Blogging Meh - Becoming a Phoenix

Kajaguru & JJOK posted recently about a general feeling of meh in the blogasphere lately. I've kind of noticed a decline in the general enjoyment I get from my Google Reader each day. Seems all of us have been a little lacking in the excitement department.

At first, I chalked this up to summer. I gotta tell ya, the urge to spend to many of these summer days sitting around typing tales of indoor poker has been pretty low for me. Most of the Midwest bloggers will back me up on this, summer is too short and too precious to just blow off.

Personally, I think we are just getting stale. Granted, Julius taking a hiatus was a huge hit to the level of writing we are used to and the Vegas crew's out put during the recent WSOP has been fantastic yet the volume was at times, a bit overwhelming. (For links click here, here, here, and here - there's more but Christ...I'm sick of pasting.)

BBT3 for all of its upside really burned out many of the poker bloggers, both financially and mentally. It was grueling. I've read your blogs and noticed the decay in enthusiasm.

So, you say. Why I am suddenly mister state the f'ing obvious? I have some ideas. I do. The guy that won the Mookie back in ought 7 and is too afraid to play move up the pay grades for reason only he and his inner demons can explain.

I'm sick to death of posted hand histories. Yes, we can cut and paste them so easily, but unless your annotation is clever, useful, funny or has any redeeming value, they just take up space. My biggest problem with them is I barely learn anything from them. Poker isn't just about the current hand, bet or card. Poker is so much more. What's the back story? Has the guy said, done or otherwise been noticeable before this hand? How are you the poker player doing? You have a story to tell?

I used to think that Fuel55 was funny, but after 147 posts about the value of the pocket 5's and over/value bets in action post...I'm done learning those concepts. No don't get me wrong that I am in any way diminishing his skills, his talent or think for one second that he doesn't know how to play poker. I'm just saying...the shtick is getting old.

And in this lies the problem. We are getting stale. Heck, if I read another post about how great Hoy thinks his play is and that everyone else just sucks, I might just puke a little in my mouth. He still offers much value deep down inside those tomes, but again, the shtick is getting old.

The drama in the world of poker bloggers also took a turn for the worse. This hasn't helped. I think the idea that somehow, this little world was different and a little better then the, [clearing throat] "Real World" is very appealing, but maybe a bit naive. How can any community exist in which all members live in harmony? [I took absolutely way to many philosophy classes in college]

I've caught the Twitter bug. It's fun. It's like microblogging. Sort of like the poker I play, but it's also just a lot more noise in my life. I've had to learn to timeslice it.

So, what's the Phoenix reference about? My personal goal is to not just think about this blog as a place to post hand histories. I want to start telling more stories. I also want to talk more about general strategy, not just how do you play AKo UTG+2 with a avg stack in a MTT. Useful, but when that's all that gets talked about, I miss the whole idea that the guy in the corner...that old guy with the fishing hat...he just sat up. Screw the book. Old fart's got a hand. Now what do we do?

It could be the cumulative 12 hours of sleep I've gotten in the last 3 days. Hell, last night at poker league I called a guy, I called his hand. I couldn't beat it, but I could call it. I put all my chips in anyways cause I really just wanted to go to bed.

Here's what I like in blogs that I read. I like to laugh, I like to cry (I know that's ghey, but I softy for a really good story of human conflict overcome, kids, births and Daddy moments - get over it), I like to think, I like to get mad...I like blogs that are more then just hand histories and the obligatory I just won/lost the [insert tournament/table name] that have no story, no heart or any meat. Astin's cooking posts...they make me hungry...that's very good :-)

Drizz has been upping the bar lately. He's been putting up some really funny stuff. Kaja...I miss you finding the Worst Fight Scene ever. Dude...I almost wet myself here laughing so hard.

I'm definitely not Dr. Pauly when it comes to my writing prowess. I don't think my blog is all that and a bag of chips. I write this thing cause I like to. Notice all the ads? Yeah, Google Adsense has made me about $4 in 2 years. I can't even collect until it reaches $100. I dawned on me that I might just be the only blogger paying his way by winning poker tournaments...lol. Yeah...nice...grinding it out on the $2 tables, but I do do this for the fun of it. (You can send me ad offers if you want - I'm not getting rich on the $2 tables)

I have 3 blogs (besides here, try here and here). I'm an idiot and an Übergeek. I also really like each blog for different reasons. They allow me to express myself in the many different facettes that make up OhCaptain. I'm a poker degenerate, a father, husband and a photographer. Hopefully I can express myself in ways that other find interesting. If I suck...let me know. Personal improvement is cool, but don't expect me to change right away. I just turned 39. I'm facing the big 40 with the heart and mind of a 20 year old.

How frick'in long is this post? You still here? Never, I mean never hand me the mic when I'm over tired.

Here's a little bit about me to help you understand me and this post. I have a BS degree in Computer Science. I was DJ in meat market bar that everyone went to to get drunk and laid. How many ENTP computer programmers do you know? I'm listening to the Love & Rockets on headphones while wearing a tie.

What are you doing?