I am from one of those multilingual countries and hardly anyone learns their 2nd/3rd languages as an adult. There are many reasons for this, including the constraints of adult life. In all of these countries, kids are exposed to multiple languages since birth and language study begins very early. It is common for parents to teach more than 1 language since birth and send their preschool kids to foreign language classes. It is no coincidence that in the US, our schools introduce foreign languages very late - and the results suck.

While you may not have heard that it becomes increasingly difficult to acquire foreign language as adult, it is a pretty common fact. Our ability to acquire foreign language to a fluent level starts to drop off sharply after age of ~10 and it becomes substantially harder after 18.

The idea that immigrants come to the US and magically learn English on a whim to integrate is largely political rhetoric. This is not the case now, and it was not the case in the past either. Immigrants work dead-end jobs with other immigrants and generally have limited exposure to language and very limited time to learn. I know quite a few non-Spanish immigrants in the USA who can barely converse and can't write much at all after living here for 30 years. This is typical. There are lots of studies on this as well. It is generally their kids/2nd generation that learns the language well/etc.
https://news.wisc.edu/study-debunks-...arned-english/

All that said...

I used to live in DC and met quite a few people who went through intensive language training at Dept of State FSI, mostly for foreign service. Most of these individuals are accomplished in their own right so it is not quite "any adult" sample, but I was amazed how much they could converse after only 1-3 months. Through very intensive study and immersion, one can get very far in a few months. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Service_Institute I was, quite frankly, amazed.

Mormon intensive study camp is also recognized as extremely effective. https://www.npr.org/2014/06/07/31980...n-missionaries

Can someone learn to have basic conversations in 1-3 months? Yes, I've seen this over and over, even with adults in their 30s-40s. But you better be prepared for intensive, immersive study that will take over most of your day, every day.

What sites do you play on mate? I've been mostly playing ACR and Merge, but now that I am out of the confines of the USA, I've been thinking about exploring new options..

Back in the Black

Yup, yup, after an extended dip in the red for a couple of months, it was time to say "f**k it", to turn things around and rise back the frack up yo All it took was some positive variance and a 4k upswing extending from last night to this morning

I have yet to hear back from the casino here, but I am sure as hell hoping that there is a way around the 31.2% imposed on tournament scores From my understanding it is not solely inflicted upon foreigners, but merely non-residents... When factoring in that the casino itself is exploiting a loophole of being located on 2 boats attached to a port (but not floating in the water ), there might be a way around this... I would hate to have them change their minds and snap-tax me after a decent score though


A few comments about this, but first of all, thx for chiming in

Of course I have heard/have gone through the process of learning English when I was a kid (it was nonetheless still tough) and now Spanish at the age of 43. My point was that too many people use this justification as to not venture outside of their comfort (linguistic) zone and hence learn a new language. Also, I wanted to highlight that for the majority of us, learning English was not a given and happened to be a very tough cerebral remoulding

As far as learning as an adult, again, I concur that acquiring a new language is an arduous task and requires a ton of time, but it is also a mandatory duty for immigrants moving to the province of Quebec (having conversational English is also nowadays almost required in the rest of Canada). The case of Quebec has been different throughout its history, as having felt isolated from France for 500 years and being constantly threatened of losing its own language/culture after waving the white flag in the 100 years War vs the English, Quebec has invested an unfathomable amount of its budget on promoting arts and culture in its own tongue (a vast volume of movies are produced in Montreal at a loss, combined with a ton of investments in festivals, theatre plays, promoting literature, music, artists etc.) as to preserve the language in America. As a consequence, the government now offers subsidized 25-30h weekly courses in French for most new comers :

Anyone holding an immigration status, regardless of how long they have lived in Québec, can take a free full-time French course and obtain financial assistance offered for participating in this course. Prior to this, only immigrants living in Québec for less than five years were eligible.
Students taking a full-time French course can receive a participation allowance, which has been increased from $141 to $185 per week, as well as a transportation or commuting allowance and a child care allowance.
Temporary workers, foreign students, as well as their spouse, are now eligible for full-time French courses as well as the accompanying financial assistance. Prior to this, individuals who were temporarily residing in Québec did not have access to in-class French courses offered by the Government of Québec.

https://www.immigration-quebec.gouv....age/index.html

Obviously, this is but a microcosm POV of what happens with immigration/learning new languages globally as an adult, but my point being that while it is tough af to learn later on in life (or as a child, for that matter), so is going back to school, keeping fit, losing weight and so many other aspects of life that sees its levels naturally increase at an advance age, yet it is definitely quite manageable like I have witnessed SO MANY PEOPLE DO in my surroundings. And sure not everyone has the privilege to do so as life gets in the way, as do children, other priorities, financial needs and etcetera and etc. This said, I choose to offer another insight then the status quo native Anglo-Saxon perspective that it is tough af/almost impossible to learn a new tongue as an adult (like I have seen stated on 2 + 2 0. God no. And for the record, after hanging out with a Belgium extroverted couple that went out of their way to engage locals/pick up Spanish, I realize that I find myself on the slow-learning size of the spectrum as opposed to being a natural


I play on Unibet but might also be looking for a new site in the near future given that they will cut down significantly on RB (You cannot register with Unibet with neither an American address nor a Colombian one). From my understanding, the Chinese apps remain the softest followed closely by Ignition. Not sure about the softness of Party nowadays, but the RB is decent there. But I doubt that you could register to Party neither (Colombia has cracked down on online poker over the past couple of years) and I fathom that Chinese apps/Ignition are your best options.

How is your Spanish coming along Quad? And don't forget to update your thread with yolo Colombian stories




+4.1k in 8h


Run good all

Hey man, i live in Buenos Aires. Let me know if you are still in town to link.
I love the blog and i wish you a very successful 2020

Da Live Grind (or lack thereof)

Got news back from the casino and, alas, the 31.2% imposed to outsiders on top of the rake is indeed in effect A real bummer, as they have quite an interesting monthly schedule of low-midstakes tournaments that I would of taken great pleasure in partaking in. Of course, down the road, Santiago, Punta del Este and Rio are all relatively close for 1-2 weeks grinding trips and there will also be the option of getting an Argentina DNI further down the line if need be, but in the meantime, I found myself not wanting to go to the casino last night and play in a 1-2 game in a dusty room with no available massages, some futbol in the background and that 5% darn rake... Sigh!!! Furthermore, my semi-retirement plans (coming verrry soon ) do require a min of 15-30k yearly. I mean one would think that this could be found in pretty much any God damn city of the world assuming a 35-50$ hourly in lowstakes games, but the obstacles seem to be compiling over here, hummmm...

So part of the reason in partaking in this meditation retreat outside of the obvious positive benefits, was to meet a few peeps/create a social network. And that I have I got a few coffee meetups lined up for this week as well as will be chilling/jamming with a fellow musician in a park I will also hangout with the incredibly beautiful lady friend that I met over there, but am a bit hesitant on this front, tbh, given the obvious sexual tension...

Sure man Your profile is new and I cannot hence send you a PM, nor do I want to share my social media info publicly. Hummmm, any ideas???




+3k in 12h


Run good all

hey, i should be able to pm soon i will send you my WhatsApp, this is a very nice city is going to be 3 years for me in May.

A Few Months Beyond the Horizon...

After putting on my tango shoes yesterday - mine and L's, for that matter - and assisting a unique elegant Argentina tango concert, we spoke of our future travel plans which might involve an MTT stop in Rio-Punta-Santiago depending on their MTT schedules, or a combination of one of the latter with a visit to her Mom's in Paraguay. Either way, we will be in BA until end of April yo

Speaking of which, I woke up thinking of those lovely Sunday's in Lima where I took an immense pleasure of soaking the vibes of Miraflores where folks would chill-dance-sing-jam in the park, and others would put on their best Kosher clothes and snap selfies at LarcoMar in front of the sea... So it is with this longing that set out in the Buenos Aires splendid sunny day searching for familiar comfortable grounds, and low and behold, I came across some very appealing parks in my neighbourhood yo Disclaimer :

We also have a small trip planned to the nearby Tigre next WE, along with a ton of other activities lined up before I will leave on a (most likely) 2 weeks long poker/vacation stint One of which is another tattoo ; yeah , I did not figure to get another one in this lifetime after the f**king 35h on my back and the pain that ensued, but found a design for my right arm :





Nice to finish the week on a 2k upswing or so, as the future of poker (and my place in it) has been tremendously on my mind as I am trying to plan out my yearly goals as well as my exit strategy for semi-retirement. I do believe that it is very feasible to get a DNI here for next year and eventually focus on the live grind in this part of the world yo


+3.2k in 21h


Run good all

Hey man, good to see that you´re enjoying Buenos Aires. I travelled extensively around Argentina, and yet still don´t know BA (other than spending 2 quick days due to a concert years ago and not having any time for sightseeing or whatever ). Decent chance I´ll be heading south next month, to finally see all of it with my own eyes.

Cheers

Nice to see you falling for BA - it will never stop surprising you!

One thing I forgot to mention that is cool is to take a day trip to Chinatown. You’ll find the best produce in town there and fun day date spot for you and L

Stars Aligned

Things are starting to settle down in BA with stuff aligning up just fine thus far in all areas, basically. It does remain unfortunate that I will not be able to partake in the local (very soft and enticing) MTT series, but whatever, I will still play a little bit of live cash games and seek out a bigger series come May I have also found a park where I plan on doing some (very) minor cardio ; going to the gym/focussing a lot on my body has never been a thing for me and giving that I am mainly looking to avoid diabeties/being overweight - AKA the faith of my dad - as opposed to being fit/muscle building/or other unattainable absurd low levels (for me) of body fat, aiming for a lowly couple of hours a week seems just about right. I have so many other areas that I prioritize in my schedule and that demand a tremendous amount of effort (think 2h of meditation a day, 4h of poker studying weekly, 28h of grinding, learning Spanish and writing), that this plan seems just about right (and better then nothing, frankly ).

Just got 2 tickets for Perry Farrell who is coming with Lollapalooza at the end of the month. I might also get 3 tickets (for L and her son as well) for the Sunday of the 3 day WE festival, but IDK, I feel that part of me will die inside being confined to the indoors of an arena, sober, as opposed to zoommminggg outdoors on mushrooms or acid in the 90s...

My recent meditation retreat has apparently had some positive effects on my handling of variance Again, even if find myself in the midst of my worst downswing in terms of absolute monies lost, I did not react to dropping 4k in my first hour of grind this week (nor last week, for that matter) And do not view this passage as a 5 month downswong, but simply as a lonnnggg session/ a new beginning/challenge everyday It is also easier to compartmentalize the part of this bad stretch that belongs to live MTTs and to differentiate it to my online grind.

Ehhhh, CoronaVirus has just landed in BA 3 days ago I realize that the % of deaths remain in the 2-3% area, but an outbreak in these parts would be lame af

Thx bro and yeah, I hope that I do indeed get constantly surprised by this city L and I will be renting a cabin in Tigre this WE, so that should also be a blast

Cool, let me know if you do and let's meet up




+1.4k in 8h online and +100$ in 4h live


Run good all

Da Great Game of Bball

Because I took a nasty 1.6k hit this morning in 20 minutes upon fracking waking up and hence want to shift my attention 180/focus upon positive variance, but also because lest not ever forget that Bball is just so darn fun and merits no other justification yo Anyhow... Yeah... I was saying... Oh yeah, let's look at some sports betting I did/have in store for the upcoming playoffs :

- I crushed 3 over/under bets at the beginning of the season which I felt fairly confident upon (and in hindsight look like genius strokes yo )

LA Lakers over 50.5 wins (1st in the West, got 47 thus far, heading for 61+ ).
Milwaukee Bucks over 55.5 (1st in the East, got 53/might crack 70 ).
New Orleans Pelicans over 32.5 (got 26/should notch 38+).

All these were done @ 200$ x 1.92

Needless to say, but I fracking crushed the above The only worrisome tangent one could single out, is the lack of unders in my selections. But since I am rec sports better and that I am capped @ 500$ (and often lower) in my wagers (and my other preferred site does not cap me, but charges a hefty af juice), I am quite happy with having leaks and aiming for a mere 2-5k yearly in this gambing arena yo

Other bets :

- Nick Nurse as coach of the year (looking like the clear favourite) for 175$.
- Milwaukee binking it all @ 6x for 650$ (got this back in September, looks like a bargain).
- Phily idem @ 10x for 600$ (looks like a longshot now, but still not willing to sell low given their ceiling).
- LA Lakers @ 4x for 700$ (just got it last week, could see Lakers vs Bucks and sell one of the 2 bets in a finals matchup).
- Toronto Raptors Division winners @ 2x for 550$ (about a coin flip vs Celts, but a +EV bet).
- Celts conference winners @ 8x for 300$ (this is a safe low but positive EV bet as not only can I sell when Celts face Raps/Bucks, but I have all grounds covered yo ).

I also plan to add significantly to the above (3-5k) once the playoffs get started. One bet that I really liked at the time (just after the draft where Zion was taking #1/had a ton of hype) was the field vs Williams @ 3.25x for rookie of the year It is just silly to take a single player vs all other rookies given the potential for injuries (which ended up happening), Zion underperforming/someone else overperforming. I ended up shying away from placing it as I thought as Zion being a generational talent, but I sure do regret it now

I do apologize to all the non-basketball fans (and futbol fans) still reading this, but not only did this post serve me as an emotional pick-me-up today, but it also reminded me that while I fell short of the 100k mark in 2019 in the poker realm, I actually (almost) crossed that mark when factoring in sports betting (Toronto Raptors yo ) and passive interest of some frozen stock port-folio investments Life is good yo, life is fracking good, lest not forget




-1.6k in 13h online and +100$ in 4h live


Edit : am also roughly +1k in single game outcomes throughout the season (I think I am 6/7...), so looking good yo, looking good


Run good all

Perspective

It's official : I am in the midst of my worst downswing ever I was just about to claim an upswing as I was approaching the + 5 digit mark over the past 3 weeks until... of course, lone and behold, I got smacked by the worst Tsunami of the God damn virtual world The Storm was so nasty that even when I managed to gather my breathe, notice an all-in that with only 1 card to go on the turn and 2 outs that could save villain from fracking drowning and FINALLY going to go my way until... of course, alas and a 1001 times alas, the pot would sail in the wrong direction Rinse-repeat. And then a few (nut) cases where villain would X-R with air (but back-door runners), I would call with second pair/make trips on the turn, but villain gets there on the river with less than a PSB left behind But the nastiest was finally flopping a nutted hand in a 3bet pot, bet pot, bet turn/get X-raised only... to lose my fracking connection in a 600$ pot

So anyhow, like I oftentimes do in similar situations, I pulled out my graph of the past year to come back to my senses... But nope, something really hit a negative cord this time around : I have made a mere 10k in the past 10 months Even when I filter out my (slightly) unsuccessful live MTT run dating back to October, it still only leaves me with a mere 30$/h online





But. It. Does. Not. Fracking. Matter Sure I was bummed out yesterday when I saw my 3 weeks profit wiped out in under a 48h period, sure I needed to slow down, meditate for a couple hours and leave the virtual tables behind for the evening in order to not see f**king black , but not even the -2.5k of this morning in 1h could brush away this new found positivity I don't know, I just feel I will turn this around and more importantly, this is my last year of grinding online hard/aiming for 6 digits, after which I will focus on part-time live and other projects. I see myself coming back to Argentina in November and have such lowered significantly expenses in the process. I already have enough to purchase a very comfortable apartment/AirBnB and can see myself just making 30-50k henceforth and still saving 10k+ yearly Moreover, if we switch back our attention the above graph, the month preceding our 10 months of (almost) B/E stretch, reflects a juicy 50k uptick, hence converting our 30$ hourly to a more appealing 80$ overall (which is also our average over the past 3 years both live and online) And lest not forget us crossing the 300k threshold over this 2 year span neither

Nonetheless, with the profusion of bots online and the games getting significantly tougher every year, I suspect that the EV of my virtual hourly might have dropped, but there is simply no way that my basement is under 50$/h Anyhow, I just hope that the variance will be good enough moving forward that we can get back to discussing non-poker related stuff ITT




-8.9k in 20h online and +100$ in 4h live


Run good all

Hey man, sorry to hear about the downswing. I don´t know how hard you still work on your game nowadays, and you´re obv a winner and should be out of the hole (eventually), but you can probably use this as some sort of motivator to work even harder, both on your technical game and also get your mental game even stronger, so you up your EV a little bit going forward. Remembering games will always keep getting tougher so if you plan to keep playing for a while, you might need to go bigger on the study side anyway.

If you already do everything I posted above, then sorry for not bringing anything new here

Cheers

Throwbacks

Just booked a cabin by a river in the outskirts of Tigre for a getaway in 2 weeks I was a little bored this past Sunday in BA as L and I explored a couple of places that turned out to be quite disappointing, tbh One of those days where a Netflix-couch-potato-afternoon would of been a higher EV life decision So anyhow, the plan is to continue exploring this city and its surrounding areas with a trip in April planned for San Carlos de Bariloche (located in the Andes close to the Chilean border) I am not sure what travel plans May will bring along, but L will take a week off and I will try to combine leisure with work as I will seek out an MTT series in the nearby countries. My visa will also be expiring at that point and I might be heading north towards Colombia/Peru, but who knows...

The food in BA is definitely decent, but I do find myself swaying away from the local cuisine in favour of Asian, Peruvian and Middle-Eastern lately, which is never a great sign I mean I do the same in Canada where I usually end up in a Japanese restaruant as a fallback plan or exploring other cuisines, but there are naturally more options when you can thoroughly indulge and in the local gastronomy, right

This downswing has definitely been taking its toll. Saturday, in the midst of an excellent Peruvian/Nikkei dinner, L pointed out that I seemed a little distant, a little sad... And then Sunday while roaming around BA, I could not prevent my mind from straying away and falling prey to questions like "Are there any factors/variables I am not seeing...", "Is my hourly as high as I believe it to be in today's ecosystem...", "Is there anything else I can do..." and "Do I have enough saved up as to call it quits preemptively... Just those nagging questions, you know, but I am quite content to assess that in general I find myself more on the happy/positive side yo

It's all about momentum. If you approach your session with the recent run bad in mind, you will rarely sit down with your A game. Nor a B+ game for that matter. This latest meditation retreat had done wonders in creating this scission in between the negative Variance of 2019 on both the live and virtual felt and (the illusion of) a New Beginning I was running fairly good, the games were soft and, more importantly, I was riding this mirage of "all is good again yo " while amassing 10k in 2 weeks until... of course, it all came crashing down : the WR, the self-deception, the positivity... But here's the thing : all is ephemeral in the poker world. Profits vanish in an instant. Dreams get shattered. The seemingly untouchable King of the Hills get replaced with new conquerors. Someone new binks. Stories erase each other. THIS REALM EXPOSES US DAY IN AND DAY OUT TO THE IMPERMANENCE OF IT ALL.

Hey bud, don't forget to message me when you get here

I had prioritized PLO and MTT studying for the past few months/year, so I indeed felt as I had to get back in the NLHE lab, which I have been doing for a week+ now. This was always the plan all to study 4h weekly after this latest live tournament stretch, but I do indeed use adversity as a form of motivation, so have been perhaps adding an extra hour here and there




+400$ in 5h


Run good all

I think S. C. de Bariloche is a great destination, spent a few weeks there 3 years ago. If you have the opportunity, go visit the smaller cities around that área, like Villa la Angostura and San Martin de los Andes.

Can definitely relate to your food issues. Unfortunately, other than a few places here and there, we can´t really escape from the "too much meat" in Argentina lol.

Will pm you when I get there.


Cheers

Sudestada was always my Hollywood oasis from the Argie diet. Check it out if you haven’t been

Tons of good spots now though, for a be-all-end-all list of what’s good and what’s not check out this site

www.pickupthefork.com

She was a friend of mine down there who ended up becoming BA’s #1 gringa writer for all things food, she’s blown up since then and writes for all the major publications. Her site will have a good finger on the pulse down there. She’s funny too and I’m her writing isn’t shy about laughing at the things that deserve to be laughed at down there, culinary and otherwise

Edit: looks like she just did eater’s 38 there

https://www.eater.com/maps/best-buen...ants-argentina

Pandemic

Hummmmm, NBA season cancelled... LollaPalooza cancelled in these parts... Social distancing becoming a thing... Interesting times we are living in, to say the least...

While I still believe this to be a severe overreaction - and if only we could do the same for, you know, saving our planet which is MUCH MUCHER MORE a crisis -, you cannot deny that it has affected our collective daily activities even if we do not think much of it as an individual... As far as I am concerned - and not that I want to view this specifically through a financial prism, but, you know -, the cancellation of the NBA season has cost me 2k in equity : I was a week from cashing in on 2 of my overs, and an extra week on the other one On top of this, all of my other bets were coming through. I started observing the lines much more last week/made 600$, as this downswing has me looking at other alternatives for making some side monies

Speaking of which, did you folks notice BTC dropping almost 35% over the past 12h I sold 2k last week @ 9k+ (I only had 4k left), predicting that it would all come crashing down But here we find ourselves with BTC dipping to 5.5k and me trying to find ways to purchase 20k while sitting in Argentina... Alas, it is not going to happen here, as you have to register all your transactions at the BTC atms and besides, I have very little cash on me, thus am trying to purchase online/contacting my guy back in Montreal...


Will answer this ITT, as ways to navigate more effectively this downswong have been on my mind lately. First of all, I like to feed the narrative with a little exaggeration, so while the description in my post remains accurate (of my hectic grind in my travel thread), this is the worst of circumstances : I usually grind 8 tables and lately just NLHE 6 max (less PLO). I did think of lowering this amount to 6 after reading your suggestion, but because just about all of my WR comes from RB at this point (60-70% and about 65$/h), I believe it to be more profitable to rake more even if it costs minimally in terms of awareness levels.

On a different note, I feel that poker players always overestimate their WR/misunderstand variance. For example, if a rec player will feel entitled of 100% of an AIPF pot where he held AA vs KK, a pro might consider his equity to be 80% which is just about as terribad. This is a cooler and hence a flip, as both parties are always GII with either the KK or AA, right. This said, when one GII with AA for example and his opponent sticks it in with 99 in a spot where it is a mistake to do so (and 99 gets there), this is a 80 > 20%, not a flip in terms of EV, get my drift...

I have been in the abyss several times and I do believe I remain objective in terms of realizing how bad I am running (I do not/cannot play with a HUD) and THIS HAS BEEN THE WORST BY FAR After 9 years of playing professionally Nonetheless, because of my mental disposition and the absence of RoR/solid BRM, I have handled this tremendously well Especially since my meditation retreat




-1.7k in 11h online and +400$ in 2h live


Run good all

Deranged F**king Bananas

I mean, you can't ignore the Corona febrility at this point... Make that a collective delirium Sure, one would be egocentric af to not wash his hands, take precautions etc. if only to not help the contagion spread to elders, but come on now, if you are in your 20-40s and you spend an unhealthy amount of time being obsessed about this and even go ahead and change your life plans, you are definitely doing it all wrong

I got hit by a medium fever late last night, enough to keep me in shiver for the duration of several hours. The medicine ultimately did its trick, but beforehand, I was trying to figure out how to go purchase some food without potentially contaminating anyone else with my COV (I would of went with a towel as to not touch any doors/handles etc.). Even getting to the clinic would of been quite the hassle as you cant really take the bus, metro, Uber... And then I would of not seen L for 2 weeks+... Nonetheless, I always approach these situations very rationally and don't really let myself get down when times get tough

Much like poker mind you, where day after day I have been getting smacked with absolutely no mercy I have been tilting on the table lately - kind of normal for my patience to be very thin following months upon months of run bad -, but have done a marvellous job off the tables Leaving nasty short term variance behind in favour of looking at the BIG picture/one long session and hence start every day with a fresh and positive outlook, has been my strong suit Now if I could only avoid dipping into C territories while grinding...




-1.9k in 18h online and +400$ in 2h live


Run good all

Are you sure you got covid-19? From what I´ve learned so far, coronavirus affects the lower respiratory tract, so if your symptoms are more around the nose/throat, then odds are you got a cold or, worst case, flu (not implying flu isn’t serious, it is and you should still take the same precautions). Keep us informed, not planning on cancelling anything but still obv concerned. Hope everything turns out just fine.

I am pretty sure I don't have it, as I also had a running nose and no respiratory issues. Also went running for 2kms yesterday, so that is a pretty positive indicator in itself This said, in the midst of my fever, I was rationally preparing myself for the worst case scenario.

The Boulder of Suffering

I don't like kitch images/representations. Sure, I enjoy a happy ending or a blissful sunset just as much as anyone and am definitely positive af as a person, but a dark image embodying sorrow gets engraved into my skull more deeply then a fracking cheesy image of children running on green pastures under the golden sun with a f**king smile on their faces In life as on the screens. Call it a life full of struggles - perhaps... - or an existential outlook - mayhaps... -, but seeing that Venezuelan homeless fellow in the subway today with his face tucked into his hands and not even trying to mask his HEAVY AF desperation, really stuck with me The world has seemingly gotten TOO BURDENSOME that he is no longer putting any effort in verbalizing for money, nor did he look up when I dropped some cash and muttered "Suerte amigo" Fracking sad. And totally un-Corona related. And more abysmal

I finally turned things around this WE on the virtual tables and while I still ran bad in certain spots, my mental game was A+ (finished up 2.2k) First of all, I reacted less to the nonsensical and neverending bad beats and also reduced my amounts of tables to 6-7 when I found myself HU on 3 of them I knew that something had gone awry during this excessively long run bad... I mean, I get it and totally was not throwing gas into the fire by being hard on myself for tilting - and sure, my mental game still remained one of my strongest aspects -, but I was forcing a few spots... Selecting the high variance alternative when both choices were close in EV - which I always have a tendency of doing, right, but might not figure to be the best option in the midst of a downswong... And just not having my A game in general/seeing through this marginal spots which in today's ecosystem makes up a HUGE chunk of equity. But here's the thing : back in 2018 when I crushed for 1/4 million, I also generally had a B game online, but simply ran good (I usually have an A game live where the slow action does not require as much). Anyhow, we will see how this new found positivity translates to the tables

I will probably extend my apartment until May this week. We will be going to Tigre this WE (90 minutes away on the train) where I booked a remote cabin by the river, a fire place outside and no neighbours in sight ; this should be a blast yo




-400$ in 4h


Run good all

I read today Canada is closing its borders to all non-canadians and telling canadians abroad to come back now. Made me think of you. I assume you are still planning on staying in BA? Stay safe buddy and GL!

It's Getting Harder to get Across the Border

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaAC9dBPcOM

Well, needless to say, but as far as having the right tools to self-quarantine for an undetermined period of time, I figure to be in the top 0.001% percentile And perhaps more Of course, 2 decades of meditation, working from home and being solitary by nature just does the trick

This said, while I do not want to potentially expose the elder members of society by spreading a virus unbeknownst to me, I will still be doing certain (outdoor) activities like taking walks in the daytime, runs in the park in the evening, still go to cafes to write (albeit am cooking more at home lately) and perhaps hangout with friends in a restaurant on Friday (will have to reassess the latter in due time, depending on the local measures taken over here...).

What I don't get though, is this tendency of most foreigners to freak out, hop on a plane and desperately rush back home... First of all, "back home" is usually in a similar dire situation then the country left behind, and on top of this you are exposing yourself/others in numerous airports/public spaces But I guess it is just human nature to want to be in a familiar surrounding in trying times... Much like my folks, mind you, that decided to drive back to Quebec from Florida out of pure panic At least on my dad's side, which has come as a complete shock, as he has had cold blood for the duration of his life under critical situation... I guess that given he is a diabetic, he feels more at risk and wants to be close to his (other) children/grand-children... Which of course makes sense.


Yeah, I feel very comfortable over here and don't feel personally stressed at all by this situation, tbh. I do feel concerned about my folks and a little about L (who still works at her office/is more exposed/has a preexisting heart condition), but really not about my personal health. I think this pandemic has made the majority of us think in terms of others... Or at least when it comes to the consequences of spreading it...




-2.2k in 6h


Run good all

It feels weird to say this and I don't want it to be taken the wrong way given all the suffering that will undoubtedly be caused by this virus, but I really think that all of this could do a lot of good for the world as well.

It seems like people, probably especially here in the western world and then even more especially the USA (my own country), are being increasingly awakened from their sleepwalking. Our generation in the more developed world has been pampered and largely shielded from threats that have coexisted with humanity for 99.9% of its existence to an extent that would have been unfathomable to previous generations.

Things that seemed important a week or two ago now seem petty and trivial. People are suddenly spending time with their families again, albeit many because they don't really have a choice. Personally, I know a bunch of rec players who were fixtures where I have been playing the last few years, who (while few would admit it) were clearly doing everything possible to avoid their families and escape their home lives for whatever reason. My hope is that these people are able to reconnect with their spouses and children and that whatever void they were seeking to escape gets closed and that some measure of reconciliation to family life found.

Further, there's a sense of global connectedness to all of this and being in this together whether one likes it or not that I suspect is hitting people in countries like the USA harder than they've been hit ever before. The FACT of your life having an impact on other people, including people across the world, becomes unmistakable. At the very least, I hope people become more sensitive to basic public health best practices and become better about limiting the germs they spread and more sensitive to risks posed to other people by behavior that was formerly automatic.

It seems clear based on social media that people are being forced to empathize with the situation of others in order to understand the importance of social distancing, as you said. This is good.

Anyways, I hear you, dub, on being better situated than most to weather the storm of self quarantine. I am a loner and a classic introvert; I'm sure I'll struggle some not interacting with others as much as normal since I live alone and really only communicate with people I know irl via text (with the exception of calling my immediate family), but I'm not too worried about it, even with my primary source of income being dried up for the short term. I plan on finding ways to use the disruption of what had been my normal life to my advantage and suggest everyone do the same.

Stay safe and healthy out there, y'all, and be compassionate.

Well said karmazonk