Incredulity trumped hyper-interest at the reunion on Friday. Very few of my old classmates quite believed me when I told them I had quit my job and now lived in Las Vegas and played poker for a living. The first person I told simply nodded when I told him, and then I asked him what he was up to. After telling me he was working and then going back to school to finish up his bachelor's degree next semester, he asked, "so what are you really doing?" Evidently, he had assumed I had lied to him the first time, but he didn't mind. He just wanted to know what I was really up to.
As the night went, word went around about my chosen profession, and several people told me that I had by far the most interesting story they had heard from anyone at the reunion. I expect this is largely because my classmates are mostly boring, but nonetheless, I appreciated the attention. The former "jocks" tended to be particularly impressed, since many of them play poker themselves, but not professionally. My more intellectual acquaintances from high school generally thought that what I was doing was cool, but I also got one or two disapproving reactions. One girl reacted with a part horrified, part incredulous "noooo!" This is the same reaction my mother initially had when I told her that I was seriously considering moving to Vegas. I guess they both had expected I would have chosen to do something useful with my life.
Strangely, nobody got particularly fat. I guess they stayed home. Still surprising, though.
As a side note, my former friend (the class president) failed to give me my fantasy baseball winnings at the reunion. It's sad, really; he was one of my best friends, but obviously my dignity requires that I no longer speak to him. The season ended almost two months ago!
Seriously, though, Alex - give me my money.
3 comments:
wow, you just captured my feelings and impressions about reunions and what people think about poker in general to a tee.
not to mention i also think everyone leads boring and ordinary lives in their sad and rapid trip to the middle (to semi-quote a movie, don't remember which one).
i'm linking this story up on my site if that's cool.
see you in Vegas soon.
Keith - Just so you know...I'm still convinced that I can hold my own with you playing NL poker. ;-)
Regardless, I know that you're pretty damn good. So I'm looking forward to the next time we can play at a table together. It'll be interesting to see how your style has changed. And it'll be good to have somebody who can analyze my game better than Aaron (e.g., not very useful).
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