On my non-iPod

One of the latest additions to my non-iPod is the Mozart Requiem. It is, by turns, stirring and calming, which is kind of a nice combination for poker.

It has the additional benefit of supplying me with nasty things to think about opponents who suck out a 3-outer on the river against me. Now I can dial in the "Dies Irae" and quietly hum along (because, yes, I happen to know the words in Latin, from a stint in a church choir long ago):

Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
teste David cum Sibylla.
Quantus tremor est futurus,
quando judex est venturus,
cuncta stricte discussurus!

(Day of wrath, day of anger
will dissolve the world in ashes,
as foretold by David and the Sibyl.
Great trembling there will be
when the Judge descends from heaven
to examine all things closely.)

This is among the angriest, most threatening music every written. If you've never heard it, it's worth two minutes of your life (especially if you imagine hissing the words in Latin under your breath to the moron who just took your whole stack of chips playing a 9-3 offsuit and hitting runner-runner flush):



If wishing eternal damnation on the soul of my unworthy opponent has not by then sufficient exorcised me, I can skip ahead a couple of tracks to the "Confutatis":

Confutatis maledictis,
Flammis acribus addictis,
Voca me cum benedictus.

(When the damned are cast away
and consigned to the searing flames,
call me to be with the blessed.)



Ah, now I feel much better. I am among the blessed. My river-rat opponents be damned--literally!