Happy Birthday To Me

Since today is my thirtieth birthday, I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for everything that I have in life and would like to take this opportunity to express that gratitude. First and foremost, my beautiful assortment of family members, both here and abroad, continues to be the most important thing in my life. I am an only child, but I have about seven hundred cousins, uncles, aunts, and such who've always made me feel loved and without whom any celebration of my life or 30 years thereof would be meaningless.

To the Key West kids who accepted this fat, odd, Irish suburbanite without judgment when I first moved there, and to all my friends from Baltimore who still remember me even though I vanished without a trace: I have always, and will always, value your friendship. To everyone from NYU and all the people that I've worked with over the years: may the wind be always at your back, and may the sun shine warm upon your face.

To the woman that I've been with for nearly a decade... well... I never miss an opportunity to tell her that I love her, so I'm sure she knows how I feel about her, but thank you for being thoughtful, beautiful, motivated, intelligent, funny, etc. You are what's known as "a good woman" and I'm lucky to "have" you. I know you're always trying to improve yourself, but please don't ever change.

And, of course, I can't update this blog without mentioning poker. Oddly enough, it happens to be another thing that I am truly thankful for. As goofy as it may seem to some of you, I am grateful every time that I step up to the table. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the following two quotes pretty much sum up why...

"As long as you can ante up, life is good."
- Howard Lederer, talking about his younger days living as a broke rounder playing at the underground card clubs in NYC

"Remember: if you're gambling for fun, then you've already won."
- some gambling addiction PSA I saw on television

Every time that I play poker I feel like a winner who is having fun. Even when I lose I know that life is good because at least I had a shot. Last year a poker buddy of mine made his way into the World Series Of Poker Main Event. He didn't win any money that time, but I am grateful that he had the opportunity to win millions and aspire to one day reach that same level of skill and accomplishment.

Playing the game is reward enough for me, but I am also thankful for the money when it comes. Thank you to the field of dopes I played with in that tournament last time I was out in Vegas. Also a huge thank you goes out to a couple of the internet poker sites that boomswitched my accounts long enough for me to score a couple of decent cashes in some big tournaments. I think they could tell that I take the game seriously, and deserved to be thrown a bone. Thank you poker gods for turning a game I used to play with my father for fun into an endless source of amusement, and an occasional source of income. Here's to thirty more years of love, life, liberty, and the pursuit of poker.