Leaving it All Behind

I don't know about you, but sometimes I get this strong urge to move on out. I'm not sure if its because I moved a lot when I was a kid and its in my blood, or its my need for adventure or maybe I just need a change.

Don't get me wrong, I sincerely believe that each and everyone of us who have the privilege of living in the 'ol US of A are blessed. I think its more about the way we live that causes me angst. I'm tired of the treadmill. Make money to pay the bills. Be sure to have health insurance. Each day that passes I feel regret for the things I could be doing. For doing things that I personally value. Things that are simple but are hard to do because of the need meet the requirements of our ever increasing responsibilities.

What am I talking about exactly? I'm not exactly sure but I think it revolves around an urge to chuck all the "stuff" and experience life freely on a more basic level. And by golly, I'm going to do something about it.

The wonder of the Internet (as I discussed in my past post) does allow freedom. My poker course web site is run by a webmaster in Colorado, whom I never met. I use a graphics designer from Long Island and the site itself resides on a server in I don't know where - Internet land, I guess.

My current plan is this: I'm going to continue to upgrade and develop my poker courses, give away all my key poker knowledge which has generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for me over the course of my poker career (about 9 years). I'm going to develop a few more web sites with my partners and build them into premiere sites. Then, in October of 2012, I'm hitting the road with my wife and my #3 daughter and my son. (Maybe my #1 and #2 daughters will join us for a while.) I'm going to design and build a specialty van, buy a pop up trailer and sell my house. Then for the next year or two or three or longer, we are going to hit the road. Really get to know this country and all its natural beauty. Believe it or not, my wife loves the idea (what a wife!). I can continue my poker career (mostly online) and continue to work with my partners on the web sites - have cellular broadband will travel.

Has anyone else thought about doing this? It'll be a journey within a journey. An experiment in living. An adventure like none other. Hope I can pull it off. I'll keep you posted by documenting the trip right here. Stay tuned.

Heater!

I'm now officially on a heater. What's a heater? It means whatever move I seem to make, whatever play I decide to do, everything always seems to work out. I played everyday this last week and each day I won over $1500. Hey I need the money to fund my web site as well as pay the bills at home.

This wave of cash got me thinking as I was perusing the New York Times Book Review Section. A couple of books came out about the workplace. Discussing how people feel about their work. How they value all the time they spend on the job. In very few cases did anyone ever say that they love their work so much that they would do it for no pay (lets assume their basic needs were met somehow). That got me thinking about poker. I love the game. I'd play it for pennies if that was the only game in town. But I can make serious money flopping in poker rooms. Each of the last four years I've made over $75,000. One year I made over $190,000. So here I am thinking, if I can make enough money at poker to meet my family's relatively normal financial needs, I can spend the rest of my time really enjoying life's basic and exotic pleasures.

What would you do if you didn't have to worry about where the money was coming from? For me it's all about spending time with my four kids; 19, 17, 3 and 10 months. Like the time I took them ( I only had two at the time) cross country in a 24 foot RV. Now I'm thinking about taking a longer trip in a smaller Type B class RV. We'll go down to Florida in November, spend time with the parental units then continue to Key West. After the holidays, we'd hug the gulf coast and make our way all the way to San Diego as slow as molasses. Be there by February. Then we'll store the RV and take a cruise ship to Baja. Stay down there in a rented villa for say six weeks. Then we cruise back and jump back into the RV and hug the Pacific Coast all the way up to Alaska. We'll get to Fairbanks by mid July. Then we'll whine our way back through the Canadian Rockies and get back home in Connecticut by September. That's my dream. Does that make me irresponsible? Shouldn't I be slaving away at a high pace at some job or activity because thats what we're all suppose to do? Excuse me, but I'm gonna live. If I can swing it (I can't at this point), I'm gonna savor every moment with my three daughters and one son. When I'm ready to die, I want to be able to honestly say to myself that I enjoyed this journey we call life. I didn't just go along with the crowd. I didn't save for "retirement." I lived. I may have risked as well, but I enjoyed it.

For those of you who read Poker Slam, you know all this already. I'll keep you updated on how things turn out.