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July 20, 2006
One more hurdle, cleared.
Today, I passed my dissertation defense, with distinction. Thank you to everyone who helped me get to, and past, this point in my career.
To celebtrate, this weekend I'm off to Las Vegas to complete my two-part homage to the gods of chance. Each part of the homage involves a pilgrimage to a holy site and a ritualistic sacrifice of 20 units of currency on the alter of probability. The first part was two summers ago, when I offered 20 euro to the gods at Monte Carlo, who rewarded me with a repayment in kind. This weekend, I'll offer 20 dollars to the gods of Las Vegas, and see if they're as nice as their French counterparts.
Update, July 24: The gods of chance who reside in Las Vegas are decidedly more callow than their fellows in Monte Carlo, which is to say that I lost my $20.
posted July 20, 2006 11:28 AM in Self Referential | permalink
Comments
Aha, it's really a good news! Congratulations! God bless you ^_^
Posted by: succc at July 22, 2006 07:15 AM
Sorry for the belated congratulations, but it's better late than never. My experience with gambling was not so lucky as yours:). When I visited Gambling Paradise ( Las Vegas) I thought that fate would be merciful to me and I stake 500$ on the spot. Probably my angel was fast asleep at the moment and I never saw this money again.
Posted by: First- rate copywriter at August 4, 2006 05:54 AM
Thanks! I've always been suspicious of gambling. Having learned a fair amount of statistics and probability theory in graduate school, I can prove that on average these games will never pay out more than they receive. Even logically, you can see that gambling is a dumb idea, because if you had any real chance of winning, the casinos would have gone of business long ago. But beyond the gambling event itself, Las Vegas was a fascinating anthropological experience, and well worth the $20.
Posted by: Aaron at August 5, 2006 02:23 AM