Failure and success

Well, apparently we're not so good at this blogging thing. I think the whole point is that you're supposed to write every day (I figured that with two of us on the job, we'd succeed, but clearly I was wrong). The problem is that I'm still getting over my initial disdain for the blog. Why would anyone think that people would be interested in reading their daily ramblings on the Internet? But I read blogs quite often. I read those kept by my friends who live overseas. I read a lot of personal finance blogs (good tips to be found there), and lately I've been reading wedding planning blogs (also helpful occasionally). I enjoy reading them, and have found many to be well done. And this blog is really for an audience of people who already know us and care about what we are doing.

The success part of this entry deals with Tuesday's poker tournament. I took second place, and I was only a tad bit upset that I had not continued the first-place streak I had begun two tournaments earlier. Second place is still OK. We have a biweekly game of Embassy folk, and usually there are seven or eight players. I'm the only girl. We play Texas Hold 'Em (the same game they play on the World Championship of Poker), which I have gotten pretty good at. I still stink at reading people, but I have learned the odds pretty well. The great thing about Texas Hold 'Em is that, while luck still plays a role, there is actually a skill set you can learn that will make you a better player. I learned that while in language training at the Foreign Service Institute before coming to Armenia, when I played in a weekly tournament. My friend Josh would call my cards all the time, and he was often right. It frustrated me so much that I actually went out and bought a poker book and studied it. Go ahead and laugh, but reading the book really did help. There's no substitute for practice, of course (or avid watching of the World Championship of Poker when it's on TV), but it helps to have a few basic pointers under your belt. I hear there is a good game in Kabul; I'm sure that after a year there, I'll be an even better player.