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

Last Engagement in Poker

My Story:
The suspense of the start of the rugby game between the all blacks and Canada almost drew my flatmates and I bonkers. We needed something to do. Alix shouts "I know, lets play poker!" (communication) What a brilliant idea I thought. It took about 5 minutes for us to remember where we had left the poker set, finally, we found it, in the cabinet where it always is! We cleared the coffee table to enable plenty of space for us to set up (ergonomics). I watched as Alix took on the leader role, handing out the poker chips and cards. We decided to get less chips so that the game didn't go on too long (ergonomics). We wanted to watch the game after all. I watched as each player picked up their cards, wondering what was going on in the two little cards upon their hands. I could see in some, little butterflies flying around in happiness (connections), in others- straight disappointment. I was one of those people. The game started to roll out, everyone having a turn at winning a round. I noticed that the predominant conversations were about winning, so and so cheating (communications) and the rugby we were so desperately waiting for (connections). I could feel the heat rise up as I lay my $1000 chip on the table. If i lose this round, i'm screwed for the rest of the game! Pete won. I suddenly felt a change in my mood. I went from energetic and excited to completely bored and wanting to get out. That shows my competetive "have to win" attitude (spirituality). I decided to go all in just so I didn't have to play anymore. Thankfully I lost. Time for a drink I thought whilst I watched the others churn in pain! (physical) Not wanting to lose. Claire won that day.

Practical Considerations:
Pack of cards (or two)
Poker chips
Table / flat surface to play on
People
Rules and Guidelines
Money
Chips and Dip!

Labour, Work

This week we focused on labour and work, and what the difference is.
"Labour" is defined by Green (1968) as a humans whose "energies are spent in response to necessity, under the aegis of forces outside himself, forces that he does not set in motion and cannot control." My understanding of this is that labour is something that we are required to do, is a necessity of life e.g. eating, gathering food, finding shelter etc. This definition has shown me that my activity, poker, does not fit under this category.

"Work" is defined as that activity which produces the artificial world in which we live in... making it what we want it to be, rather than what has to be for survival (Arendt, 1958). My understanding of this definition is that work is anything that we CHOOSE to do, rather than for necessity and survival. This has shown me that my activity, poker, fits under this category.

I would say that poker fits under work as it is something that myself, and I'm sure most others do for fun. I can choose whether I want to play poker or not, and if i do not choose to, then my life does not depend on it (whereas labour is a matter of survival or not).
Some could flip this around and say that poker could fit under labour too. There are those out there who play poker for a living, and this could be there only source of income. Therefore, it is done for survival in those cases (if you have no money, you can't buy food. If you can't buy food, you can't eat).

Anyways I'm off now, survival mode has kicked in and I need to eat :)
Ciao

Reference List;
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)
Green, T. (1968). Work, Leisure and the American Schools. New York:, Random House

Affordances cont.

This week we continued expanding our knowledge around more things that come under affordances and how they fit in when analysing my activity.
The next three headings are; aesthetics, memories/ history, and physical.
Aesthetics:
(a few key words) the way it looks, attractions, express sense of beauty. The attractions for myself when I'm playing poker would be the eagerness to win, the challenge, trying my luck and its something that I can do to de-stress. The beauty of poker is the happy and bright faces on the people who have good cards, the togetherness we feel once we have finished playing, the laughter involved and the awesome feeling when you win.

Memories/ History:
As stated in my first post regarding poker, poker has been played in my family for many years. Playing the game reminds me of all the years I spent watching the other members of my family play, and wishing I could play. In the future playing it will also remind me of playing it with my flat mates in this flat. All my memories around this activity are positive, even though I have lost my fair share of games...

Physical:
includes things such as stretching arms to put cards down on table, raising hands when you have won a round, dealing the cards, flicking your finger against chips to push into the middle, running to get food so that people don't cheat and look at your cards, tapping your foot in suspense, clapping for those who won at the end.


Reference:
Anderson, S. (2007). Collins dictionary. New Hampshire: Harper- Collins Publishers.

Ergonomics and Affordance

Ergonomics is described as: “constantly make slight invisible adjustments to an activity to adapt to the needs of those taking part and ensure that it continues to work for its intended purpose” (Caulton and Dickson 2007).  This is helpful in my learning around ergonomics, and how to fit it into my own activity. 
How this can relate to POKER;
- well as stated in my first post on poker, when we first initially started to play poker, there were people who were just learning how to play. we (the one's who knew how to play) "adapted" how we played the game, using little tactics and going easy on them.
- depending on how we are feeling that day is how long we play for (sometimes stop half way through)
- depending on how many people are playing, is where we play the game
and many more


Affordance;
Communications; 
flatmate relationship
winner/ loser
instructor/ student
non- caring relationship
non- verbal + verbal communication
(to name a few)


Connections;
e.g this is the game of poker
these are the cards we use in the game of poker
this is the table that holds the cards we use to play the game of poker
this is the room that the table sits in that holds the cards we use to play the game of poker
this is Claire whos room we are in where the table sits that holds the cards we use to play the game of poker
Poker - Claire


Ethics;
Burden- guilt of winning, guilt of not doing homework, keeping straight face
Joy- winning, spending time with friends
Good- learning new skills, happiness, bringing people together
Bad- addiction, time wasting, money loss, overeating bad food


References:
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

P P P P Poker; My Chosen Activity

Back into it for our second semester of learning, in our second year!

We were told to choose an activity that we enjoy, that's meaningful to us, or that we just want to do!
Guess what i chose.... Poker.
Poker is a game that has been played in my family for years! Any chance the boys in my family get, they whip out their cards, chips and money!
I was never allowed to join in this fun, due to the fact that I was too young for gambling, however I took every chance I could to watch them play. I was so intrigued by it. I learnt the rules through observation (which shows that modelling works) and started getting really into the game.
At last, I was old enough to join in. There was a joining fee of $5- eeeek! I was going to try my best to win it back. Turns out, I was a better observer than I was a player. I lost my first game. In fact, I lost several games.

It has now become a tradition in my flat. One of my flatmates, Ron, decided one day that he would buy a poker set for all of us to play. I was rather excited by this. It didn't take long from when the poker set entered the house, to being sprawled across the coffee table ready to be played. Ron and another one of my flat mates, Thomas + myself were the only one's who knew how to play the game. So we spent the first 20 minutes explaining the rules and objectives to the other, Claire, Alix and Monique.
At first we played easy, very little strategy was used. Alix won. Beginners luck I say.

Poker + Mindfulness =
Seeing the people around you, trying to suss out what their cards are
Seeing your cards and wondering "how am i going to win with this"?
Feeling smooth but hard cards
Feeling round bobbly chips
Smelling the dinner burning
Smelling the plastic cards and new smell of chips
Hearing people screaming about their "dumb" cards
Hearing others yell in delight because they won
Tasting salty chips and creamy dip while you play


So what are some feelings/ describing words when playing poker?
For me personally;
enjoyment
fun
strategic
hope (for good cards)
laughter
addictive
thrilling
challenging
long lasting
psychological
bluffing
competitiveness
poker face
table talk
"pocket aces" (Thomas)
anger/ sadness (when losing)
"all in mate"

How this relates to occupational therapy?
Meet new people
Join groups
Learning new skills
Keeping the mind active
Give them something to do during the day
It could even be a "meaningful occupation" to some (which us OT's are all about)
& I'm sure there are many more...

That's me for today.
:)

Participation in Occupation II

This blog will now be used for my semester two paper occupation in occupation II. It is a follow on from the paper i done relating to the information already within this blog
Cheers