I am on the mailing list of people, places, causes, ideas and political persuasions where I have never sought answers. The list is long and varied but seldom boring. Today I received a magazine selling dvd's about gambling. Why they sent me this I do not know. Of all the many addictions, obsessions and general nosiness that finds a place to call home in my mind, gambling is not one of them. Or it wasn't until I started to read the titles and descriptions of the series of "lectures" on the "Law of Probability". I found this idea somewhat intriguing.
The article stated "if a bettor repeatedly plays the same game with even odds they will eventually and invariably go broke." Now this was news to me. I thought if someone did this exact process, the odds would be on their side to win...eventually. That may explain why I have never won the lottery.
Reading that article jarred my memory of the last place I worked. There were many hours spent with characters of the first degree. One man I was required to spend a lot of one on one time with, thought he had a spaceship attached to his foot and was receiving signals from outer space. To say he had 'problems' was putting it mildly. The weather channel gave him fits. He swore that the weather channel was causing 'flare ups in his reception.' However, put a deck of cards in his hands and he was awesome! None of us could beat him. Regardless of his mental state, he was spot on when it came to card games. Finally he told me his secret.....he could count cards. I was amazed. I wanted him to teach me this trick. He refused and I do not blame him. That was his claim to fame. He didn't need to share what little he possessed. Neither did I. His secret was safe with me as long as he didn't cause any fights.
The magazine I received also had for sale a series entitled, "The Secrets of Mental Math". I remember several high school teachers who would have paid for me to take this course had it been offered then. I could not wrap my mind around algebra, nor could I keep my mouth shut. To me algebra makes something hard out of an idea that could be worked out in half the time and paper if reason and logic were used instead of a shovel.
I thought the titles of the math courses offered were amusing. Some courses listed were, "Go Forth and Multiply", "Divide and Conquer", "The Art of Guesstimation," followed closely by "The Speed of Vedic Division"....and that folks is where they lost me.
Hidden in the rest of the mail was my monthly "Oprah" magazine, a catalog for kids games, a catalog for sex toys and a folder concerning the publication of a "new Bible". None of which I asked for----except Oprah. I am sure my mail lady wonders when she is sorting my mail, just what exactly is going on in my house. I know I do at times and I live here.
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