The best 9 months of my life

At least she had the balls (figuratively of course) to go out and do it.....for all the critics:

http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trsorbonnespeech.html

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
 
dreams

My notion of a road player is somebody with at least shortstop speed; I know that winning at gambling on pool games does not depend on your ability to shoot top speed; you just have to know how to make a game you can win....
and win when you're supposed to........this has all been said before, I'm sure..... it's delusional to think that you can be successful on the road if you cannot find and make a game you can win consistently, and win at the game you make....

The sometimes romantic notion (of adventure) in hopping freight trains across the country (being a hobo) or being successful as a road hustler at pool seems " Gone with the Wind" in our day and age; the sweet fantastic dream gets doused by the cold reality..... with no offense intended, I guess anyone can still live like a bum (and not work) in this country though..........
 
pt109 said:
If I put an ad in a newspaper....

Nine month vacation....doing what you like to do...$2,060 !

I think I would get a lot of responses.

...and if you factor in expenses, including table time.....
...Rhea is actually a way ahead on the gambling part.

Editing the diary could make it saleable.....to a major magazine.
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This is a very insightful post, PT109. Civil and thoughtful. And the cited salability of the lady's adventure/experiment (when the account is ultimately and professionally well-described) is something the player might not have considered in a realistic, fully businesslike manner.

For a more certain sale, she must definitely include facts that would relate to the obvious potential magazine-reader questions that would arise:

"What amount of verbal and actual physical sexual harassment did she experience during that adventure?" No magazine editor would fail to ask that such information be included with the actual story submission after Rhea (or her ad hoc literary agent) makes the initial query or logline outlining her story material they'd like to submit to the publisher.

Editors pose such requirements when controversial gender issues are involved, not out of prurient interest, but for purely practical marketing purposes, the moreso in today's appropriately progressive (in gender matters) media marketplace, whether for electronic or hardcopy stories. And not least because in business terms, awareness of readers' prurient interest (justified in this uncommon and potentially quite intriguing -- female road player -- instance) must always be acknowledged.

Arnaldo
 
Losing is the easiest thing to do in the world.

There are no more 20 dollar a night hotels , no more 99 cent breakfasts and no true road players. You are lucky to get 100 action within an few hours drive. I'd be dammed if I would ever try hustling pool for a living. Seems like way too much work.
 
You should get together with a good writer and see if you can get a book published.
 
pt109 said:
If I put an ad in a newspaper....

Nine month vacation....doing what you like to do...$2,060 !

I think I would get a lot of responses.

...and if you factor in expenses, including table time.....
...Rhea is actually a way ahead on the gambling part.

Editing the diary could make it saleable.....to a major magazine.
Click to expand...

I was king of thinking the same thing with regard to a nine month trip and spending two grand. Hell, if you were out on the road for 9 months, I bet you couldn't eat Vienna sausage, sardines, and crackers and not spend two grand.:)
 
onepocketron said:
I was king of thinking the same thing with regard to a nine month trip and spending two grand. Hell, if you were out on the road for 9 months, I bet you couldn't eat Vienna sausage, sardines, and crackers and not spend two grand.:)
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I couldn't come close to going on a 9 day vacation without spending two grand. But I'm sleeping in a very nice, comfortable hotel versus breaking into the sleeper of a semi. I'm not heating up bologna sandwiches in a Super 8 hotel room either. Perhaps all that sounds rather interesting and romantic to some people. I'll pass.
 
If traveling the country going from pool hall to pool hall is somebody's dream I'd have to say they've set their standards pretty darn low, but that's just me.
 
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Well there hasn't been any "road" since the late 90's. As many have mentioned in past threads to venture onto it with less than shortstop speed was asking to get cut to ribbons. As its 2014 & your speed has been documented as maybe a B player you are the epitome of a "day late & a dollar short". Some of the best players in the world come from the island of Luzon. You on the other hand seem to be from the island of Delusion. Get a job because there is no road left & if there was you don't possess the speed to merge onto it. This is just reality, nothing more, nothing less.
 
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Rhea said:
When I went on the road to play pool full time back in September of 2013, I left with $2,100. When I left the road in the beginning of June to arrive in St. Louis, I had $40 left, but I survived, and I won't ever forget what I experienced.

I did document everything into a 57 page pamphlet that I intend to add more to whenever I decide to go back onto the road again in the future.
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I am a little confused, I used to go on the road to make money. I would be gone for maybe 4 or 5 weeks and come back with a few extra thousand.

The whole point of going on the road is for a change no one knows how you play. If I wanted to lose money I could just stay home and do that matching up with people I know and try to out run the nuts.
 
pt109 said:
If I put an ad in a newspaper....

Nine month vacation....doing what you like to do...$2,060 !

I think I would get a lot of responses.

...and if you factor in expenses, including table time.....
...Rhea is actually a way ahead on the gambling part.
Click to expand...

OR - spend $20K, to have absolutely nothing & sweat it the entire time?

i hope she can get her old job back @ $60K/yr, her apartment back, her furniture, her car, clothes, and driver's license. i hope that if she chooses to visit her family here in Greensboro (or other friends elsewhere) for Christmas & New Year's, that she finds the means to do so.

after a very long and arduous 16 month "vacation" at a $92K cost, i hope Rhea found what she was looking for.
 
Rhea said:
When I went on the road to play pool full time back in September of 2013, I left with $2,100. When I left the road in the beginning of June to arrive in St. Louis, I had $40 left, but I survived, and I won't ever forget what I experienced.

I did document everything into a 57 page pamphlet that I intend to add more to whenever I decide to go back onto the road again in the future.
Click to expand...

9 months means you didn't do Derby City Classic? Get there . It's just a month away.

Freddie
 
Icon of Sin said:
Would it really? Not knowing if you are going to have the money to eat again? Not knowing if you are going to have the money to have a place to sleep or just sleep in your car.

I'll take the 9 to 5 with the wife, kids, and friends I can trust and just go to the poolhall a couple times a week...
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I don't know, I have been to like every state in the lower 48 playing pool. I have played all over Europe as well. It is not something you will do all your life but if you have the skills and opportunity it can be a real experience.

Many people after collage will do something like tour Europe with a back pack or some-other seemingly meaningless activity. Years ago people joined the Peace corp. or lived in a commune, all kinds of things that make up life experience.

Although life is kind of short in the grand scheme of things, you have enough years to live several lives. I kind of feels sorry for the guy who right out of high school or collage gets the job with a parking space and does it till he retires.

I have a very good friend who is 89 years old. I see him every day I go over and watch sports with him and we often talk. He is a WWII vet, he was in the Navy. After the Navy he had all kinds of jobs from working on a ranch to shrimp fishing.

He later used his GI benefits and went to collage, finally worked for like 35 years for General motors getting married and so on. We talk all the time about different things.

He rarely if ever mentions the 35 years at GM, but you should see his eyes light up when it comes to his days as a shrimp fisherman or any of the other maybe dozen jobs he had and places he has been.

You are going to be dead a lot longer then you will be alive, life is best when lived. Not judging, we should never judge others, but we should not short change ourselves in life, there are no second chances.
 
Koop said:
Me too, bud. Just saying that if you aren't tied down to anything and could do it, it would be a cool experience.
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You may be surprised, uncertainty and the unknown can be very interesting and motivating. It is why people go to the track or buy a lottery ticket. For a change something in their lives is up to chance and not predetermined. It can be exciting not knowing what is going to happen.

People who work the 9 to 5 can tell you pretty much what the will make to the dollar a year in advance. How many years it will take them to pay off the car, or how many years to save enough for a down payment on a house. Those known realities can be very depressing.
 
alstl said:
You should get together with a good writer and see if you can get a book published.
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Yes, because there are terrific pool books out there now by Freddy the Beard and Jay, and a few others that are great but are not exactly selling like hotcakes, what makes you think anyone wants to read bout a road trip with someone playing apa 5's for $20 sets ?
 
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