New Year resolution(s) should be a New Year Revolution

We've now entered that faithful time of year where everyone is looking back at the year-that-was and tallying up how they did on their past years resolution(s). Often this can lead to depression, angst and general curmudgeonry due to falling short. Most resolutions are the same; lose weight, make more money blah blah blah.

Res·o·lu·tion - A resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.

The weight loss resolution is the most popular and most failed endeavor of them all. I'm as guilty as the next, I would love to drop some poundage. But I tend to stay completely away from New Year Resolutions in general because they never last.

I think folks tend to treat New Year Resolutions as some sort of magic genie. "If I hope really hard and wish with all my might I'll stop looking like Seth Rogan circa 1998 and start looking like Seth Rogan circa 2011." This brings to mind the quote: “Hope in one hand, crap in the other, see which one fills up first”.


I really feel like people, and I'm generalizing here, need to treat their hopes and wishes for the new year more like a revolution.

Rev·o·lu·tion - A cycle of successive events or changes.

If you're not willing to make sweeping changes you will not lose that weight, not long term at least, you won't make more money, no more than your standard yearly raise. That's why your resolution should really be that of revolution. A person has to be willing to come full circle and take a hard look in the mirror.


Side Bar – I said something to a friend recently that I feel I need to mention here to all the weight-loss resolutioners: The number on the scale is just that, a number, it doesn't reflect your value or beauty as a human being.

All that is easier said than done sometimes. We're all guilty of letting 'Life get in the way'.

My revolution is likely no different than yours; let's all try are best to stick to it shall we?

Even though I generally stay away from this, I'm going to put it on record right here and now. In 2012, I want to go to the gym more and eat less pizza. I'm not going to say I want to lose such and such amount of weight or that I wish to look like Arnold because it's just plain irresponsible. I also hope to learn more through self education. Finally, I want to continue to be as kind and compassionate as possible. If we all try, and I mean really try, it will become reality.

In closing, Life can be crappy at times, despite ones best intentions. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometime you always lose; but it's about throwing yourself out there, doing the hard yards regardless of the result just simply to gain another experience and further insight.

I wish everyone success in 2012 with your own personal Revolution!

**Maxwell**

Fear & Loathing In Max-Vegas!!!

A while back, against my better judgement, I went out gambling at the Casino here in Yorkton. Now, with that said, it wasn't 'against my better' judgement to go to the Painted Hand Casino, but rather to go out gambling. Anyone who knows me understands that, on occasion, I do place wagers with friends and will buy the odd Sport-select ticket or two, but I don't generally frequent casinos because, well, I don't have the money to lose.

 
A little back story on how the casino thing came about. Myself and roommates (including GX94s own Clayton Kroeker) were playing some casino games at the house; black-jack and North-American Pia Gow (Double hand poker). The roommates were all jacked-up and wanted to go to the Casino. I was doing my best to keep them at the house; I surely didn't want to go gamble, I have zero dollars after-all!

Pia Gow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pai_gow_poker

Sidebar - When gambling I believe you can't be desperate; you absolutely can't need it. That's my personal opinion, there is no science (to my knowledge) that backs it up, but I find when you really need it you'll tend to bet out of desperation rather than with any sort of strategy or intelligence.

So we're playing games of chance and sipping on beverages for a few hours and it turns out I've won all the chips in the house! Yes!!! I was on a major heater!

Heater



word type: noun

- A series of events in a game of chance, all with a positive outcome for the player and occurring within a concise time frame.

Quick Examples of Heaters
 - A player picks up pocket aces and then AK on consecutive hands and gets action on both.
- A player has an upswing of luck resulting in large win-falls in a short period .
- Where if one player makes three baskets in a row in NBA Jam, he becomes "on fire" and has unlimited turbo, no goaltending, and increased shooting ability, until the other team scores (or the player has scored four consecutive baskets while "on fire")


So I was on a heater and feeling good about it. But due to Christmas shopping I literally had zero dollars; I simply wasn't going to the casino. Or so I thought. Relentlessly the roommates poked at me to tag along. I finally convince them I'm not going.  Soon after I had displayed my will-power it happened, I relented & said “I’m IN BABY!”  How did this happen you ask!?! Well, roommate 1 offered to 'spot me a few bucks'. Normally I am vehemently against taking money from roommates because it rarely ends well. But I figured if $30.00 bucks ruins our friendship then it wasn't much of a friendship to begin with.

The roommates are decked out in their fave sports jersey's so I quickly run downstairs, sprits on some cologne and slip on my favourite Jers', my vintage Winnipeg Jets 'Dale Hawerchuck' Jersey.


Fast-forward and we're at the casino, I receive my 30 bones from roommate 1. They head off to the Texas hold'em table, I make a B-line for black-jack!

Sidebar – Why is it called “making a B-line”? Making a B-Line, like walking in the shape of the letter B, doesn't seem like it'd be very efficient. The expression should be “I made a lower case L-line”. It's less punchy than “B-line” but more accurate.

So I'm at the black-jack table and I cash in with a mere twenty bucks, that's four hands at a minimum bet of 5 bucks a hand. I start off with three solid wins in a row. Fast-forward again and it's an hour later and I'm up 130.00 . Roommate one swings by and is pumped that I'm up & doing better than him. He went for broke at the Hold 'em table. I pay him back his loan of 30.00 and I'm now even-steven with him and up 100 clams. I keep playing and this big guy with a big guy attitude sits down, smacks down a hundo (100.00) and cashes in. This guy is a real jabroni and he starts betting hard, running two hands and generally trying to bully me off the table. This guy has more cash than me, cash he hasn't won BTW, but more none-the-less. So I start playing strategically. It works, I play him down to nothing and I'm up nearly 200. He slaps down another hundo and we're off to the races again. He's clearly upset, he's playing two hands and betting aggressively, but I keep on task and eventually I've played him down to nothing again and he leaves the table. That was my victory of the night.

I should have cashed out, but like every gambler I thought “I can win more” and I kept playing. Without explanation my heater ends and I lose it all over the course of ten hands. I wasn't overly upset with my loss. IMO I went out, gambled for a couple hours, had a ball and left even! Technically, I left up 30 bucks. If you recall, roommate one fronted me that 30 bucks. So I actually started the night negative 30 and ended even. A good time was had by all!

P.S. When I told my girlfriend of this tale she was wild! “Why didn't you cash-out at 200!?! WHY DIDN'T YOU CASH -OUT!

She just doesn't understand gambling. :P

-Maxwell's P.O.V.