[ptmusic]

[ QUOTE ]
The arguement my Dad (and i guess a lot of people from the middle class -"older generation")
would always make for getting an education and "real" job ( a 9-5 desk job)
was that when you got older you wouldn't be able to do the same things you could do when you were "young" (physical things/manual labor-type jobs wouldn't be an option for you...)
Your body would
go and you needed to be qualified for a desk job working on a computer or something else...

A few of my High School teachers, 1 in particular, would try to motivate us by saying that when we got old, all we'd have would be our minds, as our bodies would go, etc.

Job options were (and are to a large extent I guess...) divided into
blue and white collar... The blue collar typically not requiring a college degree and being more physically demanding, etc. and the
white collar typically
requiring the degree and being in an office somewhere...
(oh, and the
white collar typically pay much better and are much easier to make a "career" out of...after all, after "digging ditches" for 10 years, your back would probably go out!)

Poker is an exception to this - and it makes the game so much more attractive.
When you think about it, poker really has the best of both the blue collar and the white collar worlds...

You don't need a college degree to play, and you don't have to dig ditches or do any heavy lifting or sledge-hammering...
You can even be bound to a wheelchair, etc. and all you have to do is wheel up to the table and play! OR You can sit at home and click a mouse online!
As long as you've got the mental game. And even when your mind goes, you'll still be playing winning poker b/c you'll be so used to making
correct Long-run minded poker decisions after all those decades of play, that
playing good poker will be like breathing for you!

What a great game. It doesn't discriminate...It doesn't require you
to have a high-powered Resume before playing...you can play it on up until you are old and gray.
It what's you make of it - and potentially anybody can do it...
IT's weird as a "job" though, in that you pick to make it your job, you don't have to be "hired."
IMO, It's the best.

And to address the article lol - It depends on one's Point of View what constitutes a "sucky/miserable life."
I'd be playing
chess or computer strategy games (CIV 4 now out! lol) if I wasn't playing poker a lot
of the time during my leisure time,
so...
I'd be in front of the computer anyways! (not making any money too!)

And what is the difference between waking up early after not getting enough sleep the night before,
having to get ready for work, commute (a long distance for some) to some office, and you end up just sitting in front of the computer there
anyway for 8-9 or 10 hours a day...plus you got some boss with half your IQ making decisions over you that negatively effect you and everyone else around you!
Then, you have to commute home, and by the time you get there all you can do is eat and sleep to get ready for the next 8-9 or 10 hour day at your "real job."

To me, this is a torturous, meaningless, and miseable existence.
Everyone has an opinion is all I'm saying...Life's what you make it and you CAN be a happy and
healthy
pro. poker player. You don't have to be miserable.
Just because some
idiot looks at you and judges you saying you are a miserable loser just because you
stay home most days playing online poker, doesn't mean you are.
The person saying that about you is probably unhappy with their lives and it makes them feel
better about themselves to knock you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Listen up, you whippersnapper, get a real job and earn your keep! Why, in my day, we had to work for a living! Sure, times were tough, but a man could put bread on the table and while learning the real value of money!

Dagnabbit. Kids these days. 23 skidoo with you, young fella!