Dear Bison February 2006: The Seed 2.0

[bugstud]

[ QUOTE ]
Dear Bison,

I have been a pro card player for a little over a year now and have had much success online. A couple months ago, I got a backing deal and have started travelling the live tournament circuit.

The problem is that I am not enjoying the circuit like I thought I would. The travel gets old real fast. I think I miss my wife and dogs more than I thought I would and I generally dont like sitting at a table with 9 random sleezeballs (and the occasional nice guy).

Is there anything I can do to make the travel more exciting or enjoy live play more? I would really like to become successful on the circuit but these problems are starting to make me not want to go anymore.

Thanks,
Jordan

[/ QUOTE ]

Was PCA substantially better in this regard than most other big events?

[pryor15]

Dear Bison,

I hate the Steelers more than any other professional sports team, which wouldn't be so bad except that I live in Pittsburgh. For a reload bonus, I can get an extra $100 if I pick the right team to win the Super Bowl. Assuming each team wins half the time do I:

a) pick the Steelers, giving up a bit of my soul, in the hopes that if they win I'll at least be consoled by the money?

or

b) pick Seattle and run the risk of being doubly screwed if Pittsburgh wins and the happiest person in the city if Seattle wins?

[bobbyi]

Dear bison,

What are your thoughts on the animal rights movement?

Bobby

[dasani123]

Dear Bison,

I'm a senior studying mechanical engineering at the university of illinois. I'm not extremely passionate about the subject, although I don't seem to get too passionate about anything. However, I do very well in my classes and am very good with numbers. I have several options to take after I graduate. I could either go to grad school for mechanical engineering, find a job and work for a few years and maybe come back to school later on if i feel like it, or go to graduate school for something else semirelated that many engineers do (like math, finance, economics, etc). My motivations for grad school are 1) higher salary and 2) more likely to advance. What should I do?

[Born 2 Loose]

Dear Bison,

Which are more fashionable, paisley ties or argyle socks, and how should one accessorize with that choice?

[maryfield48]

[ QUOTE ]
Should I shave my head?

Dear Mary,

No. However, you might consider a mustache and goattee to give your face more definition.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm, I have trouble with mustaches - the growth stops well short of the philtrum lines. Also a beard would have a fair amount of grey in it. Anyway next time I have some time off I'll grow it out and see how I like it. Thanks.

[soko]

Dear Bison,

I've lived in the same area my whole life, (I’m 22) every day I become increasingly bored with the suburbs and my same old friends who really have no direction in their life. I dropped out of college because paying for it myself sucked, and community college is worthless in my opinion, I would never consider going back to a community college. I have already put in my 2 weeks notice at my 9 to 5 M-F work job because sitting at a desk all day doing mundane and meaningless work is turning me in to a dullard and making me hate society. So now I am at a crossroads in my life.

My step mother had pulled a few strings to get me an interview to an entry-level position in the bio-tech field which has a great future and I will be making about 40 grand a year (double what my current salary is), I currently live on my own making 20 grand and survive just fine, I am not interested in material possessions beyond clothing, a computer and money to spend out having fun. Because of the low income I don’t have a ton of savings (I have no debts). The job will help me make a lot of money, one of my goals in life is to own a piece of property and a dream house so I could work towards that, but I will be moving right back in to the 9-5 drab work environment that I despise more every day. This is the responsible choice.

As I originally posted my life has become entirely boring, I can be a really fun person, very social and aggressive when I actually do go out, but really I have no interesting stories. My life includes High school, working in high school, 1 Girlfriend, Some other crappy jobs, a year and a half of community college and working, Played poker for about a year, got stuck in another crappy job. I’ve always had responsibly and never really had any life changing adventures or mistakes, I’ve pretty much always done what’s best and for that I have a very “stable” life. I would love to do something totally out of the ordinary, something the blows people’s minds when I tell them about it. I want to actually struggle through doing something for myself. So far the most extraordinary thing I’ve done in my life has been quitting my first job by just not showing up anymore and not calling in.

I have thought about it for a long time now, and I would really love to move out west to California or Las Vegas, just get away from EVERYTHING and start a new life, change my whole person, get away from all the people who subtly control the way I behave through years of social conditioning, my parents who always give me “advice” that I pretty much always follow so I don’t screw my life up like they totally did for about 20 years of booze, pills and parties. Unlike them I have self control, they always tell me how proud of me that I am so responsible, yadda yadda, if the next 20 years of my life are anything as plain and uninteresting as the first 20, I’d rather die. What’s the point in another plain existence? It’s been done billions of times, you work for somebody else, and you die after living a pretty standard and cookie-cutter existence. I want to be something special. Everybody I’ve told thinks I am crazy to want to move away from this land of stability and comfort, in fact, not one person has told me that they think it’s cool I want to move to the west coast just to try something new, they all kinda shake their head, “oh”, “hmm”, “alright”. At first it inspired me because all geniuses aren’t usually understood at first, it inspired me, I can do it and prove them all wrong! But it’s gotten to the point where I am starting to doubt myself and thinking they are right, maybe I should just get a stable job and see if I can make myself enjoy a “common life”.

Should I choose the stable path, or venture in to the unknown?

Eagerly awaiting your advice,

soko

Edit: By moving to the west coast I really mean just leaving without a plan figuring it out when I get there.

[Leaky Eye]

[ QUOTE ]
I got my job at Google with a year gap prior to the interview (wasn't sure what to say about poker on paper) and some not stellar previous work.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dear Bison,

What did you say to explain your gap?

[SmileyEH]

Get out of the US. Try for a UK work visa and spend the next two years alternating between working in pubs in the UK and saving money for traveling through Europe. Alternatively save a few thousand dollars and go southeast asia for 6 months. Seriously, traveling is definitely for you. If you were australian, kiwi or maybe even canadian you would have been long gone now, but it just doesn't seem to be in many americans' blood to pack up and leave for a while.

-SmileyEH

[Colonel Kataffy]

[ QUOTE ]
What is the best way to get buddy's girlfriend to leave you alone? Obviously ignoring her is counterproductive.

Dear Colonel,

Is she hitting on you or pestering you?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, from her viewpoint, its flirting, but she isn't very good at it so its really awkward, thus it feels like i'm being pestered.

She's cute, but definitely not hot. She's really nice, but as i said, kind of awkward socially, so i don't want to hurt her feelings.