Pa-Pa-Pa Poker face

Pa-Pa-Pa Poker face

When it comes to sports or games, I am brutally competitive. My girlfriend hates it – and I hate that she hates it!
This is my perspective most of the time: You can’t play a game if there is no winner; why would you want to play for nothing?

The Games Night

Well, recently a group of us got together for a games night. The plan was to have some fun, relax, and enjoy ourselves (excluding my plan of winning every single game, of course). Soon everyone will be away for the holidays, and we wanted to be together for the last time in 2016.

Whilst trying to figure out what games everyone would like to play, something almost unanimous occurred – it seemed that poker was the most popular game suggested.

Just to backtrack a bit…

I am extremely competitive when there is nothing to gain but the ego boost of winning. Can you imagine if you combined this with money?

Nightmares, I tell you, nightmares.

Games Night Continued…

Anyways, we got together and sure enough, we had a few players that have never played poker in their lives.

We ran through the rules, played a few ‘bet-less’ rounds so that they could get the hang of it, and off we went – everyone put on their poker faces and everyone smelt the blood in the water.

I am making it sound a lot more intense than it was. (Remember I gave you my background – this should be explanation enough!)

Bam! Just like that, two players were almost bankrupt. No chips left; can’t even match the blinds; how will they get back into the game?

Then my girlfriend almost gave me a heart attack: “Why don’t we all take a few chips and split it between them so we can continue the game together?” Boy was having a poker face valuable in that moment. I didn’t want to share! They lost; it’s not my fault…

What did I learn that night?

Though my ego fought the idea, I can’t imagine how horrible that night would’ve been if those two had to just sit and watch.

We had a great night! We enjoyed each other’s conversations and laughed till our tummies ached.

Though it didn’t really matter anymore, I still won…

Sometimes we go through life thinking we have to be stingy, self-serving and brutal to be successful – but we forget that those who give generously are the ones who end up receiving.
Instead of only trying to accumulate (in some cases hoard) let’s use this season to give. Give of our time, our money, our talents, our smiles…

A life lived like this, is a life well lived.

This is not about Christmas …

This is not about Christmas …

It’s 1 December 2016 as I am writing this and Christmas is around the corner. Before you judge me and think that my article is premature, just like all the decorations you see everywhere, this is actually not about Christmas at all… (or maybe I’m trying to trick you into reading this!)

This article is about yesterday.

The No-Nonsense-November month ended…Or was it Movember, the month where all the Tom Selleck’s roam the world, lips held high…
No, in fact, following the massive trend of big, beautiful, blow-dried beards, November has turned into No-Shave-November.

Being the team player that I am (and of course the fact that I can grow one handsome beard) I didn’t touch my beard this November. It was fun for a while…

Nonetheless, this morning when I took a pair of scissors and trimmed off the first bit – it was like a wildfire that could not be tamed.

It felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders – all the shampooing, conditioning, beard oil and wax; it was too much for a humble ol’ fellow such as myself. What a relief it was to wave my beard goodbye for a while.

It reminded me of that famous and utterly relevant expression that change is as good as a holiday.

Some people are dreading that Christmas time is here. They complain about the ads, decorations all over the place and the money-guzzlers looking for another way to get into your pockets.

I’m not going to be a hypocrite – I admit, I used to be one of them. But something changed – The holiday is good, because of change.

This isn’t my normal kind of article. It’s more of a merry, jingle, jolly carol.

Christmas time is about more than what we see, or buy, or hear… It’s about a time where you can trim the weights you are carrying and enjoy life without any bells or whistles (no pun intended).

If you’ve ever had a beard that was long and full, or hair that hung right down to your bum, you’d know it isn’t easy to part ways with it. To remind you – It has literally grown on you (okay, so this time the pun was intended)! Don’t let that stop you from having a great time with the family and loved ones this season.

Rest, relax and keep an eye out for Rudolph!