If You Stop...

Dear Danny,

So here we go, right.

In the home stretch and the question on everyone's mind for everyone, mostly, not just me is "So what are you doing after you graduate?" Or variations of said question. And I finally have an answer...for the most part. As of now, I know where it's not going to be and where it might be.

Not: NY. I've been in NY for 4 years now and they've been good years. I've learned a lot about myself and I've done plenty of weird and fantastic things. For the record, I bartended, I was a colorist, I work(ed) for a major network TV show, I was almost paid to write a screenplay for a gay fashion designer, I lived in the East Village, West Village and Chinatown, I lived without a home for 5 weeks in the city, I met famous people and some not famous people, I drove in and out of the city and to my count I've had 5,241 bagels.

Needless to say, it's time for me to move on. I don't feel like there's anything left here for me to learn about myself. I also don't feel like I'm really leaving anything behind. There's just nothing left for me here, and if I stay someplace that keeps me stagnant for too long, I lose it. So, it's time to leave. This decision was also easier to come to when I realized I really love the city of NY, so don't worry city, I'll be back.

So where to? LA? Home? Not so much. I don't really want to be around this culture any more. I've been to LA, San Francisco, Oakland, up to Boston, down to Florida. I've been to France, Italy, England, Ireland, Germany...eh. It's all basically the same. When you get right down to it. It's all too familiar for me. If I don't go somewhere challenging, what am I doing.

I'm looking towards different programs, mostly volunteer, in South America (where my parents are leaning) and India (where I'm leaning). Both places offer pretty much what I'm looking for. Something different, something that I can help with. Teaching English or environmental help or well, anything.

Where does this all come from? Why? What would a post be without a poker metaphor. This one might even be readable for the common reader (Larke). So I've been mixing up my play recently between cash games and tournements. Yes, I know Alex, not the best way to go about it. But I've realized something. I'm a much more consistent and overall better tournement player. And yeah Danny, I knew that before, I've known that always. But why? Because there needs to be a purpose to my play. If I sit at a cash game, it becomes much more about the short game because anyone can leave the table at any given moment. The game continues on until, well, you go to sleep or have to leave to return your mom's car by 7:30 AM so she can go to work. the point is, the game has no end point, no purpose. In a tourny, you know it has to end eventually due to the blind level increments. You have to pay attention to every play, every player, every hand. The reads become more important, taking any pot becomes more important, that big bluff can save your life. You know what you're aiming for and you take your shots. There's more of a purpose to it. That's what I feel I've been lacking lately and that's what I'm looking for.

So that's what I'm gonna do. Sign up for a multi table tourny. Out of the US.

Asher