Yet Another World I Inhabit

 The world out there is a crazy place. Yeah, I know- like I'm telling you anything. Some beautiful things here but many atrocities as well.  In the words of Rog's favorite psychologist, Albert Ellis, "reality often stinks". 

 I've been accused much of my life, at least from adolescence on, of living in my own world. In my own defense I'd say that for one thing it's usually a much more agreeable place, and for another I don't really live there so much as visit there. I still maintain a residence in the real world, still keep a connection, however tenuous, with the other seven billion people out there. But I take a lot of vacations..

  One of my favorite such vacation spots, my favorite alt worlds, as it were, is Hoyle's Casino- in particular, the 2003 version. You can craft your own appearance as The Player- but, alas, I just picked one close to my own. A similar Astral Body, as it were. Only here my nom de voyage is not Roger but Sam. 

A brief aside here. This reminds me of a line from my favorite James Bond movie, From Russia with Love. Bond and Tanya are on the train from Istanbul, with Alias IDs reading David and Caroline Somerset. He meets SPECTRE agent Donald Grant(impersonating a British Secret Service agent) at Zagreb, and introduces himself as Bond, traveling as Somerset. How cool! Always loved that line. Roundly, traveling as Sam.

So Sam, as it were, is chiefly a Poker player. Texas Hold 'Em is his game. We used to play Poker at my house(yes, in the real world- on the Physical Plane)some years ago, and played a lot of Texas Hold 'Em- only we called it Shit in the Middle. Probably because of the common cards, the shit in the middle of the table. I dunno. We got pretty ripped at some of those games. 

Whew! That almost turned into yet another of Rog's asides. Good thing I caught it in mid-digression. So. Sam is joined at the Poker table by an assortment of virtual characters. There's Eddie the cab driver, voiced by Rodger Bumpass. This information is not given in the game itself, I just happen to recognize the voice- among what's gotta be a ton of voice-over jobs, he's Squidward Tentacles from- again, one of Rog's favorites- Spongebob Squarepants. (Yes, he's the picture in the previous post here). Eddie, like Squidward, is a bit of a smartass. 

 And, with their own personalities as well, there's: Marcus the football talent scout; Anne, the southern belle; Kelly, the newlywed; Michelle, the film student; Yvonne, the aging film star; Nigel, the British rocker;  Joe, the businessman; Tommy, based on Dean Martin(frequently refers to Frank); and Jessica, the lounge singer. They each have their own repertoires as far as the table dialogue, and will comment on each other- and on me! This is like the old joke, I live in my own world but they know me here. 

Sometimes, it's like playing with a bunch of Mynah birds, in that they have the same comments over and over, but each character still surprises me from time to time with a new one, even after all these years. 

Much like in the real world, you'll have your winning and losing streaks, and similarly there's not much you can do about them when you're in the midst of one cycle or another. There is gamesmanship, however. You can read the characters to some extent, as far as which are more or less likely to exhibit bonehead moves.  Knowing this, you can hopefully at least minimize your losses on the losing streaks.

Some, like Joe the businessman, will never bluff. When he raises, I get the hell out unless I've got something pretty good. Others, like Kelly the newlywed and Yvonne the aging ingenue(and occasionally Eddie the cabdriver)will bet the farm on a pair or an Ace. But then when you think they're going to do it again, they'll turn around and kick your ass with a Flush or Full House. So you have to watch it, but they can be had. 

Then again, so can you. I've been all the way bankrupt, and had a couple million. Currently at about $400,000. No exchange value in the real world, but at least it's not taxable either. As alt realities go, I guess it's not perfect either, else I'd win all the time. Or at least more than I do. 

At the moment, I'm kinda holding my own as far as the win/loss ratio. But I've been on severe losing streaks, and they ain't fun. Watching yourself sink. It's these times I escape from the harshness of Hoyle's Casino, back to the comfort of the real world. Then of course something happens to cause irritation or exasperation with the real world, and then it's back to Hoyle's. Or another virtual world, and hopefully one where I'm on a winning streak.