an unpleasant confrontation.

[Erik Blazynski]

are you a good poker player? if so you should have learned to emotionally detach by now. Who cares how other people judge you. If you are doing what makes you happy and have not compromised happiness in other area of your life, then why would you even care what some woman whom you've never met before thinks.

[Erik Blazynski]

I love this answer... You can play it off like you are a councelor too..

[ckessel]

[ QUOTE ]
and she then resorted to asking me what i thought poker adds to society.

[/ QUOTE ]

To which I respond, what does any professional athlete, professional video gamer, professional bridge player, competetive event in general, add to society?

Damn little really, but if I'm good enough to win and people will pay for it, then I have no qualms.

[Dave H.]

I certainly hope you're wrong about her being a counselor. If that is indeed the case then I, for one, would NEVER be counseled by an individual who attacked what I did for a living shortly after saying "hello" to me. What a sham!

How many times have we been critical of something or someone whom we know absolutely nothing about? Then, upon learning about the person or the subject, we discover that our perception was completely (and sometimes brutally) invalid. Those who are close-minded do this repeatedly and, as a result, maintain their ignorance because others are turned off by it.

Had she, instead, asked you questions about your lifestyle, you would no doubt have responded eagerly, and she could have learned a great deal about the subject matter and about you as a person. Then later she could have voiced her concern about problem gambling (a valid concern after all) and the two of you could have discussed it intelligently.

She is not too awfully bright...

[coffeecrazy1]

That reminds me of that section in "A Knight's Tale" where Chaucer keeps gambling with people who are trying to teach him that gambling is a sin...there's a way to work this into the conversation, I just can't get the bat off my shoulder on it.

[PairTheBoard]

[ QUOTE ]
"If this was a one on one conversation and there was some sexual attraction between you..."

id guess she was around 30 years older than me - i hope this clears that up!

[/ QUOTE ]

In that case, definitely find someone across the room you just have to talk to immediately.

PairTheBoard