Ambience + Play

The last week of undergoing our activities and analysing! How far we have come. I feel as though I have learnt a lot. This week I focused on ambience. Ambience is described as being the atmosphere of the place (Collins et al, 2006). It includes the feeling that the activity brings about due to the particular nature of it. In relation to poker, this would include things such as temperature, lighting, how much breathing space each person has and noise.
Here is an example from the last time I played poker;
It was a sunny Friday afternoon and everyone had finished tech/ work. We decided to go outside and the air was warm, with the sun directly on our backs (temperature). This made it quite frustrating at times as when I get hot, I get angry! So losing around wasn't the happiest time for me. The sun was bouncing off our cards into our eyes at times, making it a little difficult to see. This is where we had the bright idea to put our sunglasses on! It was rather noisy outside as everyone was knocking off work in the neighbourhood, getting ready for the all blacks big game! This added to the atmosphere of the game as it pumped us up. It sounded as though everyone was having, which made us feel that way too. Seen as we were in the outside air, it gave us plenty of breathing space. No one was crowded into each other (like when we play inside).
Some key phrases in relation to poker would be;

the atmosphere is heated and suspenseful
everyone looks worried and anxious to see their cards
the beauty of seeing a pocket of aces creates joy
suspicious vibe
secretive and hiding


Poker comes under the framework of play. Play is described by Christiansen & Townsend (2004) as occupations that are selected for amusement or recreational purposes. Poker, for me, fit under this framework as it is something that I do for fun, rather than for survival/ necessity.

References:
Christiansen, C. H., & Townsend, E. A. (Eds.). (2004). Introduction to occupation; The art and science of living (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education.
Collins, C., Cross, R., Gilmour, L., Holmes, A., Mackie, W., & Weber, P. (Eds.). (2006). Collins paperback dictionary & thesaurus (3rd ed.). Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers


My comments on others pages :)

References:
Anderson, S. (2007). Collins dictionary. New Hampshire: Harper- Collins Publishers.
Arendt, H. (1958). The Human condition. New York, Doubleday Anchor Books. in Butler, M. 2011, lecture notes on Work, in Participation in Occupation 2 (BT238001)
Caulton, R. & Dickson, R. (2007). What's going on? Finding an explanation for what we do. In J. Creek & A. Lawson- Porter (Eds.), Contemporary issues in occupational therapy (pp. 87-114). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Christiansen, C. H., & Townsend, E. A. (Eds.). (2004). Introduction to occupation; The art and science of living (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education.
Collins, C., Cross, R., Gimour, L., Holmes, A., Mackie, W., & Weber, P. (Eds.). (2006). Collins paperback dictionary & thesaurus (3rd ed.). Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers
Green, T. (1968). Work, Leisure and the American Schools. New York: Random House