He's gay and is offended someone would rather lose a leg than be gay. Seems clear to me.

How does that skew mesh with this big & awesome renaissance for you in kicking ass at poker/gambling as a profession?

The thread/interactivity is muchas appreciated.

do u still smoke a lot of weed? if so how much?

I think the essence is treating it like a profession and totally detaching myself from the emotional "highs" associated with gambling itself and the results. It's the "honeymoon effect" high of a big score that gets you in trouble and leads to shopping sprees, pit sprees and hookers-n-blow mentality. And I do consider poker to be gambling according to the dictionary definition that's roughly, "to play a game for money or property," but the ability to treat it like a profession and not a gambling adventure is well-documented and empirically achievable.

I do, and I'll have to look for my graph for exact numbers, but it's gone down from ~6 joints a day at the peak (the numbers were pretty consistent) down to 2-3.

[ ] offended

[x] thought it was weird he'd rather lose a leg.

still u shane, hope u run goot for scoop/wsop ^.^

Fair enough. Sounds a lot like turning any of the aforementioned brain "highs" into the day job. All about discipline, I guess.

I'd rather be gay than lose a leg ainec

I mean, it was a weird and dumb hypothetical I thought, and I answered it as if I was being asked "would you rather lose a leg today but keep your heterosexuality" or keep the leg but wake up and start loving men. Kind of difficult for a straight man to be objective about such a question. But a great illustration of why hypotheticals mostly suck!

Are you gay like CD said or am I being leveled by him? Either way it doesn't matter...Like I said, I am friends with gay people, I have lived with gay people, etc. Woteva? And TY (can't edit in heart symbol--xoxoxo)

i am gay

my last avatar was a teddy bear holding out its arms for a hug with a rainbow background, decided it was a little too flamboyant and changed it to the sexiest man ever ^.^

xoxoxoxo!!!!!!!!!! like, totally, omg!

peach-tential

Do you like my avatar?

When I discovered your blog last year I went thru and systematically read every archived entry in chronological order. I like your writing style and candor. I'm glad that the PS deal will probably mean that you will blog more often and do things like the corner. Keep it up!

Joints your preferred method for smoking? Have you ever used a corn husk instead of a paper? I highly recommend the corn husk option.

I know youre not a doctor, but in your opinion should someone who "thinks" he may suffer from bouts of anxiety/depression take a chemical in any form to treat this? Keeping in mind I've never taken anything for it. I guess is it worth it to be "on something" that you have to work at getting off, or just stay the road au natural and deal with it like a man.
Hope that made sense.

Protential,

Did you get that question from a Ricky Gervias podcast? I remember he was telling a story once about being in school and a bully asking him a very similar question. He was like, "I'd rather be gay obv. If I was gay, I'd like being gay. Because I was gay. I'd be perfectly happy." And the bully was like "he said he'd rather be gay! hahaha!" and he was like, "Um, what?"

i didn't ask the question, seems like a stupid/weird question to ask.

although what ricky gervais said is partially true (most gay people u wont notice are gay and live very happy lives), it def isn't fully true. Gays have the highest suicide rates (specifically gay teens).

/done attention whoring

sorry shane ^.^

xoxoxo!

Good point.

/derail

This thread took a weird turn.

(more answer than you were probably hoping for, or maybe not enough):

I would say yes, I think it's worth consulting a doctor and seeing if medication can alleviate your anxiety and depression, but I think doctors take a pretty standard line when prescribing to patients, and you have to be aware of the limitations of the meds and the treatment and look at it more like a short term solution.

When I quit weed and first consulted a psychiatrist in 2009, the moment in that process that I felt best was when I was going to the pharmacy to get the scrip filled. I think it was the effect of taking positive action that generated that feeling. I guess that carried over for a while, and popping the pills every morning did help give me some conscious direction towards positivity.

My doctor made the analogy that the anti-depressant was like a battery for a flashlight, and if you take the battery out when the light is shining, the light dies, and I think it's pretty representative of the narrow scope that psychopharmacologists have: if I revealed, or if he sensed, that I was depressed, he'd recommend the same solution over and again--up the dosage and/or add another anti-d (I was on Wellbutrin, a relatively mild anti-d).

When I went one time, and he was like "I think you're still depressed" I sort of hit a wall. I told him I thought I was depressed pretty much in direct accordance with where my life was at. He offered his typical solution--to prescribe or add more drugs (he always said it was "up to me of course"), and I decided I didn't want to go down that rabbit-hole and to go the other way and strip down my chemical intake and see if I could find chemical balance without the pharmaceuticals.

Summary I guess: even if it's a placebo effect of some kind, meds can certainly be beneficial. I think that they hit a point of diminishing returns, though, and that it's not a long-term solution to depression, just one tool to help get things rolling in the right direction and motivate you to find more sustainable solutions. IMO, a really good "talk therapist" is way more valuable to than an MD whose supposed expertise is in pharmaceutical meds and basically has an agenda.

Thanks for the well Shane and I appreciate your responses, I can relate to a lot of it.

Na, funnily enough, I'm pretty sure Ricky Gervais was bisexual though in his younger years.

I asked the hypothetical because I think being gay would compliment the sort of lifestyle Shaniac and other poker pro's lead. The default answer of most heterosexual men is lose a leg, I thought given my inclination, I might provoke a different response ITT.

Being gay, in my experience, completely eliminates some of the hangups heterosexuals have to deal with and that poker players by virtue of their lifestyle may find more difficult to cope with... dating, dry spells, pressure to marry/have children and in general conform to the pressures of the dominant culture (hold a 9-5 job etc). Despite what the 'gay lobby' may propagate, neither myself nor any of my gay friends, have any desire to lead a conventional lifestyle nor seek the acceptance of 'society,' much like, I presume, many online poker players.

The fact that I live in one of the most gay-friendly cosmopolitan cities in the world and conform somewhat to the stereotypical 'gay lifestyle' (partying 24/7, drug use, sexual promiscuity etc.) perhaps clouds my judgement. I guess some gays and poker players may find my logic distasteful, but I gather that if you're going to live a degenerate lifestyle in the eyes of many, you mind as well go the full yard and enjoy the benefits in all fields of life!

Struggling to convey exactly what I'm getting at, so I'll spare the thread and not prolong the hijack!

Cornhusks? That's not the clear cellulose paper stuff is it? I like gumless rice paper, but the paper I use (Club Cabaret Width) is out of print at the moment I think.

Ty Thayer...when I saw you posed in this thread for some reason I expected a probing 60-minutes style question. Gl this year and beyond d00d.

I am good friends with one openly gay poker player, and it has been determined that I am basically more gay than him--he likes beer and sports and stuff, whereas I like music by Prince and aroma therapy candles and stuff.

Still playing the World Series of Love (Prince's coinage from "You Got the Look") for the same team I been playing for.

Thought of another one...Strassa! OG hero, and also a missed MTTC poster. Nice of him roll out of bed on his Sunday and FT the million whenever he wants!

Also, didn't realize you said 3 weeks in town, holler!

No questions just wanted to say I think ur awesome! O n this
Reminded me of this
http://www.hulu.com/watch/215175/sat...tefon?forums=1

Shane,

I'm really happy for you, basically my sentiment is the same expressed by Mr. Randall Flowers post. With so many shady characters in online poker, it's really nice to see one of the good guys making it.
And most importantly, reading your responses in this well, you sound like you're very happy with yourself these days and really enjoying your life, as somebody who has had a lot of anxiety and depression issues through the years, I'm really glad to see things are going well.

Always enjoyed our exchanges in the forum back in the day.

One question: I'm not a karma believer, not religious either, but sometimes I feel it would be really nice to believe as a practical matter, who cares what's true as long as it works for you.
What's your take on this?

Cheers

David

[QUOTE]Cornhusks? That's not the clear cellulose paper stuff is it? I like gumless rice paper, but the paper I use (Club Cabaret Width) is out of print at the moment I think./QUOTE]

All you have to do is dry out a corn husk for a day or two. Then cut it to any size you want. Tear off a few long thin pieces of the dried out husk. You will use these to tie up the joint since there is no adhesive.

It smokes really clean, and tastes delicious. If you google corn husk joint a picture will show up in images.... tried posting it but failed miserably.