Traditionally Non-Traditional

One of the things I pride myself on is being traditionally non-traditional. As I have gotten older I’ve developed a habit of asking the question “why?” when it comes to traditions that I was taught growing up and many other things that I was taught as a child. Upon looking into these things further, I began to find out that a lot of traditions that we have and a lot of the things that we accept don’t make much sense. I could list many things but I won’t. What this has taught me is not to accept something just because I am told this is how it is or this is tradition, etc. I am an extremely logical person and things are very difficult to accept if they don’t make sense to me. I feel like people would be better off in many ways if they stopped and asked why more often in their lives. Do your own research. Don’t accept things just because one person told you this is how it happened or this is what we do. You may find that things were/are quite different if you look into things yourself and you may have a different opinion than the person whom fed you the information originally.

Fred

So Many Thoughts...

Today I have so many topics racing through my head that I feel as if I could write for hours about them. These topics include our education system (including college), economy, travel, traditions, and family…just to name a few. I can’t seem to fully collect my thoughts and focus in on one yet so until then I won’t express my thoughts. By my next post I will definitely delve into one of the many things currently in my thoughts.

Until then…here are a few pictures from my family reunion which was in Charleston, SC a few weekends ago. I spoke about it here. I’ll post more to my Facebook page.

Fred

My Poker Face

Lately, well I guess within this last year, I’ve been playing more and more poker. I started playing poker in my teens with my family for change, mostly quarters and dimes. I remember wanting to play with them at a young age but they wouldn’t let me play until I was 16 LOL. Then, I played a little in college but never played consistently. I guess I was more focused on school (just in case you’re wondering I’m trying to convince myself that this is the reason and that I was really more focused on school not other things). After graduating from school and landing my job, I definitely became interested in poker again but there weren’t many options to play besides online living in the DC area. I’ve never been a big fan of online poker. One of my strengths is reading people and this strength is drastically decreased in value in online play in my opinion. I played in a few home games during my years there, but still never played consistently enough to really hone my game.

I’ve been living in Florida a little over three years now and I’ve definitely enjoyed the opportunity of being able to play more live poker at home games and at the card rooms here. Poker is a challenge for me and I enjoy the challenge of the game and the challenge of reading/observing people. I am a problem solver by nature, which is one of the reasons I studied engineering, and when I am sitting at a poker table I am faced with a different problem to solve each hand that I am in. Sometimes I solve it correctly and sometimes I don’t. Either way I enjoy that challenge that I am faced with. There aren’t many things that I am challenged with in my everyday life and I missed that until I began to play poker more consistently. I’m not playing for stakes that will make or break my bank roll. Therefore, it isn’t about the money. If I get good enough at it then maybe one day it will be. Now, playing poker is about the challenge. During my time at the poker tables I am faced with figuring out the math involved in each hand, calculating the percentages of outs and pot odds, and using my observations skills to dissect the players whom I am in a hand with. This is not an easy thing to do. To be good at it will take a lot of time and more hours at the card table. But, for me it is all worth it when I make the right call on a river bet from another player trying to bluff me :D

Fred

Family Reunion

I’m feeling quite good after attending the Drakeford, Gaskin, Kirkland family reunion this weekend in Charleston, SC. I had an amazing time conversing with family members that I haven’t seen in almost 10 years and it was great to see my 95 year old great aunt moving around as if she was at least 20 years younger.

We took a tour of Drayton Hall Plantation on Saturday which was extremely mind opening. The guides explained the lives of the enslaved Africans at Drayton Hall and also some of the history of the plantation. I learned that my ancestors (on the Kirkland side) originated from Kershaw County South Carolina and the one of the owners of my ancestors was a man by the name of Daniel Kirkland who’s father John Kirkland was born in Scotland in the 1750s. I also learned about the Gullah people who were the African Americans who lived in the Lowcountry and that night we had some Gullah cuisine which was phenomenal.

It was amazing to look at my family tree and see the connection that I have to the men and woman of my family who lived during the slavery era of the United States. The slavery era seems so long ago but I’m only about 5 generations separated from it. That’s mind blowing to me to say the least.

The little that I learned this weekend about my ancestors was amazing and definitely motivated me to learn even more about them. Overall, I had a great time this weekend with family and friends, and I definitely am looking forward to spending more time with them in the future.

Fred

Enjoying the Moment

So far so good as far as sticking to my blogging schedule. The schedule definitely helps me out. I’m sure once I consistently follow the schedule that I set writing in my blog will become even easier.

Originally I was going to examine a topic which I have seen many people comment about recently, Planking. But after further thought, I will delay my opinion on it and possibly not even write about it at all.

One thing that I focus on daily is living in the moment. I finished an amazing book a few months ago called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (Find it here)and reading that book changed me in many ways. I now focus more on living in the moment and enjoying the time that I am given. I’ve observed so many people, even myself at times, focusing on past decision good or bad and worrying about what may or may not happen in the future. These thoughts take us to a point where we forget to take advantage of now and we can become obsessed with reliving past moments to the point where we subconsciously take ourselves from the present to the past.

“No use thinking of the past for its gone, don't think of the future because it has to come, think of the present because that’s where you are.”

If we allow ourselves to step outside of the box which we place ourselves in, we will realize that no moment is more important than now. The actions and thoughts that we have now shape our path that we will travel in the future. But, you cannot live in the future now for it is not here. You can only live in the moment and it is our choice to take advantage this moment or let it go to waste never being able to have that exact moment in time again.

I am still working daily at becoming better at living in the moment. It takes practice. But, I am learning more and more that the past has happen and there is nothing I can do about it. But, what I can do is enjoy my coffee that I am having this morning and enjoy typing my thoughts to share with others. What happens next? Who knows…but I will remain present and focus on now not the things that happen before and hope for more moments in the future.

Fred

Sticking to the Script

I’m sticking to my schedule today by posting this. I have a topic that I wanted to write about but I have a visitor staying with me this weekend and don’t have enough time to devote towards writing on that topic. So today it will be a quick post. Next week I’ll write about the topic that I planned on writing about today.

Getting ready to head out to the beach today, which is always relaxing to say the least. But, it is getting about that time that a vacation needs to be planned. I promised myself that I would vacation at least once a year and I WILL stick to that promise. A friend of mine keeps nudging me towards visiting the French Polynesian. That place is definitely on the list of places to go and I will travel there. Not sure when though. Regardless of where I will be going and when, I feel that it is important to travel as much as I can no matter how big or small the vacation may be. Traveling gives me the opportunity to experience new things outside of my regular routine and comfort zone. Which I feel is important for everybody.

Cheers to getting stamps in my passport soon!!!

Fred