50 Things

I played some good poker this weekend, I made some dumb calls too, I mostly played Ace-Jack badly several times. I'm still a bit rusty I think. I did hit Quad T's in one tourney on Saturday, but then my KK got beat by 44, so balance was restored.

The bloggerment was good fun last night, even if I didn't last that long ! Many of the people there didn't know much about me, so here are 50 things that'll give you a better idea what I am.

1. I'm nearly 30. I still don't know how to play QQ perfectly, but I have overcome my fear of playing them badly. As evidenced yesterday evening in the Brit Blogger tourney where I brilliantly pushed them into Clouds KK.

2. I nearly lost my own crown jewels when I was 9 years old and slipped whilst doing a "tight rope walk" along a wall. I got distracted and lost my footing, time stood still for what seemed like forever while I waited for gravity to take hold of me and bring the pain. Eventually I fell, one leg either side of the 8 inch wall. The only thing that saved the family line was a small recess in the very centre where a flowerbed had been arranged. My thighs were badly damaged and took a while to recover but the feeling of relief when I actually hit the wall was the thing that made me cry.

3. So far I haven't broken any bones in my body.

4. I once fell into a bonfire which burnt the skin from my left forearm, it didn't hurt very much but I still cried because I thought I was going to get into so much trouble. I didnt get into any trouble in the end but the next 2 months were extremely painful every day.

5. The closest I have come to a nightclub punch-up is being headbutted by a guy who I didnt know, who was giving my mate a hard time, at which point I spilt my drink. Fortunately my chin was stronger than his forehead and I was too drunk to feel any pain. We celebrated as he got thrown out of the club by drinking cocktails.

6. I passed my driving test at the first attempt.

7. I am a very messy person.

8. I'm useless and lazy when it comes to long-term project stuff, however if you need me in a crisis/emergency I'm calm and dependable.

9. One of my favourite things is a calm sea on a sunny day.

10. I once dumped someone on boxing day, that's basically as bad as doing it on christmas day. I'm not proud of it.

11. I've lied to an exgirlfriend about sleeping with her best friend.

12. I've lied to a best friend about sleeping with his exgirlfriend.

13. An exgirlfriend of mine immediately slept with my best friend after we split up.

Karma ?

14. Three weeks later she cleverly exhibited some quantum mechanics by being an ex girlfriend, ex bestmatesgirlfriend and a one night stand all at the same time.

15. My first car was a mini clubman estate, which my brother had given to me. It was light brown, so we spray painted it black.

16. I was on the road for 3 weeks until my best mate (who hadn't yet passed his test) wanted a driving lesson in an empty car park and smashed into a granite wall. My lasting memory from this moment is from the other friend with us who was sat in the back. Upon impact with the wall, writing off the car, the two of us in front suffering minor cuts and bleeding, my friend in the back was heard screaming "My glasses ! My parents are going to kill me" when he realised he'd just broken a lense.

17. I'm a geek but water-cooling an expensive, electrical device such as a computer just seems an unnecessary risk and illogical.

18. The last time I threw up from drinking was on the 24th February after Action Rich and Tension Girl's engagement bash. We had just finished a lot of shots in a short space of time. I should know my limits better as I get older.

19. I still haven't stopped smoking and I started 10 years ago.

20. My hands shake a little nearly all the time, I think it's the nicotine.

21. Trust your instincts and follow your heart. It's better to call and be wrong than fold and think " what if " forever.

22. Same for life. Listen to your intuition more than your reason and follow your heart.
For the last 7 years I've nearly always listen to my head over my heart, and this has left me with regrets. I've only recently started listening to my own advice.

23. I've got no tattoo's or piercings.

24. My Personality Type is INFP

25. My nickname from 8 - 17 years was "Vintage", I was the oldest in my year.
My nickname from 17 - 23 was "Shagbag"
My nickname now is "TanO" or "Tan" or "TanOrpheus"

26. I lost my virginity when I was 17, and lasted about 20 minutes. For the first 10 minutes all I could think about was making sure it lasted more than 10 minutes, then I relaxed and it was wonderful. I only divulged my "cherry status" with my girlfriend after the event, and she kindly acted like she was surprised.

27. The best computer game ever made is Counter-Strike. I have spent more hours and had more enjoyment with friends playing CS than all other games combined.

28. I'm the youngest of 3 children, my sister and brother are 13 and 10 years older than me.

29. When I was 12 I went to a friends house and was bitten on the arm by his over excited weimaraner, I cycled home with blood pouring down my arm, it was just a small puncture and the shock was worse than the bite. Since then, I prefer cats to dogs.

30. I'm almost totally deaf in my right ear, I was born with a little piece of inner ear missing so I can't hear a lot of frequencies on that side. Therefore I shall always position myself on your right when we are walking, will always try to sit on the right-most edge of any dinner table and always sleep on my good left ear so that no noise wakes me up. I sub-conciously lip read, this generally makes guys think I'm not honest because I wont look them in the eye and makes girls think I'm trying to look down their cleavage.

31. I like acoustic guitar better than electric and love trying to learn picking guitar tunes. I dont play my guitar enough.

32. My first serious girlfriend cheated on me with a friend at a party, in the room next door. I had gone to bed early so that I could wake up at 7am to take her to work the next morning. I think if you ask them, my ex's would say I have pushed away every girl I've been close to since.

33. The most I have ever been "stuck" from poker in a 24 hour period is $2k down. The most I have ever been up is $4k.

34. The Jack of Hearts is my favourite card.

35. I'm in love

36. She doesn't know

37. I went on a road trip with 3 friends from San Fran - LA - Vegas and it was the most memorable holiday I've ever had.

38. Major places I've visited :

Vancouver
Toronto
Florida
San Fran
LA
Vegas (twice)
Edinburgh
London
Barcelona
France
Madeira
Amsterdam (five times ? - can't remember exactly)
Thailand (Phi Phi Island, paradise)

39. When I was 17 I managed to cut school for almost 3 consecutive weeks to spend each day with my girlfriend, who was also cutting school. When I was finally caught out I got away with it thanks to an outrageous cover story about my girlfriend's ex-boyfriend threatening to kill me and hanging around the school gates. Looking back I have no idea how I got away with that. It may have been my first successful bluff.

40. I'm not a morning person, it takes one cup of tea and two coffee's to get me up to day speed. It's best not to approach me before 11am if you want a meaningful response.

41. I'm a hopeless romantic.

42. My birthday is on 26 September 1977, which makes me a Libran.

43. My philosophical outlook is existentialist.

44. My library consists of around 20 poker books, 40 fiction books and a dozen factual books.

45. I've seen a horse being put down, not pleasant.

46. I've assisted in the castration of a horse, worse than 45.

47. My best tournament finishes have been where I have won pots in which I had no good cards but a good read on my opponents.

48. I don't like people who moan about poker. Sure, I'm a moody fucker, but it's rarely about poker. It is absolutely pointless moaning about random cards being dealt which didn't help you.

49. If I was American I'd vote democrat and be proud.

50. Dont use chips to tell a story, use your chips to ask the question.