At the hairdresser's the other day I thumbed through a two month-old women's magazine. Bored with advice about losing weight, refurbishing the kitchen and how to declutter everything in sight, a short piece about "Poker and Life" drew my eye. I know diddly-squat about poker, but the piece was written by a well-known female actress, how boring could it be? The gist of her article was that the many lessons she has learned from playing poker could equally be applied to life in general. Her points made a lot of sense . At home I looked for an on-line version of the article. I didn't find it, but I found a different one, just as good, perhaps even better, by Mark McGuire at Timesunion.comblog, called "Life and Poker".
As Mr McGuire points out in his opening paragraph
"Saying “(fill in the blank) is a lot like life: …” makes for easy bumper-sticker psychology. We can draw parallels and insight and metaphorical significance from a host of sources, whether it's kindergarten or a movie or crossing a busy street."
In the world of astrology though, saying "astrology is a lot like life" seems superfluous, redundant. Blogging, then? Astrology blogging, blogging in general?
"(Astrology)Blogging is a lot like life" - that might work.
Let's see. We'll take 5 points from Mr. McGuire's article and apply them to (astrology)blogging. They still work! I'm wondering though, whether what this actually tells us is that blogging is a bit like poker!
"You can be the most talented and get crushed … or be out-classed and still come out a winner. Nothing is guaranteed, and there’s no such thing as a sure thing."(In blogging the enthusiastic amateur has as much chance as the professional to interest an audience - sometimes).
"Sometimes you have to ignore the averages and go with your gut. Intuition may be the most valuable sense next to common". (In choosing what to blog about, and how - and what to leave alone.)
"Nothing is sometimes something if you just stay in. We often have a better hand than we think." (When bloggers doubt themselves because nobody comments and the hits are few, it's worth hangin' in there - things can change rapidly.)
"Opportunities are rare; you must recognize them. Picture a little Robin Williams on your shoulder whispering “Carpe Diem,” until he gets so annoying you have to swat him with a card rack. Then it’s too late; the opportunity is gone. Curse you, Robin Williams." (In blogging - pounce on a news story, article, real life or astrological event - capitalise on it quickly before it gets stale.)
"Everybody wins, everybody loses. Don’t get too high or too low. You’re never as good or as bad as you think." (In all things!)
I can't resist quoting Kenny Rogers' famous song "The Gambler" here -
"You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done."
As Mr McGuire points out in his opening paragraph
"Saying “(fill in the blank) is a lot like life: …” makes for easy bumper-sticker psychology. We can draw parallels and insight and metaphorical significance from a host of sources, whether it's kindergarten or a movie or crossing a busy street."
In the world of astrology though, saying "astrology is a lot like life" seems superfluous, redundant. Blogging, then? Astrology blogging, blogging in general?
"(Astrology)Blogging is a lot like life" - that might work.
Let's see. We'll take 5 points from Mr. McGuire's article and apply them to (astrology)blogging. They still work! I'm wondering though, whether what this actually tells us is that blogging is a bit like poker!
"You can be the most talented and get crushed … or be out-classed and still come out a winner. Nothing is guaranteed, and there’s no such thing as a sure thing."(In blogging the enthusiastic amateur has as much chance as the professional to interest an audience - sometimes).
"Sometimes you have to ignore the averages and go with your gut. Intuition may be the most valuable sense next to common". (In choosing what to blog about, and how - and what to leave alone.)
"Nothing is sometimes something if you just stay in. We often have a better hand than we think." (When bloggers doubt themselves because nobody comments and the hits are few, it's worth hangin' in there - things can change rapidly.)
"Opportunities are rare; you must recognize them. Picture a little Robin Williams on your shoulder whispering “Carpe Diem,” until he gets so annoying you have to swat him with a card rack. Then it’s too late; the opportunity is gone. Curse you, Robin Williams." (In blogging - pounce on a news story, article, real life or astrological event - capitalise on it quickly before it gets stale.)
"Everybody wins, everybody loses. Don’t get too high or too low. You’re never as good or as bad as you think." (In all things!)
I can't resist quoting Kenny Rogers' famous song "The Gambler" here -
"You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done."
3 comments:
This was interesting as heck. I play cards. But you sure get this blogging gig. It took me five years to learn what you just laid out.
Hey. That's good.
Thanks, Elsa. (I hope to be better at blogging than I am at playing cards - I'm worse than useless!)
Hi anyjazz - thanks. Nice to see you here !
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