For a long time I didn’t quite know what I should be doing with this site. I think the decision I have come to is that the blogs will be about our personal life and anything related to poker will hit the front page. I think that is a good way to separate what people might be interested in reading.
The Replacement’s were a band out of Minneapolis that began getting national attention right at the time I moved to the Twin Cities to complete drug treatment. I might get into the drug treatment thing at some future point, I have never really shied away from talking about it but it is such a small part of my life at this point it doesn’t come up much. Except when I go to places like London where everyone is asking me why I am not hammered on free booze. That is when things get awkward. When people are drinking they want everyone to be drinking so often I leave parties early when it is getting apparent that the crowd is crossing the line from Tipsy to puking. Which brings me to the book I am reading about The Replacement’s by Jim Walsh. It is laid out as an oral history and is a little awkward to read but interesting at the same time. I first began to listen to The Replacement’s when my roommate turned me onto “Tim”, which was there first big studio release. I am originally from New Orleans and I was a product of the club scene since I was about 16. My life was a bit dark at the time and my music reflected that. The Replacement’s weren’t as superficial as the bands I had been listening to but still had an element of angst that I couldn’t shake at the time. I find myself downloading full albums of their work occasionally (Depeche Mode and New Order as well) and it reminds me of a time living with no electricity, eating one meal a day yet yearning for what life offered me. I was all alone in a town that I did not own a part of and I fully expected to leave at some point. When I think of those times and the struggles it makes me smile and reminds me of my true spirit and how I am a survivor. I am not like your typical drug addict or alcoholic, I don’t know that I would have died if I had ever used again, how I got through that particular time without using is amazing, yet really is a big part of who I am. When I am committed to something it has my attention 100%. Literally no one that I knew back then is still sober; some have died or will die soon. Their lives are a wreck and I never see them and I have no desire to see them. Others have marginalized their lives by going back to drugs and alcohol and that is the lesson I learned from that time. While I might not be a drug addict or an alcoholic I potentially am and a .001% chance of having any part of my life taken away from me just isn’t worth it. The Replacement’s music and this subsequent book reminded me of that time and apparently the band was facing many of the same issues I had. Maybe that is why there music has stuck with me.
I will be writing a lot of rumor’s and stories in the next few days about the poker industry that have come out of my visit to London. For the last two January’s online poker companies and website owners have connected for a few days just to see where things are, it is the biggest such meeting between the two factions. Being involved in this industry as a consultant puts me in a unique position because I have done work for various cardrooms as well as website owners and obviously now my focus is on this site. I will give some insight on my thoughts on our future in the next few days.
