[goodgrief]

First of all, your life is not over. You are having a midlife crisis just like every other man and many women your age. It sounds like you may be suffering from depression. You may want to get a check-up to rule out any physical or mental health issue that could easily be addressed by the proper medication.

OK, I am a woman, and I can tell you that some of the advice on this thread is bad. No decent self-respecting woman is going to get a full-time job to support a man playing cards all day. That's just ridiculous. I don't think you can expect that. To compound your problem, this lady may not be a decent woman. She sounds like a user. And she sounds bored, without inner resources, which is why she is unable to entertain herself without constantly pestering you.

In other words, I think you should throw her out. You can tell her, if she wants to stay in the condo, she has to get a job and pay half the bills, but I think she'll just pretend to look for a job and not really get one. So you'll still have her hanging around mooching until such time as she latches onto some other walking wallet. I don't see the advantage to you in stringing out the misery. So I say give her a week or a few days to move in with friends and make other arrangements, and after that, her stuff goes on the curb, and if necessary you get a restraining order to get her out of your condo and your life. I'm serious. If you can't earn a living with her in your life, you need to get her out of your life. I don't care how much you love her. Some people love crack too. If she's destroying you, she's got to go, simple as that.

You say you feel you have wasted your life playing poker, I say get over it. Most middle-aged people feel their jobs are a waste of time. It's just the "oh my God I'm 50" mid-life crisis speaking. If the job has put food on the table, a roof over your head, and kept you from being a burden to society, it is not a waste of time, whether it's playing poker or selling lettuce. You probably know a lot of people who are bitter because they think your job of playing poker is more glamorous than their job selling tires. That's their problem. Don't let it be your problem. You didn't win for a decade from good luck. You obviously have the skill. You just have to get back on track and stop paying attention to the opinions of the users and the losers.