Poker Night

I've hosted a poker night*** for the past 3 years, one Friday a month. I try to make the e-mails announcing poker night a little more entertaining, and thought I would share the latest one with you non-poker-night people. If you would like to be invited to poker night, please, let me know.

-Ed

Subject: [POKER NIGHT] This Friday! April 29th! 8pm! Yay!

Many things in life are gambles.

Going to a new restaurant can be a gamble. Trying to play a friend in "Hot Shots Golf FORE!" can be a gamble. Painting a room in your house a random color just to see what happens can be a gamble. Trying to build a patio and a retaining wall in 3 weeks can be a gamble. Wearing a bikini to the office can be a gamble. It's an even bigger gamble when you are male. Trying to juggle sharp knives can be a gamble. Scheduling a publicity leap over the grand canyon can, most certainly, be a gamble. Making the heavy decision to date Liz Taylor can be a gamble. Being able to say, in front of a group, "I don't know what's on this DVD, but let's watch it" is a gamble.

And yet, these gambles are ones we have *all* taken in the past. Many of us more than once. Quite a few of us after receiving stern warnings to the contrary.

What keeps this spirit of gambling alive? That ethereal ability to ask the question "what worth would my life have had it not been risked in the pursuit of standing on a van going 30mph in the Harbor Tunnel?" is something that sets us apart from the rest of the world. More formally, this is called Darwinism.

How do we celebrate this distinctive sense of adventure? What offering can we make to the Gambling Gods who fuel our imaginations and make us persue probabalistic paradise? The offering of poker night. I tell you, the smell of pizza and beer and the clinking of clay chips on a wooden table is their sweetest incense. It is time. It is poker time.

-Ed

***The link above on Poker Night is something I just stumbled upon. It looked cute, but I can't say for sure if it is work safe or not, as I haven't looked at any of the movies. Click at your own risk. 8)