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Originally Posted by Siegmund
Questions - when/how did you learn bridge?
Have you had as much trouble keeping bridge partners as keeping girlfriends? (I find blind bridge dates are usually disastrous, but it's easier to keep a good partnership going than a relationship.... I played successfully with my ex-wife both before and after our divorce.)
Youve touched on it a bit re your work experience, but given your taste for wildnerness, why are you living in a big city in Texas?
I played a tiny bit of bridge with my parents when I was a kid, once sitting in on their weekly bridge night, and sometimes playing with my parents and grandparents. I didn't really learn until I was in California. A friend of a friend with whom I played poker some had a school buddy — the two of them had each put himself through Cal Tech playing poker — who had a weekly bridge night. I decided what the hell. So about once a week I'd go and play with them.
It was a great crew. Most played a simplified strong club system, and they were totally friendly and easygoing t=so it WA sno big deal that we usually had both experienced players and total novices, and that partnerships rotated every couple of hands.
Later, when I was living in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, and pretty much everyone around wasn't into much but killing large mammals for fun, I looked up whether there were bridge games around... and soon found myself playing a couple nights a week.
One of the people I played with suggested I should look into directing; I did and soon was working occasional ACBL tournaments, and studying bridge law; meanwhile I was spending about thrity hours a week reading about and studying the game (there wasn't a lot else to do).
Then when I found myself in Texas, I wound up in a bridge-oriented crowd, and got even more involved it.
Given the right partner, it's much easier to keep a bridge partnership than a life partnership (though harder than any non-player can imagine). I held onto a solid partnership for about two years despite our being personally somewhat incompatible, so I know it's possible.
Also, I'm living in Chicago now. It's a pragmatic decision — but also, I do like having people around. Or rather, I need it. In the wilderness I am happy but lonely, and loneliness crushes me.