Play the Card Game of Bridge for Fun, Profit, Success, and Survival

The card game of Bridge has an American lineage traceable to the 19th century, and earlier. However, Bridge, the game of cards, has matured, evolved, morphed. Whether the venue is the local Bridge club, in-person Bridge tournaments, or an online card game of Bridge, the card game of Bridge engages the dynamics, complexities, and nuances of the 21st-Century human, citizen, and player. The card game of Bridge is a reflection of 21st-Century living - Bridge, the game of cards, is a Map to Life.

THIS SIDE OF IMMORTALITY, SEX AND VIOLENCE RULE.
Siphoned from the cauldron of this psychological absolute, the card game of Bridge, spills out as a socially-accepted and politically-correct broth of art imitating Life.
[See Chapter V, "Strategic Concepts & Vision," NemesssSys, A Map of Destiny: Bridging the Chasm between the Injustices of your Life and the Validation of Your Dreams]

CONTROL CHANGE.
Play the card game of Bridge for fun, profit, success, and survival...

Impact the mental, psychological, and social fabrics of established and emerging cultures (de)composing our collective society.

Life, as the Bridge card game, is a loosely bound collection of legend, myth, and current realities. Drawing on this library of living in the world and experiences at the Bridge table, I recommend "Shadows in the Cave," an allegory. For fun, profit, success, and survival, it is suggested for your reading, reflection, and application: at the Bridge table and in your Life.

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SHADOWS IN THE CAVE
Control Change in your Life for fun, profit, success, and survival...
She had needed this time away: for rest and recovery, for relief, for peace.

On a long narrow plateau atop the ridge crest, Allyce sat in front of the flickering fire. She gazed into the multicolored smoke rising in twisting opaque cords, diffusing into the slate twilight. Muted Rorschach patterns, the colors of blazing fall leaves and smoldering summer moss, caressed the lines and curves of her sweat- and mud-stained calico top.

Beyond the flames, fire-flies sparked in the dark branches of thorn trees and oaks banked left and right on both sides of the ridge crest as far as she could see. A cacophony of crickets and cicadas rose and fell from the surrounding prickly underbrush. Far away, in a stand of unseen oaks, an owl marked Time's momentum into night.

Behind Allyce, the fire's quavering light dimly lit the hollow darkness of a cave's mouth. Centered at the mouth and receding back into the cave, the deeper darkness of her larger-than-life shadow loomed.

She had been exhausted from her long afternoon hike through the woods and backcountry. But with the darkness closing in on her, she had chanced upon this place of perfect peace and calm. She had plopped down into the leaves, thrown off her duffle, and un-rolled her sleeping bag. Quickly gathering sticks and branches, she had fashioned a makeshift campfire with close-at-hand leaves and moss, and set her creation ablaze.

She had needed this time away from the frenetic office and her hectic schedule: rest and recovery. Just her wandering thoughts and her immersion in Nature competed for her attention now. Solitude. Relief. Peace.

Yet, even as Allyce swooned in this nurturing lullaby, the unstoppable movement of Time and place, of Change, visibly manifested itself. Far back within the cave's recesses, an almost imperceptible point of light emerged.

Softly humming, Allyce failed to notice the pinpoint's appearance and growing presence. Soon it swelled from a dot to a small sphere, and then an early, rising moon. Allyce, still transfixed by the mix of ascending smoke and the descending darkness, was oblivious to its approach.

As the light assumed a sound of rustling leaves, she started. Exponentially, the light's sound exploded into a thundering crescendo and Allyce spun around to gaze into its mesmerizing beam. Then, it was on her and through her.

"What the hell was that, Charlie?," the engineer yelled, dodging the bright red spray whizzing past the window of Old Number 8's engine cab.

"Damned if I know, Wes," the fireman snapped as he concentrated on shoveling coal into the firebox.

"Mmm, probably a random deer...didn't know we still make this run once in a blue moon and got on the tracks," Wes muttered.

And the train rushed on through the night - toward its own rendezvous with a stand of unseen oaks and the owl marking Time.

With the rhythmic clickety-clack simplicity of the engine's embrace on the rusty rails, Charlie pondered the splattered life form for about a mile or so. Then, as mental meltdown threatened under the steady glare from the firebox, his mind wandered.

[See Nemesss.Sys Excerpts - http://www.nemesss-sys.com/Nemesss_Excerpts.html]

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DISORIENTATION, DECEPTION, RISK
Control Change in your Life for fun, profit, success, and survival...
Know the Game, Know Your Self, Control Change

Shadows of reality can be disorienting and misleading - in the card game of Bridge and in Life. (Read Plato: "The Allegory of the Cave," The Republic, Book VII.)

At the Bridge table and in Life: don't be lulled into a false sense of security by appearances. Appearances can be - and in 21st Century America often are - deceiving. You are at great risk.

Don't not know. Old Number 8 still runs.

You're not immortal. High-stakes games, Bridge and Life, have high-stakes consequences - potentially, terminal consequences. Know the game, know your self. Control Change.

As Bridge is a game of cards and a map to Life, play the card game of Bridge for fun, profit, success, and survival.

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TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT the card game BRIDGE, explore the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) - http://www.acbl.org .

TO PLAY the card game BRIDGE ONLINE, visit Bridge Base Online - http://online.bridgebase.com . Play the card game Bridge for fun, socialization, or money. Also, play Bridge online for masterpoints.

TO PLAY the card game BRIDGE IN PERSON, find a local Bridge Club - http://www.acbl.org/play/findClub.html .

Enjoy and reflect on the three, accompanying graphics...
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All Rights Reserved. Copyright © Michael K. Miller of NemesssSys™ a member of the Millennium Suites, LLC Group 2008

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