If I Had A Hammer.

School holidays are with me and so I've had the past week off. Not that I've had too much time to relax. I've been marking school assignments, trying to get some writing done and doing stacks of jobs around the house that need doing - sanding, painting and, utilising all the woodwork skills I can muster, attempting to hammer nails in straight.

My wife and I are currently working on the rooms we plan to be our 'studios'.  A bit of writing, a bit of painting, a bit of music - heck, even a pool table. It's a lot of work to get them up to scratch, but the place is coming along and looking all the better for it. And one day soon I'll be able to sit back and relax to enjoy the fruits of all this labour.

But it hasn't all been work. I had some friend come over a couple of nights ago to play cards - not poker, but 500s.  Whereas poker is based largely on luck, 500s is based largely on skill. (and having the right partner) I much prefer the four handed version of the game, but due to our numbers we had to play with six hands.  Of course we used the correct 500s deck - much like the regular ones, but this one has cards that go up to 13.  Still looks odd when you see them.

So we had a casual evening of wine and food and playing cards - and talking lots and lots of crap.

Maybe I should have got those guys around during the day to do some DIY for me.

Now that would have been smart.

Playing to win.

I don't really understand betting.

Ok, on a human level I can understand the desire to win - and I know that the lottery ticket I occasionally purchase technically constitutes betting, but the whole horses, dogs, cards, roulette wheel, dice thing - I just don't get it.

Only once have I attended horse races, and I thought it was an incredibly dull day. But last week, as with the first Tuesday in November every year, people seemed to get extremely excited over the Melbourne Cup. In fact I can't imagine anywhere else in the world having a public holiday in honour of a horse race. And although I changed channels at 3 o'clock to watch the race, I didn't really care who won.

It's the same with cards. I've played poker once or twice, even recently saw some on TV, and I don't understand the fascination with the game. At the moment it seems to be enjoying some kind of 'rock star' status, but to me it seems like all luck of the draw with the only skill being the ability to pretend your hand is better than it actually is.

The one card game I love playing (virtually every lunchtime) is 500s. From what I've seen, this is a game with similarities to Bridge and Euchre. It involves tactics and strategies, working with a partner, and just a little bluffing from time to time. It's also one of the few games I know where you can choose to play to lose if your hand is good enough (or bad enough) to do so.

I used to play 500s quite a bit, and then didn't really have to opportunity to play for almost 20 years.  But now I'm playing it again over lunch with the guys at work.  It make for a break from the classroom with lots of good humoured joking and banter. (usually at my expense) And on Friday night a few of my mates played 500s for around 5 or 6 hours with a few drinks and snacks.  It made for a great Friday evening.

I suppose different horses for different courses (pun definitely intended) and each to their own and that kind of thing, but for me poker, horse racing and games of chance hold little attraction. As for life, love and career?  Well, I don't believe in much gambling there either.  I'll grab opportunities, and even take a few calculated risks, but no out and out gambles. I've seen that go wrong for too many people.

It doesn't mean I haven't made mistakes, though. But those were definitely my own fault.