How To Have Fun at the Track (and maybe make some $$$)

1. Knowledge Is Power
Opening Day at the races, and I am lucky enough to be with a companion who has been coming to this track since he was a boy. He knows some of the horses, he is familiar with which jockeys are good; he knows some of the trainers and owners. He can also decipher what all the tiny numbers in the program mean: workout times, last race results... It was fun to be with someone who knew the answers to all my silly questions.

2. Know Your Limit...
This shouldn't even have to be said, really: DON'T BET MORE THAN YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE!You can have a blast at the track without spending a penny (and I have), but if you want to bet, pick an amount that you can safely kiss goodbye. I was there for the whole day, so I decided I could afford to lose $20. Even if I hadn't won a single bet, I could still have bet $2 to $3 a race, so it was a reasonable investment.

3. Protect Your Investment!
Once I made my $20 back, I took it out of the equation, and just bet with my winnings. That way I could win OR lose and I wouldn't actually have lost any of 'my' money.



4. Several Bets Per Race Can Pay Off!
Don't just bet on one horse! That was the most important thing I learned yesterday at the track. I still have lots to learn about betting, but my biggest payouts on opening day came from betting Exactor boxes, plus betting on one horse to win.

5. Don't Bet the Farm!
I think the most I spent on one race was eight or nine bucks. I was perfectly happy making small bets and winning or losing without too much heartache. Not as ballsy, but no chance I'd lose all my winnings on the next race, either.


6. Bring A Camera!
If you're a shutterbug like me, taking pictures at the track is one way you CAN'T lose! There are characters everywhere you look: hipster girls in vintage frocks; tall men in cowboy boots; old men, lovers, children... and then there are the jockeys and the horses. Every time the starting gate clangs open, there is a riot of colourful silks, rippling muscles, flying dirt and heartstopping action. Bet on it: you will ALWAYS walk away with at least one amazing shot.


7. It's a Game of Chance
This is gambling, pure and simple. You may know everything about a horse, including what the jockey had for breakfast, but at the end of the day, surprises happen, and fortunes (and careers) are made or lost in a fraction of a second. My companion and I were golden for a while, and then we weren't. No real logic or reason. You pays your money and you takes your chances. I got to the track with $60- allotted $20 for betting and spent $6 on food. At the end of the day, I walked away with $200 in my wallet- $140 pure profit. My companion had won over $400.Not a bad way to spend a sunny Saturday!

8. It's All About the Horses
Tense or sleepy-looking; lovely, high-strung, inquisitively staring at you in the paddock or thundering towards the finish line. The bell clangs, the gate opens, and these incredible athletes charge down the dirt track in just over a minute, handled by wispy men (and women) who look as if a puff of wind would knock them over. Cards bore me, I don't play the lottery, I don't like casinos, I don't even buy raffle tickets, but I will lay my money down and marvel at this amazing combination of luck and skill. I know there is a dark side; I am terrified of seeing a bad accident someday, but there is beauty and toughness and magic at the track, and one of the things I will miss this summer is the pounding of hooves in the mud on a sunny weekend day.

Hard On Yourself

There's a new trend on Facebook right now: people keep sharing these 'lists' of things that you need to do to
achieve happiness
lose weight
be successful
etcetera, etcetera.
Much as I loathe the idea of them (a knee-jerk reaction to 'self-help' stuff, which I was over-exposed to during my many years as a bookseller), I actually find some of them quite helpful, since I always seem to read them when I most need to.
Today's was "15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy", a list which included things like:
The need to be right
Complaining
Resistance to Change
Excuses
The Past

I came home from work today feeling mad at my boss, who luckily is away for weeks at a time but who was all-too-present this afternoon. For some reason, I am never the singing, dancing frog around her. (Thanks to Warner Brothers, and the excellent Douglas Coupland and his book "Microserfs" for this analogy, which I know I've used before.)
My boss at the puppet store makes me feel stupid. No, that's not exactly true; I AM stupid around her. I am the dull, vague, inefficient version of myself when she's there. I am nervous, I am flustered, I make stupid mistakes and worse, stupid decisions. I think some people just set you off like that. There are magnets that attract, and then there are those that repel. She can be kind, like when she told me to bring my hulking great bicycle into the tiny store yesterday so I could fix the chain. But her manner is often impatient, intolerant, and her communication skills are terrible. I worked my tail off today, burning through a list of 'to-do's', but of course, when she walked in I was reading. Murphy's Law. And she found the one bag of puppets I'd missed, and wondered why I hadn't put them out, and tsk-ed over another bag of finger puppets that were still lying about, and I felt all the pride and satisfaction of a hard-working day evaporate.

So, the boss is a tool. And the job is a low-level retail stop-gap anyway. But I still want to take heed of some of the things on that list. I know that I often have an overwhelming need to be right, even if it would be more politic to be silent. I resist change, which can make me grumpy when someone makes me change. I make excuses ('oh, it's only a crappy retail job; why should I work the full 8 hours? I think I'll read for a while") when I should work harder.

I don't want to be one of those bitter losers who blame all their troubles on other people. I know that I have lots of good qualities and talents, but there are things that hold me back as well, and I hope I can let some of them go.
Partly so I can get the fuck out of this boring retail hell and never look back.

*Next Day: Okay, so actually my boss apologized today for her behavior of last night and was appreciative of my hard work (and I DID work hard) today. So I'm eating humble pie. Or crow. Or whatever the appropriate expression is. Sometimes people can surprise you in a good way.

I posted here last week and while I was at it, I did some spring cleaning. Do you like it? It's a bit rainy-looking, this new template, but then, so is my city, a great deal of the time, so I think it fits.
Last week's post may have been a trifle... mean-spirited. Let's just say it was an exorcism of sorts; a goodbye to some feelings that have occupied too much of my brain for too long. Enough.
This week, I want to celebrate the kindness and company of my lovely friends, without whom I would be so much less. And as I have been shockingly lazy with my camera lately, words will just have to do.
There are old folk-band friends, the laughter and jokes and musical shorthand we have together even after so many years since we last all played in the same room.
There are my singing-group buddies, who get together just for the love of hearing our voices in 6-part harmony AND, even more importantly, for the comfort of checking in, telling our stories to each other and getting sympathy, support, or belly laughs as the occasion warrants.
There are girlfriends, who have an alarming tendency to move far away, but who are still awesome, even at a distance.
There are my far-away friends, who check in via email and Facebook and say things like we miss you and how are you and can't wait to see you again. I know talk is cheap, especially on the internet, but every sentence is appreciated.
There are my exes: one of whom I live with, one of whom is a close friend and one of whom is still fresh enough that we are negotiating our new relationship, but with laughter and (I hope) kindness.
And there is a new person in my life, who buys me dinner, likes long walks on the beach (WHAT a cliche! But so romantic, nonetheless), kisses my nose, and takes me dancing. And even though we are both clumsy on the dance floor we hold hands and take a chance and move together.
And because of all these people, life is good.

Despite her sincere attempts to end up with difficult guys, Accordion Girl kept getting distracted by gentlemen of the finest calibre.

It was a problem she could live with.

(As always, Accordion Girl is a bit tiny. Click on the images to enlarge them, and use the Right Arrow key to scroll through them.)

northern life.

The thing is, I'm not actually very far north at all. But this town is high up, compared to Vancouver. So it gets snow. And temperatures in the minus region of the thermometer. And that great dry cold that is so much more invigorating than Vancouver's sulky, rainy plus-10 days.
So here I am, midway through my week here, and it's been great. Back home there are worries. Like: how much money am I going to earn in the next few months? Can I go to school in the fall, or will my summer job be too long, and if so, what can I do about it? Stuff like that. But this small town has been a nice, wintery break from some of those worries, and a great chance to catch up with some friends. I've pretty much seen everyone I wanted to see, too. Not to mention the fact that I'm catching up on 37 years' worth of winter sports in one week: I've been snowmobiling, snowshoeing and today I went skiing (cross-country, not downhill. That's still a closed book to me). Venessa and the baby went into town to do some errands, so the dog and I walked across the road into the Meadows, I stepped into a pair of skis for the first time in about 10 years, and off we went for two hours. I did pretty well, too. In fact, I had grand ambitions to go back out this afternoon, but by the time I got back home, I was EXHAUSTED. Good thing I turned around on the trail when I did. I made myself a giant, healthy lunch and now I have a date with the couch for a while.
But the best winter sport I've tried so far? DOGSLEDDING. On Monday, Venessa & I went to Danny and Lorraine's place out in the hills behind town (off Hardscrabble Road, which is the best road name ever) and spent a day with this amazing couple and their 30 sled dogs. The most excitable, strong, friendly, curious and LOUD dogs I've ever met! We got to take out a team of 8 dogs while the other 22 or so bayed in excitement as we left and Danny & Lorraine kept a watchful eye on us (and their 8 furry babies) from a snowmobile. Venessa drove the sled out to the meadows while I sat on it, took pictures and acted as ballast. Then I drove them back home. Beautiful, exhilarating, snowy, cold, addicting. Then Venessa drove us back to her place on her snowmobile, a little faster than we'd driven on the way out. And I screamed like a little girl every time she opened up the throttle.

It's been a pretty good week in eastvanland, all told. Although actually I wasn't IN east van much. My brother was away, which meant I got to crash his life for a while. You know: small but tidy apartment right downtown. Dog and cat, who like my company. (I can hear them saying to my bro & sis-in-law "Look you guys, you've gotta ease up on this whole work thing. Your sister was here ALL THE TIME. And we LOVED it!") Oh yeah, did I mention that there's a gym, steam room, sauna and hot tub in their building? I was seriously considering changing the locks before they came home.
Every day I would snap the dog's leash on, slip out the back door and let him drag me to the dog park (sometimes, to mess with his head, I would have a conversation with the dog that consisted of these 3 words: "Walk? Park? Ball? WalkParkBall? BallParkWalk? ParkBall?" and laugh myself silly watching his ears twitch and his head tilt. His vocabulary may be small, but he HAS one, that's for sure). Sometimes when I was feeling decadent I would walk him back through ritzy Yaletown with a coffee in my free, leashless hand, and savour being in a neighbourhood where people have all kinds of money for frivolous things like spas and bikini waxes and Minis, for god's sake.
While I was downtown, Valentine's Day happened. And I won't lie to you, Cupid was good to me this year. Instead of a) spending my first V-Day in donkey's years alone and sad or b) ignoring it like I normally did because my anniversary was right after it, my new "friend" and I decided that we would have a fun, non-mushy time together; no expectations, nothing said that wasn't meant, and NO ROSES. So there was skating, and I cooked dinner, and later we had wine together, all alone in a bar because it was a weeknight and everyone else had to work. Hah. There may or may not have been some kissing too, but I will neither confirm nor deny this.
There was also a Flying Folk Army reunion jam this week. Which is a big deal because it's been how-many years since we played music together? Okay, only 4/7ths of us showed up. But we now have a (gasp) Facebook page, which means that we have fans again! And there is definite talk of a reunion gig before I go away this spring.

What else? Oh, there's a cool gig coming up for me next month at the Waldorf Hotel (Vancouver's current Hipster mecca). I've made some career decisions (now let's see if I can put them into action). I have a bit of work next month, nothing exciting, but it'll keep me off the streets anyway. AND I have a visit scheduled to my favorite northern town, a visit which will include meeting my gal-pal's new baby, hanging out with various friends, and DOGSLEDDING. Which will either kill me or be the coolest thing ever.
Stay tuned.