For Gatso and friends, 0 STTs in 1 month.

[barhell]

Looks good from here.

[thetank]

I'm working tomorrow morning rather early. Whenever this happens, I'll get the days entry up the night before instead.

I would hate to think of Tightend's biscuits going soggy as he waits for me to post.

[thetank]

Day 5 - All roads lead to Leeds

It was my first day off for a while, and I used it as an oppurtunity to whore myself (along with the old vitae statistics) around the local recruitment agencies.
My current gig isn't a complete misery, but if I can find something with more traditional Monday to Friday, nine to five, shift patterns then all the better for both my family and my social life. The prospect of an office job, where you can do as you please every single weekend, is one that makes my mouth water.

Whether I get a new job or not, the plan for how I spend one weekend in May is to remain unchanged. The Kaiser Chiefs are playing a massive hometown gig, at Elland Road football stadium. I love the Kaiser Chiefs, and I quite like The Enemy too (who are playing in support.)
A few old pals from my hometown are going to make the journey down to Leeds with me, and I'm looking forward to it all while rubbing my hands together with glee.

The icing on the cake is the other support act, my guilty pleasure of 2007, a certain Miss Kate Nash.
Made of Bricks was my borderline boiler album last year. I know I'm not supposed to like that sort of thing, I know I'm not a fourteen year old girl, but nobody told Windows Media Player this, so the software was happy to play it for me as if I were.

There's a certain rawness and imperfection about her lyrics that appeals to me, let me try and explain what I mean by that....
Pretend for a moment that all female singers on the market today are students in a classroom, and all their albums are a particulary tricky bit of maths homework. Kate Nash would be the kid who may not get the best grade, but at least it's obvious that she never got her parents to do it for her.

I'm morbidly curious as to how she'll get on playing in front of a stadium full of people who didn't exactly come to see her. She will either triumph and win my eternal respect, or stink the place up and help me get over this little "chav-pop" phase that I'm going through.

[Royal Flush]

Have to agree on Kate Nash, as it would happen was listening to made of bricks when reading your post!

[Acidmouse]

Hope you enjoy The Kaiser Chiefs gig, off myself as I went to Uni with James so I got my freebies!

[thetank]

Day 6 - The evolution of a gambler (part one)

In films and television, if someone takes a punt on a horse, or plays a hand of cards, they will almost certainly be either threatened by loan sharks and/or pawning family heirlooms before the next ad break. They always win their first few bets, and the reason behind their downfall seems cut and dried, the addictive adrenaline rush.

I've met many gamblers in my time around card clubs and casinos, only a very small percentage of them are missing fingers as a result of overdue payments. Gambling issues don't have to be dramatic to cause problems, and the person I'm most qualified to talk about in this regard is myself.

Loads of gamblers use betting systems. While they all tend to follow some variation on a few common themes, the practioner usually believes it is their original idea, that they have found a way to exploit a weakness in the system.
A post on the blonde poker forum today reminded me of how I got started. Somebody was talking about exploring their version of the Martingale system. I tried, alongside others, to waffle a bit of maths and highlight the fallacy behind it all. Maybe the poster will take heed, maybe they won't. I guess everyone has to find their own path in life.

I learned some expensive lessons on my path, which passed through the likes of roulette, fruit machines and video poker. I didn't want to just shrug my shoulders and chalk my losses up to experience. Failure is a tough thing for the psyche to take and a natural defence is to deny and persevere.
Instead of dealing with my mistakes, there was a stubborness within me that I would eventually find a modicum of success down the route through which I had already invested so much. Gambling problems, I believed, required gambling solutions.



I don't want to go over the self imposed word count max of 400 per entry, so part two comes tomorrow.
It's not going to be as depressing, honest.

[boldie]

crickey Tank..6.25 in the morning..couldn't you write a piece that didn't make me wanna top myself?

[Eck]

Liking Kate Nash along with Flushy....

Always knew you were an ass man.

Knew i was right...

[thetank]

Day 7- the evolution of a gambler (part two)

Research led me away from the house games and onto playing poker, where superior play, relative to your opponents, can more than compensate for the house's take. I was actually making money, and it wasn't long before I quit my job and went pro.

Professional poker has been good fun and profitable, but I find myself a few years older with nothing in the bank account to show this, all the modest winnings have been spent as I went along.

Thankfully when the family responsibilites came along and I got a real job, there was no real urge to gamble anymore. I may have originally replaced one addiction with another, but after 3 years it had died completely.

As we move forward, with a view to me getting a permanent career as a teacher, I have the obstacle of studying and supporting the family financially to contend with. Coco will eventually go back to work, but it’s anyone’s guess as to whether we’ll be in a position to start my degree this September, or have to wait till next year.

So that’s why I’m looking for a secondary income at the moment. I thought I’d try once more through poker, and it didn’t work out. This is perhaps for the best, as gambling has been a major excuse for some chronic under-achieving on my part. I was just keen, as before, to not let all the blood sweat and years I’d invested go to waste.

It needn‘t all have been a waste though, I can draw heavily on my experience in my writing. Who knows, if I approach this course with enthusiasm and determination, maybe my time as a professional gambler will prove profitable afterall.



Part of my first assignment is to prepare a piece explaining why I want to be a writer. I will be using a version of this entry.

[thetank]

crickey Tank..6.25 in the morning..couldn't you write a piece that didn't make me wanna top myself?

Yeah, sorry about that.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

[boldie]

crickey Tank..6.25 in the morning..couldn't you write a piece that didn't make me wanna top myself?

Yeah, sorry about that.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

Thanks mate..It's my first read

[Tonji]

I'm enjoying reading these snippets of your life Tank 

[Longy]

Great read Tank really enjoy your stories. Looks like your going the opposite way to me career wise going into teaching, instead of getting out, gl.

[matt674]

Looks like your going the opposite way to me career wise

same with me, i'm giving up my job next friday and i'm going to give this poker playing lark a go for a while

[ACE2M]

enjoying these greatly thomas. I was once a proffesional fruit machine player/student and it paid for everything, only house edge gambling i've ever won at.