Just erased a blog I had taken some time to write, which is disheartening, but key points were;

1. Glad to be blogging / playing again, had taken a break from most things poker due to skiing and exams.
2.Skiing was great, went to Trysil in Norway, tried to the tame the steepest slope in Scandinavia, Eksperten* (45 degree angle), not sure who tamed who in the end.
3. Trysil was fantastic, I want to buy a cabin there some day.
4. My first exam went very well, had forgotten how much sharper you are whilst in school and how much of a grind studying for exams really can be. Still worth it (asked them if I could take courses, participate and just skip the exams. They declined).
5. Came back and started playing again after an extended hiatus (again, the longest one I have had since I started playing in sep / oct of 06) last week, games were good, I was rusty.
6. As said, felt a little rusty and out of shape, fascinated by these guys that can go on-and-off poker, grinding tremendous amounts and then taking extended breaks, rinse / repeat. This routine would be very difficult for me. Perhaps it takes getting used to?
7. Had a great interview with Cardplayer that lasted about an hour and a half, which we now have to redo as the recording unit wasn´t working properly. That is still ok though, losing this blog was more annoying as I really enjoyed doing the interview
8. Coming back and starting to play again after the break, I realize that I was lacking more in my mental presence than usual, and I attribute this to having conditioned myself to not think about the game while I am away. This can have some poor effects on my game if I am away for an extended time, I think. It was interesting experience.
9. Hope that everybody had a great Easter and that you got to spend time with family and friends, these occassions are a fantastic reminder of what is really important in life.
10. Will be grinding the Champions League games tonight and tomorrow, if Arsenal can turn this around that would be a feat. I have student that is in place, watching the game, really happy for his sake, envious at the same time
11. Real world investments have been going great. I am now getting to the point where I have decent, diversified passive incomes, which is such an important thing for those of us playing this game for a living. I´ll probably talk a little more about this in a future blog post, but it is just such a big key to the overall metagame of playing poker for a living.
12. Despite what I said about being away from the game, am thinking about studying full time for at least one semester or the duation of one or two courses either this fall or this spring, to see if it can be balanced with playing / life. I just enjoy it too much.
13. Studies are making me realize that although poker intrinsically has meant a lot to me and still does, the ratio of intrinsical value to the value of it serving as an instrument (to make money and provide, perhaps) is becoming somewhat more skewed. My studies, for instance, I find have an intrinsical value in and of themselves. This is personal to me, I can fully understand how poker can have enormous intrinsical value for a lot of people, but I am of the opinion that as you improve and you become more and more skilled, this lessens to at least some extent. It´s a shame it has to be that way, but it´s a luxury problem to have on the other hand and I am definitely not complaining, just reflecting.
14. Again, hope that everybody had a great Easter!

*Here´s some other dude named Roman going down Eksperten, not nearly as dramatic as the music implies but gives a decent picture;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOddk1MCPHQ