’m not going to go into my thoughts on this right now, I’ll save that for another post.

Time for a quick wrap up in overview form …

- Holidays were fun, family always entertaining.
- Turned 24…FUCK I’m old…not really, but it still feels weird
- New Years partied with Mike and some other friends
- Random nights out drinking with new friends good times
- Traversing back and forth between STJ and KC is a bitch, need to get my car back on road ASAP…I miss driving my Saab.
- Lots of European history reading, and I can almost do a full introduction in Farsi with no assistance…Farsi is a bitch.

Recent Bands:
The Colour Revolt
Why?
Cherry Tree Parade (Local)
Jens Lekman
Laasko

MMA: Going to Open Mat Judo Club
UFC 93 & 94 / Affliction: Day of Reckoning main picks
- Rich Franklin vs Dan Henderson: Hendo by Decision
- BJ Penn vs Georges St. Pierre: FUCK… Either BJ wins within 3 rounds or GSP by Decision or late round stoppage. (I know this is a pussy call but fuck I can’t pick between them straight up!)
- Fedor Emeliananko vs Andre Arlovski: Fedor by sub (I’m going with Kimura from side control) RD 1

~ by funafuti on January 15, 2009.