It's 9AM

Feb 05, 2024

I shook ‘em up and rolled six “5”’s.We chirped and stared at each other across the table.

It was a quick trip to downtown Argenta, and a fast meet up for me to deliver a forgotten phone before the two of them jetted across town for a night out.

We met at one of my favorite local brew spots for a happy hour drink, and one of the things that make it a favorite is games.

They have a bookshelf full of battered board games for patrons to play, and it has our favorite.

Farkle.

Which is a pirate game of dice, given a new name and new colors and new marketing to be sold to new kids.

I think it’s a way to train them to like rations of rum.

Though I don’t have the rationale to back it up.

Yet.

Except I like rum. I like Farkle.

And when I’m winning, I say things like “Avast” and “Argh.”

And “Prepare to be boarded.”

Which is not the best pick up line.

Lucky for everyone present, I was not boarding, or avasting, but playing a game of dice.

First to 10K while we enjoyed a tasty beverage.

Or two.

Plus I ordered skinny fries with a side of queso for a kid who said he wasn’t hungry for anything other than his beer.

Root beer.

And watched him speed scarf my fries.

All of them.

I don’t get hyper competitive when it comes to dice games.

I play for fun.

My two table companions are hyper competitive though.

Which can make winning problematic.

The more I win, the madder they get.

At anything.

It’s this weird thing they have, a habit they didn’t pick up from me.

Because I know there’s enough for everybody to win, and my definition of success is a little different from most.

I guess I care about things that matter and the indiscriminate roll of the dice doesn’t matter much to me.

There’s always another day to play.

But Friday, I was in a flow state.

I caught all the lights on the way downtown, and didn’t have to slow down for somebody turning right.

I was in the window where it worked out just right.

I got there early and my beer was cold, which gave me time to ponder.

Planning and thoughts and plots of wonder, for tales and stories and what to finish.

Plus how to fund this spring season of baseball where we are traveling.

A lot.

It game me time to think, and thinking is one of my favorite things.

It capped off a day of doing, which is also a favorite thing.

Getting after it.

And Getting it Done.

Like the man said, TCB.

Then my companions arrived and we played games, and I did what I always do, which is stick on the first role.

Small incremental points that add up over roll after roll is my strategy.

The third roll I hit 1-6, which gave me 1500 points and a bonus roll, which stopped at 350 more.

The fourth round, I rolled six “5”’s.

The first time ever.

I’ve played this game for almost twenty years.

Played with every kid and even adult friends.

Played when I stayed with an almost stranger and his family in a cabin in the Pennsylvania woods on the edge of a National Forest before the Eastern States 100.

I’ve won hundreds of times.

I’ve lost hundreds more.

I’ve rolled a “straight” a lot.

I’ve rolled 3 pairs of doubles, and four of a kind and even five of the same before.

But never all six dice.

And I wanted to chirp and talk about how great the day was going.

But sometimes, that sounds like bragging, and when you’re with hyper competitive folks bragging is not advised.

So I celebrated in silence and won the game in just six rounds.

Which was perfect.

Enough time for them to finish their drinks and head off to DEFY and DBAT and dinner for two in West Little Rock at their favorite Mexican joint.

Enough time for me to flirt with one more cold tasty beverage and ponder some more on the odds of good days versus great days.

The news and folks might have you thinking that they are stacked against you.

Odds are, they aren’t.

You want to start your own winning streak?

Begin by grabbing your FREE SUBSCRIPTION to THE HUSTLE. I learned today that Meta (Facebook) increased it’s market share by 179 BILLION in one day on Friday AND today is the day Charlie Chaplin (and others) set up their own Movie Studio to compete with the big boys. (And give artists more control over profits on their work).

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