Because I don't want to be boring. Whatever you do, whenever you do it if you don't risk something whatever you've done is probably mediocre. Worse yet if you don't continually risk something you become repetitive. Then not only have you bored everybody else, you've bored yourself. Adventure or risk is not just about staying in shape, spending time outdoors, going for it, or getting away from it. It's not about what you stand to gain. Its about living a complete and interesting life, not just for everybody else but for yourself. Some people go their entire lives and risk absolutely nothing. Their jobs are uninteresting, their relationships functional and unromantic, the unknown is prone to elicit a panic attack, and people generally don't invite them to parties. So with the philosophy of the life well lived behind us we can move on to something more interesting. What you really do stand to gain by laying your money down. Everything. This doesn't gaurentee a jackpot but if you don't try you'll never have anything to show for the trouble you take breathing. Without the decision , or the need, to take a risk, Dylan would never have gone electric, Shakespeare would have stuck to bawdy tales with a happy ending, Sir Edmund Hillary would have stayed below tree line, and Van Gogh would never have cut his ear off trying to impress Rachel, a very nice prostitute. Van Gogh and Shakespeare certantly wouldn't have had the syphillus that led to some of their more stunning works of art.So takeing Charles Bukowski's advice and putting everything I have down on cliche, you win some you lose some. But at least people don't fall asleep when they hear the story.

P.S. I would recommend that everybody try the home made mead I'm drinking but this is the last glass and there won't be anymore till spring equinox. See you when the snow thaws. Oh and David Allan Coe Rides Again.